They had made their way back to Ronald’s office as quietly as possible. You never knew if a student or research assistant might be working late.
“Did you hear something?” Marilyn asked nervously.
“No. It’s just the settling of the old building,” Ronald replied. “No one’s around. I checked before. Why are you so jumpy?”
“I keep thinking that someone will walk in on us. Maybe Sylvia. What if she finds out about us?”
Ronald put his arms around her and drew her to him. “I told you. Sylvia is in San Diego at the Immunology Conference until Monday.”
“I know. But I just get nervous doing things here.” Marilyn whispered in his ear and began kissing his neck.
Ronald’s hands made their way slowly down the small of her back until they cupped her buttocks in his fingers. He pulled her hips closer to him and started moving rhythmically against her.
“I think it makes things hotter. The danger of getting caught really turns me on,” he said sensually.
“You are insatiable,” Marilyn sighed, responding to his urging. “Good thing I didn’t bother to put my panties back on.”
She stepped back a little, looked deeply in his eyes, and slowly unzipped his pants.
Afterward, as she re-arranged her clothing, she asked him, “Do you think she suspects?”
“No, I don’t think so. You’d probably know that better than me. You’re her best friend, aren’t you? Don’t wives usually tell their best friend everything?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Marilyn replied thoughtfully.
She sat in the chair facing his desk and asked him, “What do you think would happen if she found out?”
“All hell would break loose, and she’d probably leave me.”
Marilyn stared at him for a few seconds and asked, “Would that be such a bad thing? For her to leave, I mean. Then we could be together without all this sneaking around.”
“It would be complicated.”
“Why? Do you still love her?”
“No. I mean complicated professionally. Sylvia is a well known and respected researcher, and she brings in a lot of grant money. One of the reasons I got my position here is because the Medical College got both of us in the deal. I think they wanted her more than me. In order to get her, the Immunology Department convinced Roberts to hire me. Roberts agreed, but demanded that the Immunology Department pay for an adjunct faculty position for her in Anatomy. If Sylvia leaves, not only would there be a scandal involving the Anatomy Department, but Roberts would also lose that money. Do you really think that he would keep me on if that happened?”
She lowered her head and looked down. Then softly and sadly she said, “Maybe we should end this if it means your career’s in jeopardy.”
“Is that what you want? To end it?” he asked. There was a cold sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
She looked at him with tears in her eyes. “No, of course not. I love you, Ronald. But I don’t want to see you lose everything, either.”
She hesitated, then asked, “What’s the answer?”
“The answer is simple.” There was a new determination in his voice. “If I get this grant that I’ve been working on, I’ll have a significant amount of funding, and Roberts won’t want to lose that by firing me. Losing the Immunology money won’t make that much difference. As for the scandal, I know him well enough to know that he can smooth that over if he has a good enough reason – like money.”
“Do you think you can do it? Get the grant, I mean?” she asked hopefully.
He thought for a moment, then said, “With your help. I need someone to make sure the preliminary studies are completed and to help with the writing of the grant. That’s what Sylvia is good at. If she leaves, I’m stuck.”
“Put me on the grant as a co-investigator, and I’ll make sure everything gets done. Together we can do it. We don’t need Sylvia.”
Ronald thought about it for a few minutes. She was right. Together they could do it. They didn’t need Sylvia. Even if Sylvia didn’t leave him, even if none of this came out, he didn’t need her anymore. He had Marilyn now. Granted, the sex with Marilyn was great, but he saw something in her now that appealed to him as much, if not more, than the sex – ambition.