Life is full of surprises, but the one I received from my girlfriend Claire was one of the few that have come closest to literally flooring me. We were on a four-day break in Amsterdam, sin capital of Europe, but not for Claire. No, for Claire Amsterdam was art galleries, old buildings and canals. I was relaxed with that; I find Der Wallen depressing and my days of hanging out in cannabis cafes are long gone, along with most of my hair. Seriously, being a stoned forty-year-old leering at bored shop window prostitutes is a bad look, at least for me.
We were on our third day in the Dutch capital and had thus far avoided any hint of the steamy underside of the city. It was a beautiful, sunny spring day and we sat outside eating a light breakfast. After the waiter had cleared the plates Claire reached out her hand and suggested we go for a walk. It was fine by me as I was feeling a little culture fatigue. If I saw another Rembrandt or Van Dyke my brain was going to melt.
"I don't think you want to go this way," I said as Claire turned along a canal I knew led to Der Wallen. Her expression asked the question so I explained that it was the red light district and just what it consisted of. To my surprise Claire didn't seem quite as horrified as I expected.
"You mean they're sitting in the windows even at this time of day?" Claire asked, surprised at quite how twenty-four hour Amsterdam is as a sex city.
"Yep, but it's going to be pretty quiet until late afternoon."
"I'd like to have a look at it," said Claire thoughtfully, "but it doesn't mean I approve."
"Fine. I don't think much of it but if you really want to..."
We wandered hand-in-hand through the narrow streets, some tourists staring at the sad prostitutes in the few windows that were occupied at eleven in the morning. I couldn't get over the feeling that the women were working out their shopping lists in their heads, or wondering if they needed to get a plumber in, or any number of things that took them away from the fact that they looked like exhibits in a freak show or a zoo. Claire, on the other hand, was fascinated.
"Do you think it arouses them to be on show like this?" she asked me, as she looked at one particular large woman in a black and red corset.
"I think it's probably just an unfortunate but necessary part of the job for them."
I started to pull Claire further along, wanting to get out and breathe some cleaner air. Don't get me wrong; I'm no puritan, but I can never stop myself speculating about the hard choices that these women have probably had forced on them. I feel the same when I see streetwalkers. It's one of the reasons why I can never bring myself to pay for sex.
I found myself wanting some high culture again but Claire hadn't finished looking around, and a young mixed-race prostitute now enthralled her. The woman was obviously uninterested in anything except the conversation in her head, her white underwear and stockings almost blue in the UV light as she stared into the middle distance.
"I might get a little aroused being looked at. You know, desired," said Claire, and it felt to me that she was thinking out loud.
"Well, it might be fine for a few minutes but what when a bunch of drunk morons start leering?"
"Hmm, you might be right," said Claire.
We spent a few more minutes walking around, and I was starting to get the glooms from the resolutely un-sexy atmosphere. It turns out that the place was having the opposite effect on Claire.
She suddenly pulled me along another street and stopped outside a porn cinema.
"Come on, let's have a look," said Claire enthusiastically.
"Are you serious?"
"Where's your sense of fun?"
To the best of my knowledge Claire had never seen pornography in her thirty-one years and I doubted that she knew what to expect. I tried to talk her out of it, certain that she was going to get outraged after a couple of minutes and not wanting to have a long discourse on the evils of men. Claire was not to be denied, though, telling me to buy two tickets while she went to the toilet.
Five minutes later we walked into a smallish auditorium. We were immediately struck by the sight and sound of the woman on screen. She was on all fours, with a man taking her from behind and another in her mouth. Claire was standing stock still in the aisle by the door, her lips parted as she stared fixedly at the images and I was waiting for the explosion of righteous anger followed by a swift about turn. But instead of writing off twenty euros Claire turned to me and nodded to a couple of seats in the corner of the penultimate row.
The cinema was basically empty. A couple of other male patrons were sitting in corners of the auditorium and didn't even notice our entry. We went along the row and Claire took the seat next to the wall with me on her left. She could hardly tear her eyes off the screen as we negotiated our way to the seats and as soon as we sat down she leant over to me.
"Is it always like this?" she whispered.
"Depends. There's loads of different genres," I replied, and I felt myself being quite affected by the overwhelming moans of the redhead being taken so vigorously. I crossed my legs to hide my increasing interest in the images as Claire looked back to see the woman changing position, climbing on to the cock of one of her paramours. Several minutes passed.
"I'm not wearing panties," Claire whispered in my ear as she leant in to me again, and there was a new note of huskiness in her voice, "I took them off in the toilet."
I was dumbfounded, thunderstruck, staggered, speechless. I think my mouth was hanging open as I turned to look at Claire. The lust was evident in her eyes and I saw that she had adjusted her knee length print skirt, pulling it up to the top of her thighs. She took my hand and put in on the inside of her leg and gave me a little pleading look. Well, what is a gentleman to do?
I moved my hand gently up her inner thigh and sure enough, after a moment, I brushed against her lips and Claire's mouth formed a perfect 'o'. She rested her head against my shoulder and I moved my hand up, circling her mound as she let out a stream of air. She was gently moving her hips in time with my hand and I tried to concentrate, not think of my iron hard cock.
I let my fingers trail down and Claire let out the tiniest gasp as I softly touched her clit then continued and let my forefinger rest on her hole. She was soaking, which caused another pleasant jump inside my pants, but this was clearly about something inside her. I pushed my finger a little way into her and then pulled it out, using her juices as I ran my finger back up her slit. She was trembling a little now, which became more pronounced as ran my finger back down.
I started to use two fingers, moving up and down with her lips between them, loving her heavy breathing in my ear as she relaxed into me, angling her hips to allow me to touch her anywhere I wanted. Her need was primal and nothing like the poised, elegant socialist social worker I was used to. I'd enjoyed her being horny before on many occasions, but absolutely nothing as wanton as this.
Moving down I pushed my finger into her again, deeper this time as I began to rub my thumb around her clit and she let out a quiet gasp again, moving her hips more vigorously against my hand. She was so wet that I slipped a second finger into her, fucking her as her face contorted. I built up speed, and she pushed back against me, meeting my rhythm as her legs opened wider and wider.
She looked back at the screen and immediately her legs were as far apart as she could get them. I followed her gaze and saw that the redhead on screen had been joined by a third man and was being righteously fucked in all her holes. I'd never seen Claire as turned on as she was by this and I pushed a third finger into her, sure that this would satisfy her.
I could feel that she was building up to a big orgasm and I didn't let up, even as she sunk her teeth into my shoulder to muffle her moans. I looked around the auditorium to make sure we hadn't gathered an audience, and then let my third finger slip out of her pussy and press against her arsehole. This was too much for her and she stared to buck and shake, coming as she sat in a porn cinema for undoubtedly the first time in her life. She was silent, clearly trying to hide her pleasure from any observers. It was more difficult for me, as not only was she leaving indelible teeth marks on my shoulder, but also she was also ferociously digging her nails into my chest through my shirt, making me almost cross-eyed from pain.
As the waves swept through her she was finally able to let her head fall back, her mouth slack but no sound escaping from her. She pushed her pussy hard on to my fingers four more times and then was still as I gently pulled out of her. I looked at her face, clearly flushed even in the dark light of the cinema.