It all should never have happened. My comfortable life should have stayed just that - comfortable. If I hadn’t made a sudden decision to hire a convertible and go for a long drive, or if my GPS had not said, "Signal lost," at the worst time, or if I hadn’t missed a turn while concentrating hard on driving on the right hand side of the road, then I would never have been on that road. Even then, I wouldn’t usually pick up a hitchhiker. If she had not been so good-looking, or not been wearing such ridiculously short shorts, then I could have easily driven past.

I’m not the kind of person who usually picks up hitchhikers, but I am a red-blooded, heterosexual male. So I stopped and she half-walked, half-bounced over to the car. She had a way of bouncing on each stride like she’d never forgotten the excitement a toddler feels when they master the art of walking.

“Thanks for stopping. Where are you off to?” Her voice was sweet, and made her sound even younger than she looked, which was perhaps half my forty-two years.

“Back to Atlanta.”

“Cool. Me too. Can I pop this somewhere?”

For the first time, I noticed she was carrying a large, brown suitcase. I’d been focusing too much on her long blonde hair, small white top, and those super-short shorts. I stared at the suitcase for a few moments. “Why hitchhike with a suitcase?”

“It was my father’s,” she said with a shrug. “Besides, I wasn’t planning to walk far.” She gestured to her shoes, which seemed to have been chosen to show off her legs more than for practicality. “So far, so good.”

I crammed the case into the back, as she got into the passenger seat. “So, what’s your name?”

“Today, I’m Kitty.” She had a sweet, slightly lopsided smile, the imperfection of which seemed to set off her perfect facial features.

I paused with the key in the ignition. “Today? And tomorrow?”

“Well, I’ll see when I get there. But I’ll probably wake up a different person tomorrow. Otherwise, what’s the point of living through today?”

“Hmm.” I turned the key, and the engine roared into life. Much more power than I was used to, or in any way needed. “Today, I’m Phil. And tomorrow. And every other day.”

“Where’s your accent from?”

“I’m English. I’m visiting for a conference.”

“Cool. What’s the conference on?”

“Well, pure maths, actually. Topology, to be precise.”

She stared at me, and I did what I often do when women stare at me – waffle about things they’re most likely not interested in. “It deals with properties that stay the same as objects are stretched and bent out of shape. Changes that can be reversed and undone.”

I’ve often thought, though, that sometimes real life punches holes through us, and there is no way the changes can be undone. Sometimes we see these changes coming and embrace them, or run away from them. Sometimes, they’re major events – births, deaths, marriages, divorces. And sometimes they’re smaller things that sneak up on us, or people that crash into our lives.

Right at that moment, Kitty seemed intent on boring a hole through me with her eyes. She said, “Really? I’m going to the same conference!”

I shot her a quick glance and my scepticism must have shone through.

“What?” she asked, with a bit of a giggle. “You don’t think I look like a topologist? Could be because I’m just a grad student.”

”Um, yes. That might be it.” She looked like no pure maths student I had ever seen, but I thought better of mentioning that. “But surely that would be just too much of a coincidence.”

“Well, unless the universe wanted us to meet.”

“The universe, you say? Surely a mathematician wouldn’t really believe that mumbo jumbo?”

She just shrugged.

I turned onto the interstate, and she made small talk about the day and the hot weather. Well, I did participate in the conversation, but she bubbled along almost regardless of my contributions. A few times, I tried to bring the conversation back to mathematics, still struggling to believe that I had just stumbled across possibly the single hottest pure maths student in the entire world by the side of a rural road in Georgia. But she just steered the conversation away, and smiled her sweet smile.

So I raised another point that had been troubling me. “Why are you hitchhiking?”

“I hate planes. Can’t drive. And I didn’t know if I was going to make the trip or not. Besides, you meet all sorts of people hitching.”

“Yes, that was my point. There are some people that you don’t want to hop into a car with...”

“Oh, you don’t seem that bad.” She actually poked her tongue out at me. “Although, the last guy wasn’t so good.”

“What happened?” I asked, genuinely concerned.

