Mimi tried the key in the lock only once before realising that Sven was already home and had bolted the door. She banged twice, mild irritation swimming in her chest. Despite her continuous reminders, he always forgot and it annoyed her. She was tired; ready to sigh heavily and tell him to avoid putting the bolt on if he got home first but the sentiment faded the moment he opened the door in a sauce spattered apron and, much to her surprise, his collar.
"Hey." He said, "Come in, I'm making dinner."
"What is this?" she asked, the sound knotting into embarrassed, regretful laughter, vaguely ashamed of her annoyance in the face of his sweet domesticity. "You lit candles and there's music and-oh."
Sven exchanged her bag and coat for a glass of wine, nodded towards the table. "Take a seat." He kissed her on the cheek and headed past her.
Mimi wailed, blushed furiously as she wondered past the table and into the kitchen. There were plates set on the counter and vegetables drained in the sink. "You did this for me?" she looked up at him as he walked past her. "Oh, baby."
She set her wine on the counter and pulled him close, tiptoed up to kiss him again, properly this time. "I was going to shout at you for bolting the door and then you threw this at me." She smiled at him, her eyes full of remorse, her thumb tracing across his cheek. "I'm a cranky old grump and you are relentlessly adorable."
Sven shrugged, nonchalant. "I know. I figure if I balance pissing you off with being cute I should be able to get at least 25 years out of our marriage when it comes."
Mimi laughed, swatted at him on the chest. "Idiot. You're doing a pretty good job. I think you'll get there. You got home early, then?"
Sven nodded, threw a dish-towel over his shoulder. "Yep. About an hour ago, We're finished with Sunlight Bakeries now. End of project perks, I suppose. How was the dreaded review?"
Mimi sighed heavily, kicked her shoes off. "Okay." She nodded, thankful to be home and safe out of the analytical eye of Harry Goldwell, her boss and the gallery owner. "I think. Harry said he was pleased with my work, liked that I'd taken initiative with the Young Artist's programme I set up. I'm not fired, so it's all good. I was a bit tense because they asked how I was getting on with Sarah."
"Who?" Sven licked a spoon, frowned. "Try this."
"Sarah Boyd." Mimi said. "She's the gallery manager but she's something of a prize bitch. She's never happy with the work I do despite the fact I've sold something nearly every week I've been there, my goddamn degree is Art and Design. Frankly, I know more about art than she does, I've been an artist, I know it from the other side, too. I know the artistic process."
"But you didn't say that, did you?"
"Hell no." Mimi shook her head, took the spoon from Sven. "I said-" she blew on the spoon, looked up at him, "I said that she was a really great leader and I loved being part of the team. You know she's sleeping with Harry? That's why she's got the job."
"Awkward." Sven pulled a face. "What do you think?"
"Ugh. Whatever," Mimi rolled her eyes. "She used to work as an estate agent before. Met harry when she sold him his house down in London."
"No." Sven grinned, "I mean the sauce. What do you think? Too spicy?"
"Oh, sorry." She squeezed his arm, her hand flaring up between them, landing on her cheek so that the skin wrinkled beneath it. "I'm sorry, I'm so focused about work. It's really good, perfect. I can't wait."
"Good." He bent, aiming for a quick peck, but Mimi soon transformed it into a grasping kiss full of want and shame. The spoon clattered to the floor as he grabbed her, held her close so that she was doubtless that he didn't mind at all. "I'm so proud of you."
"Thank you." She held his wrists, love bubbling inside of her. She looked at the chaos in the kitchen then back to him. "And you did all this for me. You knew the review was today and I was dreading it." Her shoulders sagged against him, her body curling up with tired, grateful thanks. "Best boy ever." she hooked her fingers into his collar and pulled him down for another kiss.
"I try." He kissed the top of her head, turned back to the stove. "You'd do the same for me."
"I would." Mimi said, "Always."
"Now, sit." Sven repeated. "Get comfy, drink some wine. Just relax, okay?"
Mimi shook her head, gave him a long look. "You are too cute. I'm going to get changed."
Twenty minutes later and the very last thing on Mimi's mind was eating. She watched Sven place the apron he'd been wearing over the back of a chair then placed the rest of the dirty crockery in the sink.
"I know what this was." She laughed. "The food, the wine, the music." She narrowed her eyes at him as she joined him on the sofa. "It was an elaborate plan to get into my pants."
