In Your Dreams

1.

The lobby floor was some kind of stone and it felt cold under Maria's feet. She curled her toes and peered at the people who were milling around and standing in line at the registration desk. Or, more precisely, she peered at the men. Was he here? Was he one of these men? She was breathing fast and she forced herself to slow down and check each face. No, not here.

She crossed the lobby to the lounge. Here at least there was a carpet, but it was dim after the bright and bustling lobby. She scanned the bar but still she didn't see him.

"Get you something, honey?" The bartender was a woman in her forties, dressed all in black, a little bored-looking, Maria thought.

"Um, a glass of chardonnay?"

The bartender nodded and got out a glass, pulled a bottle out of a fridge. Maria was itching to circle the bar, to continue her search for him. Her toes curled again. The bartender put the glass down in front of her.

"Nine dollars," she said in a polite but still bored voice.

Maria reached for her purse, then realized that she didn't have it with her. Not only that, she was naked. She felt the blood starting to rise to her face. How could she be walking around this nice hotel, among all these people, naked? And how could she explain her predicament to the bartender?

The woman looked at her expectantly. Maria opened her mouth but nothing came out. Then she felt a warm hand on the small of her bare back.

"Can I be of assistance?"

It was him. She'd been looking everywhere for him. He smiled and handed some bills to the bartender.

"I have a booth," he whispered to Maria, though why he should whisper she wasn't sure. She picked up her glass. "Over here," he whispered again. His hand on her back was starting to feel hot, she knew she was flushing all over and her nipples were swelling, that anyone who looked at her carefully would see immediately how aroused she was. He leaned his head forward and kissed her bare shoulder. "Come on," he urged.

Suddenly, without any transition, they were in a booth, his hands running up her body, his lips straining against hers. She was burning up, her body must have been glowing with the heat that filled her. She tore at his clothes, she was straddling his thigh, rubbing her naked cunt and clit against him. If there had been a table in the booth it was gone now, his shirt was in tatters and his cock was in her hand. So much heat, so much power, thrusting upward, pressing into her palm, then she was straddling him completely and he was inside her, she was facing him, knees on either side of him, and his hips were bunching and rising, thrusting him into her again and again. The hardness and the heat were building, driving toward an incendiary release. She was panting and sweating, coming again and again as he squeezed her breasts and ass and drove his cock deep into her cunt.

"Oh Jesus," she whimpered. "Oh Jesus."

He half rose from the bench with a groan that was almost a bellow, his cock throbbing as he sprayed into her.

"Jesus," she moaned again. "Oh God. Yes. Oh." She flung her head back with a shriek.

And then she was awake, lying in her bed next to her husband. Her body was drenched with sweat and she was still trembling from the orgasms that had rolled through her like a mid-summer thunderstorm.

She felt drained. A strand of damp hair clung to her forehead and she pushed it away. She looked over at Louis. He was lying as he always did at night, flat on his back. His breath made tiny whistling noises in his nose. The cat, Roger, was crouched on his chest, and in the dim light Maria could see him gazing at her blankly.

She glanced at the clock. Not quite four-thirty. Too early to get up but late enough that, she knew, it would be hard to get back to sleep.

She slid out from under the sheets and moved as quietly as she could to the bathroom. When she got back, the cat was gone and she could hear methodical metallic scrapings from the kitchen where he was pushing his bowl around, licking up the crumbs of last night's dinner. Louis was awake, watching her get back into bed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I tried not to wake you."

He laughed softly. "Roger woke me," he said. "He suddenly remembered his bowl and next thing I knew there were all these claws digging into me and then he was gone." He edged closer to her and put his arm across her. "You okay?"

Maria hesitated.

"Another dream?" he asked gently.

She sighed. "Yeah," she said.

"Tell me," he said.

"Usual thing," she said. "Sex with some stranger. In a bar this time."

He didn't say anything but took her hand.

"You know it's not that I'm against sex," she burst out. "Or anything like that."

"I know," he murmured.

"I like sex," she insisted.

He kissed her shoulder.

"I even used to like having sexy dreams. But this is ridiculous!" She turned and faced him. "I'm having them every single night."

"I know," he said.

"I keep wondering if there's something wrong with me."

"No, no," Louis said.

"Or maybe with us."

"How do you mean?"

"I don't even know," she said sadly. "Maybe my body is saying, 'Hey Maria, you need more sex.' "

"If you want to try that, I'm up for it." His teeth gleamed in the darkness.