“Oh, he was a farmer...big guy, talked about pigs a little too much, but smelt good. Guess he’d showered since he’d been in the pig pens. He seemed to think that he could find a remote road and then do what he wanted with me. Silly man. If he’d asked nicely...”

“So you were in some big guy’s car in the middle of nowhere—”

“Oh don’t worry; I didn’t hurt him too badly. The squeaky voice may last a while though.” She gave off a girlish giggle. “Did I mention that I’m a black belt in karate?”

“No,” I said, firmly fixing my eyes on the road in front. “No, I don’t think you did mention that.”

We had the longest break in conversation since she had hopped into my car – maybe five seconds – before she started talking again.

“Hey. So if your name’s Phil, and I guess you have a Ph.D. in maths, can I call you Dr Phil?” She giggled again.

“Please don’t!”

“So, Dr Phil, tell me about you. Got a wife back in England waiting for you to get back there and fuck her silly?”

I pondered inventing a more interesting life for myself, but I’ve never been a good liar. “No, I’m divorced. A couple of kids I see every second weekend. I go to the university, have a few quiet drinks at the pub every Friday and watch way too much football on the telly. That’s about all there is about me.”

“How long you been divorced? Got a girlfriend or two waiting for you instead?”

“About four years. And no, no girlfriend.”

“Fuck buddies?”

“No.”

“Friends with benefits?”

“No.”

“No one?”

“Well, there is one woman,” I started before pausing to wonder why I would volunteer this information. Maybe it was just that I’ve often found it easier talking to a stranger, or maybe her relentless cheerfulness was wearing me down.

Kitty was unusually quiet, waiting for me to go on.

I sighed. “She’s a neighbour, and a friend, but it’s complicated.”

“How so?”

“Well, I don’t want to ruin the friendship. And it’s hard to know when is the perfect moment, or the best way to suggest that I might want...something more.”

“‘Wanna fuck?’ works for me.” Kitty giggled again. “And whenever you get a chance seems the perfect moment.”

Somehow, the hour back to Atlanta flew by. Part of the plan for my drive was to get away from people for a while, but I never resented Kitty for intruding on that idea. Her enthusiasm for every topic that popped up made me smile. And she was smart enough that I was enjoying the ebb and flow of conversation. Although there wasn’t much ebb. I guess the fact that she was gorgeous, and that she seemed to link half the topics to sex may have biased my opinion as well.

“So where are you staying?” I asked as we got into the city and I exited the interstate.

“No idea.” She was still cheerful, and looking at me as if challenging me to comment.

“Well, I’m at the Holiday Inn. Nothing flash, but the location’s good. Shall we see if they have another room?”

“Why? What’s wrong with your room?”

I stared at her, and she just smiled that smile of hers. Then, she raised an eyebrow, just in case I had any doubts as to what she was suggesting.

I looked back at the road just in time.

“We drive on the right, remember,” she said happily, as I swerved out of the way of an approaching truck. “As long as you follow a few rules, we should be able to share, no problems.”

I was shaken enough to barely process what she had said. “Rules?”

“Yeah, you’ll see.” And she giggled yet again.

***

After a day in the summer heat, Kitty was keen to jump in the shower as soon as we made it to the room, while I ordered room service. The water ran for a very long time. In fact, the room service arrived before Kitty made it out of the bathroom. Naked. No towel, just completely naked. I stared at her perky breasts, and then glanced lower. No hair to be seen, and no tan lines either.

I thought, ‘If the rules mean no sex, then this could be a long, long night.’

“Um,” I said, “did you want to put some clothes on for dinner?”

“Nope.”

“Maybe some underwear?”

“Nope. Didn’t pack any.”

I could only roll my eyes. “How did I know you were going to say that?”

So I ate dinner fully dressed, while Kitty ate in her birthday suit.

Then I jumped in the shower, and slipped into a T-shirt and boxers.

As I got out of the bathroom, she smiled, stretched, and walked over to her suitcase. She faced directly away from me, seemingly intentionally, and bent from the waist to look inside it. Still completely naked.

