Stress Release

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A hard business trip leads to a nice surprise in the spa.
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James opened his eyes and exhaled loudly, cords on his neck bulged against the strain. "...eight...mmpf...niiiine...ten!" The metal stack of weights in the machine clanged back into place. Three days of long hours had kept him out of the hotel fitness room and it had taken a full 90 minutes to expel the tension from his body by force. Initially the stationary bike succeeded in fracturing the surface of his frustration from the Vrabek project like an egg shell being hammered against a mixing bowl. Fissures had spidered out along the surface of the stress but not given way until he was able to use his pent up aggression as a motivator for pushing more weight than normal.

He'd been in Europe for 16 days already, bouncing around on day trips from his base in Amsterdam to Brussels, Metz, and Rotterdam -- surviving an endless parade of meetings during normal working hours as well as conference calls back to HQ at night. Dinners of mini-bar cashews and extra coffee in the mornings had only added to the fatigue. The jet lag had never really gone away. It had simply blended seamlessly into the sleep deprivation demanded by his job of late.

Sweat rolled off James's forehead and caught in the lashes of his left eye. He reached for the damp towel on the floor and wiped his whole head. He took the opportunity to surreptitiously look in the mirror at the only other person in the room with him, a woman whose body had made his decision to come work out more worthwhile than the exercise. She was stood no taller than his shoulder, but her small frame made it obvious that she worked out frequently. No one would ever confuse James for a real athlete, but he was in reasonable enough shape. She, on the other hand, had genuine athletic grace.

Toward the beginning of his stay at this hotel, he'd seen her running on the treadmill and had difficulty not staring then too. At one point, he'd helped her pick up the stack of cups she'd up-ended next to the water purifier and had subsequently been able to exchange a quick greeting in the restaurant at breakfast each of the past few days. Today she had her hair up in a thick pony tail and had removed her workout jacket so she could comfortably do some yoga.

James had tried not to oogle too much, but her languid movements seemed designed to tantalize him. Arms stretched far above her, head tilted back, breasts rounded tightly against the expandable fabric of her workout bra. Then she would drop into a different position with her hands flat on the ground, her backside raised with a flattened back. The fine curve of her calves led his eyes upward. It was difficult to work out and pretend not to notice. And all the more embarrassing to him that she kept catching him at it; he was a terrible voyeur.

The past months of work had also been weeks of no real connection with others than people at the office. Hell -- it had been months since Pam had called it quits on their relationship. So aside from the quasi-isolation enforced by his job, it felt like ages since he'd had any sort of physical contact with anyone. This woman would have been captivating normally, but in his current state of mind she was simply magnetic. The fact that he'd been lucky enough to have the timing of their workouts coincide was worth every moment just to have the mental image of her stretched-out form.

He took a long pull on his water bottle and tossed the towel into the wicker basket against the wall. James gathered his room key and discarded workout pullover before pullout out his left earplug. When he passed behind her he said, "Have a good workout." She gave a slightly muffled thanks from the pose she was holding which had her head tucked close to the floor mat. He figured that was about the full capability of his flirting skills.

James looked at the clock and realized that, for once, he was going to have time to use the sauna that he'd read about in the information packet in his room. He had a few hours before the budget call with those infernal bean counters back in San Jose. He pushed the swinging door into the men's locker room and selected one of the ridiculously green lockers. Whoever had designed the room had apparently not gotten the memo about the 70's being over. He stripped down and layered his stuff in the locker before closing it and grabbing one of the towels next to the door marked, "SPA." He automatically wrapped the towel around his mid-section and smirked at how small it was. He couldn't even get the thing around his waist enough to cinch it. "Hell with it." he said, and simply threw it up over his shoulder.

There was another water dispenser in the tiled shower area, so he grabbed a pair of cups and filled them up to take in the sauna with him. Figuring that he would be sweaty enough in a moment, he ignored the "Please Shower Before Using The Facilities," sign and headed straight for the heat.

Perfect. There was no other way to describe how he felt once he'd settled himself on the left side of the L-shaped upper bench. His towel, for all that it was worth, was laid out on the bench under the main part of his body and his head was comfortably resting on a low wooden support designed for just that purpose. He closed his eyes and heaved a long sigh.