She didn't say anything for a moment. "Thing is," she said. "I really like the dreams. When I'm having them."

"Of course." He chuckled. "They sound fantastic."

"It doesn't bother you? That they aren't about... us? You?"

She felt a movement that was probably a shrug. "They're just dreams," he told her. "When you wake up you're still with me." He hesitated. "And anyway..."

"Anyway what?"

He leaned forward. His mouth touched hers and she shivered. His hand rested on her cheek.

"Anyway," he said. "It's pretty nice for me too. When you have these dreams."

His body was against hers now and his cock was pressing against her belly.

"What's he like?" he whispered. "Or is it different each time?"

She kissed him. Her hand found his cock and circled him, but she didn't answer.

"Tell me about him," Louis said. "This man who comes to your bed every night. It's always the same man, isn't it?"

Maria swallowed. "Yes," she said in a small voice.

Gently Louis rolled her onto her back. His hands were all over her body, her shoulders, her breasts, her hips. His cock was pressing against her thigh, the tip of it almost but not quite touching her labia. She spread her legs and tried to capture him.

"It's nice when he fucks you," Louis whispered. One of his hands slid between her legs and found her cunt. "You're so wet," he whispered.

Maria didn't say anything but her fingers dug into his shoulders.

"Is it for me?" Louis asked. "Or for him?" He kissed her mouth then moved down and his lips brushed against her chin. His voice was a little muffled now. "I'm imagining you with him," he said hoarsely. His face was between her breasts, his cheeks scratching against the smoothness of her skin. Maria held onto his head and her hips moved, driving herself up against his hand.

"I'm imagining... getting a phone call from you. Telling me. This man you've met, you're at a conference or something. And he, you..." Louis paused. "It's the same man, the man from your dreams. And you've been out, at a club or something and been dancing and you've had his hands on you. Touching you."

Maria reached down and gripped his hand, moved it, touched herself with his fingers. "Go on," she whispered.

"And he's coming to your hotel room. And you want to know... You really want him. More than anything. You want his cock."

"Mmm," Maria said. "Turn over," she said. "I want to be on top of you."

Louis rolled off and lay beside her. She got up on her knees and looked down at him then learned down and took his cock into her mouth. Her hand gripped his balls and squeezed lightly. Louis moaned.

Maria took her mouth away from his cock and rose up again, straddling his body, still holding onto him. Slowly she lowered herself and touched the tip of his cock to her cunt. Louis's hips rose off the bed.

"So," Maria whispered. "What do you tell me?" She paused. "Do I get to fuck him?"

"It's hard to decide," Louis said. He swallowed.

"It's definitely hard," Maria agreed. She lowered herself, his cock sinking into her slowly then rose up again. "I have to tell you..."

"What?"

"I think I'm going to fuck him anyway. No matter what you say."

Louis reared up again and this time she let him enter her, all the way in, clinging to him with her thighs.

"I mean we've been dancing, he's had his hands all over me, I've held onto his cock." Maria was rocking on top of him. Her eyes were shining. "Did you think of that? My hand in his pants holding onto his cock?"

Louis moaned.

"He's going to come to my room... knock on the door any minute... and I'm so ready for him."

"God," Louis said.

"I think I'll put you on video," Maria said. "So you can watch me getting ready. Would you like that?"

"Yes," Louis mumbled.

"I won't be naked when he arrives," Maria said dreamily. "It's always more fun when there's something to unwrap, don't you think? But of course I'll take everything off for you. So you can watch me. Wouldn't you like that?"

"Fuck me," Louis said. He was straining upward, pushing his cock into her.

"So you can watch me," Maria repeated. "Thinking about me, thinking about me naked... then putting away my clothes and putting on my nightgown. The sheer black one. You like that one?"

"Yes," Louis said.

"I thought you did. And I almost didn't bring it along on the trip because, I mean, why would I need it if you're still at home, right?" Maria laughed softly. "But now I'm so glad I have it with me. When I put it on, you can basically see right through it can't you?"

"Jesus," Louis said.

"My body," Maria said. "Right there, you can see it, can imagine me taking it off, imagine him taking it off me."

"Fuck me," Louis said again.

"And then," Maria said. "There's the knock on the door and - click - I hang up the phone."

"Oh God," Louis cried.

