“I’m Colin.”
“Hello, Colin. I’m Kate.”
“I know. I had to find out who the most beautiful girl in campus was.”
His lingering gaze let her accept this statement. He made her feel alluring and confident. “Tell her I said hello.”
He beamed. “Very funny.”
She tried to move away but it was halfhearted. When she looked at him again, she shrugged. “So are you going to ask me out or do you plan to just hold me here all day?”
He laughed. “Will you let me buy you dinner tonight, Kate?”
“Okay.”
“Where do you live?”
She wrote down her address and handed it to him. “Seven okay?”
“Seven’s perfect.” He let her go, and as Kate walked away, she could feel his gaze rest on her ass. It made her body twinge. His light brown eyes and the way his sandy hair fell over them was lovely to her. She liked the softness of his hand and imagined his mouth on her. She wondered how he would feel between her legs.
That night, his smile was full of appreciation when he saw her in the short black dress. He told her she was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. His eyes danced as he moved closer, and she felt his hand on her knee under the dinner table. She wanted him too. She never believed in waiting until the next date and dousing the fire with time. Desire couldn’t survive on its own, and she didn’t like games.
She remembered how her legs had spread in the restaurant with the touch of his fingers. Why be afraid of sexuality, she used to think, yet now the thought of letting go frightened her. It was hard to remember the arousal caused by his simple touch as they rose from their first dinner together. Her fingers tingled with her need to caress him. When she stood, her legs trembled slightly so she gripped the table for support. Before Colin had his jacket on, she saw the bulge of his erection.
He put an arm around her and dropped his hand to the small of her back. When they got to her apartment, she had barely closed the door before his hands were on her waist. He kissed her, his tongue exploring her lips and moving between them with an urgency that made her step back. He held her face with soft fingers as his mouth possessed her. His lips tasted of coffee and salt.
She climbed the gentle curves of his back as he traced a line from her cheek down her neck and to her breasts, where they skimmed her nipple and made her breath catch. Then his mouth was on her neck. She bit her lip as his tongue followed his fingers, and he moved his hand between her legs. His palm flattened and stroked her panties.
The warmth of his touch rippled through her body as he pushed against her and she felt his erection. She wanted to hold its hardness. A sigh caught in her throat. Kate opened his button and zipper, yearning for his hot skin on hers so she could feel his excitement pulsing. She wondered if he would taste as salty there too.
Colin stroked inside her panties and moved through her wetness, his other hand on her buttocks. His fingers entered her, bringing her head back and making her grip flail around his cock, so he was able to move downward with his lips, skimming the light fabric of her dress.
Kate’s mouth opened in a long silent moan as she watched his head lower and knew those soft lips of his would soon be between her legs. Her body was rigid and tight against the wall in expectation as he pulled the soaked panties sideways, and his breath sent waves of pleasure through her, even before he pushed her legs apart and licked her softly.
She flattened her hands against the wall as he tasted the sides of her pussy. He lapped her up, taking his time, his tongue moving from one end to the other in delicious slowness. Lost in the feel of his mouth, she barely kept from coming. The thought of his hard penis inside her grew too much to bear and she pulled him up, digging her fingers into his shoulders from need.
He stood, and with quick, grasping hands, she pulled his cock inside her so it could soak up the wetness that made her pubes glisten. He moved slowly and she came within seconds, her trembling making her body shudder.
Colin waited until she grew still in his arms then turned her around. He groaned as he entered her from behind. Her dress was up by her waist, her panties pulled to the side and his trousers around his ankles. She closed her eyes as she pictured how they looked together while his groans filled the space around them.
“Oh God,” he moaned, making her smile. She felt him come and pushed against him as he wriggled his ass, and a continuous “Mmm” moved from his mouth onto her back.
When he let her go, she faced him. They both smiled. There was no unease and she had no qualms about what she wanted to do next. He pulled up his trousers, and she took him by the hand and led him upstairs.
* * * *
Now it was hard for Kate to believe she and Colin had started the way they had. She was wondering if she would someday be unable to trust that memory when she heard the garage door opening. She sat up and listened to her husband enter their house and take the steps to the bedroom, where she waited, already dressed for the party with a book in her hand.
“Hi, Kate!” Colin’s footsteps were heavy on the staircase. When she felt his presence at the bedroom door, she turned. He took off his tie, his face blank. He didn’t look at her light blue dress. It had once been his favorite.
“Where were you?”
“At the office. I talked to you.” He moved toward their en-suite bathroom as he unbuttoned his shirt.
“I rang back straight away and they told me you were gone.”
He didn’t miss a stride. “I told them not to accept calls from anyone. I was in the middle of something.” He smirked during his last words.
She wanted to step closer, sure she could smell sex in the air. But her doubts kept her feet rooted to the floor. “I said it was your wife.”
“I said, ‘anyone.’”
The bathroom door closed between them and she heard the shower start. So that’s who she was—just anyone. She had known it for a while.
Eventually he came out with a towel wrapped around him and put on jeans and a fresh shirt. When he finished dressing, he finally looked at her. “Okay, you ready?”
She stood. Her hair lay across her shoulders and was pulled back from her face. She wore a little makeup that enhanced the brown in her eyes, and a pale lipstick softened her full lips. She nodded, hoping he would notice her effort.
He smiled back, too quickly, hardly seeing her. “I left the wine in the car.”
Kate waited after he’d gone, watching the door of their bedroom and hoping to see his body rewind to the space he had left, so she could get a second glance at his smile and let it fill the part of her stomach that had dropped.
“You coming?” he shouted from downstairs. “Kate, come on!”
Colin’s impatience brought her back to the present. The light had shifted, filling the room with shadows. He waited at the front door and opened it with her approach. She threw a light blue cardigan over her shoulders. He stepped outside and waited for her to follow. As Colin took her hand, she imagined the shadows coming out to play.
* * * *
A year after their first date, Colin took Kate to the beach near his house. They’d brought a picnic and a blanket. It was a warm spring day, the sky a bright lapis blue. They laughed trying to put the blanket on the sand with straight lines as the breeze kicked under it.
Kate sat first and became aware of his still-standing form after a few seconds. She had to shield her eyes when she looked up, until he moved. She smiled then because he was large enough to blot out the sun.
She remembered his dark silhouette going down on one knee. His smile was shaky. She loved his nervousness that day as much as the romance, loved the