In Public

We drew teams and I ended up with her. Within minutes, I realized she'd noticed everything—and that she enjoyed watching as much as I enjoyed being watched.

We exchanged a single glance between the clothing racks, and I knew I wouldn’t go home that afternoon the same woman. Neither did he know it yet.

I saw her when I boarded and knew I wouldn’t sleep. I never imagined I’d spy from the shadows as another man took her against the window.

We don't expose ourselves so people can watch us; we simply stop hiding. And if a blind shifts beyond the hedge, she smiles and spreads her legs a little wider.

Sonia was waiting for me at the restaurant door in a dress so short that every time she breathed it told a secret. And I had come ready to tell mine.

“I want us to masturbate while we watch each other,” she told me in the car. I hadn’t expected it, but watching her without touching her turned me on instantly.

We went down to the garage to play like we used to when we were dating. What we didn’t expect was that someone else would be awake among the cars that night.

When I locked the door, he turned around and reproached me for kissing another man. I couldn’t tell whether it was rage or desire burning in his eyes.

The auditorium was almost empty when his hand settled on the armrest. I was forty-two and thought I knew everything about desire. That night I learned I didn’t.

I came home from my second date with my heart racing, never imagining that my own husband would ask me that night to tell him everything.

Everyone hurried past his kiosk so they wouldn’t have to hear his filth. One summer afternoon, Dalia stopped for an ice cream and didn’t know how to go home anymore.

I thought those photos were mine alone—until she counted to five by the ships and hiked up her dress without warning.

We’d spent a week planning that night: her husband at soccer, my wife in class. What we didn’t plan was how many times we’d be interrupted.

We crossed the park in the dark and, before I knew it, she was on her knees in front of me with a smile I still can’t get out of my head.

She wore absolutely nothing beneath her long coat, and as soon as the doors closed, I sent the elevator to the top floor to have her all to myself.

I locked the stall, knelt on the cold tiles, and knew I was going to obey him to the end, even if anyone could walk into the next bathroom.

When I was down to just my bra and thong, my friend climbed onto the stage and asked for the music to start over. She didn’t want to leave me alone up there.

We had rehearsed every gesture, every word, every limit. The game was ours and ours alone—until two strangers appeared among the trees and changed everything.

We’d been married twelve years, and I’d never seen her so fully in command of herself as that afternoon, standing in the water and letting strange men look at her.

We left almost without saying goodbye. In the car, with anger still burning inside me, I decided to remind him who he belonged to that night.