"I told you in high school that I loved you," he said, sitting down next to her on the oversized couch.
"That you'd cut your heart out and set it on a silver platter. I remember." Two people could easily be side by side on this sofa, she thought.
"And I remember the look on your face. It broke my heart," he said.
"I couldn't respond any other way. I liked you too much. You were my best friend." She scooched over a little.
"And you were mine. I was willing to take that chance," he said.
"I wasn't. You were going to go away to school in a couple of months and I would have been all by myself."
He put his arm up on the cushion. "I wouldn't have abandoned you."
"I guess, all these years later, I see that. Because here we are."
"Here we are," he said, holding her gaze.
"Yes. I never stopped thinking about you as my best friend," she whispered.
"And I never stopped loving you," he said softly, his hand now gently stroking her hair.
"So what are you going to do about that?"
His mind raced. She had a husband and two daughters and they all looked so loving in the photos on her Instagram account. He had a wife and a daughter, but his wife wasn't interested in sex anymore. Hadn't been for years. He was as lonely as lonely gets.
He looked at her, older of course; they both were. But she was just as beautiful as ever, inside and out. She held his gaze and gave a subtle nod.
He leaned over and put his wine on the coffee table, then reached and did the same with hers. "Are you sure? Your marriage is a lot happier than mine."
"Things aren't always as they appear," she said. "Do you really want to keep talking? Do you want to let this awesome couch go to waste? Do you want this moment to..."
He leaned in and kissed her before she could finish that thought. Fire raced through his body, a fire that he hadn't felt in years, that he didn't know he still could.
After a minute or so, she pulled back. "Easy there, my friend. We have all night."
His breathing slowed. He wanted her and he didn't want to wait, but it had to be the right way.
"Now," she said, "I know our bodies aren't quite what they once were, but this is our first time. Would you...would you undress me?"
"I would be happy to," he said, unbuttoning her blouse, letting his fingers graze her skin as he did so, and then caressing her arms as he slid her top off.
He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her in. Reaching behind her, he unhooked her bra, nibbled on her ear and her neck, slid the straps down her arms, and ever so softly fondled her breasts and flicked her nipples.