James's calm lasted only a moment. He heard a door open somewhere in the area outside the sauna and then then the steady hum of a shower kicked-in. The unmistakable percussive splats of water sluicing of someone in a shower made it clear that he wasn't the only one using the spa.

There were only two people in the gym, and he knew he'd gone into the men's lockers -- he remembered seeing the sign plainly enough.

"Oh, shit."

It must be a common spa area. Wouldn't there have been a sign letting him know that? "Double shit." He was totally nude. Maybe she would just shower and go. He was so distracted by the surprise of hearing her that it didn't occur to him how much he'd like to share the shower with her. He was half-raised on his elbow, frozen with indecision about getting off the towel, when the shower abruptly turned off. In the wooden box where he was situated, sounds from the room were dull and he missed the slight footfall of her bare feet. Without warning, he saw her face framed in the little window at the door.

James had a strange moment of clarity, almost as if he were in the second just before a car accident. He had time to see the barest hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth, time to notice the slight accumulation of condensation on the window and he had time to decide that he was too burnt out to give a damn so he committed to staying just as he was. He didn't move to cover himself. She pushed open the door and quickly stepped through to keep the heat in.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all."

He was pleased that his voice didn't betray the panic washing through him. She had her towel wrapped around her middle, but was having the same problem he'd had trying to get one around his waist. She was pinching the towel together with her left hand so that her right had been free to pull on the door. The bottom of the towel just barely hid the junction of her legs from his view, and he could see skin all the way up her left hip to where the towel came together.

James tried to play it cool. He lay back and looked at the ceiling praying that she didn't change her mind about joining him in the sauna. She didn't move at first and with his eyes averted he missed the fact that she had taken the liberty of enjoying the view of his body in the soft light of the room.

She elected to sit on the top shelf as well. When she had stepped up he'd heard her give a small "tsk" sound and apparently come to her own decision. She pulled the towel from around herself and laid it out on the bench as he'd done. When he caught the movement of the towel out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help himself and looked. He drank in the lines of her. Athletic legs were crowned with an ass that he'd have written poetry about it he could have. The hint of her sex could be seen as she bent to place her towel and he could see the underside of breasts briefly.

His groin gave a twitch and he looked away. That would be embarrassing.

The woman had decided on sitting upright. She gave a sigh of contentment in the heat. "Okay. This is the right way to end another long day. Hell, another long week."

James gave a quick grin and said, "I couldn't agree more. How long have you been over here?" He was still studying the knots and grain of the wood above him and doing his level best to be nonchalant about their respective nudity.

"I got in about a week and a half ago. I'm not usually gone for so long, but we had a Partner's strategy meeting and I stayed to take care of a few things since I was already here. At least, it sounded like a good idea when I was scheduling the trip. Now I just want to get out of here."

He said, "Yeah, I know what you mean. So much for tourism. The worst part is that when I'm on the road, there isn't much to do but work, so I end up pulling stupid hours and never really catch up on sleep. Where's home for you?"

"Baltimore. And you?"

"Really. That's funny -- I'm not all that far from you. I live in Virginia, just outside of D.C. -- small world. I should have guessed you were from Baltimore the way you handled those cups the other day. It was like watching the Orioles' fielding."

She gave a sharp laugh. "Hey, now. Be nice. It wasn't a good summer for them. I went to a few games with some friends and I have to admit they were pretty bad." She lifted her arms and pulled her hair to one side. "By the way, I'm Ellen."

There was no way for him not to look when he introduced himself. She was only five or six feet away, and breathtaking. Her hair was played out across her collarbones. Water rivulets had run down the outside of her breasts leaving small tracks of water behind. Her body was slender and her breasts matched her figure perfectly. He took in the smooth skin of her stomach and the top of the pubic triangle. He desperately struggled to meet her eyes.

"James -- ah, James Morris. What kind of work do you do?"

She was so comfortable in her nudity that he relaxed about the whole situation. She'd closed her eyes and he took the opportunity to look more closely. Her nipples were softening in the heat, not puffy, but clearly affected by the temperature in the room. They were a rosy brown in the yellowed, diffuse light of the sauna. Her breathing was slow and regular. She was delightful to look at.

