Val was an intensely beautiful, brandy-eyed redhead. We met at university — she was a senior, I, a grad student — but she would come in and out of my orbit for the next twenty years. She was smart and hardworking and always in motion. She seemed to be running from a trailer park past with a chip on her shoulder. Wanderlust drove her. She moved from one great city to another about every two years and traveled the world with every available vacation day. Commitment to any one man did not fit that her. I am grateful that I intersected with her at all and as frequently as I did.
~
Val and I had been flirting with one another for a full semester. I was trying to be faithful to a girl very far away, but at some point, Val was just too beautiful and too obviously available. An overt flirtation in my office ended in a kiss and that kiss ended in bed at my apartment. Strangely though, as soon as we were naked, Val stiffened. She seemed happy to be there, but the hungry passion disappeared the second we were both naked. I tried the tricks I knew to get her to relax … massage, endless foreplay, slow teasing cunnilingus. At last I entered her, changing positions often, searching for the one that would re-release her spirit. Nothing seemed to work. She was wooden, nervous, and quiet. In the end, I withdrew, kissed and caressed her, and curled with her in a tight spoon.
“Did you cum?” she asked.
“Mmhmm,” I lied. In truth, I was ready to burst. But I had no interest in continuing if she wasn’t into it. I got an extra blanket and turned up the steam heat to shield us from the frigid air of my drafty apartment and then cuddled her to sleep. Eventually I drifted off to sleep myself wrapped around this red-haired goddess. I awoke at one in the morning, boiling hot. I pulled the blankets from us, revealing Val’s flawless body covered in sweat. Her nipples stiffened when the cold air reached them. She was so beautiful I couldn’t help myself. I dragged my hand along her firm belly and then cupped a breast, letting her slick flesh slide through my grip until just the nipple was left between my fingers. She awoke and smiled. I kissed her, deeply, and the hungry Val was suddenly back. We made love passionately, vigorously, without inhibition. Though I was confident she had a great time, I was still uncertain if she was fully satisfied. But I had been on the edge for hours, and at last, I pulled out to cover her torso with the thick ribbons of my lust. I could see Val smile through the moonlight and watched as she rubbed my spunky issue into her tummy and tits.
We returned to sleep and in the morning fucked again, this time with her standing at my windowsill as I took her from behind. This approach from the rear had seemed to be her favorite the night before, and I really wanted to please her and hopefully make her cum. Snow had fallen during the night and the field outside my window was blanketed in sparkly white as the rising sun reflected off it. When the wind blew, a thin veil of fine fresh powder would be drawn into the air, causing a brief rainbow effect.
“It’s beautiful,” Val sighed as I moved slowly within her. “This is beautiful,” she said as she reached a hand back to caress my hip.
I reached around to stroke Val’s clit. She startled. She needed a softer, warmer touch. I sank to my knees and pressed my face into her pussy from behind and below. She squealed in a bit of surprise, but those squeals turned to moans as she began to grind back against my face in time with my ministrations. At last I felt her tremor, and she raised herself on to her tiptoes and arched forward, whimpering as she finished. Victory! My conquest-driven young ego was very pleased.
I rose, and with Val still facing the window, I hugged her from behind. Unconsciously, I pressed my latex-covered hard cock against the small of her back as my balls nestled at the top of her ass crack.
“Did you cum?” Val asked, as she had the night before. This time I answered honestly.
Val pushed her lovely firm ass against me and motioned up and down. I pulled the condom off, and as we hugged tightly, staring out at the snow-covered landscape, moving against one another, I released my seed with a quiet moan.
I thought I was in love! I took her to dinner the next night. She looked ravishing in a low-cut black angora sweater and tight jeans. Heads turned as we took our seats. I said I was really interested in her. She said I was “sweet.” Not a good sign. When I suggested my apartment, she said she had an early morning—a terrible sign. I didn’t hear from her for a week. And yet, on the day before she was leaving school for good, she came to my office and we necked for twenty minutes.
That was Val in microcosm: Distant and cold alternating with intense and hot and you could never be sure which Val would show up. And for nearly two decades of brief encounters, that was part of the fun. I could go months or even a year without hearing from her. Or we could spend every day together for a week, and then she would all but disappear. We could be deeply intimate with each other, physically and emotionally, or we could get together for coffee and she would barely have a word to say. I never knew which Val I was going to get.
~
More than a year after she had graduated and I had left grad school, Val and I found ourselves living in the same city. It was a brilliant, cold, sunny day and we agreed to go to brunch and take a walk in her new neighborhood. When I arrived, Val greeted me with a hug and a peck on the lips. Dressed in gray sweats and a baggy midriff t-shirt, no make-up, and with her hair tied in a loose bun, she was clearly not ready to go out. Not that I minded. She looked gorgeous to me.
