Strangers

I stood with my two best friends and stared at the doorway, trying for the thousandth time to figure out what I was doing here. It was a very non-descript door in a non-descript building on the edge of the club district downtown. I was about to voice my questions to Anna once again when I saw her reach out and her fingers flew over the number pad next to the door. A second later there was a buzz and Anna's husband Charlie pulled the door back.

I shoved my reticence to the back of my mind and stepped through to the tiny entryway. It was very dark, covered in black curtains with only the two doors, one on either side of the little room. Against one of the other walls was a small counter with an LCD screen on top and a tall young guy behind the counter. He had long brown wavy hair, dark eyes and a knowing smile. He was also half naked, and I did my best not to stare.

Flanking him on either side were two more men. At first glance, they looked much older, but on closer inspection couldn't be more than a couple of years older than my thirty-six. One had very short blond hair, the other a messy mane of almost pure white. Both had light color eyes but I couldn't guess on the exact color with how dark it was in the room. They both smiled at me, neither of them with the same knowing expressions as their co-worker, for which I was grateful.

Charlie stepped up to the screen and entered in something. Then, he stepped aside for Anna. She clicked a few buttons, then picked up a stylus and signed her name. She smiled over her shoulder at me and moved to the side.

I read the questions carefully, made my answers and signed at the bottom with a slightly shaky hand. I set the stylus aside and took my spot at the back of our little group again. Charlie took out his credit card and swiped it through the slot, then added his own signature to the screen. A moment later, he was handed a receipt which he tucked into his wallet and returned to his pocket.

"Welcome to Dante's." The young man in the middle said. "For those of you who haven't been here before, there's a secure coat check around the corner to your right as you first step in. Please, make the most of your visit and enjoy."

He was talking to me. I'd never been here before, though Anna and Charlie had. They'd finally convinced me to visit once with them after a lot of cajoling on mostly Anna's part. She and Charlie said it was wonderful, especially because it was so safe.

So, I'd finally given in and done the initial sign up on the internet. It

was

safe, that much I'd admit to. I had to turn in medical information and a release so my doctor could agree. I'd always heard that you took your own chances at places like this – a sex club, for God's sake, which is one of the reasons I'd avoided even the thought of it.

When Anna had told me about this place, I was understandably skeptical. But then I went through the agreement and paperwork and found myself a little more willing to try it. I don't know why I was so concerned. Even going through those steps didn't mean I had to actually

do

anything there, but despite knowing this, I was still nervous.

Well, I was here now. The inner door buzzed and we stepped through into the club itself. With Anna and Charlie in front of me, I wasn't able to see much. My first impression was like something out of the French Quarter. Polished wood, wrought iron and Louis XIV furniture seemed to be everywhere.

Anna turned to me. "Okay, so what do you want to do first?" She had a huge grin on her pixie-like face and her light grey eyes sparkled with excitement. I stared at her a moment, unsure of how to answer. I didn't even know if I wanted to do

anything

, much less a matter of "firsts." Entirely aside from the fact that I had no idea that there were a lot of choices.

I'm not a prude, far from it. I'd spent my time when I was younger 'sowing my wild oats,' as it were. When I was still married, I'd been a very adventurous person in bed. So, it wasn't that I didn't have an imagination when it came to this sort of thing.

But to be honest, I'd been out of the game a long time. I'd been married for close to ten years. And while we'd been somewhat adventurous in that time, we'd quit having sex long before I gave up and left him. I stopped to try to figure out how long it had been since I had sex with something not made of latex and gave up before I got too depressed.

I glanced around and my eyes landed on the bar that ran along one side of the front room. "I think I'm going to check in my coat and then get a drink. Give me a chance, here, okay?"

Anna's excitement didn't seem to want to wane easily, so she threw her arms around me in a huge hug. "Okay. We're supposed to meet this other couple here, so, um, we're going to go do that, but we'll check on you shortly, okay?"

