Today, just as a reference, is March 8th 2010 and it is quarter to one at midday. It is Monday and for work reasons I am sat in my car in a car park on the mountain on MontjuΓ―c here in Barcelona, well perhaps it is not only for work reasons. The day is overcast and grey and in many places in barcelona it is snowing, something almost unheard of here.
I have a view of Barcelona laid out in front of me and I am sat here waiting to meet someone, we have agreed to meet here in the car park and then go for lunch somewhere in Barcelona.
I am beginning to regret having agreed to this as it is really quite cold, every now and then I turn the motor on and get the heating going but sitting here is a little suspicious and two people have already knocked on the window to ask if I am ok.
Another part of my problem is that I am wearing a pretty nice dress, a body hugging number that is quite sexy but also professional. Apart from that I have only my underwear on and my stockings.
Over this I am wearing a Jackie Kennedy type coat which is not really appropriate for the day and the only concession I have made to the day is to not wear the heels I had selected but black knee high boots with stiletto heels. The boots are a little racy but you can't see that they reach over my knees when I am standing because of the length of my dress.
Ok so now to answer the obvious question, what am I doing freezing in my car instead of waiting in a bar somewhere, or at the office. Well the answer is simple, the man I am waiting for is an old flame of mine, a guy I once had a very passionate affair with. He is married but is what is called "un cuarenton interessante", an interesting forty year old.
He is a supplier for my company and whilst we don't actually do any business now we meet up occasionally for lunch. Why am I dressed as I am, well I am sure you can all guess, I am hoping I will inspire him to forego lunch and take me somewhere where we can relive the passion we once enjoyed together. He suggested meeting here and I have taken this as a sign that maybe he is thinking of more than just lunch.
As I have said, he is around forty, ten years older than me, married with three children to a lovely women who I also know very well.
He is the owner of his own company, as I am, and we know each other through our families in addition to the professional link we had in the past. I have known him for many years but lost contact with him until the day he phoned me at work and asked if I was interested in seeing him to give him the chance to sell me some of his products. As I knew him from the past I agreed and we arranged to have lunch together.
An awful lot of my affairs have started over lunch in one of Barcelona's many excellent restaurants.
I went to the restaurant with no expectations whatsoever and walked in expecting to see a grown up version of the child I had known. I remember I looked around the restaurant as the waiter took my jacket and totally failed to recognise him. I only knew who he was when a very attractive man stood up and came over to me.
He had changed so much, as often happens of course. Now he is tall, quite slim but with a swimmer's shoulders. Dark hair that is thinning but he wears it very short and it suits his face. Now I know that his physique is due to his interest in triathlons.
He came over to me smiling and we shook hands and kissed, as is typical here. He smelt wonderful, I recognised the cologne Agua de Gio. With wonderful manners he escorted me over to his table and we ordered drinks. We chatted about families and business and if my eyes were all over him I also saw clearly that his were all over me.
He told me about his family, his wife and children. I was mildly surprised to hear that he was married to a woman I had known in school. She had been three years ahead of me and I remembered her as being very pretty then. Her parents had been friends of mine then and I think we had even been to family parties together. Our lives were linked in many different ways and by the end of the lunch we had even hammered out the basics of a business agreement that was going to be of great interest to both of us.
Quite apart from the social and business side of our lunch I couldn't deny that I felt strongly attracted to him. He was good looking, funny, attentive and very provocative. He made jokes that were a little risque and made me blush slightly but were never in bad taste.
I am not normally a physical person, wait let me explain that. I have friends of mine who are alway touching men, you know, a hand on their arm, a rubbing of shoulders that is almost accidental. I know that this sends a very clear message to most men, a message I normally don't want to send.
But with this man, let's call him Andreu, I found myself wanting these little moments of contact. We drank our wine at the same time, we leant forward towards each other when we were speaking, he offered to let me taste his dessert. We were very correct but by the end of the lunch the atmosphere was far from just businesslike.
Nevertheless nothing happened, he agreed to come to my office with some samples and we shook hands and kissed again as I left.
He was as good as his word and duly passed by my office with samples, we agreed terms and he asked me if I wanted to have lunch again the week after. I was regrettably busy the day that he mentioned but in my turn I asked him if he was going to attend the trade fair that was scheduled for the week after that. He said he was and so I slyly said we might want to go together.
The fair was scheduled in Madrid, about eight hours from us by car, and lasted three days. He readily agreed and offered to take his car, I agreed and we arranged to meet outside my apartment block.
After he left I was certain that I was in for a great three days in Madrid. No married man would agree to drive to Madrid with a single woman and have no ulterior motive surely, plus we had only met up again a week before. I immediately left work saying I had some visits to make and went shopping!
The day duly arrived, a cold winter's day like today, and I was waiting inside the entrance to my building dressed modestly but well.