A Week in Miami

I didn't see Niki anywhere when I came in, had not seen her since the morning when we had swum together in the pool. She had seemed her usual self, with no sign of any embarrassment about the night before.

I went to my room and showered, shaved and dressed in my usual shirt and slacks, picked up her keycard and walked to the elevator. I glanced at my watch and saw I was ten minutes earlier than usual and smiled. I shouldn't try to look so keen.

The elevator doors opened on a single black woman standing in the corner. She was almost as tall as me, her skin burnished, dark and flawless. I nodded and smiled, stepped in and pressed nine. I noticed her glance briefly at me and then look away in the way people in elevators do, pretending to be fascinated by some small blemish on the wall.

The elevator rose quickly and pinged and the woman and I looked at each other again as we stepped out together and walked down the long corridor to 901. I pulled the key card out of my shirt pocket and held it ready.

"You must be Thomas," the woman said, her voice as dark and smooth as her skin.

I stopped, the card held out towards Niki's door.

"I'm sorry?"

"You are Annie's friend, Thomas, aren't you?" She smiled, showing perfect white teeth.

"I'm Thomas Harper, yes," I said.

"I'm Desi," she said. "I work with Annie. I've come to pick up some dresses." She grinned. "God, she's been talking about you all week, and here you are!" She looked at me, not unkindly, but maybe puzzling over what all the fuss had been about.

I held out my hand, "Pleased to meet you."

She stepped inside my hand and put her hands on my shoulders, kissed me on one cheek, then the other. "You too," she said. "Wow!"

Her skin was hot when she touched me, her scent spicy and musky, rising in waves from her.

I pulled myself back to the present and opened Niki's door.

"Hi honey, he's home!" Desi shouted, and I felt myself blush.

Niki was nowhere to be seen but I could hear the shower running. A moment later the door opened and Niki looked out, a large white towel held against her body, water streaming down her face and shoulders.

"Oh, Hi Desi. That stuff's on the bed, through there," she pointed, then looked at me and gave me a dazzling smile. "Hi Thomas."

"Hi."

She stood in the door, waiting, as Desi walked through to the bedroom, her hips swaying in that way only models have perfected.

"Finish your shower," I said, "I'll fix us some drinks."

Niki made no move from the door.

"What?" I said.

"You haven't said hello to be properly yet. I'm waiting...," she said, putting a finger on her full lips.

I sighed. It was a hard, hard world. I stepped across and kissed her on the cheek, but before I could turn away she grabbed my chin in one hand and turned me so she could kiss my mouth. Her other hand fumbled to keep the towel up.

She stepped back and looked at me and nodded. "Better." Then she closed the door.

Desi came back through with three dresses over her arm. "I've taken them!" she called through the door, then, "'Bye Thomas. It was a pleasure." With a smirk she was gone, dragging her scent and heat after her.

I mixed drinks and slumped back onto the couch, suddenly feeling exhausted by the waves of emotions that were running through me. Should I, could I, change the way I behaved with Niki? Or was I going to ruin what was starting to feel like a special relationship? Too many questions, too many repercussions if I got it wrong. I had done alright so far by behaving as a gentleman - I would continue in that manner and finish up the week with Niki still a friend. That, I decided, would feel pretty good.

As if my small decision was some turning point, I felt my shoulders relax and sank back into the soft cushions of the couch. The hissing of the shower stopped and I drank some more of the peaty whisky. Long after I swallowed the taste lingered in my mouth and nose, would linger, I knew, for hours. I got up and poured myself a second glass, mixed a drink for Niki, Vodka, some orange, ice and soda water, half filling a glass. I put it down on the coffee table next to mine and sank back into the cushions.

I was daydreaming, my eyes growing lidded, when the bathroom door opened and let out a bloom of steam through which stepped Niki in the same small robe as last night, tied tight to accentuate the narrowness of her waist, clinging to her thighs and revealing her long, slim legs.

"Oh, a drink, good," she said and leaned forward to pick up her glass. My eyes followed the V of her robe as she bent towards me, could not have done anything else, and I saw the heaviness of her breasts shift and move beneath the thin material, glimpsed for a moment the shadowed valley of her cleavage. Then she stepped around the table and dropped onto the couch beside me.

