The elevator door opened on the top floor of the La Valencia Hotel and my wife and I both staggered a little, laughing as we tripped into the wide corridor and stumbled arm in arm to our ocean-front room.
It took me a minute to get the key card to work as my wife Tracy tugged at my side and giggled, "Hurry up! I've gotta pee!" quietly in my ear.
The lock clicked, we tumbled into the room, and Tracy made her way toward the marble expanse of the bathroom in our suite. I sauntered over to open the sliding glass door along the ocean side of the room and stepped out onto the balcony. The night sky was inky black over the ocean below and a warm fresh breeze blew steadily against my face as I leaned over the rail.
It was our second night in paradise. Or as close as you could get after being married for twelve years. We were celebrating our anniversary in a luxury resort in Puerta Vallarta without our kids. Tracy and I had ridden a jet ski down to a hidden cove that morning and enjoyed some magical outdoor sex in that secluded spot. Coming back to the hotel we had swum and taken a long nap, sleeping from late afternoon until we rose to head down for a late dinner in one of the resort restaurants.
I breathed in the pure ocean air to clear my head after having way too many margaritas with dinner. I would have ordinarily ordered something less tropical, but Tracy had insisted. The time away was having a very appealing effect on her. She seemed to get more carefree with every hour we spent away from the worries and stress of our everyday life in a gated community outside Dallas. She had surprised me in the cove that morning. With a wry smile, I admitted I had sort of surprised myself with what had happened too.
"Jim, I drank too much..." Tracy crooned behind me from the sliding door. I turned and she was was leaning against the door frame, outlined by the warm light of the room behind. "I'm drunk, baby," she drawled. She looked so cosmopolitan in the silk print dress she had worn to dinner, her hair piled elegantly up and held with a seashell patterned clip.
She had always been an attractive woman, but something about these last few days had made me realize that she was stunning in a way that I hadn't before and perhaps even more desirable now as she had reached her mid thirties. She had a commanding beauty that girls just don't have when they're younger. I pulled her along as I came back into the room and took her into my arms. She felt a little wobbly, but looked up at me with a playful smile.
"I think we both had a little too much sweetheart. Guess we got carried away." I smiled. "We'll probably pay for it in the morning, but we should enjoy it now."
She giggled. "Let's not go getting 'carried away' again. You remember where that led this morning!" She plopped down to sit on the edge of the king sized bed. "I'm not embarrassing myself like that again!" She leaned back with her outstretched arms propping herself up from behind.
"Oh honey, you didn't embarrass yourself!" I slipped my sport coat off and folded it over one of the large chairs in the seating area. "You were amazing! Think of it as a vacation adventure. Like a crazy dream". I smiled and went behind the bar to retrieve a cold bottle of water from the small fridge.
"Oh, so it's like it never happened?" She mused. "Like we forget about it when we travel home?" She tilted her head. "I like that idea. Like a dream. Or it was somebody else." I noticed the glow coming off her wasn't just from the tequila. She had gotten a little too much sun today and the bare shoulders of her gown accentuated the contrast of her bikini strap tan lines. It reminded me of the other exposed tan lines I'd gotten her to reveal that day.
"That's right. Make believe. Play acting." I said. "Like a game."
"Ooh, let's play a game!" She perked up.
I couldn't help blurting out. "I know...strip poker!"
She frowned and my hopes faded. "But you know I can't play poker."
"But you can play blackjack can't you?" I'd taught her the one time we'd gone to Vegas.
"Can you still play like that?" She seemed relieved.
"Of course!" I reached back behind the bar to retrieve a deck of cards. I stepped over to the sitting area and began to unwrap the cellophane from the fresh deck. "Come over here honey. I'll show you."
She was a little wobbly getting up from the bed, but she kicked off her shoes and padded over to the other chair in her stocking feet. Reaching down to pick up the bottle of water, she took a healthy swallow before pronouncing saucily, "You're going down, mister!" She plopped down in the seat.
I reminded her of the rules and dealt the first hand. She showed a face card and gleefully flipped over the hidden ace for 21. I started with fourteen and busted with a king.
"So now you gotta strip, baby!" she laughed. "I win!"
I took off a shoe and started shuffling the cards again.
"Hey!" she exclaimed. "Why aren't you stripping? Isn't that what strip poker means?"
"Well, yeah," I answered puzzled. "But only one piece per hand...haven't you ever played this before?"
"Nope!" She raised a finger drunkenly. "My very first time!"
"Well it's about time, then! I can't believe you never did this when you were younger."
"Nope! Nice girls don't play games like that, mister!" She squinted at me suspiciously. "A girl could get a reputation doing things like that!" I heard a hint of her mother's voice in the way she said it.
"Good thing we're pretending then isn't it?"
"Ooh yeah, that's right. It's all pretend, isn't it!" She sat up as the cards were dealt. I won the hand and she stood up to lower her panty hose before kicking them off. "God, I'm actually glad to get rid of those!" She dropped back down into the large chair.
I lost the next few hands and removed another shoe along with my belt. Tracy was making conversation about how much fun it would be to go to Las Vegas for our next honeymoon, so she could make some "real money" playing blackjack. She seemed oblivious to the disadvantage she had in the number of articles in our outfits.
"Finally!" I exclaimed as I showed blackjack on the next hand. "Time to pay up, young lady." I leaned back in my chair to appreciate the view.
"You'll have to unzip me, then." She stood and scooted around the small coffee table between us to offer up her back. I stood and couldn't help feel my excitement rising as I unzipped the back of her dress and saw her white strapless bra against her slightly sunburned skin. She let the dress fall and then stepped forward to clear her feet. She picked it up and laid it out onto the bed. "That's the first time I've worn it." She emphasized as she smoothed out the fabric. I was just enjoying seeing her in her bra and panties as she did.
She took her seat and we resumed playing. She won a hand and they we had a push with both coming up with twenty and neither taking another card. I was dealt a fifteen to her eighteen on the next hand and figured I had nothing to lose from hitting and I turned over a five to beat her with twenty after she held. She looked shocked as she realized what was coming.
"That's not fair!" She protested as she stood up. "I've won way more hands than you!"
