Discretion was important. So the arrangements had been made well ahead of time.
They met at the Starbucks across the street from the hotel. He had already checked in. His second room card was passed discreetly across the table. They chatted briefly and left separately.
She arrived first, unpacking the few personal items she brought. It wasn't an overnight visit, it was an escape. She had to be home by 10, otherwise there would be questions she didn't want to, or couldn't, answer.
Ten minutes later he arrived. There were few words exchanged. Time meant something in this encounter. He was in her city, thousands of miles away for what could be once in a lifetime. For her to get away alone on a weeknight, without needing a lie or an alibi, was unimaginably difficult given her controlling husband and four demanding children. For both to happen on the same night was a stroke of fortune that neither of them wanted to waste.
Although they had played out many encounters by text, voice, and even a few by video, they had no model for doing so in real life. For the first time they would find out their respective realities. Touch, smell, taste, feel. Did she really like it that way? Did he really touch that way? Were they just playing before, or were those encounters as real as what they were about to do?
They had both been wracked with nerves for days, worried they would not measure up, worried they would fail, would disappoint, would squander this once in a lifetime chance.
He took her by the hand to the bathroom. "let's have a shower".
He stood her beside the tub and started to take her clothes off. Her t-shirt over her head, her shorts down to the floor. Gentle and slow. She stood in front of him in a modest bra, and plain panties. She thought about wearing something special, but her husband would have suspected something immediately and might even have taken it for an invitation. No, plain was better. Normal.
