It was another lousy day at work, and traffic was pure crap, but when I pulled in to the parking lot of the hotel, these thoughts and anxieties drifted away with the cool breezes peeling away the veils of a harsh day and ushering in the night.
She decided on a hotel close to the airport. Logistically it made sense. Neither of us could afford to take the next day off, and we'd be halfway between our jobs as well as close to home should we need to rush there for any emergency. Not that we figured we'd get any sleep. As I slid out the door for work, a change of clothes in one hand and my shaving kit in the other, my mother-in-law gave me a sly look that said, "The house will be locked down early. You kids have fun."
I got my keycard from the front desk and took the elevator to the fourteenth floor. My heart flipped and butterflies flew as the cab rang and the doors parted. Our first Valentine's night alone in over 10 years. I hadn't felt like this in too damn long.
I slid the key in to the slot. Green light. The satisfying click and thunk of the lock and handle. Shower sounds clattering like rain from a holy chamber.
"Honey, I'm home!"
"Oh, hi!" Like we did this all the time. "What took you?"
"Traffic."
I hung up my clothes and loosened the ones I had on.
"What are you doing out there?"
"Waiting for you," I said.
"Well, I'm waiting for you in here."
Without dislocating my hip, I practically leapt out of my clothes, skipped to the bathroom and slipped behind the curtain. I think I forgot to breathe for a minute or two, or perhaps the light-headedness came just from seeing her naked body in the steam and wetness, black hair streaked with celestial colors, still-frecked nose, piercing jade eyes and a mischievious mouth that can swallow me whole. The love of many lives standing before me. A beam of energy connected our hearts and drew us together. We slipped our arms around each other and hugged deeply, her skin wetting mine. She pulled me under the shower and we kissed, tongues leaping like wild dolphins.
"Someone's knocking at the door," she said.
"What? I don't hear anyone." The shower was kinda loud.
"For Joe English Major, who should know a metaphor when he hears one, you sure can be a blockhead."
She looked down where I now realized I was almost painfully pressing against her mound. "Yep, knocking at my door, alright."
"He'd probably like it if you let him in. He'll promise to be good."
"I'll do it only if he promises to be bad."
"Promise."
She kissed me, and with her lips barely touching mine asked, "But first, may I suck you?"
She did so without comment or discussion, and within warping moments I exploded in to rainbow vapor. Compiled once again, I turned off the water and led her to the bed. "My turn," I said.
My tongue and lips traded kickflips and ollies along her intricate vaginal skatepark. I inhaled her deeply, alternately floating then grinding across her sweet spot. She arched her back and pulled a pillow over her face and bucked as her chakras caught air.
I inched my way up her body. Her breathing relaxed. When I got within knocking space once again, she said, "Wait here," and spun off the bed to the closet. "Don't look."
I heard rummaging.
"OK, you can look now."
She walked slowly toward the bed, adorned in multicolored silk. A scarf hung from each yearning nipple. Three more were tied around her waist in an immodest skirt. I noticed two more around her wrists as she raised her arms.
"Our bondage scarves," I said. "Where did you find them?"
"Pushed in to a wad in the back of my pajama drawer." She came over and stroked me. "As payment for that last trick, you go first."
Like a sailor with a line, like a cowgirl with a lasso, in no time she had me firmly but comfortably spread across the bed. As she wrote her name with her breasts acoss my chest and stomach and face, as she painted flowers with ice on my skin and erased them with her tongue, I wondered if I would even be conscious for my turn with her. Boy, oh boy, was she gonna get it.
She swung her leg around me, straddling. Taking me in her hand, I went through her door at last, both of us smiling and sighing. I felt her muscular warmth swallow me bit by bit.
"Lovejoy?"
"Yes?"
"It's time to get up."
"What are you talking about? I'm as up as I can get!"
"Quit being an idiot. Did you forget to set the alarm?"
The blue crystal wave of the hotel room and Vix's body shimmering above me crashed against the broken pavement of the morning.
"C'mon, hop in the shower. I have your lunch ready. You'll be late for work."
The shower was necessarily cold and short. Breakfast while dressing. The kids were in various stages of schoolday readiness. We had a brief whisper kiss at the door as I left. "Happy Valentine's Day," she said. "I'm working late tonight, you know."
Driving away, I thought that some dreams you've just got to move heaven and hell to make come true. This, I think, is one of them.