I could only stare.

She straightened up, turned around and then made a point of looking at the tent in my boxers. “So, here are the rules.” From her suitcase, she had produced a wide range of ropes and handcuffs, which must have taken up at least half the space in the suitcase. “Let me tie you up, and we’ll have lots of fun. When I’m done, I’ll sleep on the left, and you’ll sleep on the right, and no sneaky sliding across the centre line. Okay? Otherwise, I’ll head out and find someone else to do things my way.”

I was still staring, stunned. ‘Right,’ I thought. ‘Logic is my strength; let’s think this through. I hardly know this woman. She’s fun, bubbly and as hot as hell, but I’m not sure that she’s sane. She’s almost young enough to be my daughter, and I’m in love with someone else. Wait! No I’m not. Maybe falling a bit for someone else. Anyway, this girl could be looking to rob me, or God knows what. On the other hand, she’s gorgeous and naked and I’m horny...’

“Can you hurry it up a bit?” she asked, testing a rope between her hands. “What’s it going to be?”

“Okay,” I heard myself say.

***

“So what do you know about knots?” she asked.

“I taught mathematical knot theory once...”

“Interesting. This is more a practical demonstration. First, take your T-shirt off. Now, this is a lark’s head double column,” she said, binding my hands together above my head as I lay on my back in just my boxers. “And this is a clove hitch.”

As she leant across me to hitch the rope onto the side of the bed head, her breasts were inches above my face. I was able to lift my arms enough to latch my mouth onto one of her nipples, which hardened almost instantly in my mouth.

“Mm,” she said. “Perhaps too much free play.” She made a slight adjustment above my head. “Make that a snuggle hitch. That should be just enough to keep you where I want you.”

She slowly ran a hand down my front, before grabbing my boxers and yanking them off. Then she lay down beside me, inspecting my cock carefully from an inch or two away. Close enough that I could feel her warm breath on it, but far enough away that she didn’t touch it at all.

“Mm, nice. We can have some fun with that. Eventually. But first, let’s see how you are with that English tongue of yours,” she said, lifting a leg across my face and lowering her pussy onto my mouth.

I stretched my neck and plunged my tongue into her pussy. She was already very wet, and her juices flowed on my tongue. I licked around her inner lips, squeezing them lightly between my lips, and then tugging them gently. Kitty let out a little squeal as I did that, so I repeated the dose a few times.

Then she shifted her hips slightly, pressing her clit directly onto my tongue. I tried every trick I could remember. Little taps with my tongue, gentle flicks, writing the alphabet, but then settled into circling around the clit as Kitty rocked her hips. Her breathing grew louder, and her little moans and high pitched squeals became quicker.

“So close...but let’s finish this differently,” she said, and shuffled down my body.

My cock quivered with excitement, as I thought that I was finally going to do what I’d dreamt of, since I first saw her by the side of the road.

But she wasn’t finished with the teasing. She squatted down on my hips, pressing my rock-hard cock between her pussy and my lower stomach. Leaning forward a little, she positioned her clit on top of the swollen head of my cock, and then slowly rocked her hips back and forth.

I could only groan. The feelings in my cock were intense, but not pushing me towards the orgasm that I desperately wanted. I longed to be inside her, but she was in total control.

Kitty’s hip movements grew faster and faster, and her squeals grew louder. She leant both hands on my chest, shut her eyes and then let out a scream as her whole body spasmed above me.

She opened her eyes again, with a dreamy look on her face. “Wow. That was a good one. Now, shall I untie you, so we can get some sleep?” She laughed at the expression on my face.

“Well, I...I mean, I’m still...and...”

Kitty giggled. “Oh dear, Dr Phil. Is this British reserve, or just a shy maths geek? You need to ask for what you want.”

“Please make love—”

“Ha-ha. How does the song go? ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’?”

“I want...I want you to have sex with me. Please.”

“Better, but still way too polite.” She was slowly stroking my balls, and I couldn’t take much more.

“Slide that hot cunt onto my hard cock, now!”

