synopsis of previous chapter with inexplicable title "F. Scott Fitzgerald" :

Guy married to a Japanese woman is wondering whether to write and submit to an erotica website a true story about his wife accidentally dropping a pair of her panties from laundry she and he had just done in the laundry room of a hotel in Bucharest where they had been staying for an "on the cheap" European vacation. They're hurrying to leave before checkout their last morning. The night before they'd been out drinking and hadn't had time to get their stuff ready. That was a reason Akemi accidentally let a pair of panties slip to the tiled floor where Mitchell (the husband) saw them on his way out after her. There was also part of a sandwich, cheese and lettuce. Her panties were pink and plastered to the floor. Mitchell might not have recognized them as his wife Akemi's if she hadn't been walking in front of him. He told her about the discovery and she said she would deal with it later, at the moment she was busy doing final meticulous organization of the contents of their luggage. Before she could get to the chore of picking up her panties a workman told Mitchell he had and leered, laughing. Mitchell wondered if he should write and make the true story available to readers, who might react as that workman had.

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And what about that weird, vague experience only last month, encounter with a French woman, blond, willowy. We were leaving an event with others and got to talking and there was a connection, physical warmth, contact. She was a bit helpless in this country, young, and appealing. She said something like, "I'd like a man to want to buy me." 

I don't remember what this came from in the conversation, even though that was recent, because it came as such a shock everything we'd said before kind of faded out. A shock but somehow in keeping with our talk until then. She seemed to be saying she would gladly accept the passive role, make herself available as merchandise for the right person. She was joking, of course, just tipsy after the party. We both were, open to each other. Afternoon wine bar to smooth an event that might otherwise be dull.

I felt drawn to her, that nothing held us back. Her lissome body, her light blond hair trailing down her back, a muted color, fingers of it. There was something wan about her yet substantial. I felt her heat and that she wanted mine to link with it, to ignite us both. I felt she'd do anything I wanted, but there was no prospect of that. We were both on our way out.

She was a faculty wife, there with a guy I didn't know well, new at the college. Obviously cared for her. Protective. I'd seen them together. Husband tall young earnest type. Earnest but light on his feet as if not yet fully grown, still green. Maybe he'd left early or she'd decided to. Was something going on with them? Newlywed or almost, still had that glow. But things happen, surprising to a couple as well as to outsiders.

Even her clothes were soft. She wore a pale blue workshirt and beige linen pants, spoke in a near whisper, audibly, making herself clearly understood but with the cadence of someone waking from a dream. She was tall, slim. You sensed a breeze would sway her. Was she okay? Yes, she was a woman sure on her feet, who knew her own mind, enough to open herself like that. 

Moments later we crossed paths on the street by coincidence, going opposite directions. "What are the chances?" I asked. Too good for us to pass up. Now it seemed we could both drop anything else we were doing, our plans or obligations for the rest of the day, and go off together, somewhere to be on our own. 

It showed anyone, including me, could hook up. I worried about Akemi meeting a guy and getting into something, but shouldn't also consider what I might get up to- stuff happens, right? Of course nothing did between the French woman and me- beyond what had already, which was significant. I was thoroughly smitten by Akemi, "taken" as they say, not available to others, however appealing, strongly felt the connection. And she- Leonor her name, I think and may be wrong- was married. But I still remember her attractive vulnerability (which in fact reminded me some of my wife, also a transplant from abroad- not that she was on my mind then, if I'm being honest). A familiar impulse to protect came and with it desire to make contact with lithe Leonor, supercharge the warmth between us, pursue emotional and physical contact, follow our mutual attraction to wherever it carried us off. I liked the resemblances to Akemi, but also the differences. I remember her pale blue eyes.