The sun was barely up but he was already dressed. The charcoal suit fit his tight runner's body like a glove. Under it he wore a dress shirt with pale blue stripes and a dark tie with white, navy and sky blue stripes of varying thickness. The tie had been a gift from her and was his favorite. It had seen a lot of use since she gave it to him almost a year earlier on his birthday. He smiled at the memory. He'd come home to find her wearing only the tie, face down and ass up on the soft rug in the foyer. It still ranked among the greatest homecomings of his life.
He put the exhausted French press into the sink along with the pot from the stove, filled with water and left to soak. He covered the plate of food and called over his shoulder.
"I'm leaving your breakfast here on the counter. Don't let it get too cold, ok?"
No response.
"Baby? Answer me, please, so I know I won't come home to find the cat got it before you did."
"Mmmph," came the muffled answer from inside the bedroom.
"Use your words, please" he said.
"Hmm? Yes," came her sleepy reply. A yawn marred her second sentence so badly he couldn't make it out.
He wiped his hands on the dishtowel and hung it back on the rack. His polished leather shoes clicked on the tile floor as he moved away from the counter, down the hall and into the bedroom. He moved across the room from the doorway over to his tall dresser. He smiled at the bed, a riot of blankets, sheets and one noticeable lump on the right side. Her dark curls were just peeking out from the top of the duvet.
"Was that second sentence a thank you?" he asked patiently.
"Yes," came the muffled response from beneath layers of down and silk. Then continuing in the same bored tone you would use to recite multiplication tables: "You are the greatest boyfriend God ever blew breath into. I could work my entire life like a dog and never actually deserve you." Another yawn bubbled up from the girl-shaped lump. "All of which is evidenced by the fact that I haven't even opened my eyes yet and you've already accomplished more than I will by 5 p.m. tonight."
He laughed. His girl was no morning person. He sighed dramatically. "I am the best. It's true."
"And you've ruined me for all other men," she added, finally sounding a bit more awake.
"Now we're talking," he said. He was picking up his wallet and other personal items and depositing them into pockets. "Ok, Sleeping Beauty," he said absently while scooping spare change into his hand. "I've got to go. Don't fall back asleep. It's almost time for you to get up anyway."
He looked over his shoulder to see her eyes peering out at him from the top of the big fluffy comforter. They were wide and only slightly hidden by the mass of unruly curls falling over her forehead.
"Oh my god." she whined. He looked up at her swiftly and with concern.
"What? What is it?" he asked quickly.
"You," she shot out accusingly. "You in that suit." She groaned softly and glared at him from the bed.
"What," he said looking down his own body. "Did I miss something?"
"Yeah," she said pushing the blankets down from her face and wiggling up to an almost upright position in bed. "The part where you have an early meeting and won't be around long enough to-" she broke off suddenly. "Well, the least you could do is have the courtesy to not rub my nose in it. And," she took a long inhale. "Jesus! You smell so good. Christ, I hate morning people."
"Does the lady approve," he asked with a smile and holding his jacket open to give her a good view.
"No," she said petulantly. "It's unkind to parade around here looking all delicious and," she paused searching her sleep-fogged brain for the right word. "Unhavable!"
"Unhavable?" he asked as she harrumphed herself back down under the covers.
He shook his head and checked his watch. "Sorry, babe. No time," he said scanning the bedside table for something. He paused, giving her one more chance to act like a grown-up. "No goodbye kiss for your smart dressed man?"
She burrowed down even further, pulling the blankets in tight around her body and pushing her butt into the air. "If I did that to you, you'd spank my ass," she accused from inside her warm cave.
"What are you saying?" he asked moving to the foot of the bed. He glanced quickly at his watch again and remembered why he never forced her to speak until after she had been awake for at least an hour. She was a defiant little thing otherwise. His grandfather would have called her ornery. Everything seemed to piss her off when she woke up. "Well, almost everything," he thought with a smirk. Too bad he was in a hurry.
She shot back up to sitting and dramatically tossed the thick covers back. "Last month! I had that board meeting and I'd spent an hour getting ready. You wanted to fool around but I said I didn't have time. You waited until I was running out the door to..." her voice trailed off.
"To what?" he asked with a smirk. "Throw you up against the door, push that skirt up around your hips and then have the audacity to make you come? Twice, if I recall correctly."
"You made me late. It was embarrassing," she shot back with a scowl.
He sighed heavily and made the choice to not let her get him worked up. There would be time for that after work. "I recall begging that morning. But, not for me to let you go," he teased moving toward the doorway.
"That's not the fucking point!"
"Hey!" he said, stopping in his tracks. "Watch that tone." He needed to go. He knew from experience that this was going to lead nowhere good and it was bewildering to him why she got like this. She'd pick a fight with the kitchen table if she thought she'd get away with it when she first woke up. It was like living with a little monster for the first 90 minutes of every day. A tiny, smoking hot monster, granted, but a monster nonetheless.
She was flushed and breathless, seething and defiant. He loved her like this. He cursed himself for not setting his alarm for earlier and took another deep breath. He knew she needed to be soothed. No reason to start her day in such a mood. She had a full work day to get through, just like him.
"Easy, baby. Just get up and have some breakfast. Take a shower. I'll make it up to you later. I promise."
He smiled at her warmly, reached down into the covers and found her ankle. He gripped it tightly. "Besides, you'll get what you want a lot faster if you ask nicely," he chided gently.
She wasn't having it. "Oh, right!" she exclaimed. "If I begged prettily enough you would just forsake your precious meeting and stay? Just because I asked? That's all it would take? I'm so very sure," she snorted dismissively.
He sighed again and kept moving toward the door, stopped quickly, and turned around to grab his keys from the dresser behind him. Her words followed him across the room.
"What exactly are the magic words that would make you blow off this presentation you've been preparing for over a month, huh? As if you'd ever," she said rolling her eyes "EVER blow off work because I begged you to. You? The earnest worker? Everyone's favorite boy? Blow off a presentation?" She paused, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at his retreating back.
