It's different this time.
Maybe there's some kind of rare planetary alignment. Maybe it's because there was a break in the streak of one hundred-degree days, and everyone has come out to let loose. Or maybe it's because we had some good times flirting here a few years ago, before we put each other in the friend zone.
Or thought we did, anyway.
We're at a table on the patio, having our second drinks, catching up and confiding as we always do. I dressed formally for some reason, in a button up shirt and a tie, which I've loosened in the desert heat. You're dressed up as well, in a red dress that's very tight and very short, designed to get attention from every manβand, knowing you, most women as well.
We're leaning in a bit more, holding eye contact a little longer, and at one point you're stirring your drink and blurt out, "I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but"βyou set down your straw and lift your gaze without lifting your headβ"you look really sexy tonight."
My heart stops because all evening I've been staring at your legs and the way your high heels give you a wiggle in your hips when you walk. I try for a chaste laugh.
"Oh, you can say that. You can say that as much as you want."
You smile and straighten up in your seat, taking the straw between a finger and thumb again, and say "Well, good! Because you look really sexy tonight."
Now my heart is speeding up, and after taking a breath with more difficulty than I would have needed just ten seconds before, I say, "You look really sexy too."
You smile explosively.
"Really?"
Another deep breath.
"Oh, yeah. That dress is great," I say. "Really beautiful."
The tip of the straw is in your mouth, the bead of sangria that was on it has probably slid down the back of your tongue, and you're looking off in the direction of the DJ booth inside. Then you look back at me, throw down the straw, and stand up. There's a flash in your eyes as you adjust your skirt with your fingertips and stand up.
"We should dance."
We walk in quickly, and when we find a place on the floor, every reservation we've ever had, every distance that has ever been between us, dissolves as we move right against each other. You twist around against me, your ass bumps my thigh and you keep it there. Our drinks spill a little bit onto each other's hands, and there's heat rising off of us that goes straight to my head and makes me reach out, pull you close, and after one instant of fear is overcome when you don't resist, I say "I want you so much right now."
You turn around, eyes shut, put your arms over my shoulders, and I'm thinking maybe you didn't hear me over the music, but you open up your neck just a bit more, and I put my lips there, kissing you, smelling your sweat and perfume, and you say, "Let's go."
We turn toward the bar and I slap your bottom, the way you've told me you like, and after closing out as quickly as we can, we're through the doors, into the narrow, underlit streets, walking toward your car. I'm not sure whether I should be holding your hand or putting my arm over your shoulder, but your bottom is jiggling like it wants to bounce out of your dress, and I feel like I need to touch you, so I take your waist and say "Stop, stop" and when you do, I smell your sweat and perfume again, and I reach around, grabbing that beautiful ass I've wanted for so long, squeezing it into my hands as you press your breasts into me and I shove my hard-on against you, hoping you'll feel it and want me all the more. We kiss over and over, like we're making up for the times when it could have happened but didn't, pushing so hard it's like we're trying to make the other fall over, and when I pause just enough to growl, we move on, turning the corner and crossing the street in a long diagonal that is the most direct route to the car.
My hand is turning circles on your bottom, I'm pulling up the hem of your short skirt, seeking flesh and finding enough to know that either your panties are very small or you left them off altogether, your pumps are grinding desert grit into the asphalt with every step, and you've found your keys by the time we reach the car. But at the moment when we ought to walk to separate sides of it, we're up against each other again and I'm pushing you against the hatchback, lifting up your skirt and salivating at the sight of a skimpy lilac thong that forms a cup between your thighs, and you whisper something I can't hear as you widen your stance and grind against me.