The first time I saw you was right after I'd checked in to the hotel, road weary from a six-hour flight and thirty-minute cab ride, looking hard-ridden and just as ready to be put away wet. But fuck all if I didn't need a drink before heading up to my room. And fuck all to how I looked. My predictably navy business travel slacks, blouse and smart little blazer had weathered the storm well enough, and who's gonna care if I kick off my heels and swing them in my hand as I cross the lobby: it's happy hour somewhere. I had the desk send my bag up, kicked off my shoes, and sauntered across the lobby to the bar.
"Gimlet, please. With something nice, if you would." I put the money down and left it, deliberately avoiding my reflection in the mirror behind the bar, instead taking a slow spin in my chair to observe the clientele. And there you were, across the room in a booth, sitting feline, languid, and alone behind some sexy up-glass, staring outward with slightly parted lips and not a care in the world. My tummy was in knots instantly, but I was too tired and uneasy to figure out if or even how to approach you, so I just sat there half spun from the bar, feeling my pulse race. I know I must have been staring at you, and I feel lucky my filthy mind ray didn't, or couldn't, penetrate what I hoped were your own smoldering thoughts as you fingered the rim of your nearly empty glass and subconsciously moistened your ruby lips.
I turned back to the bar and took my drink, sipping a little too long for a proper lady, but hey, fuck all, right? The liquor wriggled and cooled its way down beneath my chest , and I felt my nipples stiffen and my tummy tighten even further as it made its warm welcome within. Manna from heaven, I thought, and took another long draw of my icy lime fire. I found the courage to look behind the bar, and there I was: not so bad looking after all. A little tired maybe, but radiant if I could manage a smile. I tried out one or two as practice, then spun back around to see what you were up to.
Your drink was gone, but across from you now sat a most handsome gentleman. Too far away to scan for rings, and too unfamiliar to watch for body cues, but my heart dropped just a little, disappointed that you weren't by yourself. Two more drinks arrived, so I turned around to finish mine and play catch up while I watched as surreptitiously as I could. Eventually I picked up my glass and moved further down the bar to move into your peripheral, and to get a better view of Mr. Competition. Damned if he wasn't a fine looking man, but nothing seemed to be happening between you. No hands across the table, no lingering eyes, no leaning in, or back. Just plain sitting, and yet there was something about you two I couldn't suss. Too proper maybe? Hiding in plain sight? Cheating? My dirty mind began to race with tawdry tales of lubricious wrong-doings.
I must have been telegraphing all this, because he suddenly looked over and directly at me, and I found myself staring back at him before I realized it. Being busted, I just held his gaze and raised the vodka to my lips, until he turned his eyes back to you and gave a little smile. As I turned smoothly back to the bar I caught sight of you looking over your shoulder at me from the corner of my eye. Luckily I could just see your booth in the mirror, your bodies, but not your faces, and I could tell you both took a moment to watch me before resuming your conversation.
After a drink and a half in only ten minutes I was too tipsy to trust myself to turn back and face you, but just tipsy enough to let my hand slip between my legs and give my aching button a fervent hello. I felt myself melting under the pressure of each little circle, and I knew I was fully flushed, but in my mind I was blaming the alcohol. I looked up and saw you making motions to leave behind me, so I quickly put another twenty on the bar and knocked back the remainder of my liquid courage, hoping to get out to the lobby before you, with no plan at all.
I scanned the marble expanse looking for inspiration. Should I sit in the overstuffed couches and try to make eye contact, or linger by the desk? I was almost at the elevator enclave when I realized I'd left my heels in the bar. When I turned around to go get them, there they were, twenty paces out, dangling from the fingers of your friend, the two of you walking slowly towards me with hot, steely expressions that set me on fire and melted me to the core.
I laughed out loud and tried to smile one of my practiced smiles, but words escaped me, which I suspect would have been lost anyway since you both came forward in your easy gait, saying nothing, barely smiling. I had my eyes on my shoes when he stopped with them two paces away, and when I raised my eyes to inquire you were standing right in front of me, your finger to my lips.
"Shhhh."
I froze, my heart now pounding, my head reeling. My mouth opened and shut, but said nothing as I swayed against the delicate pressure of your finger. I even tried smiling again, but I'm sure it came across as the sort of grimaced grin a child makes when forced. A child, frozen in an inescapable moment, when mommy and daddy come home and catch you, when you want to make them happy, and you try so hard, but you've so much more to learn, and all you can do is hope. I'd never felt so small and exhilarated at the same time in my life. Giddy. Electric. And so immeasurably wet. Then you put those ruby lips to my ear and pulled my heart right out of my chest. The words came in a deep soft contralto that felt like warm, dark molasses.
"What," you paused, letting your fragrance wash me. "The fuck," your warm breath pours into my ear. "Are you doing?" You lingered, and the soft saliva click of your tongue punctuated the seriousness of your inquiry. I was still wondering how to answer this when your hand began to trace up my thigh, invisible to anyone in the room not looking specifically for it. Your man took one step forward.
"We have your shoes," he said. I nodded, and the corners of my mouth curled up at the absurd transparency of the moment. "You'll want them back." He didn't ask, he didn't offer. He just told me so. The doors behind us chimed, then opened, and in we went, you holding my hand, he standing at a servile distance, gently clicking my heels. Me dripping down my legs.
In the spacious car, Mister stands at the back, and you face me with your back to the doors, effectively sandwiching me.