“Ohh, is that what you want?” She giggled again.

Then finally, she sank down, until my cock was buried to the hilt inside her.

With her eyes closed, she sat up straight and gently rocked. Pulling on the rope, I was able to thrust up into her, making her gasp and moan.

After what was probably a few minutes, but could have been a few hours for all I could judge, she turned around without letting me slip out of her, and leant down towards my shins. Leaning my head up, I was able to see my cock sliding into her, and her inner lips caressing it as it slid out again. After all the teasing, I could not withstand much more of the view, the sounds, and the taste of her still on my lips. She sat back on my hips as I finally pumped my cum into her. As I opened my eyes again, I could see her arm frantically moving for a few seconds, before she cried out with another orgasm, her muscles gripping my sensitive cock almost too hard.

Then, just a few seconds later, she jumped up and quickly undid the knots. I reached out to hold her, but she just shook her head.

“Good night, Dr Phil,” she said, laying down on her side of the bed, facing away from me.

I stared at her from a few feet away, but could only say, “Good night, Kitty,” before tiredness and jetlag washed over me.

***

In the morning, she was gone. Her suitcase was still in the corner, but I headed out without having sighted her.

The conference was uneventful until afternoon tea, where I was talking to an occasional collaborator of mine, Professor Barry Lucas.

"Did you see Yuri’s student’s talk just then on Tanaka’s Conjecture?” he asked.

“No, I must have been in another talk.”

“Her intuitive grasp on the subject was remarkable. But I was just telling Yuri – she makes giant leaps in her so-called ‘proof’! Apparently, though, she’s been going off the rails since her father died, and no one even knows how she got to the conference, or where she’s staying. Stunning young woman, though. Oh, here she comes...”

Then I saw her walking towards us. She wore a sensible blue shirt with a knee-length skirt, and had her hair up in a bob. Her name-tag read, ‘Katerina Naujokas’. But the smile when she saw me was unmistakably Kitty.

“Ah, Miss Naujokas, Professor Matthews here,” Professor Lucas said, gesturing towards me, “missed your talk. Perhaps you could give him a brief rundown while I try to find a drinkable coffee.”

“Sure,” she said, turning towards me and extending a hand. Her voice was perhaps slightly toned down from the previous day. “Hi, I’m Kat.”

“Today?” I asked quietly, as Kitty suppressed a giggle. “Pleased to meet you, Kat. And you can call me Phil...please!”

“You’re funny, Dr Phil. But I knew you didn’t believe me when I said I was going to this conference.”

“And making a splash, it would seem. Sorry for assuming that gorgeous young women can’t be brilliant mathematicians.”

“You’re forgiven, mostly because I love the way you say ‘gorgeous’. Do you want to skip out early?” She raised her eyebrows in a way that made me think she wasn’t suggesting a visit to the World of Coca-Cola museum.

“I can’t! There are a couple of great talks after the break. You know, I flew across the Atlantic just for this—”

“See you at your room in fifteen minutes then?”

I sighed. “Sure.”

That was the way the first few days went by. We would separately duck away from the conference and meet back in the hotel room. Mornings, afternoons and evenings were spent fucking, but always by Kitty’s rules. I was always restrained on the right side of the bed; sometimes she used handcuffs, but usually it was some combination of ropes. Sometimes she teased me for what seemed like forever; sometimes she just wanted to have my cock inside her as soon as possible. I was allowed to come in her mouth, pussy and arse; but I was never allowed to hold her. And each night, she slept on the left side of the bed. We spent the nights just a few feet apart, but I didn’t dare reach out and touch her, for fear of breaking whatever strange spell had brought her into my life.

I could see the irony. After all those years wishing that my then wife would try something adventurous like a new position, and all those nights with her saying that she only wanted to cuddle, I was now almost going mad dreaming about a nice, long snuggle.

***

Our first fight came on the Thursday night, when I finally broached the subject of her mathematical future. I started by suggesting that she should chip away at her proof, while she attempted to deflect the conversation with humour, and a lot of focus on sex. But somewhere it all headed downhill. Probably starting about the time I suggested, “Well, maybe if you spent less time with random guys—”

“Like you?” She gave a slightly forced laugh.

