The Earth Moved

Natalie was, in every conceivable way, out of bounds. She was, like me, married - in a union characterized by obvious mutual love and respect. She was a long time family friend of my wife Emma; the two had remained on good terms since adolescence. And while she was no prude, her character was one of a pretty high moral standard - her job frequently required her to be the ethical backstop for her clients, a responsibility she took seriously. It was obvious she valued the straight and narrow.

I loved this about Natalie, as I loved nearly everything about her, from her stunning brown eyes and jet black hair to her conversational style that always invited comments from everyone at the table and never condescended, even to those whose intellects paled next to her sharp and very witty mind. There was a lot to admire in her, and throughout our ten years of friendship I had grown to appreciate her on many levels. But I never allowed my love for her to obscure the boundaries - I was ever keenly aware that she was utterly off limits. She and her husband Jed were our friends, and we'd have dinner with them every month or two, each warm and pleasant evening together a clear if painful reminder of her off-limits status. It was a difficult fact to contemplate, but it was a fact.

Not that I was a raging skirt-chaser, to be sure. I loved Emma dearly and enjoyed the life we had built together. I had remained faithful despite various temptations and occasional blatant invitations in my very busy professional life. I didn't go around boasting about my fidelity, but it did give me a certain amount of private satisfaction. In recent years however that satisfaction had been waning somewhat. Since the birth of our son nine years earlier - a difficult pregnancy after several miscarriages - Emma had lost all interest in sex. At first she would rally herself a few times a month, but soon it petered out altogether, and it had been a number of years now since we'd had more than a hug. She was still the spirited and happy woman I had married, she had simply become asexual - and over the years we had morphed from lovers into friendly and trusting business partners. I had learned to carve out private time to satisfy my urges, but I couldn't deny that I longed for more intimacy than I was getting at home. I recognized that this was a dangerous state, so I did my best to avoid situations that might present tempting opportunities - conferences, retreats, office parties. I was the dedicated domestic dad.

One very hot summer morning I was shopping for groceries at the huge downtown farmer's market. There were plenty of supermarkets closer to home, but I liked buying fresh produce directly from the growers, and I loved the vibe in the massive 19th century building that housed it. Besides, in the very casual town-square atmosphere, wearing shorts and sandals and an unbuttoned shirt felt more acceptable than it would in an over-sanitized grocery store. Clasping a full canvas bag in one hand and sorting through sweet potatoes with the other, I heard a familiar voice, imitating an old-time radio announcer.

"Rex wouldn't rest until he found the sweet potato that killed his brother". I looked up to find Natalie standing beside me with her own shopping bag. In the sweltering heat she was dressed simply, in a light cotton shirt and silk skirt, but she somehow made them look glamourous. I couldn't suppress my delight.

"Hey Natalie. What's a nice goil like you doin' in a...ah never mind. Good to see you. I didn't know you shopped here."

"Likewise. I love the feel of this place. Plus," she said conspiratorially, "there's a Latvian farmer that keeps flirting with me." She nodded at a stand in the corner where a cheerful fellow in overalls and a Green Bay Packers hat stood greeting shoppers. He was at least 80. "Think I have a chance?" she said, raising one eyebrow suggestively.

"Dunno, he's pretty hot stuff. If he does ask you out to dinner, better make it smoothies. Looks like he has no teeth." Natalie giggled like a four-year-old, and I melted.

"Hey", she said, touching my arm, "I keep forgetting to ask you guys, what are you up to on Saturday the 20th? Jed will be finished his treatment and we want to celebrate. Can you come chez nous for dinner?" Jed had some kind of chronic nerve condition that occasionally flared up and required treatment.

"Sounds great. I have to talk to Emma, but I think we're good. Can I call you tonight to confirm?"

"Sure. Call me anytime." I tried to ignore the unintended innuendo, but I hesitated and she noticed, and blushed slightly. "Let me know either way", she added, trying to restore the matter-of-fact tone. Despite my every effort to avert my gaze I noticed as we talked that in the stifling heat that day she had her shirt unbuttoned further than her normally tasteful single button, treating me to an unusually expansive exposure to her cleavage. My heartbeat quickened. Just then two large farm workers carrying baskets pushed past us in the narrow passage between the tables. For several seconds I was pressed against Natalie while they passed, our bare thighs lightly touching. My left arm, having nowhere else to go, found itself wrapped around her back.

Our faces were close enough that I could smell her cologne. She looked up at me with an awkwardly apologetic expression. I wanted to make a joke to deflate the tension, but when I met her eyes I couldn't say a word, and I couldn't look away. One of the workers elbowed me slightly in passing, nudging me into Natalie and I instinctively pulled her into me to avoid pushing her on to the table. I felt her chest push up against mine, skin on skin, and I briefly felt her warm breath on my neck. She let out an involuntary "ohh" and steadied herself by putting one hand on my bare shoulder and the other on my back, and moving her right leg forward, in the process rubbing her inner thigh across mine and planting her leg between my legs, firmly against my crotch. Oh why do the fates torment me like this?

After an eternity of maybe eight or ten seconds the workers passed and we resumed our positions at a comfortable distance. Natalie fussed with her clothes and seemed flustered. The close contact had obviously embarrassed her.

"Sorry Natalie. I guess that's a hazard of shopping here," I said.

"Yeah". She looked away while she collected herself. "So, give me a call tonight?"