Maria was rocking harder now, driving his cock up into her. "He's going to fuck me," she said. Her voice was almost a growl. "Maybe I'll blow him first? You think I should do that? Blow him while I'm wearing my nightgown? Until he grabs me and pulls me up, lays me across the bed... pulls it off me, oh, Louis... his cock is... his hands... he's fucking me..."

"Fuck me," Louis said hoarsely. "Just fuck me."

"I'm fucking him! Oh... Louis. Oh... I'm going to come, Louis. I'm going to come with him inside me. Tell me, tell me he needs to make me come, Louis."

"Yes," Louis said. "You need to come."

"Oh my God..." Maria's voice rose into the beginning of a howl. "Oh my God, it's so good."

'Fuck me," Louis cried.

"Oh, Louis, Louis... oh my God, oh so good..." Maria slumped over and lay on top of him, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "So good."

*****

"Louis," Maria said.

"Mmm?"

"I need to tell you something," she said.

It was breakfast the next morning. Louis looked up from his phone and smiled at her. "What's up?" he asked.

Maria was gripping her coffee mug, staring down into it. She raised her eyes. "It's about last night," she said. "About... my dreams."

Louis's smile widened. "Yeah?" he asked.

"I kind of... I wasn't completely honest about the dreams," Maria said.

"How do you mean?"

"I said it was a stranger," Maria said. "I said... I didn't know who it was. The man in my dreams."

"Oh," Louis said. He paused. "And that wasn't true?"

Maria reached across the table and took his hand. "It's this guy from work." she said. "I mean, they're just dreams, okay? But it's not... a stranger."

Louis nodded. "You have a crush on him?"

"I guess so," Maria said. She hesitated. "Yeah," she admitted. "I guess I must."

Louis patted her hand. "Everyone gets crushes," he said. "It's not a crime."

"I've never had a crush that gave me sexy dreams every night," Maria said.

"That sounds like a bonus," Louis said. "For both of us." He chuckled.

"But Louis..." Maria paused. "It's, it's this guy named Warren."

"Warren?"

"Yes," Maria said. "And the thing is... you know that vendor conference I'm going to next week in Vegas?"

"Um, yeah," Louis said.

"I told you about it," Maria said patiently. "Next week, Tuesday through Thursday. I'm leaving here Tuesday morning. I think it's the 30th."

"Oh yeah," Louis said. "Right." He looked at her. "What about it?"

Maria hesitated. "Warren's going too," she said.

"Oh," Louis said.

"Yeah," Maria said.

"Who else is going?"

"Oh," Maria said. "There will be dozens of people there. Maybe a couple hundred, lots of companies."

"But from your company?"

Maria didn't answer for a few moments. She looked down at her coffee mug and then raised her gaze and their eyes met. He couldn't interpret her expression - there was something like worry on her face but also excitement and (was it?) defiance.

"Just us," she said finally. "Just me and Warren."

2.

When Maria got home that evening Louis was out - Thursday was basketball evening. She called out his name to be sure, then came inside with her shopping bag. She put down the bag and looked at it with a mixture of excitement and dread. What had she done? Nothing, she told herself. All she had done was buy some sexy lingerie. It was a perfectly normal thing to do. She swallowed and then, with a guilty grin, went up to the bedroom.

She lowered the blinds and then, her fingers a little shaky, unbuttoned her dress. She took off the dress and then her underwear and stood in front of her mirror, naked. The bag was on the bed, its cargo of filmy treasures separated by layers of tissue paper. Maria took a deep breath and took them out. She'd tried them on in the store but this was different. Here, there was no bustle, no background music or noise. And she was naked - it was just how it would be. How it could be.

Of course, it was just a fantasy. But why had Louis fantasized a conference as the opportunity for her to... well, to have another man? Had he known about the workshop? But no, when she told him about it over breakfast, about Warren and the workshop, he'd been surprised. Shocked? She didn't know. It was all a fantasy, for him as well as for her. Wasn't it?

She took out the first item, the purple teddy and stepped into it, pulled it up over her shoulders. She liked the way it outlined her breasts and how her tummy, flat and hard after all the work she had put into it, showed through the lace. She ran her hands across the smooth fabric. It would be fun to wear it for Louis, to talk dirty to him. She smiled then shook her hair back and put her hands on her hips. She felt so sexy, so powerful. What else was in the bag? She slithered out of the teddy and put it aside on the bed.