Ellen said, "I'm a management consultant with PWC. I mostly work on change management or process optimization stuff. I've done M&A work, but frankly it's too damn stressful and I got tired of it. Some folks just love the rush of doing a 'deal' but I ended up just feeling like it was so combative that it wasn't worth it for me."

James said, "I can see that. My brother works at Brown & Wood in New York and absolutely loves it, but man -- I don't think I'd make it. You've got to be wired a certain way to do that."

She gave a nod. "Yeah. What brings you over to Europe?"

James had reluctantly dropped his head back again and closed his eyes as well. "I run the engineering group for an energy contractor out of California. They got started in oil and branched out to power plant construction which is my thing. We've got a new station coming online in North-Eastern France, but our European HQ is here so I've been bouncing around trying to keep the doors to the crazy house locked. This has been one of those weeks that you'd like to trade in for...ah...I don't know. For anything -- hell I'd take a quick kick to the head instead of the past few days. It'd feel better."

"Yeah -- I know what those weeks are like. Damn...it's hot in here."

James pushed himself up into a seated position. Sweat ran freely off him, he could feel it crawling down his back in steady streams due to the change in position. "Better than a cold sauna."

She smiled. "True...too true. I'm afraid I can't stay in here much more -- I'm reaching my limit."

James wanted more than anything to get out with her, but felt it would be all the more awkward if he stood in the cramped space at the same time. "I'll give it just a moment more."

When Ellen stood up, she had to stoop in the low room, and once again James thoroughly enjoyed the movement of her torso, the subtle shifting of skin over her ribs and the gathering of her breasts as she leaned forward. When she stepped down, he briefly saw that her pubic hair was trimmed neatly. He'd seen the silhouette of gentle folds of her pussy against the lighter wood behind her.

Once the door closed behind her, he gave a low whistle and just said, "Damn." He reached down and grabbed the two plastic cups of water on the lower bench. The first one he drank down in four gulps, the other he poured over his head.

James waited another few minutes before stepping off the bench and turning to get his towel. It was soaked from the water and his sweat -- so he just held it in his hand rather than even attempt to cover up.

The air of the common area outside of the sauna felt cool even though he knew the space was significantly warmer than the workout facility. There were oversized lounge chairs with outdoor fabric on them distributed around the room and he could see Ellen's feet at the end of one of the chairs which was mostly hidden from his view. He poked his head around the wall to say a quick goodbye, but when he saw her stretched out, completely uncovered, he dismissed the idea of leaving. There was nothing he could possibly think of that was more important than spending more time with her.

James saw a stack of clean towels and another wicker basket. He discarded his drenched towel and grabbed another for the chair next to her. Droplets of sweat were still beaded on her, and she looked extremely relaxed. He was moved by how comfortable she was in herself, the unforced familiarity due to their mutual exposure. His eyes were again drawn to the rounded triangle of downy hair between her legs that she so neatly trimmed. He focused on the centerline of folded skin that led down and out of his view and once more felt desire begin to stir, so he redirected his attention back to her serene face.

"Mind if I join you. Looks like a good way to cool down."

Ellen said, "Of course. By the way, what's your plan for dinner?"

James smiled. "Well I was planning to eat a nine-Euro can of cashews and work on budget issues."

"Ooohh -- sounds romantic."

James said, "Very. Don't underestimate the quality of the salt they use in those things. Haute cuisine."

Ellen adjusted her head slightly to look at him, "I think you should forego the cashews and grab a bite with me. I'm tired of eating alone, and considering there isn't much of you I haven't seen at this point, we might as well try having a conversation with clothes on."

James nodded and pursed his lips a little. "Good point. In the spirit of absolute honesty, I'd prefer to continue the conversation this way -- but people would stare in the restaurant."

Ellen laughed at that. "And these Europeans think Americans are so up-tight. We'd set them right in a minute if either of us had the guts to really show up to a restaurant 'au natural.'"

