He turned the key until he heard the click of the lock turning over and pushed the front door open. The entire house was dark, which was particularly odd because his girlfriend was usually up later than him on most nights. He kicked off his shoes near the door, dropped a bag of materials he had bought earlier in the night down on the kitchen floor, and laid his keys down on the cupboard with a clanking noise as the steel hit the tiled surface. Glancing at the clock, his jaw dropped.
"Shit, she's going to be pissed."
The digital clock on the coffeemaker read 4:15 in its neon blue color. He had no idea how it had gotten to be so late; he had been at his friend's house hanging out, drinking, and shooting the shit and thought he was actually returning home at a fairly early hour. No wonder his girlfriend had already went up to bed. However, coming home later than he had planned wasn't going to ruin the plans he had coursing through his head and had deliberated specifically for tonight.
He walked into the bathroom and turned on the hot water full blast and mixed it just a little bit with the cold and watched the steam from the water immediately start to fill the room. After undressing, he left the small pile of clothes at the door and brushed his teeth while he waited for the water to adjust to the right temperature; it always took a few minutes from the time he turned the water on for it to actually decide how much hot and cold water it was going to let through.
Returning the toothbrush to its place, he smiled broadly in the mirror, turned around, and stepped into the sweltering hot water. Watching his body turn from an unnaturally pale white to lobster-like red, he took deep breaths of the moisture into his lungs and closed his eyes, relaxing in the warmth before guiding soap over his body. He made sure to get to every crevice of his body, keeping in mind that after when finishing up the plans he had thought through for the night, anything could happen; and probably would.
He rinsed the soapy lather from his body and ran his face under the water once more before turning the knobs of the faucet, halting the water, and stepped out. Wrapping a towel around his lower half, he opened up the sides of the mirror where the basic bathroom toiletries were laid out on shelves hidden behind it. He rolled the deodorant onto himself and picked up cologne he had noted a few times that his girlfriend commented on every time he wore it.
"Scent of Seduction -- I guess the name is to be taken literally", he thought to himself with a low chuckle.
He put on a pair of white boxer briefs before walking out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. Picking up the bag of supplies he had bought for the night and rummaged through it. He pulled a heavy roll of plain white paper from the bag and unrolled it onto the floor into a single sheet covering the floor in its entirety. He then grabbed the bag and sat it in the direct center of the paper and unloaded four large candles from the inside and placed them at either corner. He lit the candles with a lighter he pulled from a pocket of the jeans he had left on the floor after undressing, before placing the pile in the hamper. He grabbed a clean washcloth from the stack of clean laundry that was sitting on a table and had yet to be put away and soaked it with lukewarm water, squeezed out the excess water, and carried it with him.
Rather pleased with himself, he eagerly ascended the staircase to the second level of the apartment, where his girlfriend laid sleeping. He walked over to the immediate left of their Queen-size bed and looked down at the woman almost completely covered in blankets, with just a slightly oval face crowned with twisted and tangled strands of hair laying every which as a product of hours of sleep, and a single arm visible as her chest rose and fell rhythmically. She looked so peaceful, almost angelic, and he thought that it would be a sin to wake her. He sat at the edge of the bed beside her, and it was as if he were looking at her for the first time again. He noticed all of the intricate details of her face that he had certainly been overlooking for the year that they had lived together. He suddenly saw every birthmark, every freckle that was scattered over her complexion. Even though he was beginning to go into overdrive with emotion, he knew that it would be a greater sin not to wake her, even in the truly beautiful state she was in at the moment.
He reached down and lightly, barely touching her at all, ran the side of his index finger over her forehead and underneath the few strands of lost dark hair that hung over her face, sweeping them to the other side of her head and watched them fall lazily to the side she was laying on. She didn't stir in the least, so he unraveled the balled up washcloth from the palm of his hand and folded it in half before lowering it onto her forehead and guiding it across her head and down onto her cheek. Moving the blankets down her body, he ran the cool cloth over her neck and down to her chest, as low as he was allowed, before meeting with her shirt. Her eyes fluttered, alerting him that she was slowly waking from sleep. To be sure not to rush into anything, he kept the same pace and moved it slowly from where he had left off and back up to her forehead. He pressed the material to her head firmly, sending a small amount of cold water that had been squeezed from the cloth to meet with her skin and watched the few drops fall from her and onto the fabric of the pillow that laid beneath her.
She lazily lifted one eyelid and after a brief moment of sleepy eyes refocusing and making out objects in the darkness that filled the room, gave a small smile and stretched before sitting up in the bed.
"What time is it?" She asked, looking beside her to the alarm clock before waiting for him to reply.
"It's late. I didn't realize how late it had gotten before I left, I'm sorry." He took the cool washcloth from her forehead and set it on the nightstand beside the bed.
She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms out once more before letting out a yawn and letting herself fall backwards into the bed, her head landing, once again, on the pillows behind her.
"It's fine. Are you coming to bed?"
"Well..." he started, with a faint smile and leaned in to give her a quick peck on her cheek before finishing his thought. "I actually hadn't planned on going to bed for a little bit. We should do something together, I missed you."
"I missed you, too. However, it's the middle of the night and I'm exhausted. Besides, what would you suggest we do at 4:30 in the morning?"
"I have an idea." He said matter-of-factly and uncovered her body completely, lowering the blankets to the bottom of the bed.
She remained on the bed, dressed in an oversized T-shirt and a pair of panties, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and trying to wake up against her body's will.
He leaned down and scooped her up in his arms. She immediately swung her arms around his neck, skittishness consuming her body from the sudden, rapid movement from the bed and into the arms of her lover.
"What are you doing? Put me down. Where are we going?"
