Seduction

For years she’d looked down on me, but that afternoon, bent over in front of the freezer, Marisol made the mistake of putting her ass at eye level.

We had been fleeing for four days when they caught us. My grandmother stripped naked in the mud and the night, and I knew that madness was our only way out alive.

The night she offered me a test to see if she was worth it, my mother took off her robe and I understood there was no going back between us.

I went upstairs with a glass of cold water and found him naked on the ladder. I cleared my throat to let him know I was there, but he turned slowly.

Hidden among the trees, they heard them gasping, and back at the table the woman whispered an idea to her son that he never imagined he’d dare to carry out.

I cornered her on the sofa amid drunken laughter, and when my fingers slipped beneath her kitten pajamas, the ice woman finally gave in.

I’d been crossing paths with her in the lobby for months, avoiding her gaze. That afternoon, trapped in the elevator with her drunk husband beside us, I stopped avoiding her.

I’d been faithful to my girlfriend for eight years. It only took a pool, two bikinis, and my sister’s mischievous smile for everything to fall apart.

I got off the train with one idea in my head, and when I crossed the door of his apartment I knew neither of us was going to pretend this was a family visit.

When the doors jammed between two floors, I knew it would be hours before rescue. I never imagined my sister already had other plans for that wait.

I’d booked the place for our anniversary, but she beat me to it: the hostel was the headquarters of a private club, and that night the red button was beside the bed.

I’d been watching her for years when no one was looking. That night, with the house empty and a bottle of wine between us, I stopped pretending I was only her daughter’s husband.

After twenty-eight years of quiet marriage, one hidden photo was enough for Carmen to obsess over what her little brother was hiding.

All I wanted was to work in peace. But then she sat in front of me, tucked her legs beneath her nightgown, and said she hadn’t slept in two nights.

I thought I knew my son until that night, when his confession forced me to choose between indignation and something far darker that had slept for years.

When my aunt asked if I already had a girlfriend, everyone laughed. My cousin Camila didn’t. Beneath the tablecloth, her bare foot slid up my leg and I knew the night was only beginning.

When she opened the door in a rush, with smeared mascara and a wrinkled dress, I knew that night had changed everything between us.

When I looked up and saw her sweeping the living room, I knew my cousin was the only one who could save me. I never imagined how far we’d go that afternoon.

I shaved myself smooth, slipped into my black thong, and painted my lips red. He’d arrive in an hour, and I was already trembling before I’d even seen him.