I nodded, anxious to give myself a few minutes alone. I appreciated having her nearby, but I did not want to be a both literal and figurative fifth wheel between Anna and Charlie and their friends. I turned to the small counter I'd noticed to my right. A woman who looked to be about my age stood behind it, wearing very little but otherwise not nearly as perfect as I might have expected of an employee. She had full breasts covered in a network of white straps, long blonde hair and makeup that, while was obvious, wasn't overdone.

I handed her my coat and she had me scan my thumbprint into her small LCD screen. I saw a small locker open up about half way back on the wall and she folded my trench coat up carefully and put it inside. She pushed the locker closed and came back to the counter. "It can only be opened by your thumbprint, so don't worry." She gave me a bright smile and waved.

I turned back to the rest of the club, at least the part of it I could see from my vantage point. It seemed to be one very large room, set up in sections. Along the very back was an open area meant to be a dance floor. To the right of this was the long bar I'd glimpsed earlier. Opposite the bar was a series of privacy booths that looked like normal restaurant booths enclosed in some sort of smoked glass.

In the very center of the room was a large stair case that wound up to the second floor. Next to the stair case was an elevator. Apparently, they were still concerned with their ADA compliance and when I looked further to the left, I saw why. A man was sprawled on a chaise, a wheelchair parked behind it with several women in various positions around him. I looked away quickly, and decided it was time to get a drink.

I approached one end of the bar, but decided I'd stop in the ladies' room first to make sure if I

did

decide to do anything, that I wouldn't embarrass myself. After taking care of business, I stopped in front of the sink to give myself one more minute. I started by checking my hair which of course hadn't moved since I'd put it up in the twist I was wearing. My short black dress had a single neck strap that did great things for pulling my breasts in and giving me nice cleavage while the neckline dipped low between them, showing them off. The skirt was full and fairly short, showing my stocking-clad legs to their best advantage, especially while I was wearing the killer heels I had on.

Then I stepped back to consider the rest of me. I wasn't that bad looking, I thought. I had long blonde hair, blue eyes, a round face and a good smile. I always hated my nose, though, it was round on the end. Individually, I had decent features. Put together, I wasn't so sure.

I had extra weight, too. Always fighting to lose it, but never quite succeeding, I had a good twenty extra pounds on me that I couldn't seem to get off. I had two children that helped with that, but in the end, it was my fault. I still had trouble eating salad when they ate those nice greasy cheeseburgers. All in all, I felt like I was a little too heavy, a little too plain, just a little too...well, everything.

Disgusted with myself, knowing better than to talk to myself like that, I left the bathroom and mirror behind. If someone wanted me, then who was I to question it? I approached the end of the bar where the bartender stood and scooted up onto a stool.

"Hello," he greeted me warmly. Another half-naked man, younger than me, yet again, but he was nice enough that it didn't annoy me.

"Hi. Um, shot of Jameson's and a Harp," I said, trying to smile and not look as nervous as I felt.

"Sure thing. Sounds like someone is either looking for liquid courage or can hold their liquor." He poured the shot and set it in front of me, then turned to pull my beer.

"How about a little of both?" I buried my face in my hands, while still carefully trying not to mess up my makeup. "I don't even know why I'm here." I peeked between my fingers when he set the beer on the bar in front of me. I downed the shot of Jameson's then picked up the Harp for a sip.

"I can believe that. But why would you need liquid courage?" He seemed genuinely interested, even though I knew better. His job was to be interested.

I tried to shrug it off, but then decided to just say it. "My best friend and her husband talked me into coming here. I know she means well, I know she just wanted to help me. But honestly, I'm not exactly prime material for someplace like this."

"And what material would that be?" He asked me.

I took a deep breath and studied him over my glass. Tall yet again, he had big brown eyes – the kind most women would melt over, a strong chin unmarred by facial hair and short curly hair. He was, in a word, adorable. But there didn't seem to be anything but curiosity in his eyes.

I motioned to my body. "I'm not exactly a sex goddess. My friend, now

she's

someone that the guys go for. She's got me beat by a good three inches in height, she got this long chestnut-colored hair that has natural red highlights and these grey eyes that can make a man practically beg." I tipped my glass again and took a long drink.