“You can’t tell me I’m the first, and you just happened to have all those bloody ropes just in case.”

Her usual cheerful expression hardened. “What gives you the right to comment on what I’ve done in the past?”

“Well, I’m just saying that shouldn’t waste your talents. Your mathematical talents, I mean.”

“Right, so if I try harder, then I could become a great mathematician? Then what? Live by myself and dream about maybe one day asking out my neighbour? What a fucking great idea.”

That hit close to the bone, and I spoke without thinking. “And you think your life is so great? Do you let anyone close to you? Or do you just present this happy face, and tie the fuckers up so they can’t even cuddle you?”

She gave a cold stare. And when she spoke, the relentlessly sweet and cheerful tone had gone, replaced by real venom. “Fuck you, Dr Phil. Fuck you.”

And with that, she turned and left, slamming the door behind her.

***

She was back, if slightly late, for my talk on Friday, the last day of the conference. I managed to corner her at morning tea afterwards.

“Sorry about last night,” I said.

She just shrugged in response. She avoided eye contact, and still wore that blank expression, which seemed devastatingly sad to me when contrasted with her usual state.

“So, where did you go?” I asked.

“Well, there’s this club in town which I had planned to visit when I first decided to come here. Before I met you.”

“Dancing?”

“Not exactly. Let’s just say, I didn’t need the stuff in my suitcase. They have their own equipment.”

“Oh,” I said, digesting this. “Ohh.”

“But it wasn’t as much fun as I expected. Anyway, that was then; it’s done now.”

I paused for a while. Kitty just looked me in the eye, seemingly concerned about my reaction, but not embarrassed by her actions.

Eventually I responded, “OK. Will I see you tonight?”

“Do you want to?”

“Yes. Yes, actually, I really do.”

“Well, I haven’t found anywhere better to sleep yet.” The lopsided smile had returned.

“I’m supposed to be having dinner with Barry Lucas and a few others. I’m sure they’d love it if you could make it too.”

“Really, really not my scene. I’ll see you later though. Probably.”

***

I excused myself from the dinner early. I wasn’t sure if Kitty would be in the hotel room, or God knows where, but I was anxious to find out. When I opened the room door, I saw her sitting stark naked at the desk, with scraps of paper scattered haphazardly in front of her. She turned as I came in and gave me a big smile. “Hi. I’m working on my proof—”

“Naked.”

She looked down and giggled. “Oh yeah. Anyway, it’s not going well. Would you rather help me with some math, or go to bed and fuck like rabbits?”

I could only shake my head in disbelief. “Maybe the second option.”

“Now, now, Phil. What did I teach you the other night about asking for what you want?”

I took a deep breath. “You look gorgeous, and I want to fuck you so badly. But I think I’d better have a quick shower first.”

It was only in the shower that I realised that she’d not called me ‘Dr Phil’.

***

When I returned from a very quick shower, Kitty was laying on the bed with the sheets pulled down. Still naked, with a hand resting between her thighs. She looked down at the tent in my boxers. “And still, you need the boxers?”

Smiling and blushing slightly, I slipped them off, and lay down next to her.

She ran her hand down my chest and leant across to kiss me. Slowly, the kiss became more passionate, and she reached down to stroke my already hard cock.

I broke away from the kiss for a moment. “So, Kitty...”

“I think tonight, it’s Kat.”

“OK. So, Kat, no ropes tonight?” I asked.

“No. Tonight, it’s just me and a guy I’m starting to really like.” Her face was showing an emotion I hadn’t seen her express before. Perhaps fear. Or at least nervousness. She sighed. “Now, hurry up and kiss me before I think about it too much.”

As we kissed, I manoeuvred myself above her, and slowly eased into her. Breaking our kiss, I gazed at her from inches away, but she would only keep her eyes open for a second or two at a time.

“I will stop if this is too far out of your comfort zone. Do we need a safe word?” I asked.

