The lift is excruciatingly slow. Pleasant music plays softly, but I can barely hear it over the singing of blood in my ears. I try to compose myself. After all, I don't want to be a lusty mess on arrival. Then the lift chimes and I alight, my eyes seizing upon door numbers Yes, here we are. Behind this door, paradise. I smooth my tie against my freshly ironed shirt. A small gesture. It will not remain around my neck for long. My fingers fumble with the key card. Why do they make electronic locks so temperamental? Can it not feel my need radiating forward? Then it clicks and the door swings upon.
The lights are dim. I feel candle smoke tickle my nostrils. Is it a temple I have entered? The edifice was not so grand, it cannot be. But incense burns, it must be. A temple to Venus then. And there is Venus, the deity herself, lounging upon vast bed like it is a cloud and she is light as air. Venus wears not her furs, but silk, satin and lace. Her golden hair falls about her flawless skin. I enter this dim grotto hesitantly. Am I worthy before this goddess? Eyelashes batter, beckon and bewitch. My feet pull me toward the bed.
Does music play or does the song of the lift echo in the now empty chambers of my mind? Thought has escaped me. Eros is ascendant and I am his avatar. No longer do I fear unworthiness. My purpose is materialised before me, an epiphany of lace and sensuous flesh. I am here to worship. But this mistress demands not the prostration of mortals. I can feel it in her expectant gaze, deep blue eyes setting forth a challenge. Worship here is not in empty prayer but in the surge of action. So I act.