"Well, now, I don't know what you know of our little place here, but I've seen all sizes, shapes and colors come up to my bar. I've seen a number of women walk away with more than one man, none of them as beautiful as you." He placed another beer next to the one I was almost finished with.

I blushed at the compliment. "Thanks." I downed the rest of the first glass and slid it over to him. "I still don't know..." I trailed off, realizing I was starting to sound like a broken record to my own ears. I buried my face in my hands and sat that way for a few minutes.

I parted them just enough to be heard. "What kind of woman is it, that would allow her best friend and her friend's husband to drag her here? And what kind of men come to places like this? Just to find someone to fuck? How desperate must they be?"

I shook my head, but then I noticed the look on the bartender's face. I closed my eyes in mortification. "Someone's standing there, right?"

The bartender did his best to keep from smiling. He nodded.

I took a deep breath. "A man? Looking at me, isn't he?"

He nodded again, then the man spoke.

"Jameson's and a Harp, please." He sat next to me and I wondered if I they might possibly have trap doors set up in this place somewhere so I could be swallowed quickly and given a chance to recover from my humiliation.

I lowered my hands, picked up my beer and downed another half before I turned in my stool to the man next to me. It was a good thing I'd taken the drink and set my beer down. He was wearing a tux. I don't know where he might have come from or what he was doing wearing one there, but my first thought was that James Bond didn't make a tux look that good.

The second thing that caught my eye was the full head of silver-white hair. But incongruous to that was the smooth, very young-looking skin. Then he turned to me and his piercing blue eyes and killer smile made me forget everything else.

"Um, hi. I'm Caty and if you wouldn't mind excusing me, I'm going to go over there and hope that the floor will swallow me whole." Without looking, I picked up my glass of beer and downed the rest of it, then turned to make my escape.

Unfortunately for me the god-like man next to me had another idea. I felt a gentle hand on my arm and turned back. "I think perhaps they've taken out all the trap doors on this floor. I believe those particular tricks are all up on the third."

I felt a hysterical bubble of laughter rise and tried valiantly to push it back into place. I thought there was a chance he was making fun of me, but I didn't know for sure. They may well have had some sort of trapdoor thing but I wasn't going to be

that

adventurous, one way or the other.

"Oh, well. I've never been here before, so I suppose I wouldn't know that. Do you think, perhaps, there's another place I could go to be swallowed up and then I could stop feeling like a complete fool?"

He pretended to consider my words for a moment. "Well, Caty, I'm not sure about being swallowed up by the building, but perhaps you might consider going over to that sofa over there and sitting with me to talk for a bit instead?"

I blinked at him. He had to be making fun of me now. No way this god would want to talk to me after I made such a fool of myself. But he stood up and held his hand out to me. Not knowing a graceful way to get out of it, I took his hand and went with him.

The sofa he'd pointed at was in one of the few quiet corners in the room. It was nestled under the stairwell, by the elevator, so that it was fairly private. It was here he led me, and he settled down on one end of the sofa.

When I tried to sit on the far other end, however, he simply stood up, picked me up and set me next to him, so that we were actually touching. My nerves were already frayed, and being this near to him had my heart pounding in my chest. He smelled divine. I hadn't noticed it earlier, but being this close to him, I caught a trace of something spicy that seemed to go very well on him.

I shook my head, trying to focus back on what he was saying. "So, your friend and her husband brought you here?"

I nodded. "Anna and Charlie thought it would be good for me. Apparently, they'd decided I've been alone for too long. But you don't want to hear about that. I haven't even caught your name."

"Well, perhaps that's because I didn't throw it." And despite myself, I laughed. He took a sip of his beer, then handed it to me. "Have a sip. My full name is Seosamh, but it's a bit hard to pronounce. I tend to stick with Joe." I dutifully took a sip of the beer before handing it back to him.

"Now, you've caught my name, and I do want to hear about it, but if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay, too. I'm also here because of my friends. Mine are Gene and Suzan, though. I don't know an Anna and Charlie, at least not a married couple. They also thought I've been alone too long. That is, Gene and Suzan, not your Anna and Charlie. As I don't know them, I don't think they could know how long I've been alone, then could they?"

