Author's Note: This is an apology to readers of my story 'Hotel Amour', which was written in successive 'his & her sections'. In the submitted version, the sections were delineated, but the formatting did not survive when the story appeared on the site. Absent the formatting, it is a bit difficult to decide who 'I' is at any one time. Sorry. One lives and learns,
*
Chapter 1
:
Invitation accepted
When Harvey told me he was on travel, I groaned,
"Again?"
"I
am
VP of Marketing."
"And for two weeks?"
"It is a World Sales Meeting. Lot of ground to cover."
He wasn't lying. I went with him once. Just the once! Hawaii was nice, but if I have to be on my own then better at home, where at least I have a job to go to. Harvey's 'life' consisted mainly of 'office politics' and when he was not doing them, which was most of the time, he was talking about them, moaning about this or that sob, plotting to get even.
At least I wouldn't have to listen to his diatribes for two weeks.
Which was nice. I enjoyed the peaceful evenings, but after a week I began to feel lonely. I missed Harvey. Not that he was great company, or even good company, or β hell β even company! But I was used to him being there and now he was not.
My job was in a publishing house, Assistant Editor by title. Sounds great, doesn't it. There were three of us and we 'assisted the Editors' by opening and sorting mail. You wouldn't believe how much mail Literary Agencies get. Our job was to sort it into hate mail from authors whose books were not doing well -- straight in the trash β unsolicited manuscripts β straight in the trash β submissals β in the trash or on the sludge pile depending whether they conformed with the criteria -- and the very occasional nugget from a Publishing House, which was placed reverently in the appropriate Editor's mail pile.
That week one of our authors paid a quick visit. I'd seen him around before. Ten years my senior β make him about forty β a tinge of grey round the edges, handsome but not striking. I'd 'noticed' him, shall we say, but he had given no sign of having noticed me until the evening he caught me in the doorway, wrap draped over an arm.
"Doing anything tonight? he said.
It took a while to sink in. He had blue eyes.
"Er β Well, No! Not really."
"Dinner?"
"Well, it's a bit early."
"Yes, it is. Shall we say 7.30. I'll pick you up. How do you like 'La Chaumière?'"
"That would be nice." Upmarket. I'd never been. "There's no need to pick me up, though. I have a car."
"I'd like to."
"But you don't know where I live," I said.
"Yes I do! 7.30."
And he was gone leaving me standing on the sidewalk, wondering.
He knew where I lived? I suppose I should have been warned. Perhaps I was and didn't notice. It was Monday and I was tired of lonely evenings.
Chapter 2
:
Before the soup
"Harvey, that's my husband," I found myself saying, "is away."
"I know."
The waiter arrived to take our orders. He disappeared with the menus. I looked directly into those blue eyes. They were piercing, but not cold. They expressed something. I could not put my finger on it.
"You seem to know a lot about me," I said.
"I do."
"How? -- Why?"
"Because you're attractive, just my type."
"How do you know that? You've hardly spoken ten words to me."
"There are many forms of communication."
I was about to say something about hoping not to have given him encouragement when, out of the blue, he said in a clear commanding voice,
"Go to the Rest Room. Remove your bra, stockings, garter belt and panties, and return."
I stared at him, unable to believe he had said what I had heard.
"I beg your pardon!?"
"I don't repeat myself."
"You can't seriously think I'm going to do that."
"Yes, you will."
"But why should I?"
"Because I asked you too. And because you know that when you have done it you will feel different."
Two pairs of eyes affixed. God knows what jumble of thoughts and emotions were going through my head. Had he really said that?
He remained quite still, eyes engaging mine, unblinking.
"You have to be kidding! You know I'm not going to do that."
"I know you will."
"Why? Whyever should I do something like that?"
"Because you know you will feel better when you have done what I ask."
"Why? In what way?"
"You know this."
I made no move.
"You're stalling. You know you are going to do it."
Jesus Christ! Was I, Christine, the girl-next-door, who married her high-school sweetheart in a white dress, with confetti and all the trimmings: was I really going to do something that had never even occurred to me any girl would ever do?
Chapter 3. Silence is golden.
As I walked back to our table, four and twenty pairs of eyes seemed to follow my passage. They could not see up my skirt, could they? And my breasts were firm β pert, I believe is the right expression. If they bobbed up and down slightly as I walked, this would not be out of line with the modern fashion. And if my nipples showed through -- they had stiffened remarkably, pressing against the fabric of my blouse -- they could just as well be the points of a bra, couldn't they.
But He knew. It was our secret.
The soup arrived. We ate in silence. Our eyes did the talking.
'You will feel different', he had said, 'better'. Different, for sure! Better? Better than what? I had certainly never felt this way before. Vulnerable. I felt his eyes bore through my blouse and skirt. To Him I was already naked.
Just before the main course arrived, he said, in the same commanding tone,
"Kick off your shoes."