The red robe. Lacy edges, sheer body, practically see-through. A pair of panties came with it but she left those in the bag. Oh Warren, she imagined herself saying, then shivered. It's a fantasy, she told herself sternly. She lay back on the bed and undid the sash of the robe. It fell open. She ran her hands down her body and put one hand between her legs, resting it on herself. Those dreams... it felt like being a teenager again. She closed her eyes. The problem with dreams was how they slipped away when you woke up. But you could retrieve some of the feeling sometimes... she tried to remember the man in the hotel bar she'd dreamt about last night. She knew it was Warren but honestly she didn't know how she knew it, and anyway she couldn't find the frenzy of it.

Her phone buzzed. She sighed and reached off the bed to the night table. Louis.

"Hey," she said lightly.

"Hey," he said.

"You guys done playing?"

"Nah," he said. "Taking a break."

"Oh," she said. "I was hoping you would come home soon. And play with me instead."

"Mmm, that'll be nice. You know I've been thinking about you all day," he said. "Last night... Jesus."

"You should come home soon," Maria said. "Can't you fake an ankle injury or something?"

Louis laughed but she hadn't been kidding. She really wanted him to come home so they could fuck. "I'll be home soon," he promised.

"What if I can't wait?" she asked him.

"Just save it up for me," he urged her.

"I'm not sure that I can," she told him. "Go play with your boys, I'll have to find something to do."

"Maria," Louis began.

"See you soon," she said sweetly, and hung up.

It was a beautiful robe and it made her feel sexy. When Warren got home... oops. She giggled. When Louis got home, they would have some fun. Her hand strayed down between her legs again and she closed her eyes. What was it that had made things explode last night? More than the idea of the man running his hands on her, it was her sliding her hand into his pants and holding onto his cock. Squeezing it. Louis had liked that and so had she. She was dancing in a bar with a stranger who might be Warren, feeling his hands running down her sides, brushing her breasts. Her, leaning in for a kiss, sliding a hand against his crotch, feeling the bulge that was there, that she had made happen. Slipping a hand inside his waistband and feeling the heat and the hardness. She wanted him, wanted it, wanted to feel it.

"Mmm," she said. "Warren." And she felt the warm feeling building out from her fingers. They would ride up together in the elevator, mouths pressed together, hands tearing at each other's clothes, practically fucking standing up. His cock pressing into her, his tongue in her mouth. "Oh..." she murmured. Hands on her breasts, on her ass. On her cunt. His cock, out in the open now, her turning around and facing the wall, spreading her legs, feeling his cock against her entrance and then, oh God, up inside her. "God,' she said. Slamming up into her, his hands clawing at her hips, his breath hot against her cheek, his voice in her ear growling her name. The heat building in her crotch, the hardness of the rod pushing up into her. Leaning forward, her head against one arm, reaching down with her other hand. Touching his balls, his cock where it entered her. Touching her clit, her breath catching in her throat as the rhythm built and his head rolled forward onto her shoulder. "Fuck me," she moaned. And then she was flying, spinning out of control as the pleasure rose through her. She fell against the wall, an exhausted heap, while his hips slammed into her ass and his cock throbbed, pumping inside her.

She lay there on the bed, breathing hard. Wow. In an elevator? Good thing nobody wanted to go up or down. She laughed. The robe was in a muddle, crumpled up around her. She sat up and got up on her knees, straightening it out. There she was in the mirror. Her body was flushed, her nipples engorged. And framing her form, the pretty red lace edging of the robe. She smiled.

She picked up her phone and took a photo in the mirror - just her body, not her face. Then she texted it to Louis with a caption.

"Sorry darling," she wrote. "Couldn't wait, got started without you."

*****

Louis had hurried home as soon as he got the text but that was almost an hour later, after the ball game had ended and he'd showered, and by then Maria was dressed and sitting at the kitchen table eating cheese, crackers and olives and drinking red wine.

"Sorry," he said. He grinned at her and dropped his gym bag by the front door. "I guess I missed the fun."

"Well," Maria said. "I know how important your basketball is to you."

"Ha! If I'd seen your text..."

"You didn't?"

"No! I just got it fifteen minutes ago!"

"Well," Maria said. "That makes me feel better. I was thinking you were more interested in throwing a ball around than... well, other things."

Louis was next to her now and pulled up a chair. "Other things," he said. "Sound like what I want right now."