I laughed, I couldn't help myself. "No, I supposed not."

While he talked, he rested his hand over mine where it was sitting on my knee. He'd been tracing tiny circles on the top of my hand and despite myself, I was starting to get uncomfortable. I couldn't possibly be getting turned on by a man I'd met and humiliated myself in front of only a few moments before.

He set his beer on a table and shifted on the sofa so that he was facing me more. I didn't want to look like I wasn't interested when I very much was, so I, too, shifted so that I faced him better. This brought our legs into more contact which only succeeded in making it harder for me to breathe. When I tried to back up, though, he simply pulled me closer to him.

I started to feel very warm, and wondered yet again what the hell I was doing there. But I looked into the eyes of the man next to me and realized that I liked him already. Dangerous perhaps, but maybe I didn't have to be so nervous. Maybe I'd never see this guy again. Maybe I would just end up having sex with him, easing some of the tension even I had to admit I had and that would be it.

So, I made a concerted effort to relax. I took a deep breath and my nostrils filled with the spicy male scent of him yet again. I felt myself beginning to get seriously aroused. My eyes must have reflected something about it, because he pulled me a little closer.

"Maybe we don't need to talk. Or perhaps there's something else we might do first. You know, something to ease the tension." He leaned in and before I knew what was happening, I felt his lips on mine.

They felt wonderful. Strong, sure, they coaxed mine open and then I felt his tongue touching mine. Just lightly, just barely, but it was enough to send a serious jolt through me. I felt his hand move up my back and pull me closer to him and I wound my fingers through his hair. The kiss deepened and I felt sex begin swell and get wet.

His other arm went around me and the next thing I knew, I was across his lap, my arms twined around his neck and our mouths almost fused together. When my lungs screamed for air, we broke apart. He seemed to be having as much trouble as I just simply breathing. He rested his forehead against mine as we caught our breath.

I couldn't think of a single possible coherent thing to say, so instead I did the next best thing. I slanted my lips over his and kissed him again. He seemed perfectly happy with this and as I ran my tongue along his lips, he opened to me and our tongues once more warred.

I felt his hand slide around and move up the front of my dress and then he was cupping one of my breasts in his hand. I couldn't help the moan that escaped at the feeling of another person's hands on me. It had been so long. He tweaked a nipple through the thin black gauze of the dress and the even thinner black lace of my bra and couldn't help pushing myself further into his hand.

We broke apart once more and he shifted me so that I was cradled in his arms. This kiss was gentle, and he began nibbling his way down my face, over my chin and down my neck. My head fell back and I forgot all about where we were and the fact that we were practically strangers. I felt his lips trace small lines over the swell of my breasts, then he tugged at the neckline and captured one nipple in his mouth.

I moaned again, louder this time and while he continued to nibble and suck, his other hand found the hem of my skirt. He slowly raised it enough to slide his hand under it. He made a hum of pleasure in his throat as he came to the top of my stockings. Then his fingers found my sex, and I lost all coherent thought once more.

I'd worn the sexiest lingerie I owned just in case I found myself with someone who might actually want to do something. My stockings were black and held up by a black lace garter belt. This was over a pair of split crotch panties. The black lace bra I had on matched the rest.

So when his fingers found my pussy, he realized I also had no real barriers between us. It was then I became aware that he, too, was seriously aroused, as there was no mistaking the hard cock I felt against my bottom. Our lips met again and he traced the seam on the outside of my already wet pussy with his fingers. I'd been leaking juices for some time now.

He parted the lips of my pussy with his fingers and I felt the ghost of a touch over my clit. I moaned again, my head lying back on his shoulder. My legs fell open more and then I felt one of his fingers begin to enter me. Just one, it was more arousing than fulfilling, and I made a small sound of frustration in the back of my throat.

I moved on his lap, I couldn't help it. I was already aroused beyond reason and I needed more, I needed him. He didn't disappoint. He turned me so that I straddled his hips, then reached between us. A moment later, I felt his hard cock slide along my pussy's lips before slipping inside. "Please, Caty..." his voice was strained, and I had no wish to put it off further.