"Are you excited?" My wife Erin asked me as we got in the car. She was beaming ear to ear.
"I guess," I replied apprehensively. Erin backed the silver SUV out of the driveway and we started down the road. "I might be more excited if you would finally tell me where we are going."
"No way Bradley." Erin's smile morphed from excited to mischievous.
"I told you I don't need anything special for my birthday this year." Today was my 31st birthday. The year prior, Erin had thrown me a great surprise party for my 30th. She had flown in friends from all over the country for a weekend of partying. The ten of us drank like we were back in undergrad without a care in the world. Of course, since I was no longer in undergrad I had paid for it with two days of massive hangovers.
"Just because 31 isn't a nice round number doesn't mean we shouldn't do something fun. Besides, you are really going to love this surprise." For the past two weeks she had been putting extra emphasis on 'really' every time she told me how much I was going to like my birthday present. I had been racking my brain trying to figure out her secret, but she had me stumped. What could be so exciting at 2pm on a Sunday in June?
Erin continued driving wherever the heck she was taking me, glancing over at me and smiling every few minutes. With each turn I tried to re-calibrate where we could be heading, but gave up after about fifteen minutes when I realized we were going into a part of town that I had never been in before. After a half hour, Erin turned down a two lane highway that led us further out of town. Houses and businesses were replaced by farms and fields.
"Where the hell are we going?" I asked, craning my head to try and see something, anything that was familiar. We seemed to be heading in the opposite direction of anything interesting.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes, please."
"Alright, we're almost there so I guess I can tell you." Erin paused to let the tension build. "We're going to a tantra lesson."
"Really?" I perked up in my seat. I had been not so subtly hinting to Erin that I thought it would be fun, not to mention beneficial to our sex life, to learn some tantric sex techniques. She had been a little hesitant, thinking it would be a little weird to have someone telling us how to make love. She had apparently overcome her reservations. "Are you serious?"
"Yep. Good surprise, right?"
"Amazing surprise!"
For the rest of the drive I was as excited as a kid being taken to an amusement park for the first time. Finally, Erin pulled the car into the driveway of a small, white house in the middle of a field of native grasses. It wasn't exactly what I pictured when I thought of tantra, but I decided to keep an open mind and not judge a book by its cover. We got out and walked down the cracked pavement to the front door.
Erin smiled at me, "you ready for this?"
"I think so."
Erin knocked, and I heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door. The latch unlocked, and the white wood door swung open revealing a petite woman with a welcoming smile on her face.
"Hello, I'm Summer!" The woman said cheerily. "You must be Erin and Bradley. Come on in."
Summer looked about the same age as Erin, but was about as different from my wife as could be. Both were very attractive women, but Erin had a very modern look while Summer looked like a hippie right out of the 1970's. Where Erin was tall with an hourglass figure, Summer was short with narrow hips and small breasts. Erin had shoulder length blond curly hair, Summer's brunette hair was straight and reached almost the middle of her back. Erin had a healthy tan, Summer was very fair skinned. Erin looked like she was ready for a night out with friends in tight jeans and a low cut top while Summer looked like she was ready to dance in the field surrounding her house in her a short little sun dress with unmistakably no bra underneath.
"Hi Summer," Erin reached her hand out but Summer ignored it as she gave my wife a hug.
"Nice to meet you," I said as Summer shared a hug with me as well.
"Very nice to meet both of you. Please come in." Summer beckoned us in with a sweep of her arm. Her home opened into a small living room. It was spartanly decorated with only a beige couch and wooden end table. A worn multi-colored rug covered most of the faded hardwood floor. "Would you like some water?"
Erin and I both said yes, and Summer practically bounced through the living room into the kitchen. I could see the kitchen through an arched doorway; it looked like it was long past due for some new appliances and a paint job.
"She's a cute little thing," my wife said when Summer was out of ear shot.
"Yeah, I guess so." I shrugged, feigning indifference. I didn't want to turn off my wife by showing too much interest in our new teacher.
"You're a bad liar," Erin punched me playfully on the arm. I smiled and shrugged, guilty as charged.
Summer came back into the room and handed us each a glass of room temperature water. "Please, follow me." She led us up a tiny stairway and into a dimly lit room to the left of the landing. There was a space heater in the corner which Summer turned on when we entered. A thin mattress covered by a white sheet was prepared on the middle of the floor. Next to one wall were two comfortable looking chairs and a pile of pillows. Summer held her open palm to the chairs, "take a seat."
Erin and I each took a chair and Summer sat in front of us on the floor, her legs folded underneath her. I tried not to stare down her lightweight dress, but the top was hanging open making it very difficult. Summer smiled at us warmly. "So, have either of you practiced tantra before?"
"No," Erin replied as I shook my head, "first time."
"That's great, I love working with new people. And why have you now decided to explore tantra?"
Erin looked over at me. Since I was the one who had suggested it, she clearly expected me to answer. Summer waited patiently.
I cleared my throat to try to gain some composure before responding. "Well, we were hoping we might learn something that would improve our sex life."
