The rules were simple in this writing competition. Using the theme of temptation, craft your story in 600 words or less. We received some fantastic submissions, but huge congratulations go to our winners.
1st Prize: £400 Tanya Reid
2nd Prize: £250 Dave Bradley
3rd Prize: £100 Sue Lancaster
Temptation
by Tanya Reid
I knew I shouldn’t do it, but I couldn’t resist him. He was hot. Seriously hot. Like molten chocolate inviting me to dive right in. His touch was electrifying. Yeah, I know, you’ve heard it all before. The touch that sizzles, but seriously, his fingers against my skin, exploring, wanting, needing me as much as I wanted him. His tongue devouring me, as I dissolved against it. Who the hell could resist that?
Besides, does it really matter? He wanted me and I sure as hell wanted him. Yes, he’s engaged, but, it’s one of convenience. He’s marrying a woman who looks like sexual desire is a dirty word. She has stacks of money of course. I don’t. I don’t earn much here but he’s the perk, the sort of unwritten bonus that I have granted myself.
He was as much to blame as me. He was the one who urged me to let go and be naughty with him and I wanted that so much. I wanted to forget how I’d been taught to be a good girl. I wanted to forget about moral codes and shit like that. What the hell was monogamy all about anyway? I just wanted him. It was overpowering. My heart hummed when he came near, it flipped and gyrated some crazy dance. It pulsated when his fingers slipped lower and our stolen kisses made promises that we couldn’t keep. He was the taste of the forbidden and I needed it.
Time was short, every second precious. Every day at 4.55 pm, I’d get an email asking me to pick up printing supplies and dutifully, knowing what I was really going to get and it wasn’t envelopes, I’d log out of my system and pack away my things. Blushing at my thoughts, I moved past all my colleagues, trying to shield my eyes as they watched me walk through the office. I kept my head down, as if lost in thought and made my way through the building watching as each department scattered, with less than enthusiastic workers rushing for the door and for escape. I didn’t want to escape. I wanted my naughty liaison with the boss’s son. Mr. Forbidden Goods himself. He was all the Christmas and Birthday presents rolled into one and oh yes, I imagined him gift-wrapped so many times.
I slipped into the stationery cupboard, the last thing I expected was to see the boss, her pudgy arms folded sternly across her ample chest, her grey wiry hair drawn back severely into a bun and her expression, well, that left no doubt in my mind that she knew exactly what was going on. She even had my P45 ready and a cheque that got me out of her company and out of her darling son’s life for good. I didn’t really need security to march me to my desk and to pack everything up but I was defiant in my lust thinking that I would see him again. Nothing could stop us, but as we passed his office, I saw him shame-faced, his fiance telling him off and he shrugged at me weakly. Pathetic. My lust disappeared as if in a magic trick.
Still, I guess it had been one hell of a ride while it lasted!
Note: As always, we only publish the overall winning submission to enable 2nd and 3rd place prize winners to be paid for their fiction but, to be able to try to place the story elsewhere. Entry confirmed acceptance to these rules.