“Sorry! I’m running behind! I’m finishing laundry. It’ll only take a minute and I’ll throw some clothes on.” I assured her it wasn’t a problem and to relax and take her time. She gave me a quick tour, telling me twice that her housemate was gone for the weekend. A promising signal perhaps. She got me a coffee and settled me on the bed in her small bedroom while she folded and put away clothes. Her room had an odd set-up where her closet was in the hallway outside her room. From my vantage point on her bed, I could see her reflection in a row of closet door mirrors that lined both sides of the hallway, but she could not see me. We caught-up in this awkward physical arrangement, talking around the corner from one another. It was small talk at first. I admired her as I looked upon her reflection: The spectacular red hair… the movement of her breasts under the loose t-shirt … the sweats hanging so low on her waist that I could see the delightful dimples in her lower back. Who knew sweats could be as sexy as lingerie?
“I liked your last letter,” she said, out of the blue. A good sign for me as that letter had an erotic undertone. “My housemate is gone, and I have the place to myself,” she said for the third time. “I’m really sorry about the laundry, but I’m out of everything. I’m not even wearing underwear.”
I decided that had to be a hint. “You’ll have to prove that to me,” I teased. I could see her smile and peak around in my direction. She pulled off her top, revealing her lovely naked breasts. And then barely a tug caused her sweatpants to drop to her ankles. The sight of that blaze of long straight red down between her legs, and the fit curves of her ass cheeks and thighs made me swallow hard. She kicked the sweats off and twisted to check herself in the mirror. She undid her bun and tousled her hair and took a deep breath. She thought she was going to surprise me, not realizing I could see her preparations. I watched her reflection walk toward the bedroom as she rounded the corner with a huge smile.
“Looks like you were telling the truth,” I laughed. She crawled toward me on the bed and I took her in my arms. We kissed as I ran my hands over her.
“Fuck me,” she whispered. She had become more confident in her own desire since we had last been together.
“Not yet. You promised me brunch.” She looked at me curiously and then caught the naughtiness of my comment. I slid beneath her to confirm my intent. Val straddled me and lowered that gorgeous red pussy to my mouth. I don’t now recall whether we ever got to brunch that day. I know I’m hungry for Val, still.
~
Many months later, Val invited me to a house party. Friends of hers had gotten a new house and were having a blow-out housewarming. I hadn’t seen her for some time, but her invite had been very effusive. It wasn’t clear to me what she might be looking for from me. Was I her date? Or was I just another invite? As usual with Val, I wouldn’t know until we were in the moment. The last time we were together, we’d had a pleasant dinner that ended with French kissing in her car. The time before that, we had a platonic afternoon of bike riding. But the time before that, we had fucked like porn stars. She always kept you guessing. I arrived at the party and awkwardly walked around the house and backyard not knowing anyone. Then I heard a squeal and turned just in time to have Val leap into my arms.
“I’ve missed you!” she said with a kiss. So, date, then? She clearly had a head start over me in the margarita department. She introduced me around, seemingly making a point to connect me with attractive women. So, not a date, then? A guy came up and insisted that Val owed him a game of croquet. With more than a little disappointment, I watched her head to the backyard. She was in short cutoffs and a tight white halter top. I watched those firm former sprinter legs, bubble butt, dimpled lower back, and mane of spectacular red hair wander off with another guy and felt a pang of jealousy that I wasn’t really justified to feel.
I sucked it up and turned my attention to a lovely brunette with a freckled nose and Portuguese accent. Things were progressing favorably when Val was suddenly back. Now she seemed jealous, putting her arm around me and her head on my shoulder. I was thoroughly confused. When the pretty brunette was momentarily distracted, Val boldly fondled my package through my shorts. I gave her a look of total exasperation and she laughed. She said something dismissive to our pretty acquaintance and pulled me by the hand through the house and led me upstairs. She attacked me in the hallway, kissing me, pulling at my shirt and grinding against my thigh. Someone walked past. Then another. “Let’s go to Jennifer and Dave’s room.” I had no idea who Jennifer and Dave were, let alone where their room was. She took me into a large bedroom with a queen-sized bed completely covered in neatly folded laundry. “Shit.” Val looked around in near desperation. “Here,” she said and opened the door to a walk-in closet. She pulled me in and closed the door behind her. The space under the door provided our only illumination. Our clothes were off quickly.
“Ouch!” I shouted. I had stepped on something sharp. “It’s a mess in here.” I pulled on the light cord.
“Oh my God, that’s too bright!” she protested.
