He walked into the house, and I could see on his face that he wasn't pleased. "Everything ok?" I asked, and he shook his head curtly. I shut up. Not a good thing to talk when his temper was ignited.
I watched him throw his keys and backpack on the table, pull out a soda, and take a few huge gulps before putting the cold can to his forehead. There was a glowering silence behind his movements, like barely restrained rage, and I wondered why he had bothered to keep our date if he was in such an obviously foul mood.
He dropped into the recliner with his eyes closed, toeing off his shoes, and became very still. Five minutes went by, ten minutes... he didn't move. I had gone back to my bookkeeping, glancing over to look at him every few minutes. Something was going on. I filed my charts, put the laptop to sleep, and went to crouch by the recliner. No motion.
"Hey. What's going on?" I asked, in as non-confrontational a tone as I could muster.
Silence. Just as I was taking a breath to ask again, he said "Pull your hair back." It took me a moment to register and I'm sure if his eyes had been open, he would have laughed at the confused look on my face. As it was, he opened one eye after a few seconds and added "You aren't going to want me to do it for you today." His eye closed.
My mouth went dry as that spark ignited and I took the tie off my wrist and made a ponytail from my long, dark, chestnut curls. "Good girl," he said without looking, and handed me his soda. I put it on the coffee table, my hands starting to tremble. I'd never seen him in a mood like this.
His hand shot out and gripped my ponytail, making me jump, but he just held my head there comfortably, his fingers tangling themselves as he looked at me for the first time. "How was your day?"
I had to clear my throat and lick my lips before I could answer. "Fine, just fine. Got a lot done. Files, you know..." I trailed off, weakly. "How about you?" I winced.
"Not going to talk about it. Don't ask again." I nodded, feeling the pressure of his hand in my hair. He looked down at my bare legs and feet and for the first time, I saw that familiar hunger, only this seemed to have a fierceness to it that I hadn't seen before. I felt a throbbing at my core and we both watched as he shifted his weight in the recliner to put his other hand on my leg. "Are you wearing something under that skirt?" I nodded. "Off."