Prologue
I could feel the grin spreading across my face. I thought the message was direct and to the point. The pictures told the story anyway. I clicked on the little box on the screen so that the picture would be covered by the message except for the edges, and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. She was snoring, not loudly, kind of a cute little purr. She was drooling too which most certainly was not cute. "Oh well," I thought, "she had a hard night and deserved her rest." I left her there on the motel room bed, thinking that I was going to have fun with this one.
Chapter One
I was aware of my head, roughly twice its normal size. As I lay there, waking up, feeling the hangover, I tried to get oriented. There was a little rush of adrenaline as it came back to me.
The conference had started, as all conferences do, with a brief afternoon meeting and then a break for the opening night reception. It had been a free bar and I was tired, and a screwdriver sounded too good to pass up. I had met Daniel a few times before. For all of the big crowds that Glenn Beck could draw, the true Tea Party group was still a fairly small family.
I was flattered when he asked if he could join me. At 52 I no longer draw the wolf whistles I once did, and attention from a handsome, bright 20-something was a pleasant change. I'm not particularly vain, but, well, it
was
flattering.
We talked of politics mostly, how the campaigns would go, who was working for whom, that sort of "inside baseball" talk. Before I knew it I had finished my third screwdriver and was starving. We walked across the hotel lobby to the restaurant and continued our conversation over steak sandwiches and beer.
I should have known better, but when he suggested a nightcap I said okay.
A nightcap turned into two, and then three, and before I knew it I was drunk. Not stumbling, falling down, puke-on-your-shoes drunk, but definitely and clearly drunk.
Inhibition destroying drunk.
And when he kissed me I didn't even think of David at home, I kissed him back. There was something deliciously naughty about doing it, and I liked it.
I leaned against him heavily as we walked to the elevator and giggled as I handed him my room keycard and said "Sheventeen thirty shix."
She was a cute drunk. And damn but she was attractive. I had always had a thing for "older women," and Judith was precisely my type. Her normally carefully coiffed hair was a bit flyaway and she was a bit unsteady on her feet. Okay, she was a LOT unsteady on her feet, just like I like my women. When I bent and kissed her, her arms went around my neck as I had known they would, and her mouth was eager under mine. "We'll see just how eager," I thought, as I broke the kiss and led her toward the elevators.
I had an instant of hesitation when he slid the keycard through the slot and I heard the solid click of the door unlocking.
"
Judith
," I thought, "
you can't do this. Jesus, you're a married woman with three kids for Christ's sake
."
But it had been SO long since David had shown any interest. God, it's like if I wasn't golf or work I was invisible. I felt lonely and, well, let's be honest, BOB can only do so much.
Oh, you don't know BOB? My Battery Operated Boyfriend. Well, he's always there for me but not a very good conversationalist, you know? And he never even kisses me.
I won't make excuses, though. I was flattered and drunk and horny, it really is just that simple. So when we got into the room I took a deep breath, told my conscience to shut the fuck up, turned, threw my arms around his neck, and kissed him.
And God he was a good kisser. His hands were up and down my back and he knew just how hard to press. Mostly, though, it was his lips. They fit mine perfectly and when his tongue traced the outline of my lips I felt a sudden rush deep in my belly that I hadn't felt for years.
"Jesus," I thought, "did she just cum? It smells like it. That little mewing sound she made sure felt like it. Oh, Judith, you and I are going to have so much fun.
I broke the kiss and pushed him away, holding him at arm's length.
"Daniel," I said, "I'm nervous. I've never done anything like this before."
"Don't worry, Judith," he said, and I liked very much that he didn't try to shorten my name to Judy.
He pushed me even farther away, looked at me speculatively for a second, and then said, "Come on."
"Where do you think we're going?" I asked.
"The balcony," he said, taking my hand and leading me across the room to the sliding doors that opened onto the postage stamp-sized balcony outside of my seventeenth-floor room.
The view was pretty spectacular from there, the city spread out before us, the lights bright, almost hypnotic. I watched, fascinated, as he pulled a little flat oval box from his pocket. He twisted the top and a little tube popped up, obviously spring-loaded. As I continued watching he pulled the tube out, looking like a cigarette, and pushed the end into the hole on the other side of his little magic box. He took a cheap Bic lighter out of his pocket and I smelled the pleasant burnt-leaf scent of marijuana, something I hadn't smelled since college.
He did the hissing deep inhale of a seasoned pot smoker and then pushed the end of the tube back into his little box and handed it to me.
"My one-hitter," he said, smoke puffing out, "never leave home without it."
So I took the tube and the lighter and for the first time in three decades took a hit of marijuana. Well, I hissed and coughed anyway.
We laughed together as he reloaded the one-hitter and my second try was better. I hissed the smoke deep into my lungs and held it this time, smiling up at him.
"Jesus," I said, as the pot hit me quickly and hard, "this is better than my college days."
He grinned and said, "The wonders of legalization. Price is down and quality is WAY up," as he reloaded, took a hit, reloaded, and offered it to me.
We did three hits that way and the itching behind my eyes told me I was beyond buzzed to high.
"That's right," I thought, "drunk and stoned, just like I like my women. On Judith, you are in for an interesting life."
I stretched, my back arched and my arms straight up over my head, and heard the little click of a cellphone camera. When I turned my head I saw him looking at the screen of his cellphone as he pointed it at me.
"DANIEL!" I sort of half yelled.
"Don't worry," he said, laughing, "just for fun."
And I was flattered, a bad combination along with the alcohol and pot. This handsome young man was interested.
So I smiled, what I hoped was a coquettish smile, and reached up slowly and dramatically for the top button of my blouse.
"That's right, Judith," he said, and the cell phone clicked quickly three times.
I think I actually felt the last of my inhibitions leave me about the time I tugged the blouse free from my skirt and, the last button undone, opened it, my conservative white bra on display, smiling broadly.
"Oh yeah," I thought, "get those tits out."
"Don't stop now," he said and I giggled and reached behind to unhook my bra.
I had one tiny instant of hesitation, holding the bra on with my arms held tight against my ribs. Looking back, I suppose that was my last chance to avoid what was to come.
"Come on baby," he said, "tits in the wind," and I thought,