Sven's face went serious and a furrow dipped between his brows. "Fuck." He looked away from her, sighed heavily, frustration clear in his tone. "My plans have been foiled."
Mimi laughed, her fingers slipping between his neck and the collar. "I trust you haven't killed anyone or have been having an affair."
"Actually, I've been Mrs. Cooper's toy boy for six months. I didn't know if this was a great time to tell you." He shrugged, an amused grin glinting over his features.
Mimi laughed. "I knew it." She kissed him again, lay back on the sofa, "A thing for the older woman." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Typical."
"I don't think so. She's about nine hundred years old, Mimi. I was just fooling."
"I know." Mimi wound her fingers into his hair, a kick of pleasure jolting through her when the breath caught in his throat. "I'm glad." She purred, pulled his mouth towards hers into a hard kiss, her fingers tugging at his hair. "I'm not inclined to sharing."
"I know." Sven breathed. He sat up and curled his hand around her thigh. "Are you tired now?" he asked.
Mimi giggled, shook her head at him, the mellifluous laughter twisting upward. "Are you not paying any kind of attention?" she teased.
"Well, you've had a busy day and-"
Sven never finished the sentence because soon enough Mimi was in his lap, working at the buttons on his shirt, her mouth against his. That old weight of desire began forming in the base of his brain, filtering through his body like water through ice and everything else was pushed out. Business closed, come back tomorrow.
"I do not want to go to sleep or watch TV or take a shower." Mimi breathed, her hand fumbling at his t-shirt beneath. "I want to hurt you and then, I'll fuck you." She sighed, "Maybe the other way around, I've not decided."
"Yeah." Sven said, annoyed that once more, his responses were so damn illiterate. Words were his job, for God's Sake. He blushed and Mimi tilted his head upward, looked at him.
"There it is." She grinned.
He could feel himself colouring up, the embarrassment mixing with the hot ache of desire searing in his guts. "Oh."
He nuzzled her shoulder then looked up. "God fucking damn, why am I so easy around you? Christ, it's embarrassing. You're so good at controlling your emotions."
Mimi frowned at him. "Welcome to womanhood." She said.
"What do you mean?" his hand was rubbing her hip, moving in gentle, soothing circles.
"I am full of emotion but my entire life I was told to stop being dramatic and so, I crushed myself down into a box that got smaller and smaller until I was utterly passive on the outside. I'd get told I had too many opinions or was too emotional. And then," she paused, looked up at him, blushed when she realised he was smiling at her, fixated on her fluttering hands and rushing words. "people thought I was arrogant or boring and inside I was haemorrhaging life. I bet that sounds crazy doesn't it?"
"No." He said. "Not at all. I hadn't thought about it but I suppose so." He shrugged. "You're talkative with me." His hand stroked the back of her neck, tangled into her hair. "Sweet thing," he scooped her up, held her close and felt her sigh against his skin. "I didn't mean it like that."
"I know." Mimi shook her head, pushed her hair from her face. "That was a while ago. I just ignore people who talk like that now."
"Good." Sven said, "So you should."
Mimi nodded, wordless, kissed him again and let the action communicate for her.
"Have you decided?" Sven said.
"What?"
"If you're going to fuck me or hurt me first?"
Mimi laughed, her hands still working at his clothes, lower this time, fingering the buckle on his belt. "I have."
* * *
By the time Mimi was finished Sven found himself naked and bent over the dining table, the rounded edges digging into his hip bones. He could feel the dry, scarred wood under his cheek and had the surreal thought that it could probably do with sanding down and re-varnishing at some point. It hung in front of him in the dark then shattered, exploded by the electric of Mimi landing one hand across his backside.
Behind him, she smiled, watched him flinch to the left then settle again. "How's the blindfold?" she asked, "Working?"
"Completely." Sven said, "Not a thing."
"Not lying are you?" Mimi grinned, walked around the table to the opposite side where he lay out, his arms pulled open in a wide V-shape. "Can you see this?" she asked, her hand splaying out in front of him. "How many fingers? Don't lie."
"Really." Sven said. "Not a thing. I don't know."
"Okay." Mimi stood back, leant against the counter, admired his body spread out in front of her, the patient waiting, the pinkness of his buttocks fading into the pale, smooth back. She pulled off her own clothes, peeled each layer off with practised efficiency until she was in her underwear. "I'm just going to leave these here."