Seduction

He unzipped her dress in front of the entryway mirror, and when she saw herself wrapped in his arms, she knew there was no going back that night.

From below, while she pushed the guide wire at the top of the ladder, her top lifted from her body and Adrián realized that summer would not be like the others.

I took my time handing her coat over, enjoying the way men looked at her. I never imagined one would dare that much in front of me.

I asked her to dress to provoke, and on the fourth day she came home with a trembling voice and a story she couldn’t tell me with her clothes on.

I learned very early that my body was worth more than any degree. What none of them knew is that I never felt a thing while they paid me.

My husband had spent two decades waiting for me to cross that line. I never imagined I’d do it on an ordinary afternoon, against the wall of my own office.

When I felt his gaze pinned to my back from the window across the way, I knew that afternoon I wasn’t going to buy bread—I was going to give him something much better.

I got out of the car thinking I was going to defend him and ended up seeing him with a stranger on his lap. What I did next wasn’t planned: I just stopped being afraid.

She was crying drunk on my shoulder, saying nobody wanted her anymore. She had no idea that that very night, on the sand, I was going to prove exactly the opposite.

I let the dress fall on the balcony knowing he was watching from the other side of the glass. And I knew my husband had planned it all.

When she stepped off the plane in those shorts and with that smile, I knew the rule about not touching a friend’s sister was going to cost me dearly.

I was married, I was straight, and I was sure of who I was. That dawn, in a car parked by the beach, I stopped being so sure.

When the zipper on the dress came undone, I knew that night in the dressing room would change everything between us — and I didn’t want it to stop.

I changed the song to a slower one, let my fingers travel down my neck, and suddenly the massage was no longer just a massage. Care to imagine it with me?

That morning I didn’t get dressed or dry my tears. I just dialed his number and asked him to come without telling my husband.

We were never friends, but she looked at me with contempt every time her boyfriend lingered too long staring at me. So I gave her a real reason to hate me.

They went up to the second floor carrying a tray of pastries. None of them imagined they’d learn that afternoon how much desire had been sleeping between the three of them.

We had spent months fantasizing about it. That night, as she followed the waitress up the stairs, I knew I’d be watching everything from the next room.

I put on the white apron and the little cap, did my makeup like a slut, and called him to let him know the room was ready. We had the rest memorized.

I’ve spent years getting paid to sleep with strangers. I never thought I’d be the one begging to see her again.