"Thomas, do you mind if we stay here tonight? I've had a long day, and I have no energy left at all. We can order food." She looked at me and raised her eyebrows.

"Of course. If you're tired would you like me to go, you can get an early night."

She reached across and touched my arm with her long fingers. "No, stay. I don't want you to go, but I just want to relax. What is it you Americans say? We can 'chill out', yes?"

"We can certainly do that," I said. "Although I'm not sure I'm of the chill out generation. I'm the tune in, turn, on, drop out age, remember?"

She laughed. "You are a child of the seventies, Thomas. You invented chilling out, you just called it something else."

"What do you want to eat?" I asked.

"Something light. A salad, some chicken, a nice bottle of white wine. Can you call down and order - I trust your judgment."

"Sure." I got up and lifted the phone, expecting her to follow and go to get dressed, but she stayed where she was, lifted her long flawless legs and rested them on the coffee table. The silk of her robe draped, valleyed in between her thighs, caressing her skin like I wanted to.

I called room service and ordered for us both, adding a bottle of good Chablis. It worried me a little that I had become so quickly used to spending Niki's money, but not enough to not do it.

I returned to the couch. Niki lifted her legs and turned so they fell onto my lap. As she twisted around the robe pulled up along her thighs, almost revealing her most secret place.

"Thomas, my feet are sore. Today they made me wear really high heels and walk up and down and up and down all day long. Are you any good at foot rubs?"

"I don't know," I said. "I'll try."

I placed both hands around her left foot and turned it slightly to give me better access to her heel, pushed my thumbs hard into the pad there. Niki grunted and her foot twitched away from me.

"Too hard - sorry,"

"No, not too hard. Too good. Don't you dare stop."

I smiled and continued.

"Did you do this for your wife? You're very good at it."

"She liked having her feet stroked," I said, thinking back to the way she would stretch out on her stomach as I started with her soles, worked to her ankles, her calves, spending more time on the back of her knees before continuing on along the naked length of her. I imagined what it would be like to see Niki like that, stretched naked in front of me while I worked my way up along her body.

I dug my fingers into her sole again, feeling for knots of tension and ache and working them away. Her other foot lay in my lap and I was conscious of the way my cock had stiffened underneath the side of it. She must, surely, be able to feel that, but gave no indication.

Niki sighed and stretched her long body, raising her arms above her head. The robe lifted further, lifted too far and she revealed the side of her hip, a curve of upper thigh, only shadow hiding her sex from my view. I turned my head and looked away. Niki noticed her exposure and lowered her arms, pulling the hem of her robe back down.

"I should get dressed, I suppose," she said lazily. "But it feel so nice like this with you stroking my feet. Am I shocking you, Thomas?"

"I don't get easily shocked these days," I laughed.

"Good," Niki said, nodding. "Very good," and she stretched her legs out again so I could get at her other foot, rolled slightly to allow me access to her heel and when the robe slid up her thighs again she left it where it came to rest. Almost, but not quite, she had revealed herself to me. One side of the robe had fallen aside and a long expanse of hip and the side of her flat stomach lay bare. The other edge of the robe had fallen down between her thighs, barely covering her from my gaze.

I decided not to look away this time. If Niki felt comfortable with what she was doing, then I would not deny myself the pleasure of looking at her.

I worked on the knots in her other foot, then began to roll her ankles in my hands.

"Mmm," she sighed. "You really are very good at this. I think I will employ you full time to do it whenever I am tired and aching. How much would you charge me, Thomas?"

"Nothing at all," I said.

"But you must charge me lots of money for this; you are too good to offer yourself for free."

"Not free," I said. "It gives me greater pleasure than I could describe to do this for you, Niki."

She smiled. "You are so different from all the foolish young men that chase me, Thomas. It's very nice being with you."

"I'm glad," I said, but her words cut into me. It was my safety she loved, the sureness that what I was doing would lead to nothing more. I made an effort and smiled back at her, ran my hand along the smooth length of her flawless calf and she smiled back. If she felt safe, so be it, I could still take pleasure in the little I was being offered.