James relaxed into the cushions of the lounge chair next to her. He had to exert a good deal of will power not to simply stare at her any further. The next few minutes passed in comfortable silence. Periodically he would glance over and watch her stomach rise and fall with her breathing, or trace the outer edge of her breast which was emphasized due to her lying flat on the chair.

After a while, he stood and grabbed his towel. "I tell you what, I'll go shower and get upstairs. I have to cancel a con-call and send an email or two. How about we meet in the lobby in an hour?"

Ellen said, "Okay. It's a plan."

James headed over to the open showers and chose the middle of the three. He pulled the lever and set it at a mild temperature. After rinsing off for a moment, he pumped three globs of body wash from the dispenser on the wall and lathered up his hair. He closed his eyes and stepped into the stream of water to get all the soap off his head. Just then the shower next to him kicked on. James rotated around and put the water from his shower to his back before opening his eyes. Ellen was right next to him.

She had her head tilted back into the water, and it was making her dark hair shine. Her nipples had hardened and the way she was standing made her back slightly arch, forcing her chest out further. James was transfixed.

Ellen brought her hands up to her belly and ran them up her body to wash away the salty residue from sitting in the sauna. When she passed over her breasts, James's body acted of its own accord. He couldn't help it -- there was no force in nature strong enough to keep him from reacting to her figure. Just as he was about to turn in embarrassment, she glanced down at the evidence of his interest. He was only about half erect, but even with that it was noticeably standing out from him.

"I'm so sorry...." He was turning away when she put a hand out to his shoulder.

"Don't be."

James was rooted to the spot. She had turned to face him and had placed her feet at shoulder width to give him a complete view of her body. He steadily went from half to fully erect. Standing there with a complete hard-on, the beat of his heart could be seen in its movement. Ellen didn't say a word, she held her position for what felt to him like an hour but was really only a half-minute.

She reached over to the dispenser and got a handful of soap. Stepping out of her stream of water, she lathered her body, starting with her shoulders and working out each arm, down her sides, over her breasts and then across her stomach. The lathered soap made a lacework of bubbles and froth which steadily moved down her body toward the floor. When she reached her pussy, he could tell that her hand lingered slightly longer before moving to her legs. By the time she completed her task, James's breathing had become a little ragged. It was the most sensual thing he'd ever seen.

Ellen gave a self-satisfied chuckle and returned to the shower.

James enjoyed the spectacle of the soap getting overwhelmed by the clean water and running off of her in sheets. When she reached out to the dispenser a second time, he thought it was for her hair. Apparently she had other ideas. Ellen got another handful of soap and stepped to the middle of the room; she gave him a little smile and said, "Come here."

She used her free hand to turn James around, and then from behind him, rubbed the soap across his shoulders. Ellen used circular motions to spread the soap across his back, and again over the top of his shoulders. She briefly rubbed the base of his neck and then steadily worked her way down until she playfully cupped both of his butt cheeks.

James was in heaven; her hands felt good. There was strength there, but oh-so soft. When she grabbed his butt he said, "Hey!" But his phony complaint died on his lips. He felt her arms encircle his mid-section and she brought her body against his. The soap lubricated their skin and he could feel the firmness of her breasts in the middle of his back. Her hips seemed to match the curve of his backside and she pressed into him. Then her hands made their way down over his stomach and both encircled the base of his penis. She drew them outward and used her right hand like she was polishing the head. She kept up an agonizingly slow rhythm and repeated the process.

He reached back and placed his hands on the sides of her hips, her skin now cool from the air. He looked down at her hands as they worked up and down. The way her hands were moving made him feel like his dick had extended significantly beyond it's normal length even though everything was working just as it should. He pressed his hips forward to meet the motion of her hands. After a few minutes of moving slowly, she began to pick up the pace and he strained to meet the tempo. The sensation of her body against his, the pressure of her arms around him, the non-stop attention to the head of his dick was more than he could take. The orgasm seemed to build from his legs up, it welled up into his groin and he held onto it for as long as he could. The moments between the start of the sensation and when he let it wash through him was a riot of color in his mind. When the muscles in his crotch began contracting, the world collapsed to the sensation of the explosive force behind the warm liquid that was forcibly released into the palm of Ellen's hand.

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