Seduction

Two years had passed since the first time. When he replied to my message, I knew I was going to see him, even though something in me said I shouldn’t.

I lowered my skirt’s zipper without knowing he was watching from the window across the street. What began as embarrassment became a game.

We both knew the other was bisexual, but we had never done anything about it. That afternoon, a beer and an old game changed everything.

I’m married. I’m straight. That was me when I walked into the mall bathroom. What I was fifteen minutes later, I’m not so sure anymore.

When she walked into her room naked except for the blouse, those white hips swaying, I knew I would never sleep in that house again without thinking of her.

She wore a dress she’d never have worn in front of my son, and after the second glass of wine she told me she preferred mature men in bed.

I never imagined that agreeing to partner swapping would end up revealing a secret my husband had kept since school.

From my wheelchair, I watched my wife step out of the car on my boss’s arm. And I knew, somehow, that I was about to be superfluous in my own marriage.

Camille came into the office with two coffees and the hallway door was already locked. That night Elena discovered how much freedom she had given her husband.

I lit only the red candles, adjusted my babydoll, and waited. When the doorbell rang, I knew that dawn would remind me who I truly was.

That September morning I saw the shyest girl in class walk in. It took me two weeks to realize the shy one wasn’t her, it was me.

When she invited me to dinner at her place, I thought she just wanted to thank me. I had no idea what she was hiding under that pencil skirt, or how far she was willing to go.

Vera approached before the bout, brushed her cheek, and spoke to her about Dafne. On that strip, Renata wasn’t just fighting for an Olympic berth: she was fighting for the right to feel again.

I never thought an avatar in a video game would make me want another woman again—or that desire would stay with me long after I turned off the console.

When she quickened her pace on the trail and caught up with him with a smile too wide for that hour, Mateo knew the sunrise would not be the only thing he saw at the summit.

The feel of her hand when she shook mine was like a jolt. I offered her a ride and, on that dirt road, discovered something I’d denied for years.

I met her long before I met her sister, my wife. Ten years after that hotel, I saw her come out of the water at the beach and knew the story wasn’t over.

When she gestured to me from the central hallway, I knew the list of books borrowed in my name was only the first trap she would spring that night.

I texted “Want to play?” from my fitting room. Five seconds later I slipped into hers, ready to make her come in silence before the saleswoman noticed.

At five to four I was naked in the armchair, staring at the window across from me and waiting for her to come out and close hers.