"Sure. I have your cell num - ". Just then we heard a deep rumbling, coming from all around us, and the tables and shelves began to shake. I glanced around and I could see the walls moving. We looked at each other in panic. "Earthquake!" I shouted. "Quick! Under the table, the roof could collapse!" We scrambled under the aluminum table in front of us. It seemed sturdy enough to fend off a falling ceiling beam, but with all the bags of produce there wasn't a lot of space. I ended up lying on top of Natalie, who was lightly quivering. I had lived in Japan in my 20s and experienced a couple of quakes there, so I had forgotten how utterly terrifying it is the first time. The shaking was bad enough that jars and ceramic containers were falling off the tables and smashing around us. I put my arms around Natalie and tried to shield her from any flying debris. I can't say I wasn't aware of the contours of her body as she held me increasingly tightly, even in this chaotic situation. I was desperately trying not to make this into some kind of erotic episode - quite the contrary, I was just thinking about protecting Natalie and surviving wherever this thing went.

But It was really tough not to get turned on. Here was a woman I'd lusted after for years, suddenly under me, grasping me as tightly as any woman ever has, with only the lightest of clothes on, with the shaking earth grinding our groins together. I realized that in the chaos Natalie's shirt had ridden up slightly at the back and one of my hands was pressed against her bare back, the flawless skin that I'd so often contemplated. One side of her skirt had also flipped up in the clamber, and while my vision was obstructed in the tight space, I slowly recognized that my crotch must be pressed right against her panties. And now in her terror Natalie had hooked her bare legs around mine, pulling me even harder. In spite of every fabric of my being screaming out "Inappropriate!" I had developed a raging erection. There was no way I could pull away, so eventually I resigned myself - assuming we survived - to the inevitable cooling of our relationship, with what she was bound to see as my boorish frat boy behavior forever hanging between us. I would not be able to sufficiently apologize for this.

As quakes go it was rather long - something like a minute, though the shaking ebbed and flowed somewhat during that time. And then it stopped. We had heard a lot of crashing, but the roof hadn't collapsed, not yet anyway. I started to get up, but Natalie held me tight. Still shaking and hyperventilating, and now moist with perspiration, she was obviously terrified enough that continued protection mattered more to her than even getting away from this idiot's unwanted hardon. I held her close, trying to reassure her that the danger had passed. I realized that my hand had now slipped under her bra strap - was that the effect of the ground shaking or my own unconscious desire? Either way I tried to slip it out without calling attention to it. But every time I tried to move Natalie held me tighter. 'Don't move' was her wordless command. I had so often entertained an impossible fantasy about being in this very position with Natalie, it seemed deeply ironic that she was resistant to my repeated efforts to pull away. If I wasn't so painfully aware of my conspicuous erection I would have really enjoyed the intimacy, innocent though it was on her part.

As we lied there together we heard the resumption of human activity around us - coughing, crying, stumbling in the debris, people checking on each other. Finally we separated and emerged from under the table. The furniture in the room had been jostled around, and in some cases tipped over, and a lot of small objects had been shaken to the ground. But by and large the room seemed intact. I looked around at the walls for cracks, but surprisingly none seemed to have appeared. I turned to Natalie, preparing what I knew would be a pointless apology.

"Natalie, I'm so sor—"

"I will never forget this", she interrupted, still panting lightly. Oh boy, here it comes. "You knew exactly what to do! You got us to safety, and you sheltered me from all the danger. If the building had come down, it would have been your actions that saved our lives. You, Jake, are a hero!" She threw her arms around me again and hugged me tightly. Now this was unexpected. Was she being sarcastic? It didn't seem like it. Perhaps she hadn't been aware of my erection. But how could that even be possible? We were literally grinding for something like a minute straight separated by maybe a millimeter of soft cotton. Perhaps she just shrugged it off as another schoolboy fantasy - boys will be boys. I'm sure she had many admirers who got worked up whenever they got close to her, though likely none as lucky in that regard as I had just been.

She hugged me for a long time - the elation of relief after danger. I didn't try to pull away, though I studiously avoided pelvic contact. If anything, my cock was getting even harder and I was now hyper-aware of her body. I swear I could feel her nipples on my chest, even through her bra, as Natalie let out a deep sigh. I guess she really wasn't mad. I wasn't sure why not, but I was happy about it - I really didn't want to jeopardize our friendship. But I was also aware of the danger of reading too much into a hug, especially a hug from someone so desirable and so utterly unavailable, so I reluctantly broke the spell.

"We should call our families and make sure they're OK."

"Yes, good idea." We let go of each other and both took out our phones.

As it turned out the effects of the quake were fairly limited within the city, mostly just the western downtown. We later learned that is was actually a relatively small quake but its epicenter had been quite close. The worst of it was out in the lake, so there was a bit of a mini tsunami on the shoreline that damaged a few boats. The farmers market happened to be right in the middle of the hardest hit land area. Jed was in a swimming pool at the time and didn't even know about the quake until Natalie reached him ten minutes later. Emma was relieved that I was OK but hadn't had much significant action at home. Things were pretty normal. We even confirmed dinner for the 20th.

Natalie and I joined the crowd of people leaving the building and headed for our cars. As we parted she stopped and looked up at me.

"I meant what I said, Jake. I'll never forget how you took charge there. And I'll always love you for it." She kissed me innocently on the cheek, but as she did she brought her hand up to my other cheek and held it there for a few seconds before she walked away. Natalie was a naturally affectionate person and quite demonstrative. I understood this well, but although I knew better, the horny rogue within me saw in this gesture all kinds of erotic significance. I really needed a cold shower.