(continuing from Life Gets Better, they had just finished a torrid session)
"Yummy," he heard her say as she lay there.
"I think we'll stay in tonight and I'll cook something," he said.
He smiled at her and added, "I hope I can still walk to the market."
Somehow red meat sounded like a perfect meal tonight.
***************************
It had been good for both of them and neither felt any urgency to move from the bed or each other as the buzz from their climaxes was still strongly felt. She had closed her eyes and was breathing softly when he finally moved from underneath her head and he watched her curl up, almost hugging her knees as he moved off the bed. He lifted her head, placed a pillow under it, and then covered her with part of the blanket before walking over to the bathroom.
"Thanks babe," she whispered.
The hours from this week and the intensity of the sex combined to sap any energy she might have had left and she fell asleep quickly.
In the shower, he had some time to reflect on her and thought back to how they had met. He was still on the road and bored with eating alone, having virtually no night life and spent most of his waking hours working so that by the time he got back to his hotel at night he would fall asleep quickly.
She had answered a personals ad he had placed online and from the first time they sat across from each other at dinner he had known she was special. It wasn't just the way she looked, it was the way she carried herself, the way she spoke so forcefully about things she felt passionate about.
Her schedule was as busy as his but she hadn't backed away from the challenge of having some kind of a relationship with him knowing that when the project was done he would likely be gone to yet another city. The sex had been too good, to all consuming for both of them to pass up the opportunity to satisfy their respective hunger for the sensual and sexual for however long it would last.
When he stepped out of the shower he did his normal check of his reflection in the mirror and decided that he really should start spending a few more minutes a day on his basic workout. He hadn't worried much when his hair started to thin but his own personal vanity refused to let his body go to hell and at 45 it was getting harder to keep up with the demands of staying fit. Besides, if he had any hope of keeping up with her sexual appetite he had better stay in shape.
As he dressed, she never moved on the bed, still wrapped in the cover and sleeping peacefully. Out of habit he dressed and moved around the room quietly, not wanting to wake her. When he finished, he made his way to the kitchen, got a large glass of ice water and brought it back to the nightstand by the bed so it would be there when she finally woke and then headed out to the market to do some quick shopping.
After their first meeting, he had promised to cook for her on a future date and had taken her shopping prior to creating the meal. Time in the kitchen was one of his ways of getting away from work and she had discovered that shopping was pretty serious business for him as well. She learned about telling the difference between almost and ripe produce, quality of meats and had told him at one point that she had never really enjoyed shopping for food until she had done it with him, that at times it was a kind of sensual experience watching him as he gently handled what he bought and was so intense in his concentration.
Today was no different and as he made the short walk to the market his thoughts were on the menu for tonight. He loved the fact that he was so close to a really high quality store that took a lot of pride in their meats and produce. He had made it a point to become friendly with the staff so that we he wanted something special or specific they always managed to get it for him. He knew the manager of the meat counter by name, asked him to cut fresh two filets and since it was Saturday, the seafood had come in that morning so a small lobster tail as well. The rest of the menu would be a quick mango salsa on fresh spinach, grilled asparagus, and broiled new potatoes to go with the steak and tail. A small baguette, Brie and some fruit filled out his purchases and he was back at the apartment a half hour after he had left.
He heard her stirring in the bedroom as he put the groceries away and when she came out she had put on one of his dress shirts.
"You look good enough to eat," he told her. "Are you sure I have to make dinner?"
"Make it for me at least," she said. " I didn't take time to eat anything this morning and if we keep going like we did earlier I'm going to need something for refueling or I promise I'll just lay there and you'll have to do all the work."
"Wore you out did I?"
"Yeah, I think you actually did this time but remember, my batteries recharge pretty quickly and all you did was give me an appetite that I promise will bring you to your knees later tonight."
"Can I get that in writing," he asked?
"Damn straight mister," she said with a wicked grin.
"What did you bring me back to nibble on while you create your masterpiece for this evening?"
By now she was sitting at the island work area and he brought over the baguette, Brie and raspberries and let her dig in while he started the prep work for their meal. A glass of wine completed her impromptu mid-day snack and by the time she had eaten a pretty good-sized piece of the baguette and half the Brie he was ready to bake, broil, and grill what would be their dinner tonight.
As she walked away saying she was going to take a shower he noticed two things. The first was that she looked damn sexy in that shirt and the second was that as usual she had left the cleanup after her snack for him to take care of. He didn't mind.
While waiting for the water in the shower to warm she studied her reflection in the mirror from a couple of different angles. She was pleased for the most part with the way she looked. She had always been short waisted but it served to accent her long, sleek legs and her buns still had a toned curve to them that she knew looked good in the tight skirts she preferred to wear for work. Her breasts didn't sag much at all but in the back of her mind she was also counting the years before she would finally do something to lift them. The D cup size had served her well when she had been more actively seeking partners but now she was starting to think that maybe one cup size less would be easier for her.
She knew that he appreciated them and it was all that really mattered for the moment. A shiver passed through her as she thought about how good it felt when he touched them with his hands or his mouth and at that remembrance her nipples started to harden.
"The man does know how to push all of my buttons," she thought, and as she opened the door and walked into the warm spray she decided to give him a taste of his own medicine later tonight.
"Let him be the one squirming on the bed because he can't stand the teasing any longer."
When she eventually reached for the shampoo to wash her hair she had to smile again at the fact that since the last time she had been there he had picked up both the conditioner and shampoo that he must have seen at her apartment. Attention to detail was important to both of them at work but the idea that it carried over to his personal life, that he thought that much of her was pretty astonishing. Maybe he was right when he told her that by the time he and his ex split he was about as trained as any man would ever be when it came to being around women.
"I could live with 95%," she thought.
By the time she got out of the shower she could smell that he had made progress toward having dinner ready and though she had eaten quite a bit before the shower the aromas were making her hungry again. She left her hair up in a towel, dabbed perfume where she was sure he would find it later, put his shirt back on and walked back to the kitchen feeling like she really was ready to start the day again.
He was glad she had stayed in the shirt and if he wasn't mistaken there were less buttons buttoned than when she had been in it before.
"Ready for a cocktail," he asked?
"Is that steaks I smell?"
He nodded and said "and tail, potatoes and asparagus."
"Vodka's good then," she said.
She lit cigarettes for both of them and took a healthy sip from the glass when he handed her the cocktail. He drank deeply from his own and told her that they could eat in about 15 minutes.
"Why don't you pick something to listen to and I'll have the salads ready when you get back."