Between Snow and Hot Water

Mildred swam slowly through the 28°C water, all the while enjoying the view of the nearby mountain peaks, all heavily laden with snow. Swimming was not her sport and her swimming style was, well not very stylish. She combined the dog paddle and frog stroke -- not elegant but she could keep her head above water and enjoy the view. Mildred's sport was, like that of her husband Harry, skiing.

For the past three weeks, ever since her doctor had told her that the best thing for the backaches that had beset her since slipping while hiking the previous autumn, Mildred had come to the spa every day -- one of a number of swimmers who were not staying in the hotel. The Hotel Grand Panorama spa had indoor and outdoor pools. Inside was a conventional rectangular 25 meter sport pool with 25°C water and a gigantic hot tub with air and water jets. She had tried out the hot tub but the 38°C jets seemed to hurt more than help so she pretty much stuck to paddling around in the outside pool.

For Mildred, the outside pool was just more esthetic and she liked the fresh air. The pool had been constructed with an irregular shape to give the look of a natural body of water. Some edges had natural rocks embedded in the concrete and on the nearby shore, boulders were strewn about in a random pattern and intermingled with native shrubs and trees. In the middle was a 4 meter high tower made of rocks and boulders mortared and fit so tightly together that to the casual observer, it appeared to be one giant boulder. Out of its top, water gushed out and ran over one side as a waterfall. The lower part of the tower had been left hollow to form a cave over a meter wide and some two meters long. Inside the cave there was an underwater rock bench large enough for two people to sit on. Warm water trickling down the rock face behind the rock bench gave people sitting there the feel of having a fluid back lean. Most people entered the cave by swimming through the entrance on the side opposite the waterfall, however, there was also an opening behind the waterfall so whoever didn't mind getting dumped on by the waterfall could swim in that way as well. Lover couples were often inside cuddling and necking and Mildred suspected probably a lot more.

Mildred was an inveterate people watcher, always trying to imagine what people did for a living, where they lived, how they stood politically, how often they had sex, what kind of sex, etc., etc. Being a weekday most of the swimmers were older, obviously retirees -- some looking pretty feeble, others characterizing the vigorous active senior citizen. She wondered how many still did it.

Today she had been watching a young couple who spent more time necking and kissing and rubbing bodies than swimming. She wondered if the guy had a hard on and then promptly decided that unless he'd already ejaculated, he probably did. As to how often that couple had sex, she knew that if they were staying in the hotel, he'd be putting the old salami to her as soon as they got back to their room.

The warm water moving between her legs reminded her of her own sex life and sharing it with her husband Harry. They were both moving in on 60 and it was a rare week when he failed to mount her 2 or 3 times. When they went somewhere on holidays and stayed in a hotel, Harry would have a hard on by the time they got in bed and in the morning, he'd often be hard again. It was as if being with her in a hotel room gave him the feel of being involved in a passionate love affair. If they went in the pool or in the ocean, he'd be hard as soon as they'd get back to their room -- no sooner was the door closed and his trunks would be on the floor. Water seemed to be Harry's Viagra and Mildred sometimes thought it got him even more turned on than her breasts, which he had never lost his fascination for, even after decades of married life.

Mildred had never in her life said a peep about her sex life to anyone, not even to old friends from high school, who from time to time would talk about their own. From what they let on, she and Harry were easily the more active sexually. Some of the 'girls' let on that for them, it was over, either because they were too dry or because hubby couldn't get it up anymore. Until about 15 years ago, the talk during the girls' informal and irregular reunions would get pretty graphic. A few girls would let out stuff like hubby's size, how hubby forgot to wash behind his foreskin, giving head, tit fucking, etc., etc. Mildred only listened and never said much of anything other than 'oh really', 'wow' and such. As far as she was concerned, what she and her husband did was not for anyone else to know.

In spite of the Viagra effect that water had on him, Harry was no more enthusiastic about swimming than Mildred. Today he was enjoying the powder snow left by some recent storms and wouldn't be home until very late afternoon.

