[C.O.B.]

It started innocently enough as most of these clandestine relationships do. Ed and for our purposes here I'll call her Ann met through a friend of Ed's at a sporting event.

Ann was indeed beautiful and very well proportioned. Everything was in the right place with the right shape and her beauty defied her age. She and Ed visited several times over the course of the event but she had come with another gentleman and her time was not her own. There was a spark there for Ed but he really didn't give it much more than a passing fancy.

It was a couple of weeks after returning from the event that Ed found himself thinking of her. It was sporadic at first merely an infatuation with what might have been. As the weeks turned into months Ed found himself visiting the website of her employer who was the gentleman she had traveled with to the event that they met at. He would look her up ask a few questions and leave it at that. Ed's infatuation turned to lust as he visited the web more frequently. It would be the first thing he did in the morning and the last thing he did at night. He found himself thinking of Ann every waking moment, in fact it was so bad even his wife asked him if he was indeed feeling alright.

A plan began to formulate in Ed's brain as reason and rationality went out the window. He just had to see if they could work something out, after all he reasoned the heart wants what the heart wants and life is short. Ed had transgressed once before and his wife made it clear that he got a one time pass, there would be no second chances. Still Ed discretely moved small amounts of money from several accounts in a plan to fly Ann from California to New York. He could explain the small losses in the accounts as market fluctuations if anyone got suspicious.

The arrangements were made and she would meet Ed at his office on Park Avenue the following week. As the days grew closer Ed got more and more anxious. The night before he couldn't sleep a wink tossing and turning. His stomach was in knots to the point of nausea he was so worked up. At 3pm on a Thursday Ed's life changed forever as Ann entered his office. He closed the door and asked not to be disturbed. He cradled Ann in his arms and swung her around the room. She was indeed slim in the wrist which was straight with a beautiful Skelton butt finely engraved. Her rich Circassian stock looked as if your hand would disappear into the grain which resembled dark chocolate with caramel swirls. She still retained 90% of the original case color and barrel bluing. Then there were the 30 inch fine Damascus barrels. Ann was indeed the finest AHE 20 gauge on the planet.

Ed spent the rest of the afternoon locked in his office with Ann swinging on every conceivable bird from Grouse in England, to Georgia Quail and those big North Dakota Pheasants. He was also trying to figure out how he was going to explain this to his wife.