Her skin was hot under my palm and I let my fingers drift around to the backs of her knees, the sensitive spot I knew all women loved having touched. She lifted her leg slightly to allow me greater access just as a knock sounded at the door.

"Dinner," I said.

"I was really enjoying that," she said. Niki pulled her legs back and placed them on the floor, stood and went through to her bedroom. "Let them in, Thomas. I'll hide in here until they're gone. They might not approve of me dressing like this."

So she knew, I thought, she knew it was not wholly appropriate. But she didn't mind? Confusion swirled through my mind and I went to the door and let the waiter and waitress in. They fussed around, laying our food at the dining table set into an alcove near the balcony. The waiter uncorked the wine and I held up my hand as he went to offer me a taste.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," I said. "You don't need to stay, we can sort ourselves out."

They smiled, tidied away their trolley and left the room. Our salad plates sat on the table, the wine chilling in a cooler.

"Ready," I called out.

Niki came back through. I had expected her to have changed into something less revealing, but she continued to wear the blue silk robe. She had tied her hair back and caught it in a clasp to reveal her long slim neck.

I pulled her chair out and slid it back in as she sat, went around to my side of the table. I poured wine into both of our glasses and we offered our now usual Finnish toast.

"Tell me more about your wife, Thomas," Niki asked. "I only know you were married and lost her. Was it a good marriage?"

I looked at her for a while, pondering her question, weighing my options.

"The truth, Niki, or the public version?"

She stopped her fork half way between her plate and her lips and looked at me. "The truth, I think, don't you? Am I being wrong, or should it not always be the truth now between you and I?"

I felt a tightness in my throat. She was so beautiful and so open my breath became short and for a moment I wasn't sure how to proceed.

"I think," I said, "that when we first married we were very much in love. But as time went on, we did not so much fall out of love as become bored. We had a son and a daughter. I don't think I told you that."

"You didn't. How could you forget your children, Thomas," she acolded. "What are their names? How old are they?"

"Lilly is my daughter, she's twenty-four now, almost your age. My son's name is John."

"John? What is he doing now?"

"He always wanted to join the army. Angie and I didn't want it, but he was old enough and joined up anyway. He went to Iraq. Now he's in Afghanistan. I worry about him, I guess, but I know he's doing something he loves."

"Oh Thomas, it sounds like you miss him." Niki reached across and put her hand over mine, her face a mask of sympathy.

"I'm luckier than a lot of parents whose sons went over there and never came back."

"Tell me about something happy. Your daughter, where is she now, what does she do, is she pretty like her mother or ugly like you?"

I smiled. The worry over John would always remain, but he could never have done anything else.

"Lilly lives in Europe," I said. "Yes, thank God, she is pretty. She studied languages in college and she works in France now, translating in the European parliament in Strasbourg."

"I know Strasbourg," Niki said. "You must give me her number, I will call and see her and tell her how much you miss her and how wonderful her father is."

"I do miss her," I said, "But I know she loves her job, and I go across at least once a year and we spend a couple of weeks traveling around. France, Germany, Italy, up into Denmark and Sweden two years ago. Spain once."

"And now you are alone?"

"Just me."

"And are you lonely? Do you have women friends, someone who helps you sleep at night...?"

"No one," I said.

"No one special, or no one?"

"No one," I repeated.

"But a man like you has needs, no? "

I shrugged. I thought it would not be appropriate to explain how I took care of those needs myself.

"I've seen a few women," I said. "But no one special. I enjoy my independence too much, I guess, to want to get involved again."

Niki looked at me for a long time, then picked up her fork and started to eat again.

"What about you," I said, "You must have boyfriends? Anyone serious?"

She laughed. "No one. Like you."

"But you must have had... I don't know, you're so beautiful, you must have had someone..."

She shrugged. "I have had lovers, of course. But men my age are so shallow. The men I tend to meet live in my world, not yours, they are self centered and think only of how handsome they are. And in fashion, many of the men like other men, not women. I don't really bother much anymore."

"But you are young, Niki," I said. "If you think I have needs, then you must feel them even more, at your age."

She smiled. "There are ways to satisfy those without involving anyone else," she said, putting into the open the thought I had not expressed. She had emptied her glass and I topped it up, ate some of my excellent salad.

I raised my glass. "Here's to independence," I said.

