Emily's Dilemma by Gabriella Como

Chapter 1
    Emily Chastain gave instructions to her
husband but he wasn't listening, par for the course for him. She
told him where the kids' lunches were. She told him to check the
calendar for their sports events. She told him where the checks
were to pay for their school trips lay. He offered up
"yeah...yeah...yep." He's a self-centered, vain ass, she thought.
He just cares about himself and his workout routine. Thank God the
kids are smarter than their dad. They'll know where everything
is.
     
    Boarding the plane, Emily greeted the polite
and helpful flight attendants and carefully made her way down the
narrow aisle to her seat, 3C. Once there, she put her carry-on away
in the above compartment, her but kept her iPad and earbuds. She
sat and made herself comfortable. It was no small pleasure to sit
down after all the walking she had to do to get through the airport
to her gate. Getting herself situated, the tall, slender, handsome
man with a salt-and-pepper goatee motioned to her with a bit of a
smile that he had the seat next to her. "Excuse me," he said.
"Thank you."
     
    "Hi, Robert. You just made it just in time,
again," Emily told her CEO. "You are making sprinting in airports a
habit."
     
    "It's good exercise and I don't get enough of
it," he replied, chuckling. He was breathing heavily. "I should get
in the kind of shape you are. But I can't seem to make the
time."
    Robert Noble was the CEO of the startup
pharmaceutical company named NobleCor. They specialized in heart
conditions, particularly electrical pulses that drove the heart.
Their most promising drug, X-3580, could make severe arrhythmia a
thing of the past. Emily was his lead biochemist. Robert recruited
her a couple years back from a dry, dreary career at a nearby giant
company who had her work on commercialized compounds that they sold
to pharmaceutical companies. Robert knew she was underutilized
there, and offered a vision of what he intended to accomplish and
how they were going to do it. She bought into his vision, because
it meant working on a cure for something that could enhance the
quality of life, if not extend it. That meant something to her,
especially since her poor mother suffered from the severe
arrhythmia the new drug in development would cure. She found
purpose again. It reminded of a time in her past when she found
such a purpose, pushing her to make a tough decision. The
sacrifices she made back then were tough. That was long ago, and
behind her. She didn't think about them anymore. She didn't want to
remember those times at all.
     
    Casually looking over, she noticed Robert's
long, lean legs stretched out with his feet hidden under the seat
in front of him, the grace of his hands as they worked on his
laptop. His wedding ring was simple and inexpensive. Robert was in
his early fifties, she guessed, by the look of his hands and the
shape his legs seemed to be in. He never told her his exact age.
His look was one of confidence and ease in just about any situation
he was in.
    Emily thought to herself that the idea of
getting out of the office and away from her husband and kids was
not such a bad idea. Her husband was capable of managing home life
while she was away on business, although she usually did the lion's
share of the housework. She relaxed, breathed in, and felt a slow
release of tension leave her body. “The family will be fine. I can
enjoy this conference, even if this conference is full of
freeze-dried pharma people, it can be enjoyed.” She repeated in her
head, over and over, almost trying to convince herself of this.
     
    He noticed her lean, well-muscled legs. He
could tell the inner musculature that gave rise and shape to the
proper parts of her. Her hands were pure, light, with a soft patina
that suggested expensive skin lotion. He was balanced enough to
turn his sexual impulses off, something younger men cannot possibly
do. He knew getting hot and bothered by someone's legs is an energy
suck and a waste of time. He