Cindy threw her bag on the hotel bed. She was exhausted after the long flight, which was just another in a string of business trips over the past several months. She absent-mindedly flipped through channels on the TV. Nothing! She turned off the TV and went into the stale bathroom where she washed the travels from her face. She stared back at the tired eyes in the mirror. How did you get here? How long have you been on the road, without a man? The answer came easily. Too damn long. It was the sad truth for her. As a rising star in her firm, she had to travel, a lot. It was the only way to succeed in the cutthroat world she called her career. The tradeoff was to not have any kind of meaningful, long-term relationship. She got by, when she was not jet-lagged or overburdened with meetings and email, with an occasional fling through a dating app on her phone. But she was having trouble remembering the last time she had even done that.

Cindy ran her fingers down her neck and looked in the mirror. Her body awakened and she felt the sting between her thighs telling her that tonight she needed some release. Hotel room masturbation was good, but she needed more tonight. Cindy left the bathroom and flung open her bags. She pitched clothes aside trying to remember exactly what she had that was not business attire. She found her jeans, which fit snug around her ass. Perfect! She grabbed a white button-down shirt that needed ironing. She dug deeper until she found the high heels she rarely wore. After a shower, shave, and fresh makeup, Cindy was on her way to the hotel bar.

To Cindy’s surprise, the bar was packed. The bartender leaned forward when she sat at the bar and said, “Convention.” Cindy scanned the room and found it full of men wearing sports coats. There were a few overdone women with heavy jewelry and flimsy business attire, which she understood all too well. Too often it was just eye-candy dress, fun, and a little flirting for the men to go back to their room and jerk off to. Rarely, if ever, had Cindy hooked up with a business colleague. Too risky. In her field, reputation was everything and she could not afford to undo all the time she had spent building her reputation with a one-night tryst with the wrong dipshit.

The bar patrons were already well into their drinking. A convention was prime for flirting and secretive nights of infidelity. She scanned the hands of the men in the room. She had become masterful at finding wedding rings, light bands where rings were supposed to be, and, of course, those without rings. Not a foolproof strategy, she knew. But it was the best thing to do first, so she knew what type of person to whom she was giving her attention. Men without rings were typically divorced, which was neither good nor bad for a hookup. Men with rings might be in open marriages, but most were simply overt about their cheating if they were to flirt with her. The ones that worried her the most were the ones who tried to hide their marriage by slipping off the ring to go on the prowl. Though she knew they too had needs that needed to be fulfilled, she rarely allowed such men to get very far in their pursuit of her. She just felt deception was not her thing.

The bartender’s drinks slid too easily down her throat. She was feeling tipsy with her second drink, though she usually handled her liquor well. Her eyes fell on a man in the corner. She realized that he was staring back at her and Cindy felt her face heat with a blush. But when he stood and moved directly toward her, she felt her body tremble with hope, fear, excitement.

“I’m Evan,” the man said sitting beside her at the bar.

“Cindy,” she replied. Her eyes glanced the ring finger as their hands shook in greeting. No ring. With introductions done, Evan did not attempt to hide his interest in her. His smile was breathtaking, and his voice made her want to hear him whisper in her ear. She opened an extra button on her shirt when he wasn’t looking and loved watching his eyes dart down the neckline toward her cleavage. Cindy noticed how easily she could talk with Evan. He was charming and thoughtful. He seemed incredibly intelligent too. Though she enjoyed talking with him, she realized that the third drink in her hand, along with the long day of travel, was a recipe for falling asleep. She did not want the night to end, but if the night went much longer, she knew that her night would end with a quick rub of her clit before she passed out for the night. Unfortunately, Evan did not make the final move to take her to his room, so Cindy thanked Evan for the drinks and left him sitting at the bar.

At the door of her hotel room, Cindy realized she had left her room cardkey at the bar. She turned to retrieve it and saw Evan get off the elevator just a few steps down the hall.

“Forget something?” he said.

Cindy smiled. “I guess so,” she said….

What will happen between Cindy and Evan? Click on the image and get The J. Maples Collection: Two to find out.