Chapter Three
There were ten days between Alia’s visits to my home. By the time the next one occurred, that amazing first evening almost seemed like a dream that never happened. I thought about it every day, pondering the wickedness of my own domineering arousal, the beastly man I’d become as I interrogated the adulteress, punished her ruthlessly, and made use of her body for my pleasure.
When Melanie visited, the aura of that other man still lingered with me. I was short with her, put out because she seemed so frigid and I communicated my displeasure with little guilt this time. I’d seen what a woman could be, how a woman could please a man and be aroused herself. Melanie was annoying by comparison.
We had dinner at a small bistro she’d picked out, another of her romantic gestures. S
