Maria was a mere twenty years old, but she possessed the poise of someone many years her elder. She had experienced a “relationship” here and there, but nothing significant enough that she could consider herself weathered in the area of romance. Even so, she had suffered heartbreaks and even had caused some. She was a confident, intelligent, beauty with a penchant for sarcastic witticisms that she used to protect her heart and self esteem from the stark cold reality she knew existed all around her. Maria often found herself in positions of romantic power; she was comfortable when she was the dominant partner in the relationship, confident in the copious adoration that her various lovers and boyfriends held for her. As a result, she often found herself regrettably unfulfilled in her relationships... Her lovers could rarely carry a conversation or challenge her intellect and, while she frequently complained about the dullness of her partners, she was content – she knew that little threatened her status as the object of their idolatry. Every once in a while, she allowed someone to creep through the cracks in the wall she had build to protect her heart. During these rare occurrences, Maria fell fast and she fell hard. Too hard... Her last boyfriend manipulated her emotions so painfully and so repeatedly that she feared injury more than ever. To protect herself from the heartache that seemed inevitably to follow any and every emotional intimacy, Maria entered relationships cockily, boasting of her inability to become attached to her “fuck buddies,” attempting to dehumanize her newest companion as much as possible – hopefully reducing him to the status of mere sexual partner. She was the sexual vixen, perfecting her aesthetic appearance so as to become the image of sexual fantasy, thus dehumanizing herself in the eyes of her partner, reducing herself to the status of sexual icon – not romantic companion.
Still reeling from the painful complexities of the current situation with her ex, Maria returned home to Virginia from school in New York for Thanksgiving. She was ready to throw all emotional cares to the wind and was anticipating a random hookup or two over the weekend.
Saturday night, barbeque, old family friends, lots of alcohol. Maria stumbled into Kate, an acquaintance from high school whom she was just beginning to reconnect with. Kate introduced Maria to Hunter, her twenty-nine year-old brother home for the holiday.
In her drunken state, Maria first identified the handsomeness of her friend’s older brother. Hunter was not very tall, but well built and conspicuously attractive. He had dark eyes set deeply under heavy brows... His eyes sparkled when he smiled, his lip curling upward. His short dark hair was plain, but complemented the olive tinge in his skin tone. Broad shoulders and strong arms caught Maria when she tripped over her own feet, her tall boots uncomfortable to feet accustomed to sneakers.
Hunter was characteristically shy that evening, standing against a wall and talking idly with whomever approached him. He nursed beer after beer, occasionally gazing past the shoulder of whomever was speaking with him and checking out the multitude of young women in the room, all the same age as his sister. One girl in particular caught his eye and his pulse quickened when Kate led that same girl over to meet him.
Maria was tall, imposingly so with her high heeled boots on. Taller, in fact, than Hunter – but that only served to catch his attention. She was uniquely striking in a room of women who seemed to dress and behave alike. She had short, wavy, light-brown hair, cropped around her face. Her eyes were almond shaped and wide, with delicate eyebrows framing them. She had beautifully high cheekbones and she smiled as she drunkenly giggled at whatever conversation of which she was a part.
Hunter’s attention, however, didn’t stay long at the appearance of the young girl’s face, as he instinctively moved his gaze down her body. She was slim with perky breasts and prominent hips that curved out from her smooth, flat stomach, which Hunter noticed as her shirt slid upwards when she threw her head back to laugh. Her ass was on the wide side, and round, curving deliciously down to her legs.
Conversation turned to an after-party occurring later that evening and, eventually, people were moving towards the door. As they exited, Maria leaned in and breathily whispered into Hunter’s ear, “I’m drunk!” Hunter smiled to himself as he imagined the expanding possibilities of the evening that lay before him.
Soon the two reconvened at the after-party, sitting in a back room full of unfamiliar faces. Maria was spread across a big leather chair, drunkenly gesturing as she told Hunter some inane story or another. Hunter listened attentively, smiling at the charmingly intoxicated girl who was so open and friendly. He could hardly believe the opportunity that seemed to be lying immediately in front of him, in the form of a sexy twenty year-old who seemed all-too-interested in Hunter.
After the completion of one of Maria’s stories, Hunter attempted to respond over the din of the crowded room. When she couldn’t hear what he was saying, Maria leaned from her seat in the big leather chair toward Hunter, who was sitting in the accompanying ottoman. Her legs, uncrossed, alternated with Hunter’s, and when she leaned in to hear what he was saying, the warmth between her legs brushed against his knee.
Initially, Hunter thought that the contact was purely incidental. That is, until Maria leaned in closer, placing a hand on his other leg, and apparently positioning her crotch on his knee, swaying ever-so-slightly back-and-forth, rubbing herself against him. Meanwhile, Hunter was speaking in whispers to Maria, their faces inches apart and their eyes locked.
Maria couldn’t resist. The multiple glasses of wine she’d imbibed throughout the evening took hold, as she leaned in and, open-eyed, pressed her lips against Hunter’s. She lifted her hand to his neck, simultaneously parting his lips with her warm tongue, proceeding to kiss him deeply.
