In Public

She slowly spread her knees until I understood that little show under the table was for me, and for no one else in the whole café.

A stranger promised to meet me in the back row, but I ended up in the hands of everyone else, offered up again and again in the dark.

We went to Formentera so people could watch her. I never imagined how far she’d be willing to go when that foreigner spread his towel just a few meters from us.

She chose the shortest skirt and left without underwear. At that hour the stranger on the platform was always there, and this time she wasn’t going to move away.

I went into the third fitting room, left the curtain exactly how I like it, and when I looked up I caught her looking inside. One of mine, I thought.

She came out of the water slowly, knowing the sheer fabric no longer hid a thing, and wrung the hair from her face in front of us as if she had all the time in the world.

It was an April afternoon. I went out without a bra and in a tiny thong. I had no idea my husband would stop at the abandoned gas station and do that to me.

The seat beside him was occupied by her, with those crossed legs in the dim light. She said it was better to talk it through with me than with strangers. I had no idea where it would lead us.

I told her I wanted something stronger than her, much stronger. She wasn’t shocked. She smiled and said she knew a place where that was possible.

I boarded the catamaran to escape the world for a while. I never imagined I’d end up naked, surrounded, and the one who didn’t want it to stop.

We’d been talking about it for months and never dared. Then a couple invited us to a liberal spa one May afternoon, and Sofía walked through that door before I did.

For weeks I passed in front of them, pretending to be afraid. That afternoon I took off my bra behind a bush and decided to let all six men do whatever they wanted to me.

When I climbed onto the table to dance for them, I knew I wouldn’t come down the same. There were ten, then twelve, and none left wanting.

I crossed my legs slowly until my knee brushed hers in the neighboring seat. She never took her eyes off my thighs, and I knew we wouldn’t finish the movie that night.

Noelia looked at us over her glass of cava and asked the question no one expected: how did we manage our sex life after so many years together?

A patient hand came out from between the bars and stroked my stomach, unhurried. My husband undid one button on my shirt to make room for it.

She left her panties on the nightstand like every night. But this time I went into her room without warning and found something that changed everything between us.

I saw him dancing with another girl, and something inside me broke. I wasn’t looking for revenge—I was looking for someone to make me feel what he no longer gave me.

I’d given her permission to let them watch us. What I didn’t expect was for her to pull the curtain herself and move my hand aside to put hers there.

The music vibrated through my body, his eyes never left me, and I knew that night I was going to do something I’d never regret.