Seduction

We agreed that whoever arrived first would wait in the car. I got there first. Fifteen minutes later, two taps on the window awakened every nerve I thought I had under control.

There were no panties, no shoes, and no movie left unfinished. Only the dress she had almost rejected and the look with which he awaited her in the shadows.

For six months I cared for every garment she hung out with me, saying nothing. Until I understood those lace pieces were a message she’d been too afraid to say aloud.

Two years had passed. He came in holding his nephew’s hand, sat three tables from mine, and without saying a word started reminding me of everything we were.

He never dressed up his love with pretty words. He showed it by choosing to be there, looking at me like someone studying a work of art, and telling me the truth without beating around the bush.

She had spent eight comfortable, empty years of marriage when that man smiled at her between the aisles. She never imagined that smile would leave her without a husband, without a lover, and finally face to face with herself.

A hallway bulb gave out and went dark. In the dimness, her hands circled my waist and I knew she’d been waiting years for that moment without daring to name it.

I took the job for the money. I never expected the silence of that house to push us both toward something neither of us could name.

For years I’d convinced myself I knew what I wanted from a woman. That night, at the bar of a nearly empty place, a stranger showed me how wrong I was.

I was nineteen and thought I was untouchable, until the night a man twice my age showed me how wrong I was.

He was the last person I expected to see that afternoon. I opened the door half-asleep, and when I saw him standing there with that crooked smile, my mouth went dry.

She crossed her legs in front of me and something didn’t add up. Her voice was sweet, but her hands were too big. It took me days to understand what had stolen my sleep.

One look from Renata was enough for me to understand: she’d seen everything the previous afternoon and now wanted her share, with no chance to refuse.

All he had to do was watch. No touching, no talking. But when she slid her panties to the floor of the carriage, he no longer knew where to look.

I was fifteen when I heard that line. I never imagined that, on an ordinary night, my own father would make me understand what it really meant.

I agreed to help them with the faculty contest. I never imagined that in front of that mirror, made up and in that tight dress, I would stop recognizing myself.

We’d joked about the idea after the movie. A week later, my wife left me a voice note at one in the morning, and the bedroom smelled like another man.

When I saw the truck driving away down the road, my body started beating differently. I knew exactly what was going to happen as soon as he and I were left alone in that house.

Behind each of the three holes there could have been anyone. I couldn’t see a thing. I only felt hands, mouths, and a familiar gaze watching me from the other side.

At four in the afternoon I was gorgeous, freshly made up in front of the mirror. By ten at night, nothing was left of that perfect girl, and I loved it.