Copywrite by the author. Cannot be reproduced except with written permission from the author.
When I travel, be it for business or pleasure, I like to continue my program of running as often as possible. This allows me to remain in reasonable shape. Running also allows me to get out and get some fresh air, as we know hotels and convention centres can have stale air.
Some business trips allow for more 'down time' than others. Meetings during the day but then everyone goes home to their families while I retreat to my hotel. I need something to pass the time. There are occasions to attend planned evening events, but not always.
When I run, I will either leave from my room or if available a fitness centre within the hotel. The fitness centre allows me to stretch before and after, as well as taking advantage of a hot tub or sauna if available. It is nice to be able to take a few minutes and soak in a tub after a hard day.
It's Tuesday evening and I have completed my run and am stretching. I'm observing others, what they are doing, just to pass the time. I do this often as I find it interesting to just watch people.
I had seen some of the same individuals on Monday night, going through their same routines. As we recognize each other from the previous night some of us will acknowledge each other with a slight nod of the head or a smile. Some do not always respond. As a courtesy, I nodded to one fellow and he responded back. He was of similar build and appeared to be in reasonable shape.
Tonight our routines seemed to place us in the locker room and then the showers at the same time.
Now I don't make a habit of checking out other guys in the shower but as we were both standing there washing and rinsing ourselves it seemed only natural to look at him. Some guys wouldn't even have gotten a second glance. I didn't really pay attention to whether he was watching me or not as I made a few casual glances.
I did note that he seemed to be in reasonable shape, appeared to work out regularly, either that or he had a naturally slim physic but not a defined body as someone who lifts weights might appear. He had what I would consider to be a normal endowment, some body hair but not excessive. OK, a lot of detail for a few casual glances but you can pick up a lot of information very quickly, especially if you have a reason to think back about it at a later time.
Having gotten out of the shower, dried off and back into my street clothes, I was ready to leave. As I left the locker room I once again acknowledged him and casually said, "Have a good evening'.
He responded with, "Thanks".
After returning to my room I put my running stuff to dry and decided that I could use something to eat so I wandered down to the lounge.
I ordered a glass of wine and a light supper. Besides exercising, I try to eat sensibly. I was enjoying my second glass of wine, having finished dinner, and the fellow from the health club came into the lounge and sat at the bar. I am not sure whether he noticed me or not at the time. I saw him order a drink. He had a sip of his drink and then looked around the bar. As the bar was relatively empty he noticed me sitting by myself and nodded an acknowledgement. Normally I would have tried to divert my eyes before he could make eye contact, but not tonight. I nodded back. A moment later he got off his stool and came over to my table.
Extending his hand he said, "Hi, my name is Thomas, would you mind if I joined you for a few minutes?"
Responding with a firm handshake I replied, "No problem at all. Have a seat. My name is Malcolm".
"Nice to meet you Malcolm"
Thomas appeared to be a bit younger than me, probably mid 30's. He was around 5'8". He had no real distinguishing features but he was well dressed.
We talked about our businesses and what brought us to this city, about Monday night football, and the weather. From time to time Thomas would change positions or cross his legs and brush up against my leg. The first time he said, "Sorry". I just smiled and replied, "no problem". I didn't make any attempt to move my legs. After that he did not say anything, as if he didn't notice what he was doing.
The lounge seemed quiet tonight; there was no entertainment, at least not yet, although it looked like they might have a pianist on some evenings.
Having finished our drinks, Thomas asked if I would like to join him in his suite, as we might be able to catch something on the TV.
Having nothing better to do I said, "Sure".
He responded, "Great, …….. shall we go then?"
Getting up, I said, "I just want to drop my coat off in my room, I had planned on going for a walk but I won't need it now. What is you room number and I will join you there in a few minutes?"
"1703", he responded.
"See you in a few minutes."
I returned to my room and dropped off my coat, checked to see if there were any messages and then headed to 1703.
He greeted me warmly and invited me in. I had butterflies and was somewhat nervous.
For some reason I sensed that Thomas had other than TV on his mind when he invited me. And for that reason I knew why I was here.
Thomas' expense account was obviously better than mine. He did not have a standard room but a suite with sitting area. He gestured that I should have a seat.
"What would you like to drink Malcolm?"
"I think that I will continue with wine, thanks".
He brought our drinks and then had a seat in a chair. Light music was playing off in the background. We continued our discussion from earlier and as he had mentioned that designing bridges was his line of business, I asked if he had any examples of his work.
He got up and proceeded to pull some papers from a brief case by the desk.
He brought them over and sat beside me on the couch. We cleared off some of the books and I moved my drink to the side table so that he could layout his papers.
Once again his leg would brush up against mine and again I did not make an effort to move it.
At this point I was feeling comfortable, my nervousness had gone away.
We continued to converse and from time to time his hand would rest on my knee as he turned to describe some aspect of a picture or his work in designing them.
At one point his hand remained on my leg just above my knee. It felt good. He then gave a light squeeze as he was looking at me. I smiled.