She clinked her glass to mine. "Sometimes," she said. "Sometimes not."

We finished our meal talking about less emotive subjects. I told her how I had started my own company, how I made a good living but it did mean one week in every two I was in a different city, but that was fine because there was nothing to really go home for anyway, and I enjoyed the life.

"And you?" I asked as we finished eating. "Do you like this existence, always living in hotels, always moving?"

"It is what I do," she said. "I have never really known anything else." She looked over my shoulder, thinking, her sharp blue eyes clouded for a moment. "I do not mind my life."

I emptied the last of the wine into our glasses and turned the bottle up into the cooler.

"I'll call and get this cleared away," I said, moving across to the phone.

"Ask them to bring another bottle. No, ask them to bring two. I feel lazy and sloppy tonight and I would like to get drunk."

I laughed at her and called down. Niki drained her glass and then, when a knock at the door sounded, disappeared into her bedroom again.

The places were cleared, the wine opened and placed in a new cooler, the other bottle laid in the refrigerator. I tipped them both twenty dollars each and they wished me goodnight. Niki came out when she heard the door close.

I poured wine for both of us and she lay back down on the couch, her long legs stretching the length of the cushions. I moved to sit in one of the armchairs across from her but she shook her head. "More massage, Thomas, please."

"You're sure? "

She nodded. "I'm sure. I was enjoying it very much before dinner, and now I am more relaxed and believe I will enjoy it even more now." She lifted her legs and I slid beneath them and as soon as I sat she laid her feet back on my lap, back over the length of my cock which lay down inside the leg of my pants, responding to her touch. I was sure she must have felt it thicken and twitch, but showed no indication.

"I think you had reached my knees. Do you want to start again or carry on from there?" She stared at me, openly expressing something I wanted to interpret as need.

I placed my half empty glass on the table and slid a hand beneath her knee, began to stroke the smooth skin on the back of her leg. Niki laid her head back and closed her eyes, a smile widening her mouth.

"That is wonderful, Thomas. You must promise you won't stop."

"Promise," I said, stroking my hand further along the back of her thigh.

Niki moved suddenly and rolled over, pushing herself down so her head was flat on the couch, her legs raised on the far arm. As she slid down the robe stayed where it had been and her body slid down through it. When she stopped the hem of the robe had moved to her waist and she lay with the alabaster white cheeks of her ass revealed. She was unbelievably perfect, sculpted and rounded, tapering from her waist to bloom and then fade, dipping down without flaw to her thighs. The deep cleft between her cheeks hide any hint of her opening from me, but even so I had never been as aroused by anything in my life.

"Now you can work properly," she said, and wriggled again.

I lifted her legs and slid down from the couch, knelt beside it and turned back to her. I laid my hands on the back of her calves and began to sweep them in long strokes, occasionally digging in with more pressure and easing her muscles. Once or twice Niki grunted, but more often she sighed.

As I moved higher along her thighs the sighs became more frequent. I had taken the decision to interpret her action in the most obvious way. She may not want me, would not want my body, but that did not prevent me from satisfying her needs. I was going to try and make her cum in the most exquisite way I could manage. I believed it was what she wanted me to do.

My hands slid along her thighs, reaching close to the junction with her ass and as I approached that point Niki moaned and her legs parted, and then the leg closest to me slid off the couch and touched the floor, opening herself to my gaze.

Her thighs were separated, and nestled between them I could see the outer lips of her labia, smooth and hairless and plump. I allowed my hands to slide upwards, drifting along the inside of her thighs and then, just before my fingers touched her sex I drew them aside and slid them on over the rounded perfect cheeks of her ass.

Niki moaned again, and I felt her lift her hips and push back against my palms.

"OK?" I whispered.

"Wonderful," she murmured. "Thomas, would you mind if I took this off?" She lifted herself onto her hands and pulled at the tie of her robe.

"Why on earth would I mind that?" I replied.

She slid the robe down off her shoulders and then pulled it away from her body, discarded it on the floor.

"Thomas," she whispered as she lay back on her stomach. The long length of her naked back stretched from her waist. Along the center, directly over her spine, a deep valley ran between the muscles in her back, rising and disappearing into her slender neck.