I Took Off My Underwear in the Notary’s Office for Him

We had already had enough encounters to know that what was between us was not something willpower could switch off. Each one had been better than the last, and that had me completely lost over that man. Being near him was enough to make the world stop, for everything else to become background noise. He managed something no one had managed before: making it so only he and I existed, even when we were surrounded by people.

That morning I was going to see him again, and I was nervous, as I always was whenever I knew I’d have him just inches away. It wasn’t an unpleasant kind of nerves. It was that anticipation that settles in your stomach and slowly sinks lower until it becomes something else. I had promised myself I would keep my composure. I already knew, even before leaving the house, that promise wasn’t going to last.

I chose a new dress, bottle green, fitted at the waist, with a discreet neckline that hinted without showing too much. I paired it with matching high-heeled sandals and spent more time than necessary on my makeup. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I realized I was getting ready for him, only for him, even though the appointment was, in theory, nothing more than a boring formality.

The signing was at twelve o’clock sharp, at the notary’s office downtown. Mateo was closing on his new house, and I was going with him. A perfect excuse, wrapped in official papers and formal handshakes.

***

I arrived five minutes early, and there he was, waiting by the door. He wasn’t alone: his mother was with him, an elegant woman with a warm smile who greeted me with two kisses and a remark about how lovely I looked. I returned the courtesy, thinking to myself that if that lovely lady knew even half of the things her son and I did when no one was looking, the smile would freeze on her face.

When I gave Mateo the customary two kisses, I let my lips barely brush his cheek. I caught the scent of his cologne, that blend of wood and citrus that had etched itself into my memory, and the scratch of his beard against my skin. In that instant, with my face pressed close to his, he squeezed my hand. Just that. A brief pressure, almost imperceptible to anyone else.

To me it felt like a jolt. The tingling ran through my whole body, just like every time his skin touched mine, and I had to take a deep breath so it wouldn’t show on my face.

***

The notary kept us waiting. The three of us sat in a small room with leather chairs and a glass table, his mother chatting away about curtains and furniture, completely oblivious to the electric current running between her son and me. I nodded, smiled, pretended to be interested, but inside I was somewhere else.

Then my phone vibrated on my lap.

—You look way too hot —I read—. Stop looking at me like that, you’re making me want you.

I looked up for a second, just long enough to meet his eyes, then went back to the screen.

—I’m not looking at you any particular way —I typed.

—Yes, you are, and you know it. Are you nervous?

—A little.

—What are you wearing under the dress?

I hesitated. I could feel my cheeks burning as I typed the reply.

—A black thong.

The answer came almost instantly, a single word that took my breath away.

—I want it.

I looked at him. He smiled, slowly, with that unbearable confidence of his. And I, who had left home determined to behave, stood up from my chair.

—Excuse me a moment, I’ll be right back —I said, with the calmest voice I could manage.

His mother nodded without giving it much thought. Mateo didn’t take his eyes off me for a second.

***

What are you doing? Are you really going to do it?

I walked down the hallway toward the women’s restroom asking myself that with every step, but my feet wouldn’t obey reason. I was far too turned on by all of it: the game, the risk, the idea that he was controlling every move from his chair without even raising his voice. I wanted to play along. I wanted to win.

I closed the bathroom door, leaned against the sink, and looked at myself in the mirror. My pupils were dilated and my cheeks were flushed, and that wasn’t makeup. I lifted my dress slowly, slid the thong down my legs and, before thinking twice, hung it from the inside doorknob. The black fabric swinging there, ridiculous and brazen, made me let out a nervous laugh.

I pulled my dress back down. The fabric brushed directly against my skin, and that sensation of having nothing underneath gave me goosebumps. I left the bathroom with my heart pounding in my throat.

***

I went back to the office trying to look normal, though each step reminded me of what I had just done. When I opened the door, I noticed Mateo straightening slightly in his seat, expectant, trying to read on my face how far the game had gone. I sat down with my legs tightly together and texted him without looking at him.

—It’s hanging on the women’s bathroom doorknob.

I watched him read the message. He smiled, ran his tongue over his lower lip, and stood up.

—I’m going to the bathroom for a second, this notary is taking forever —he said to his mother, who barely looked up.

I followed him with my eyes until he disappeared down the hallway. A few seconds later, my phone vibrated again.

—This smells so good —he wrote from there.

I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh. Imagining him in that bathroom with my underwear in his hand sent a rush of heat climbing up my chest. When he came back, he opened the office door just in time to catch me blushing and smiling like a teenager.

He sat down beside me and wrote:

—How are you?

—Horny —I answered, no longer bothering to hide anything.

—I want to check. Turn a little toward me.

***

I did. I turned my body just a little, as if adjusting myself in the chair, and positioned myself so the glass table hid us halfway from his mother, who was at that moment looking through some brochures. I felt his hand slide beneath the hem of my dress, his fingers parting slowly between my thighs until they found me. I had to dig my nails into my own knee to keep from reacting.

His fingers stroked me with deliberate slowness, just enough to drive me crazy without going anywhere. I was so wet they slid effortlessly, and that seemed to please him, because I could tell he was smiling without looking at me. I breathed through my nose, slowly, holding back every sound threatening to escape.

I can’t keep this up much longer.

I needed all of him. I needed him to touch me without restraint, to kiss me, to feel his tongue in my mouth, his body against mine, everything that damned office with its glass table and its late notary was keeping me from having. But what was forbidden had its own flavor, and I admit part of me didn’t want it to end.

What finished me off was seeing him withdraw his hand with complete ease and bring his fingers to his mouth, licking them slowly in front of everyone there, as though tasting something sweet. He did it unhurriedly, staring at the wall, as if nothing were happening. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. My face and my body were starting to give me away, and he knew it. He knew me too well. He knew exactly how much I wanted him.

***

At last the notary appeared, with his folder and his apologies for making us wait. The three of us sat down, now all proper and formal, and the parade of pages, stamps, and signatures began. I barely listened; I nodded mechanically while trying to catch my breath and bring down the heat climbing up my neck.

At one point I had to stand beside Mateo to show him a document that also needed his signature. I leaned over the table, explaining where he needed to initial, and felt his hand once again travel along the inside of my thigh. It moved upward slowly, stroking me little by little while I tried to keep my voice steady and point to the correct line on the page.

—Here, and also on this page —I said, and my voice trembled just slightly on the last word.

His hand kept moving upward, millimeter by millimeter, until it was almost at my groin. I needed him to continue. I needed him to finish what he’d started. But when he realized the situation was about to slip completely out of my control, when my broken breathing was becoming too obvious, he yanked his hand back and signed the document with exasperating calm, as if nothing had happened.

I went back to my seat with trembling legs.

***

When it was finally over, we said goodbye at the notary’s door. His mother left in her car, and we each had to go back to work, to pretend that that morning had been nothing more than an ordinary formality.

We exchanged the customary two kisses, this time in front of his mother and half the office staff. I took advantage of the gesture to squeeze him discreetly over his trousers, just to check whether I was the only one who had spent the whole morning on edge. I wasn’t. Not even close. Just inches from his ear, I whispered:

—I adore you.

I felt him shiver. I got into my car with my heart racing and my phone already vibrating in my hand.

—I’ll stop by your place later to finish what we started. I want to devour that arousal you’re carrying around —he wrote.

—I’m eager —I replied.

—I want you.

—More than you want me —I wrote, and started the car knowing that afternoon would be anything but boring.