The heat in the laconium was so intense my nipples were burning. I stretched out, luxuriating in the feeling of warmth that penetrated my entire body. I wasn't sure how long I could take this temperature; I'd worked my way up gradually but this was really too much. I reached out my hand, curious to see how hot the tiled walls were and yelped as my locker key, strung on a blue rubber band, fell against my bare skin. It was so hot it left a red mark, and the walls proved too hot to touch for long. Under the white towel on which I was lying, even the stone slab was burning and too much for bare flesh to rest against.
All the same, I was going to stay here a little longer in the dry heat before I ventured into the humid hell of the steam room. There was a space between my shoulders and the slab, and I could feel the sweat trickling off my skin. I felt totally relaxed, limp, given up to the heat that assaulted me from the vents in the walls, from the walls themselves, from the stone on which I lay. I let my thighs fall apart, welcoming the power as it penetrated my cunt, seducing me with its relentlessness. My skin looked polished, filmed with a light sheen of sweat. My thoughts couldn't help but take an erotic turn - something about the lassitude induced by the heat, my nakedness, the slab on which I lay like a sacrificial victim... A pity, really, that they didn't allow mixed naked sessions - this would be such a perfect place for an orgy.
I loved being naked in public, even if it was just with other women as here. There was little natural illumination, the rooms were vaulted with grimy skylights which let in only a little grey daylight whatever the weather was like outside. The place was lit for the most part by dim light bulbs in glass bell shades which bounced yellow light off the Victorian glazed tiles and vaguely Moorish decoration. The mosaic floors were cracked and the whole place had a slightly shabby, old-fashioned feel about it. In here I felt cut off from the outside world; I could have been an inmate in a harem, with nothing better to occupy my days than to perfect and pamper my body so as to find favour with my Sultan some night...
The muted chatter of the other women reinforced this feeling. We all had our reasons for retreating from the world for a few precious hours during which we abandon! ed ourselves to the sensuality of extreme heat, sudden bone-chilling cold, water, steam and sweat. For me it was a time to dream and indulge my fantasies. Sometimes I relaxed to the point where I fell asleep. The only downside was that I invariably became aroused but had to refrain from doing anything about it - yet even that enforced restraint could be intensely erotic. I would become acutely aware of the throb from my clitoris, the slight swelling of my labia, the slickness that wasn't just sweat between my thighs... But naked as I was, there was nothing I could do - if anyone saw me fingering myself I risked being thrown out and possibly banned from returning and frankly it wasn't worth it. I needed this place... I shifted, parting my thighs still further, feeling my cunt open to the thrust of the heat that invaded every pore. I stretched like a cat, my loosened limbs lengthening. But the heat sat on my chest like a heavy weight, pressing me into the stone on which I lay. It was definitely time to go to the steam room.
I sat up slowly, carefully - I knew if I got up too quickly I'd feel dizzy and disorientated. I swung my legs onto the floor and wrapped one of my towels loosely around me. I padded down to the relative cool of the tepidarium where I helped myself to a paper cone of water from the tap. I had to let the tap run for a while - the water came out hot at first. I slaked my thirst with a couple of conefuls, dropped the used cone into the bin and walked through to the steam room.
Leaving my towels outside the door on the hooks, I entered the humid atmosphere. The wet heat hit me like a damp smothering blanket. The air was misty with steam and I flopped onto one of the chairs just inside the entrance. It was covered with a sodden towel. There were a couple of other women in there, one naked like me, the other modestly clothed in a swimming costume. Some of the women preferred that - personally I liked to exhibit my body, imperfect as it was. I spent a lot of time at the gym and it could have been worse but my breasts were heavy and round, my stomach curved more than I'd have liked. I didn't care though. I was proud of my long legs and couldn't help but enjoy the way the other women sneaked glances at my shaven cunt when they thought I wasn't looking. Plenty of other women used the baths naked but oddly I'd never seen anyone else with a shaven cunt - but like them, I too couldn't help looking....
Condensation dripped from the ceiling and drained into a grille set into the sloping mosaic floor. I felt stifled in here - I just couldn't take it, even though the eucalyptus with which the steam was scented was getting to work in my lungs and doing me good. My hair hung now in damp tendrils and sweat was running freely down my body. I got to my feet and left, having only spent a few minutes in there - it was all I could ever manage, although some women stayed in there fior ages. Then again, some of them never ventured into the plunge pool... For me this was one of the great draws of the place. All my life I'd dreamed of what it must be like to swim naked and so far, this was the only place in which I'd managed it. Nevertheless, although I relished it once I was in, getting in was easier said than done. Always I had to steel myself, tentatively dipping in first one toe, then both feet and then gradually walking down the steps into the freezing water, pausing indecisively near the bottom, knowing I had to submerge myself and that once I had it would feel wonderful, but having to nerve myself to do it for what felt like ages. It was true, though, that once I finally took the plunge, that swim up and back in ice-cold water, naked, was the thing I enjoyed most about the whole experience.