Jean Sifton

The door-to-door salesman

CHAPTER ONE

The lovely young blonde crossed one long slender leg gracefully over the other, and smiled dazzlingly at Doug.

"Thank you so much for picking me up!" she breathed. "I've had absolutely no luck at all this morning – that is, until you stopped for me, Mr…?"

"Fletcher, Doug Fletcher," Doug supplied, darting another look at the appealing young hitchhiker. He had been so surprised to see her, waiting at the entrance to the expressway, that he had impulsively stopped for her. Now he was glad he had – at least the journey to work wouldn't be as boring as it usually was.

"I'm Selma Blake," the blonde went on, as she pulled out a packet of cigarettes. Doug refused her offer of one, and she lit her own, pulling deeply on it. He couldn't resist stealing another glance at her – he was certainly attractive, and the short skirt she was wearing revealed the smooth sweep of her curvaceous thighs. Her long blonde hair swung back freely over her shoulders and she had a youthful carefree look which suddenly made him feel old and careworn.

"Do you always hitchhike to work… If that's where you're going…" Doug inquired, fighting his desire to forget all about the heavy rush-hour traffic and concentrate solely on his beautiful passenger.

"Oh, sometimes," Selma replied enigmatically, and smiled at him again, her full ripe lips curving upward tantalizingly.

Doug was aware of a tightening in his loins, of the stirring of his awakening cock, and hoped that its stiffening was not noticeable through his trousers. Steady on, he warned himself silently, don't forget you're a married man!

"You look angry all of a sudden!" Selma said, and Doug realized that he was frowning, the corners of his mouth drooping, his lips white and tight.

"I'm not… I'm just thinking," he said lamely, angry that she had noticed his reaction to his internal thoughts. Any man would scowl if he had the problems I've got! he told himself, unable to turn his thoughts away from Betty and their fight this morning. Just like me to have to worry about that nagging bitch when I've got a cute dish like Selma beside me.

He couldn't help thinking that their quarrels got more and more frequent, while their love life, such as it was, got less and less frequent. They had tried to figure out what was wrong between them, by calm conversation, but it always ended the same way, with one or the other of them hurtling accusations at the other. But he knew what the problem was… the plain and simple fact was that he wasn't getting a good lay at home and that was bound to get to any normal guy after a while! But Betty, every time they even got near to discussing the crux of the matter, seemed to get hysterical, yelling "it's all your fault," and refusing to discuss it further.