Illegal Liaisons Read Online Free

Monika – with infallible instinct – fell pregnant again. The resultwas a son, Franek. Stefan bought a larger apartment because the number of carers at home doubled.
    When offered a job in Brussels, Stefan deluded himself that he would go alone, but Monika packed up herself, their teenage daughter and the younger Franek, bade farewell to leasing, and was ready for the move. Stefan merely managed to negotiate that no one from their village should accompany them.
    “Monika?” Stefan glanced at his cell. “She’s not found any work yet. It’s hardly surprising, she doesn’t speak any languages.”
    “And how are things with you at work?” Jonathan quickly changed the subject.
    Stefan came to life. He could talk for hours about work; he observed and played out personal relations with a passion. He pointed out his empty glass to the waitress and started to summarize the latest reshufflings in the Directorate General for Enlargement, where he was a senior administrator. All that Jonathan remembered was the abbreviation used for the place where his friend worked – “enlarg” from “enlargement,”
    When Stefan paused to drink, Jonathan confessed.
    “I’ve been offered a job.”
    “In the Commission?”
    “No.”
    “Media?”
    Jonathan remained silent, building suspense.
    “They want me to run a course in creative writing.”
    Stefan squinted. His pale eyes, which usually expressed a certain wickedness that women found attractive, showed careful thought.
    “How much?”
    “Don’t ask.” Jonathan lowered his head.
    “That bad?” Stefan reached for a cigarette. “What does Megi say?”
    The previous evening flashed before Jonathan’s eyes. Frequent dealings with his wife’s answering machine had led him to hope that the modulated voice of the machine might have undertones of sexual promise. In reality, instead of arousing the imagination, it pushed his thoughts into a gutter as narrow as a sledge track. Megi had finally answered late into the evening but her voice had sounded distorted and distant. She was still at a meeting that was meant to finish past midnight. She could not talk for long. She merely asked about thechildren and Jonathan sensed some of the energy, bubbling in him since the morning, turn into anger. He pressed the cell button hard, bidding goodbye to the word “wife” with his eyes.
    “We didn’t even have an opportunity to talk,” he muttered. “Megi works till late.”
    “Someone has to,” laughed Stefan and Jonathan stared at him thoughtfully. Everyone had faults and Stefan’s was a lack of tact. “Anyway, if the pay’s poor, don’t bother. Look for something else.”
    “But it’s interesting! I can put the curriculum together myself. It grabs me.”
    Stefan thanked the waitress with a nod as she stood a beer in front of him.
    “How old are you? That’s what can grab you.” He indicated the girl as she walked away. “Work sets you up. You’ve got a degree, experience as a journalist, languages. Am I to tell you what to do? After all …”
    He stopped as his cell started ringing in his pocket.
    “I’m at work,” he said into the phone. “Dinner. Business. What do you mean you don’t understand what the mail from school says? All right, I’ll be finished soon.”
    He hung up, downed his beer, and turned to Jonathan.
    “Think of a sensible job. Oh, and the vice-head of the task force is holding a party on Friday. Megi’s probably got an invitation. Make sure you come!”

5
    J ONATHAN ’ S THOUGHTS rarely turned to the first time he had met Andrea. The moments in which they later immersed themselves occupied more space in his memory; and they had leapt into something more intense – they insisted – than ever before.
    Jonathan’s memory turned out to be a clever device that didn’t prompt comparisons, at least not when he was with Andrea. She was his goal, his oxygen, and his delicacy; he mounted her, lived by her breath, eagerly licked the nipples