Her hair was dark, her coat was black, her heels were high. Her expression matched the weather outside; dark and melancholy, rain streaking down the windows. When I caught her eye, I gave her a simple smile. I understood the need to visit a bar alone that night. She wasn’t beside herself.

She grinned sadly, then looked down at the amber liquid in her glass. She stared into it as if it would explain why she was there, why the day had turned out the way it had, the ripples from the ice illustrating her life.

It soon felt like we were the only two people in the room, a silent game of tag we played with our eyes. I wonder if she saw the angry gash on my knuckles under the low lit bar top. If the same look on her face was mirrored in mine. If we were there by the same turn of events.

I wanted to sit beside her, to ask her what happened, try to make her smile. Words would have only shattered the illusion; the idea that we were perfect strangers.

Resigning to the night, I swallowed the last of my spirit and tossed a bill toward the bartender. The humidity outside greeted me, and I welcomed it. Wished it would consume me, that I could have washed away with the rain. The only taxi on the wet road was being boarded, so I slipped my hands in my pockets, waiting for the next.

The door opened, letting out stagnant cigarette smoke. I felt her presence before I saw her. She silently stood six feet away, her hood up. She glanced at me, and I made no move to look away. She stared back.

Alone in the world, no one around, she took my hand. I didn’t question it. We walked into the alleyway, and when she turned, she kissed me. I had never felt more alive.

I didn’t know this woman, and yet, I knew everything about her. The way she eagerly sought my mouth - I expected. The way her hands slid into my coat - I anticipated. The way she pulled me closer - I loved.

I returned her unspoken want. She was mine and I was hers, and in that moment, it was right. I reached down to feel her, between her thighs already wet. She gasped into my mouth, her deft fingers liberating my belt.

In her hand I had never been more. More hard; more excited; more to someone than I was right there. Under my hands, the hem of her dress moved up to her hips, and her weight was nothing. Perfect legs around me, I moved inside her, filling her, and we each had purpose. Her mouth on my neck, my body against hers, our rhythm one frantic and beautiful.

The rain fell as a curtain around us, the brick wall at her back our bed. My lips dragged along her jaw as her fingers frisked my hair. She breathed into me and I into her, and our problems were no more. We were the solution.

She was tight and warm as she rode me, her ass in my hands round and flawless. She moaned in my ear and I melted. When she kissed me again, she came. Her pleasure infectious, I joined her. She took everything I gave her, arching into me, her brilliant white teeth behind her lips.

I didn’t want to let her go. Nothing but the sound of trickling raindrops and our breath, I wanted to stay there forever.

But nothing lasts forever.

I let her down and she smiled. I fastened my pants as she adjusted her dress.

“I-” She put her hand on my mouth to halt the words. She knew. She felt the same. Her eyes spoke what she wouldn’t say.

And then, she was gone.

I searched for her the rest of my life - the one that got away. I wonder if she searched for me, if I ever crossed her mind. I never got her name. I never heard her voice. The only word I spoke was ‘I’. I am a selfish man. Why didn’t I say; ‘You’?