She was again reminded of why Harry was skiing and not working. An electrical engineer, he had until a few years ago been employed by a local electrical equipment manufacturer. In a way more than employed -- he had invented a number of innovative measuring and control devices for the power industry and the patents had delivered some fat profits to the family owned company with nearly a thousand employees. The company had rewarded him more than fairly -- his salary had been nicely into six figures plus bonus and a share of patent rights earnings.

But trouble had interrupted the good life when the founder died and his two sons inherited all the old man's stock. Other than the income it yielded for them to indulge in expensive cars and high living, the two sons had never shown much interest in the company. Wanting the real jet set life, they had sold their stock to an equity investment company, which promptly put in a new board of directors and CEO. The first two years, the new management couldn't spend enough -- new office building, trips to conventions, consultants, bonuses. As a result profits evaporated and the stock price dropped. The board fired the CEO and put in a proven cost cutter. Harry was let go and replaced by a newly graduated engineer whose salary was nicely into five figures instead of the six figure sum that Harry had been getting. Many other key employees suffered similar fates. Through such short term savings and selling off the rights to key patents, profits and dividends returned and the stock price shot past all previous highs. Later, the side effects of the cost cutting and patent sell-offs set in and profits plummeted. Before that, however, the equity company, the board and the CEO had already sold their shares at gigantic profits. The company went into bankruptcy and was dissolved.

Fortunately Harry and Mildred had already paid off their house and had savings. When they had let Harry go, the company wanted it to appear as if his early retirement was a reward for years of valuable service. To achieve that, they had financed a very generous retirement package. Other lesser key employees had been sent off with 3 months severance pay. People working in production were treated even worse. That affair changed Harry and Mildred -- they were no longer believers in laissez-faire economic liberalism.

Several times during her swim sessions, Mildred would lean slightly forward and back up to the waterfall, close her eyes and let the warm water cascade down over her back. That massaging action seemed to be just what she needed to supplement the swimming.

Mildred had often wondered how it would be to swim straight through the waterfall and into the cave. Until now the thought of running into people lounging in the cave had kept her from doing it. Today for some reason, she decided that she really wanted to do it so she swam around to the other side of the rock and not seeing anyone inside, made up her mind that today would be the day. First facing the waterfall and aiming her body directly at the opening, she closed her eyes, dove under and propelled herself through the waterfall and into a heavy object that stopped her forward glide. Standing up and wiping her eyes, she saw that the 'heavy object' was actually the legs of an older man whom she had seen swimming with a much younger woman several days earlier. At the time the pair had caught her attention because it looked like the classic situation of the well-to-do elderly businessman or doctor enjoying a day with his young trophy wife or mistress.

"Oh I'm so sorry. I thought there was no one in here," were the first words she could get out.

"No harm done, no need to be sorry. I saw you lining up to swim in and just didn't react right."

"Really, sir, I swam around and checked. I just don't know how I didn't see you."

"Enough sorry saying. Anyway I'm not a 'sir', I'm Roger. And who might you be?"

"Sor...., oops. I'm Mildred. It's really a pleasure to meet you and I promise not to say 'sorry' again."

"Mildred, it's a deal. Do you swim here often? I think I've seen you here before."

"Every day for the past three weeks. I'm trying to get rid of some back pain. The orthopedic surgeon said to try this instead of pills."

"That's smart. Actually I'm here for sort of the same thing. There's a funny twitch in my left shoulder. Came up skiing yesterday so I thought I might work it off in the warm water while my wife enjoys the fresh powder. You know Mildred if you come here everyday, you may have seen us several days ago. We were swimming here together. Joan, my wife, is tall, dark hair, olive complexion."

"Ummm, could be, I just don't pay that much attention to other swimmers," she lied, not wanting to even hint at the fact that she had watched them rather intently. In fact, Mildred had a rather strong prurient curiosity when it came to couples with big age gaps. In the case of Roger and his young wife, she had imagined him swallowing heaps of Viagra and then having his wife lick his penis so he'd get hard enough for penetration.

"Mildred, you're not staying at the hotel are you? At least I haven't noticed you at breakfast or dinner."

