It was many years ago, I kept telling myself. We're both older, each with children, and living in different states. However, I could not get her out of my mind.
Maria and I have been friends for over 15 years, meeting when she first moved to my apartment building with her husband. It was an immedate attraction, but one that was restrained for the obvious reasons. I was single, she was not. However, that did not stop us from going out together, sometimes alone, sometimes me with a date and she with her husband.
On many occasions, while sharing a table with the others, her hand would wander to my leg, or she'd brush her leg against mine under the table. I always passed this off as her Meditteranean way of being friendly (at least that's what I kept convincing myself of!).
Over time, things deteriorated with her husband, and before she moved back to Chicago (her hometown), she spent a week with me, awaiting the moving trucks and getting prepped for her return. We had one brief yet fulfilling sexual encounter during her stay, as I tried to keep a safe distance considering she was in the midst of a terrible time.
Once back in Chicago, however, she began telephoning and we'd talk for hours about this, that and the other thing. After about a month, I decided to make a trip to Chicago to visit her. She met me at the airport, and she looked better than ever, with the stress of the disolved marriage and the move over.
We went to her apartment downtown, unloaded my bags, and just hit the town, walking from cafe to cafe, hand in hand and enjoying each other. It was a weekend that was filled with wonderful and intimate experiences, where we learned about each other's likes and dislikes in bed. We took showers together, enjoyed performing oral sex on each other, and played with some light and creative gymnastic positions that stimulated our passions and reinforced our newly changed affections for each other.
It was finally time to return home, and Maria and I shared a few more exciting weekends like that over the next few years.
Now, it's over 10 years past. We've moved on to other lives, but have kept in touch. Recently, we accelerated our periodic talks and emails to almost weekly. This, of course, stirred physical and emotional twinges in both of us, and we decided that, 'just for old times' sake', we'd get together for a weekend.
It was a logistical challenge, as we both have spouses and children to contend with now (she remarried about four years ago, I about five). It did work out, however, that I could make a trip to Chicago on a work-related reason, so the date was set.
Upon arriving in Chicago, I took the train into the center of town, and a cab to the hotel that we arranged to meet at. She had left the room number on my cellphone, so I had no reason to stop by the front desk. I quickly passed the concierge station, entered the elevator, and pressed 18. Exiting the elevator, I followed the signs to room 1841. I could smell the scented candles in the hallway, knowing now that she was as excited about this weekend as I was.
Taking a final breath to clear the guilt that was stirring, I knocked on the door. It opened, slowly, to reveal a darkened room with floor to ceiling curtains closed. I could only imagine the view once they were opened. The smell of the candles, coupled with the fresh scent of a recent shower filled the room.
A slender and olive-skinned arm reached out from behind the door, offering a glass filled with Amoretto (our favorite drink for pouring and tasting on each other in the past!) My smile widened, as I took the glass, followed the arm around the door, and saw her. She looked even better than I remembered her, and her trim body was toned and muscular as she stood in a loosely wrapped silk robe.
Her breasts, which have always been an asset for her, filled the robe nicely, ending in two protruding nipples, hardened with anticipation. Her hair, always curly and shoulder length, was still wet from her shower. Her gently perfumed body glistened with a light application of oil.
I pulled her toward me, offered her a sip from the Amoretto glass, and said "It's great to see you, Maria....I've missed you".