There are few things more sensual and relaxing for me than a glorious soak in a bath tub. Usually I choose to bathe not because I'm feeling dirty, that's what showers are for, but because it feels like the most luxurious treat imaginable.
So having more time than expected, I gave myself a spa treatment. It takes far less money to create an extra soothing and intensely pleasurable bath than most people realize; for me it's generally less than a dollar. With the curtains closed throughout the house, lights off everywhere, the bathroom door open, a perfect soft light was able to settle itself quietly around my tub, just enough for comfort but that was in no way intrusive. Forgoing "mood music," I prefer the muffled sounds of the outside world, the hum of traffic just barely penetrating the walls, only enough to remind me that the busy, frantic, stressful world is "out there" while I'm inside escaping to a private and pleasurable retreat far, far away, in essentially another world.
Somehow turning on the tap for what I know will be a selfishly-sensual bath is one of the more pleasing sounds I know. That is when I add a few squirts of body oil and a half-cup or more of baking soda: total cost perhaps fifty to seventy-five cents. I watched for the first few moments as the water filled the bottom, dissolving the baking soda and combining it with the oil, and began to climb the sides of the tub. Only then did I step into the bedroom to slowly, yet steadily, undress. Part of me always wants to jump out of my clothes and into my naked self instantly, so I somewhat teased myself by slowing down. I adore being nude; don't you? The feeling of being attired only in gentle air flowing around me, in light and shadow, in freedom from convention, constriction, and everything – that is pure pleasure! I put my long hair up into a high pony tail partly to keep it out of the water but mostly to increase my feeling of total nakedness.
When the tub is half full that's when I most like to ease into the almost-too-hot water for then I can both nestle into what's there and enjoy the churning, rising, enveloping sensation. Each time I do so there is a tiny part of me that fears, yet eagerly anticipates, that the water will completely submerge me as I lose myself completely in the experience. Obviously, that doesn't happen; instead I inevitably find a compromise between the highest level the tub can allow and that in which I can easily relax and breathe comfortably. The water off, near silence returns, and I find just that position in which I can let me muscles soften, letting my skin enjoy the nurturing saline water akin to the ocean's level, and my mind can trail off wherever it desires. After I've turned on my stomach for a while then back again, for added comfort I sometimes place a tri-folded washcloth over my eyes to help me mentally shut out the world, to exist only within the water-blurred boundary of my skin and in my gradually decelerating yet still meandering mind, changing thoughts naturally as with the tidal flow or waves themselves. Soon, every aspect of my being has a soft glowing smile of joy. How much time passed like this I don't know, only that the water wasn't yet too cool.
This is how my lover saw me when he returned home. Some distant part of me had heard him come in, had registered it as a safe and welcomed concept, then my thoughts melted back to wherever they had been or to somewhere else. I mildly heard him walk into the bathroom, could practically see his special smile despite having my eyes closed, and this prompted me to smile in return before he walked back out. Within a few moments he was back, sitting on the side of the tub. My right hand reached up to him and felt his thigh, now naked, causing my smile to broaden. For a short time he didn't move, apparently simply enjoying the sight of my petite, feminine form decadently and literally soaking in pleasure.
He reached across me to get my favorite bath gloves, the ones that are a bit thicker and somewhat scalloped in texture. Sliding them on himself, he then immersed his hands into the tub, frustratingly beyond my touch, to wet and warm the gloves. He then grabbed my soap, the fragrance-free, hypoallergenic wonder that can go anywhere on or in me without any irritation and that leaves me feeling beyond clean, even more refreshingly naked. He slowly began to caress my right hand and arm, sudsing them, scrubbing them beyond "mmm, that feels great" but just before "hey, that's a too rough." With an intentionally slow method, he began to own wherever he rubbed, bringing it to life, causing everywhere else to long for his touch. It was both invigorating and calming, stimulating and reassuring, and undeniably utterly healthy. It felt like years of preconceptions, false ideals, societal expectations fell off me to soon be rinsed down the drain. It wasn't just feeling younger, but more like agelessness, unadulterated me-ness.