Kat just laughed and kissed me.

So I gazed into her eyes, as we moved together. Her hands moved over my body, and I took the opportunity to caress and hold her. This felt less like fucking, and more like making love. Gentle and languid. Intimate.

Or at least it was gentle until our pace quickened and we became a sweating, panting mess, rolling around the bed. Not always in perfect synchronisation, so we were often a sweating, laughing mess.

Somehow, we ended up with her head hanging off the left side of the bed, my hands holding her shoulders and her legs wrapped tightly around my waist. As I pounded into her, she leant her head back and cried out in orgasmic pleasure. That set me off in return and I came strongly while buried deep inside her, our bodies intertwined.

Afterwards, as I lay on my back, she rested her head on my shoulder, one arm and one leg draped across my body. “Mm, this is lovely,” Kat said, “but I’m not sure I can fall asleep like this yet.”

We kissed briefly, before I raised the subject preoccupying me. “So, the day after tomorrow, I’m flying back to England.”

“I know.” There was a long pause, before she continued, “Sorry, I’m tired, let’s talk about it in the morning.”

And with a final kiss and a hug, we made our way back to our own sides of the bed.

***

When I woke, she was wearing the same clothes I first saw her in – the tiny white top and the too-short shorts. She was staring out the window as I got up and slipped on a fresh pair of boxers.

She turned towards me. Her expression was hard to read, with no sign of her usual smile.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Sorry, I’m going home. You’re lovely, but we’re not right for each other.”

I gazed into her eyes for a few seconds, and then sighed. “Didn’t you think that the universe wanted us to be together?”

“No. I thought the universe wanted us to meet – that doesn’t mean she wanted us to be together forever.”

“We would have met at the conference.”

“And would you have talked to me?”

“Maybe...” I didn’t sound convincing, even to myself.

“Or maybe the universe has just got a fucking weird sense of humour.” There was a hint of that lopsided smile.

I sighed again. “I’ll miss you, but you’re probably right. About us, I mean. Not so sure about the universe’s sense of humour. Or that it’s female.”

We hugged in silence for a few moments.

When we eventually separated, I asked, “Can I drive you home?”

“Nope.”

“You’re hitchhiking again?”

“Yep.” She was smiling cheerfully again.

“And there’s nothing I can say to talk you out of it?”

“Nope.”

“OK. Well, be careful, Kat.”

“Fat chance of that!” She laughed, then bounced back to give me one more hug. “OK, I’ll try...and maybe I’ll settle down a little when I get home. But Phil – don’t be so careful that you wake up the same person every day.”

And with that, she gave me one last peck on the lips, slipped out of my grasp, picked up her suitcase and headed out the door. From the window, I watched her go. She never turned her head to look at me.

****

Now, a week later, I’m back at home. I’m in the bathroom, trying unsuccessfully to get my thinning hair to look just right. I can see nerves in the eyes reflected back to me. Part of me wants to back out of what I’m about to do, but instead I choose to shrug, tousle up my hair and smile. My reflection shows a strange, lopsided smile, unfamiliar on my face, but all too familiar to me. Perhaps I’ve woken from a very long sleep and somehow woken as a slightly different person.

“Fuck you, Kitty,” I say to my reflection, without any real venom. “Fuck you.”

Passing through the lounge, I go to shut down my laptop. I glance again at the end of an email I’ve been reading.

I’ve been working on the proof...even meeting with my advisor. I made some progress the other day. Maybe? I know, I know...I’ll keep chipping away...

And lastly...well, you would say it was just some gigantic coincidence, but a guy I met when I was hitching home turns out to be doing his Ph.D. in physics. He’s in the next building, but we’d never met. He’s a bit like you – sweet, but shy and uptight. I like him, but we’ve been out twice and haven’t even fucked yet. Seriously!

Tell me how tonight goes!

xoxo

Kat.

I close the email, shut down the computer and pick up the small bunch of flowers I bought earlier. Then, I head out the door for a dinner date. With Claire, my neighbour. The one I’ve fancied for way too long.