Without the warmth of the body she's come to crave next hers, or on top of hers, the heavy weight of it, the hard, masculine ridges of sinew moving with seamless virility inside her soft, feminine core. Nearly a month without him, without his touch, without his kiss. Two weeks he'd been away and now he wouldn’t return for another two weeks. He wasn't sitting on his private jet right this minute flying back to her and Liam. 'How is our son?' It was a distraction that she grabbed on to, even while her mind struggled with the fact that he wouldn't be coming home today. 'Just two more weeks and I'll be home with you and Liam.' He'd tried to reassure but it only made it that much worse. 'Two weeks, my pet.' Not even the softly murmured two last words that were now a cherished endearment could allay her disappointment. Knees weak from devastation she fell bonelessly on their shared bed.

'How long?' She'd asked, on the verge of tears. His trip was unfortunately going to be longer than expected. But that early morning joy she'd woken up with had taken a nose dive when Dominic had called. She'd barely gotten any sleep the night before because of her excitement. He was scheduled to arrive later in the afternoon and Eden had specifically rearranged her schedule just so she could come home and see him. She actually woke up in a really good mood this morning, with the full expectation of seeing her lover again, after the excruciatingly long two weeks he'd been away.

While waiting for the GPS system to load up again, her mind drifted to this morning and the events that led up to her being forty five minutes late to this home showing. She couldn't believe she was running this late, but then again, considering how her day started, it wasn't surprising that it would continue on this downtrend. 'Hurry the hell up!' Keeping her heeled foot on the gas pedal she continued at a steady pace down the heavily wooded road which would've been pretty ominous had it been later in the evening as some of her appointments tended to be. 'Useless piece of shit,' she cursed under her breath. The system gave a half a second beep before the screen faded to black. Reaching onto the dashboard of her car, Eden Mercer reset the navigation system for what was the umpteenth time since embarking on her journey.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

Monster by Francette Phal