It was Randy's idea to shower together - "to save time" he said - but it obviously so we could make out under the warm water. I hadn't even gotten my hair wet when he wrapped his arms around me and his lips pressed against mine ... and then our tongues wrestled each other. Even in the shower our desire to fight came out -- he would pin me against the wall so he could kiss and grope and rub me and I would push him up against an opposite wall and give him the same loving treatment. I haven't been so aroused by another man in a long time and yet, all I kept thinking about was how we had only just met a little over an hour ago and how fast this had been. Something was going to happen to make me regret this. Something was going to ruin the moment. But as these thoughts would try to monopolize my brain he would shove his tongue into my mouth and I would sigh and my knees would bend a bit and I would forget any of the worries I was having.
We dressed -- Randy only putting on his shirt and slacks and leaving his tie and jacket on a hook in the bathroom. "Dinner?" he asked. "I know this great Thai place about twenty minutes from here."
"Sure" I said. "I love Thai."
"Good, because the loser pays!" He punched me playfully in the arm and we both laughed. A half an hour later we were seated at a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant which was literally in the main floor of someone's house ... and was by far the finest Thai food I have ever eaten in my entire life.
Our conversation during dinner was as spirited as our wrestling had been. He told me about his career as a teacher and how he had gotten disenchanted with the bureaucracy and went into real estate. I told him about my promotion and my philandering boyfriend and how I really wasn't going to miss the hectic pace of Los Angeles.
"So, you're single?" he asked.
"Yes," I said as I sipped my beer, hesitating before I asked my next question. "You?"
He smiled and played with the rim of his glass. "I was married. Way too young to know what I was getting myself into, so we got divorced. Then I was engaged to a man who turned out to be an abusive and controlling psychopath. It seems like I rush into things without thinking and just end up getting myself hurt."
That made the Thai food in my stomach churn a little. He realized what he said and quickly apologized "I didn't mean that about today. Today was a case of striking while the opportunity was there. I was afraid that if we just exchanged phone numbers and planned to meet at a later time it would never happen."
"So I looked easy?"
"Of course not" he said. "I did, however, see the look in your eye when I showed you the wrestling mats ... so I decided to see where you would go with it."
"I see" I said, moving my food around with my fork.
"You're offended."
"I'm not offended ... I just don't want you to think I do this all the time. This was the first time I've ever been so ... careless. I usually get to know the guy a little and ..."
Randy patted my hand. I knew it was his attempt at holding it to make me feel better but as we were in a very tiny restaurant I guess he didn't know how comfortable I would be hand holding. He smiled at me.
"I don't think any less of you for today. It was my idea as much as it was yours. I'm just as careful and usually a lot slower ... I just didn't want you to slip away and never hear from you again."
"So, you thought I was one of those guys who would say he was going to call and never does?"
He smiled "I didn't know what kind of guy you were. I just didn't want you to walk out of there and risk never having the chance to speak with you again."
"We didn't do a lot of talking this afternoon."
"So ... you regret it now?" He was annoyed, and it wasn't my plan to annoy him.
"Of course I don't regret it, Randy. I just want to clarify if today was nothing more than a horny encounter between two guys which had no more significance than most gay videos ... or if there is something more to this?"
He smiled at me and sipped his beer. "How about friendship? How about we start out being friends -- friends who happen to get really turned on by the same thing - and leave it there for now?"
I nodded and said I was fine with that. It was a lie, but it was better than having today being nothing more than rolling around a basement with a Realtor I was never going to hear from again.
He seemed to be reading my mind when he said "I don't want you think today was some rough one-night-stand ... I was attracted to you and was pretty sure we had a connection and ... I took advantage of that."
"Attracted to me" I thought. I have to admit that it was a surprise to hear that. I have wrestled plenty of guys and I have gotten pretty intimate with most of them but never have I ever heard a guy say he was "attracted" to me. To me, that was an admission of something more than just rolling around on a mat and jerking each other off. Maybe I was being overly romantic -- but Randy seemed sincere about this.
The waitress came over and placed a hand-written check on the table and I went to take it when Randy snatched it away from me.
"I thought you said the loser was supposed to buy dinner?" I asked.
"I know, but we have two more falls to determine this match so you're still the west coast champion for now ... until I win one more round, that is."
"Only in your dreams are you going to win," I smiled back at him. We finished our drinks and drove back to the house. It was dark now and Randy suggested we leave the lights off upstairs "just in case" any neighbors were paying attention. "We can stick to my cleaning the basement alibi."
We went down to the basement and stripped again, this time all of our clothing coming off so we could begin "round two" the way we had ended "round one." Randy was ahead by one victory so I knew I had to pull out all of my tricks to win this one. We squared off against each other and were about to move in when he suddenly held his hands up and said "Whoa! Computer!"
"I don't have you in a hold yet?" I said.