Forbidden

Daniel slept in the front seat while, a meter away, his uncle and his girlfriend shared the truck’s narrow bunk. And Noelia no longer wanted to sleep.

The cold almost killed her in the mountains. When she woke up, she was wrapped in a blanket by the fire, and the man who saved her was looking at her like she was the only living thing for miles around.

She spent years kneading bread with her eyes fixed on the floor, until one summer afternoon she was left alone with the man who looked at her differently.

He had never seen a naked woman until that afternoon by the waterfall. What he didn’t know was that desire would end up shipping him to the end of the world.

I thought I was the most disciplined man in the faculty. Then she leaned against the empty classroom door and made it clear she knew everything I was hiding.

I hadn’t been touched by anyone in two years. My daughter knew it, and that afternoon she showed up in my room with a thong two sizes too small and an idea in her head.

I met him among paintings that seemed to whisper, and two hours later I was against the door of his apartment, wondering how I’d come so far without saying a word.

I never thought that a comment about how obedient her dog was could ignite something like this between two old acquaintances on her sofa.

I’d been bathing naked in that creek for years, believing it was mine alone. That afternoon, among the brush, two young eyes watched me without shame.

I had just lifted the biggest trophy of my career. What I did next, with him cornered against the tiles, doesn’t appear in any sports report.

Damián arrived every Friday with wine and the smile of an exemplary husband. Tomás slept happily on the other side of the wall, unaware those noises were the only truth they had left.

They had traveled to close a contract, not for this. But in the elevator of that hotel, Lucía realized they’d been pretending not to want each other for months.

I never told anyone what I did that afternoon. I went in alone, with no names, no rules, ready to let a stranger lead me into the dark.

I arrived trembling at the barn, on my knees in the straw, waiting for a man whose face I would never get to see. I did it for my boyfriend. Or so I told myself.

She locked the door, hung up the “closed” sign, and led him to the back of the shop with a flimsy excuse. What came after wasn’t fully planned.

We were coming home from the movies frozen through, but once the elevator doors closed I knew we weren’t going straight to bed that night.

My friend stood me up that night, but the stranger at the bar had other plans for me. And I, even if I wouldn’t admit it out loud, did too.

Marcos introduced him as a cousin’s son, visiting for a few days. But Elena didn’t take long to notice the way the boy looked at her when no one else was paying attention.

She asked me to come up as a guinea pig for a new oil. Her husband was asleep in the next room, and I knew that wouldn’t end with a massage.

She came into the hallway looking for me, fixed me with a stare, and said she had a question. I had no idea what was going to happen when she closed the room door.