At the end of a week when we'd had to share a hotel room, my colleague Kate and I had had fantastic sex together and fallen asleep in each other's arms. The course we were on was to continue the following week.
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Friday morning was sweet. The alarm found us curled around each other in my bed, and we took a few moments to hold each other and kiss deeply. Going through our routines, we exchanged brief touches and glances as we passed each other entering or leaving the bathroom, or heading to and from the wardrobe while packing our bags. This was the last day of the course for the week, and we'd be heading home straight from the training centre this afternoon. I admired Kate's naked form, but without the dizzying, breathtaking astonishment of earlier days, and when she covered it with her clothes I felt an assurance that I'd see it again the following week.
We didn't say much, but smiled a lot, and before going down to breakfast we hugged, and gazed into each other's eyes. Her pupils were wide, masking some of the blue, but I noticed flecks of pale green and hazel making the blue which was visible all the more intense. The creases at the corners of her eyes betrayed the wide smile below, and I looked down to her mouth as she spoke and noticed her teeth, not a perfect white, nor large and even like a dentist's advert, but pretty and neat, and I recalled the feel of them against my tongue, and against my prick.
"So what do we do next week if they've got two rooms for us?" she asked, serious for a moment.
"Well, we have to take them I s'pose." I held her eyes. "...For propriety's sake. But I'd prefer to keep sharing with you... if..."
Kate's mouth resumed its smile, and she nodded. "I'd like that too."
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On Monday afternoon, following a day on software vulnerability which surpassed our expectations by being almost interesting, Kate and I again wheeled our bags noisily across the hotel car park. The manager was on reception and she greeted us warmly, and genuinely. "Welcome back! I hope you had good weekends? You'll be relieved to know you've each got your own room this week! There was a cancellation, and we've prioritised you, of course. We're so sorry about last week. We'd like to extend the free bar to this week too, if you'd be interested..?" We were, and thanked her. "So we have the room you had last week -- which of you would like that?"
We looked at each other, each wordlessly offering the other first choice. Kate spoke. "Yeah, I'd quite like that. Nice room." She glanced at me and I felt myself blush and look away.
The receptionist checked Kate in, and turned to me. "You're on the same corridor, a few rooms along. We thought that would be convenient, and we've made sure you also have a view over the gardens."
"Ah, great, thank you!" I feigned enthusiasm and wondered how they'd feel about it at the end of the week when I hadn't spent more than a few minutes in there, and hadn't even creased the sheets on the bed. Still, it was paid for, and they owed us after the previous week, or at least they thought they did, though Kate and I had made the most of our enforced share.
Fifteen minutes later we'd assessed my room and agreed it was no better than our original one, now officially Kate's, and I was unpacking back there while she did the same. There was no embarrassment this time when she pulled a handful of underwear from the case open on her bed and looked up to find me watching, and flashing her a quick eyebrow raise to acknowledge the echo from last week, and the difference. She stretched her arm towards me, a flurry of bra straps and knickers spilling from her fist as she waved them at me briefly, and whisked them away to a drawer with a smirk.
At dinner we talked again about the training course and the other people on it, stuff in the news, our journey to Dorset and the state of the roads... Anything except us, our situation, our relationship, what would happen next, what was happening now. When we'd parted on Friday we were full of affection and I, at least, of hope, but a fraught start to our journey that morning in heavy traffic had meant we'd exchanged no more than a peck on the lips.
After eating we took a turn round the hotel garden in the late sunshine. We drifted slowly across the lawn to where it met the trees, and turned to walk in their shade parallel to the hotel, squinting occasionally when the sun caught a window and speared into our faces.
"Did you look at our photos over the weekend?" Kate's unexpected question startled me, and I was slow to provide my simple answer.
"Yes, I... Yes, I did."
I turned my head to see a half-smile and raised eyebrows. "And did you... enjoy yourself... with them?"
I laughed at her coy phrasing, given that the primary subject matter of the photos was evidence of my having enjoyed myself all over various parts of her body. "No, actually. I could have, but I was looking forward to this week, and kind of.. saving myself".
"Oh - optimistic!" Kate teased. "And very, err, thoughtful of you." There was a short pause, and I asked the question I'd been musing on at the weekend while looking through the pictures, at the same time as suppressing the stirrings in my groin, and the disbelief in my mind that the scenes depicted could possibly have unfolded.
"Did you?"
"What?"
"The photos..."
"Oh. Yeah, same. I looked. Couldn't believe I'd agreed to let you take them, never done that before. Dunno what came over me. Ohhh!" She stopped in her tracks realising immediately her unintended pun, as I laughed so hard that I coughed, and stumbled on the grass. I recovered my balance and turned, still laughing, to see Kate laughing back. Our eyes met and locked together, and I stepped forward at the same time as her, and found myself wrapped around her, and our lips meeting, and our tongues, finally allowing expression to what I'd been holding back all day, euphoric to find her reciprocating.
We broke off our kiss and looked at each other for a few seconds, and I took her arm and began to pull her with me, back towards the hotel. She laughed and ran ahead of me, grabbing my hand and pulling me in turn. We ran back across the lawn and hurried into the hotel, through reception and up the stairs to her room. I pushed the door closed behind me, reluctant against its spring, but Kate stopped me. "No, wait!" She reached on to the desk top. "Your room." She brandished my key card with a grin and pushed past me to the door.
We scampered up the corridor, Kate giggling, and as I closed the door behind me this time, she turned, wild-eyed, and snatched at the hem of her well-fitted top with both hands, lifting it swiftly over her head and off, and dropping it to the floor, revealing her trim torso and a pretty pink bra. I pulled at my own T-shirt as quickly as I could, so as not to miss a moment as Kate twisted her arms behind her back. She undid the fastener, slipped the straps from her strong shoulders, and let the bra fall in front of her. I sighed audibly to see again her small, pale breasts, her lovely nipples, the lines and contours of her body.