Pedro05

I thought we were only going up to the pine grove to eat omelet and drink red wine. I never imagined my cousin would ask me to touch her among the trees that afternoon.

I used to go downstairs to comfort her when she cried. What I didn’t know was that her tears would lead me to her neck, her skin, and the realization that I wanted her differently.

Years had passed since I’d last seen her. When she sat across from me at that bar and placed her hand on my thigh, I knew the night wouldn’t end as my cousin imagined.

I hadn’t seen her in two years when she came to my door broken, feverish, with a name that wasn’t mine on her lips.

The door to his office was ajar. What I saw when I peeked in did not make me jealous. It made me want something I hadn't expected.

I was 48, in a stable marriage, and living a perfect lie. Every week I crossed that door and became another woman. One I never knew existed.

When the stage lights hit her, I stopped seeing her as my friend. I only saw the woman I’d wanted for years without daring to tell her.

I parked half a block away so I wouldn’t make noise. The door was unlocked and the lights were off. What I found at the end of the hallway changed everything.

At sixty-three, after a decade of masturbating alone, I never expected the girl in the spare room to change everything forever.

I’d been going to the same boring gym for weeks when the owner showed up: mid-forties, defined arms, and a calm that’s more intimidating than any gesture.