"Actually I'm a local. We live in a small village about 8 miles from here. People around here talk about the fine dining and the beautiful rooms. I do wonder sometimes how people around here know how beautiful the rooms are if they don't stay in them. You are the first person I've met who's a hotel guest. Most of my friends just say how much they'd like to see these beautiful rooms."

"It is very nice here. Joan and I have been coming here since we were married." (What Roger didn't say was that he had also been a guest together with his first wife who had divorced him after catching him in flagrante with Joan.) "Mildred, if you'd really like to see a room, I could show you ours." Then looking at his Rolex, "it should be made up by now."

Mildred was completely surprised by the offer to look at the room and was desperately trying to think of a polite way to not accept. "Well, that's very generous and thoughtful of you, but I just couldn't be such a bother to you and take you away from swimming so early."

"Nonsense, we'll be back in no time. You'll get a robe in the hotel guest change room so you don't even have to get dressed first."

Under normal circumstances, going to a hotel room with a man she had just met would have been unthinkable, but Mildred couldn't imagine anything amiss. What with Roger having a young and beautiful trophy wife, why would he even think of having a liaison with a slightly overweight woman in her 50's? And she really did want to get a peek at one of those rooms that everyone was raving about. "Well if you're sure it's not too much trouble, okay, but really, I really don't want to inconvenience you."

"It's no inconvenience at all. Come on, off we go. Just follow me."

With Mildred following, Roger swam through the channel leading inside and after leaving the water showed her to the hotel guest change area where there were stacks of towels and robes. He directed her to the ladies side and said, "you can leave your swim suit hanging or bring it with you. It'll be more comfortable in the robe alone. Shower if you'd like. I'll see you on the other side."

Mildred's uneasiness about going up to look at the room dressed only in a robe was overcome when she saw that the robes were not the usual cheap wrap-around type, but rather they had a full row of buttons in addition to a waist tie. Inside the change cabin, she sat on the bench, unzipped the back of her one-piece and after raising her rear end, worked the wet swimsuit down to her knees. Then she stopped and looked at her crotch with its neat bikini trim. She had never had a Brazil nor had she ever shaved herself completely. She did, however regularly trim her pubic hair to a half inch or so and then shaved all around so no pubic hair was ever visible when she wore a swim suit. Again it crossed her mind that Roger might just be after a quick fuck. She wondered what a rich guy like Roger would think of a woman who wasn't bare down there. Instantly she purged the thought -- 'he's just going to show me the damned room, no more. He probably gets more than he can take care of with that trophy wife who probably has a bare pussy.' After a very quick shower, she put on the robe and buttoned it all the way up so as to not look suggestive in any way.

Roger was waiting outside also wearing a robe with the top three buttons left undone and slightly open as if to display his hairy chest. It then crossed Mildred's mind that Roger and her husband Harry were exact opposites in so far as hair was concerned. Harry, although nearly 60, had a full head of hair with only a sprinkling of gray while Roger was bald on top with only thin strips of gray-red hair on the sides. Except for a few single hairs, Harry's chest was completely smooth. Roger on the other hand, had a pronounced crop of hair on his chest that only thinned out as it reached his shoulders. It also crossed her mind that she might actually be attracted to Roger because of the oppositeness -- kind of like the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence. Then another thought suddenly hit her: Roger's trophy wife Joan, beautiful though she was, had very moderate breasts. She, Mildred, on the other hand was very nicely endowed. Could it be that Roger was on the prowl looking for a little variety. Again she had to scold herself to get stuff like that out of her head. She was just going to look at the damn room! If Roger got pushy, it would be easy to just leave.

"Penny for your thoughts, Mildred."

Again surprised, she gave a less than convincing reply. "Oh just thinking how impressed my friends are going to be when I tell them I got to see a room in the Grand."

In the lift they both faced the door. Mildred found herself undoing the top button on the robe. This Roger immediately noticed and commented, "it is warm in here -- especially after so long in the hot pool." He was immensely enjoying the excellent view of Mildred's rather impressive cleavage and was pretty confident that she had undone the button for other than comfort reasons. He also liked the feel of the blood surging in his crotch.

