Page 48 of Distrustful

"I haven't been with anyone since I fled from Ismael," she declares leaving Maria petrified, "I mean there hasn't been anyone I wanted to go beyond a couple of dates and a fuck with. And I confess I'm scared shitless, I don't even know if I'd know how to do it again, but with you I want to try."

Maria, moved, stands up and sits on Trinidad's lap, joining her hands behind the businesswoman's neck.

"I haven't told you this, well, actually, I haven't told you anything about me because we barely know each other," Maria says without looking away.

"That's true, but I'm all ears."

"I was married for many years to the same man, and practically from the beginning, I was having an affair with Ursula."

The confession catches Trinidad off guard.

"So it's true," she says sketching a soft smile.

"True?" Maria frowns.

"You didn't trust me and I wanted to know if I should worry, so I asked Adrian to investigate you a little," Trinidad explains to Maria's surprise, who's left open-mouthed. "He didn't find much, but he did tell me about your marriage and that there was a rumor going around that you'd had an affair with Ursula."

"Really?" Maria's eyes open with surprise.

"Really," Trinidad responds nodding her head at the same time. "To be honest, I didn't believe it, I had seen so much complicity between Ursula and Mildred that it was hard to imagine."

"Well, it was before she met Mildred. I also slept with her, by the way," she says and clears her throat.

"With Mildred?" Trinidad's eyes open with surprise.

"Yes, since we're being honest, I'll tell you everything," Maria scratches her hair, "but it's a settled matter that I'll tell you about another time."

"Okay, but with Ursula you were together for years, wasn't there anything more between you?" Trinidad probes, dying of curiosity.

"No. Ursula and I are friends above all, what we had besides that was sex and good conversations, but that ended when she started with Mildred. In any case, what I'm trying to tell you is that, although your love life and mine haven't had anything in common, I have the same fear as you about starting anything, Trinidad, because, despite loving Marcos and being used to him, I never had what we could call a normal relationship because I had that affair with Ursula and my life was being caught between both."

Trinidad raises her eyebrows and smiles grateful for her honesty.

"Did he know you were having an affair with Ursula?"

"He suspected, but he didn't say anything, I guess we had a kind of silent pact. The thing is that Marcos asked me for divorce practically at the same time that Ursula ended our affair and, suddenly I felt vertigo. I had spent my whole life having what I wanted, my husband when I got home and my lover outside of it, I even went to that club alone sometimes," she confesses with a grimace, "but my life revolved around them. That type of relationship was what I knew and liked, and I knew finding something like that was very difficult, so, let's say I went a little crazy and decided that the best thing was to dedicate myself to fucking whoever I wanted and disappearing so no one else could leave me. And then you appear..."

"And then I appear," Trinidad repeats looking into her eyes. "And what do you think now? Do you want to continue with that type of life or would you prefer to take a risk and start something with me knowing that it could also end?"

"Is that your way of asking me to date?" Maria asks with a certain mocking tone.

"I wouldn't call it dating either, but I would like us to get to know each other better, and obviously, that implies certain respect between both if we agree."

"Like stopping sleeping with other people?"

"Like you stopping doing it, because I only sleep with you," Trinidad admits, "and if we get to something more serious, I assure you I wouldn't be like your husband, if I find out you cheat on me once, it's over."

Trinidad doesn't consider herself a jealous woman, but she already dealt once with a husband who cheated on her and isn't willing to go through the same with anyone.

"I shouldn't tell you this because I'm only going to inflate that ego of yours that's already quite large," the lawyer jokes, "but since you fucked me the first time, I haven't slept with anyone else, so you could say I've respected you from the beginning."

Trinidad smiles with tenderness.

"In the end you're not as tough as you try to appear."

"And neither are you, Trinidad," Maria silences her with a slow and deep kiss, which extends until the lawyer's phone starts ringing.

Maria abandons that lap where she feels so comfortable and stands up to answer. From the responses she's giving, Trinidad deduces she's talking to Ismael's lawyer and that makes her nervous.