by Chrissy

She walked down concrete steps to the dim doorway hidden beneath a bricked arch. 'Tattoos While U Wait' - the sign proclaimed proudly. She had decided to get a tattoo.

This strange sense of liberation, of abandonment, of craziness since arriving here in LA was confounding. Maybe it was the fact that she was in the same city as HIM. Maybe it was merely the cloying smog. Whatever it was - she felt weird, strange, bizarre. Like anything could happen. She had saved for months for this vacation of a lifetime and everything was going to be extraordinary. Different. Maybe she might even bump into HIM. For she had checked and HE was definitely in town.

To her surprise the door swung open as she approached. "You've come for a tattoo?" said a young girl in the doorway. She nodded feeling strange and removed from reality. "Welcome -- my name is Dana" said the girl. She followed her into the darkened room and the girl named Dana closed the door silently.

"Tattooed on your left breast you want the name 'Antonio' within a red heart" the girl said.

"How did you know that?" she asked surprised.

"My lamp shows me everything." Dana replied. "I know that you love him. I know that you have driven by his home at least ten times today. Come see." the girl motioned for her to join her across the room. They stood before a blue lava lamp - its jelly-like material floating mesmerizingly aloft.

Her eyes widened. She stared. She could not believe it. In the glowing substance she clearly saw an image. It was Antonio driving his car. And he was smiling to himself.

"He's on his way home" said Dana. She spoke in short, clipped sentences. "He's finished earlier than he thought. It has been a good day for him. He is joyful. But Melanie is not there. The house is empty. Melanie has taken Stella and the children to her mother's. They have decided to stay overnight. Antonio does not know this. It's the perfect time".

Dana took a small tumbler and poured a liquid that shimmered like mother-of-pearl into the glass. "Drink this" she said. So she drank the milky substance as directed and underwent a fantastic transformation; however she felt no pain. "Look in the mirror" said Dana.

She looked in amazement at her reflection. There was Melanie looking right back at her. She touched the blond hair, licked the full lips, stared at the long slender legs. She tried to speak, but it was Melanie's high pitched inflection that she heard, not her own resonant tones.

"You look like her." said Dana " You sound like her. But you are not her. You are yourself. You will be this way for two hours only. Close your eyes. When you open them you will be in his house. He will be home soon. Don't forget you have only two hours as Melanie. Enjoy them".

When she opened her eyes she stood in the foyer of his Spanish styled house she had only viewed in magazines. For the next 15 minutes she wandered from room to room, hungrily drinking in her surroundings. The ambiance of Antonio. She spent much time in the bedroom, gazing at the bed. HIS bed. A large, friendly dog followed her everywhere, otherwise the house was deserted.

She heard a sound downstairs. Antonio had returned. She moved to the top of the stairs and looked down as he entered and crossed the ceramic tiled foyer. As he did this the phone rang. A telephone stood on a table in the foyer and as she watched he picked it up. He began to speak rapidly in Spanish.

Standing unnoticed at the top of the stairs she studied him. He wore skin-tight black jeans. A snug black T-shirt with a three-buttoned opening at the neck revealing a sexy, hairy chest. Although of average height, his physique was magnificent - broad shoulders, slim hips, tight ass, muscular thighs, an impressive bulge between his legs. As her eyes slid over him she noticed he had not had a hair-cut for weeks and untamed curls were spiraling around his neck and falling across that handsome forehead.

He finished the conversation and returned the phone to its cradle. She watched as he struggled to pull a package of Camel cigarettes from the back pocket of the skin-tight jeans he wore. He put a cigarette in his mouth and was about to light it when he looked up and saw her.

"Melanie!" he exclaimed in delight. He took the unlit cigarette from his lips and dropped it on the table. He moved to the foot of the stairs and, to her dismay, began speaking to her in Spanish. She could not understand his words.

He leapt up the stairs, three at a time, until he stood before her. She gaped at him open mouthed. Nothing could ever have prepared her for the overwhelming experience of encountering a living, breathing, three-dimensional Antonio standing before her. The flat movie screen did not do justice to his intense exquisite beauty. She reached out in wonderment and touched an olive-skinned cheek. A dark stubble grew there and she realized he had not shaved that morning. But it only added to his brooding good-looks. His beautiful amber eyes - the whites so clear, the velvety lashes spiking shadows on his cheek - regarded her with concern.

"What is wrong, Melanie?" he asked in English. She could feel his breath on her face as he spoke. "Where is Stella and the kids? Why are you being so strange?"

"They're staying overnight at Shambala with mom" she said, astonished at Melanie's baby voice emitting from her lips.

Antonio smiled. "Then we are alone" he winked. "And we have a baby to make"

The close proximity of his overpowering seductiveness was having its effect on her. She could not breathe. Her heart pounded madly in her ears. Her legs melted. He was so close, so gorgeous, so sexy. Oh God! He was reaching out for her.

He took her into his arms, his face inches from hers. She closed her eyes and involuntarily swayed into his kiss. At first he nibbled and nuzzled at her bottom lip. She felt the stubble of his beard, tasted the tobacco from his last cigarette. His mouth opened wider and their tongues entwined, playing seductively with each other. He placed a hand behind her head pulling her gently into the deep kiss. His other hand cupped her buttocks forcefully crushing her against his aroused penis. Hot lust for him gushed through her. She opened her eyes and saw the same raw desire in his. Their bodies ground urgently together. Their ragged breathing becoming rough and passionate. Antonio began whispering hoarsely as he put one thigh between her legs and gently steered her toward the bedroom. "Our love is strong." He murmured "And you're so sweet. You make me hard. You make me weak" his breathy words softly caressed her lips.

"We're about to land. Would you please return your seat to the upright position,"

Chrissy frowned and opened her eyes in confusion. A flight attendant stood over her. "Seemed like one hell of a good dream you were having" she smiled.

Chrissy smiled back. "It sure was" she said squirming in her seat. Then she remembered. The plane would soon be landing in San Antonio. The convention was about to begin.