Seduction

I go out to the bus stop without underwear, not to go anywhere, but to find someone who will look at me the way he looked at me that Thursday in March.

She was forty-seven and had a thirst no man had ever quenched. That dawn, in the deserted park, she decided she was done pretending otherwise.

I had 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.

I went into that hotel just to dry off. I left hours later with shaky legs and a secret I’ve been carrying ever since.

I wrote to half a dozen girls asking for the same thing. Only one replied, and that afternoon, in a shopping center bathroom, I discovered something I didn’t expect.

I never imagined the skinny boy I remembered would become the man who made me tremble in front of the mirror. And it all began with a name.

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.

By day she had an ordinary name and practical steps. By night, under red lights, she chose a stranger and never missed.

That morning I only wanted a quiet shower. I had no idea someone would come in behind me, or that on the other side of the door there was a witness who wasn’t going anywhere.

She closed the door without locking it and stood looking at him, not yet knowing that this man was about to disprove everything she believed about casual sex.

I never saw her face. Only her brown back breathing hard while my hands went lower than a massage therapist should ever dare.

I’d been divorced for three weeks and thought I no longer knew how to want. That first night at sea, a stranger leaning on the bar proved me wrong.

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

I was only looking for a place to sleep. I never imagined a hole in her pajama pants would change everything that night.

When he invited me up for a drink, I had no idea I was about to discover what it was really like to be with a man who knew what he was doing.

I was about to get into the jacuzzi when someone knocked on the door. It was her, with my card in hand and the smile I’d been imagining for months.

I only wanted to make my ex jealous. I never imagined that night would end with me climbing a hidden staircase with the club bouncer.

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.