When they stepped out of the lift, Roger placed a hand on the small of Mildred's back to show her the direction to the room and didn't remove it until they got to the room where he needed both hands to stick in the card key and push open the door. For her part Mildred knew she could walk a little faster and get away from the hand but she couldn't bring herself to do that. The truth was that she was enjoying the tingling sensation in her body and she didn't want it to stop. Still, something in her mind told her she shouldn't have come this far, but at the same time, she reasoned that she could always just turn around and go back to the pool.

The room was indeed a beautiful accomplishment of interior design -- traditional, but with modern amenities that all seemed to fit together. Exactly to her taste. However, she did not dwell very long on the room itself. The view was too overwhelming. From the pool at ground level, the view of the surrounding mountains was beautiful. From the 5th floor window, she couldn't think of an appropriate adjective -- stunning, awesome, magnificent, etc. Mildred went straight to the window and stood with her arms crossed, gazing and admiring.

From across the room and behind her: "You like the view?"

"Roger, it's stunning, overwhelming, words can't do it justice. I'm so glad you offered to show this to me. How can I ever thank you enough?"

He had an answer to her question but dared not give it for fear of spoiling things by being too forward too soon. Instead in a platonic tone of voice, "that you appreciate it is thanks enough. By the way, there's some really decent white wine in the mini-bar. How about a glass?"

Again Mildred thought about declining and leaving with hearty thanks. But still she thought, 'what the hell, I can leave before or after a glass of wine'. "Yes that would be nice."

They stood side by side at the window, clinked glasses and after Roger had pecked both her cheeks, they said "cheers". Mildred remained at the window while Roger took the empty glasses back to the mini-bar. To herself, she said 'I should leave now.' Without turning around, she said aloud to Roger, "it must be tough to leave this nice room when your holiday is over."

Roger laughed as he returned to the window and placed a hand on her shoulder as if to say she didn't have to leave just then. Moving closer he saw that a second button on her robe was undone and looking down over her shoulder as he was, her nipples were nearly visible. He moved to the left so as to be more behind her and laid his right hand on her shoulder, at the same time pushing the robe away from her neck just far enough so his hand lay on her bare skin.

Mildred thought she should stop this now and reasoned that she had undone the second button with the intent of rewarding Roger with a quick look at her breasts. Then she felt his hardness against her back and wondered if she could halt things now that he had had a quick look. His kiss to her neck and his right hand moving down to the top of her breast told her that halting things might not be so easy. When his right hand went down between her breasts, she could feel the hair on the top of his fingers sliding along the inside of her left breast, the underside of his fingers and palm grazing the inside of the right. When she felt his left hand hefting and fondling her left breast, she began feeling that maybe she might not want to stop the flow. She opened the third button of the robe and freed her breasts completely.

Roger's right hand moved to the right and he began massaging the nipple of her right breast with his thumb and first two fingers. Meanwhile the fingers of his left hand tweaked the nipple of her left breast. Her response to both breasts being fondled and both nipples being massaged was a soft moan, perhaps more like a happy sigh.

"Mildred, you have such beautiful breasts."

"Thank you Roger, I'm so glad they please you."

"My lovely Mildred, you are the one who deserves to be pleased."

Her answer was a soft breathless 'ummmm'.

When he pressed his hips even harder against her back, her response was louder, more like a sharp "oooh". She felt a wet tingle between her legs and finally surrendered to the notion that she would not be leaving the room very soon and not because of the view either. With his hardness pressing against her back, arms around her, hands cupping and hefting her breasts and fingers pinching her nipples, he kissed her neck, cheeks, ears and the corners of her mouth. Mildred was in heaven and could almost feel moisture dripping from her crotch.

Then he moved around to face her and they kissed deeply. Exchanging tongues, he pressed closer and she felt his erection against her belly. Breaking off the kiss and lowering his body by bending his knees, he pressed his hips close and Mildred felt his erection against her pubis. As he pressed closer and oscillated his hips, her whole crotch got rubbed. Mildred knew clearly what was going to happen and put all resistance out of her mind.