“We’re going to hurt ourselves. Besides, I like seeing you while I fuck you,” I said. I pushed shoes, belts, and hangers to the side and lowered Val to the carpeted floor. I sucked on her breasts and licked my way down her taut belly. I nuzzled her red mound and savored her smell as I parted her long straight ginger pubes with my nose and my tongue circled her clit.
“Mmmm. Later, Baby. Eat me later. Fuck me, now,” she said as she pulled me up by the hair. I had no protection, but she didn’t care. I entered her in missionary and arched down to kiss her. She darted away from my lips and bit my ear. “Make me cum,” she said with a hiss.
Our on-again, mostly off-again carnal knowledge gave me insight to Val’s strongest preferences. I rolled her onto her belly and pulled her to her knees. I plunged back into her wet folds with quick vigor. Val grunted her approval. I spanked her and grabbed her hips, driving harder.
“Fuck, yes, I love it like that,” she said, telling me what I already knew. Inspired, I grabbed one of the belts that lay around us. I wrapped it under her hips and twisted the ends around my fists. I then pulled her firmly against me and returned to my pounding.
“Oh, my god, yes, fuuuck! That’s goooood!” Val moaned. I was now at washing machine pace and barely breathing. Val groaned deeply and I felt her contract. The intensity of her orgasm caused her to try to pull away from me, but the belt trapped her against me, so I could maintain the onslaught and thereby force another orgasm from her until I, too, exploded. We spent about 15 minutes just lying together in the cluttered closet, laughing and whispering, before we pulled ourselves together and rejoined the party. I wouldn’t see her again for six months. And then on and off for years. I thought of her always, but she would appear in my life when I least expected it. It was always a pleasure.
~
My last romantic moment with Val was nearly 15 years from the day we had met. We were both in serious relationships. Marriage was on the horizon for me. Even the ever-wandering Val seemed to be settling down. She had a long-term beau and had moved to Southern California … though New York City, London, Chicago, and San Francisco had all been stops in between. I had been lucky enough to visit her in some of those places. Now she was thinking of putting down roots. I had a business trip and let her know I would be in town. Her response was tepid, at best.
Maybe we could catch a drink. Let me know when you get here, she said via text. Ah, so it would be cold Val.
Days later, when I was on a lunch break from my meetings, I did as she asked and shot her a text.
Great. Can’t wait! she responded with emoji enhancements. Or, maybe it would be hot Val. She suggested I travel to her part of town – Hollywood.
While not that far as the crow flies, it took more than an hour and a half to get to the Hollywood bar from where my meeting was in L.A. I was so frazzled by the traffic I almost wished I hadn’t even tried to get together. But, when I walked in and saw her, still ravishing after these many years, all the aggravation vanished. She was in a frilly, black print mini dress. There was a hint of side boob and her toned legs were on full display. Her hair was still vibrantly red, but she had cut it into a very short bob. She was as gorgeous as the first day I met her. We had drinks and hors’d’oeuvres and caught up on our lives. The conversation was flowing, but I reached that point where I had to stop drinking and get back to my hotel if I was going to have any wits about me at my meetings the next day. I said as much, but Val protested.
“Oh, wait, hey, you have to see my place. It’s unbelievable. Follow me home and take a look. I’ll give you a bottle of water and send you on your way.” As always, I couldn’t say no to Val.
I followed her red Miata in my rental car up the windy roads of the Hollywood Hills. My mind was spinning. I wanted to remain loyal to my fiancé, but of course, I wanted Val. What was her intent? Should I even be doing this? After many twists and turns along impossibly narrow streets, we pulled into a little mid-century modern carriage house. It was basically a loft above a two-car garage. Her place, though tiny, was spectacular. Mostly, because of the view. The lights of Hollywood and Downtown far beyond lit up a bank of windows that covered the length of her small living room. Her neighbors had spent multiple millions of dollars for their views. She rented hers.
Val looked at me and said with pride, “It’s fantastic, right? I feel like I’m in a movie every day.”
“It is great. But then you always find great places, no matter where you live,” I said, staring out at the L.A. night-scape, when I wasn’t stealing glances at Val.
“Now, about that drink …” Val said, pulling vodka from her freezer.
“Water. I think we said water,” I protested, half-heartedly.
Val pretended not to hear me as she poured us each a shot. We stood at her window.
“Remember our first time?” Val asked after a brief silence. Of course, I did. That she gave it a second thought surprised me. “Remember making love at the window in that old place of yours? At sunrise, with the fresh snow?” I said I did. “It was beautiful,” she said, and I thought I heard her voice crack, just a little. I was dumbstruck that her memory of that moment was as strong and as meaningful to her as it was to me.
We toasted one another and downed our shots. Val kissed me, warmly, and said, “Good night.”
