He watched her, unmoving, till she turned into a room at the very end, and then he walked forward into her kitchen. He went to stand over the sink and looked out into the small backyard. The moon shone down on a little patio, and a lush lawn beyond it. He wondered who did her yard work for her, and when he heard her footsteps, he turned to ask. The question froze on his lips at the sight that met his gaze.
Sam walked toward him wearing the black sleep T-shirt she had been wearing the first time they made love. It hadn't been planned, clearly, since he had surprised her at home, again on a Friday evening. He'd arrived bearing pizza, wine, and pink hibiscus flowers, because she had said she liked them. The scene replayed itself in his mind as she sidled past him and went to look about serving them drinks.
He had grinned at the stunned look on her face when she saw him standing there, and then he'd said,
"Need a little help here!"
Sam had taken the pizza from him, and let him pass her into the apartment. He had followed her into the kitchen, where she had turned and said,
"I...I wasn't expecting company, Theo! I'll just go and change!"
He'd stopped her with a hand on her arm, and when she looked up at him with that look of mingled anxiety and desire, he'd lost his cool. Just a little, enough to haul her up against his hardening body and kiss her fiercely.
"Don't go changing on MY account, sweetheart!" he'd whispered in her ear. "I like this look. It's sexy!"
The T-shirt fell just above the knee, and it was faded and well-worn. The little red fox on the front with the extra long eyelashes was giving him a "Come hither!" look that explained the beckoning paw, and the wink. He turned her around, and looked at the back. Not surprisingly, it read, "Love that sexy vixen!" below a bushy red tail sprouting from a lush bottom.
He had pulled her back into his willing embrace, ravishng her mouth with hungry kisses, fondling her full breasts through the soft cotton, and then, when she had leaned against him in absolute surrender, he had pushed the yielding cloth over her head and taken his fill of her fullness, her ripe sweetness, kneeling before her to sample the luscious juices that he had made flow. They hadn't eaten before he had made her ride a wave of sheer ecstasy with him on his knees, his own raging lust unfulfilled. But he had loved the sound of her orgasm swelling around him...
He blinked when Sam called his name.
"Sorry!" he said, and followed her back into the living room.
"Have a seat, please!" she invited him, and as he sat, she added, "I remember you don't like coffee this late at night. Would you like a beer, or some wine?"
He watched her face color up, and he realized that she recalled the other time she had worn it with him. He couldn't say why he was so surprised that she had worn it deliberately. He knew she was trying to make amends, but he couldn't trust that she wanted more. He remained wary, even as his libido kicked in when she bent over to pick up the remote control for the entertainment system she had installed, and he caught a glimpse of a long, round leg, and the print of a thong. Damn! If she wearing a thong, he was a goner for sure!
"You can control the television and the music with these," she was saying, while he struggled to keep his eyes from glazing over. "You choose." She handed them to him, pointing out the buttons he would need, and their hands touched. Fire shot up his arm, and he trembled as he took them hastily. He wasn't going to rush things this time. She would need to make the first move, and only if he trusted her would he respond.
"So, beer or wine?" Her voice was cool, but he knew, because she would not look him in the eye, that she was far from cool. It made him glow with satisfaction, and burn with desire for more.
"Beer's good!" he said, and deliberately turned his attention to the devices in his handsl. He decided he'd be better off watching television, since he didn't know what kind of music she had stacked ready to play, and he couldn't bear for it to be something they both loved, or worse, something they had made love to. He was struggling to stay aloof as it was, without hot music blindsiding him. He couldn't help but watch her walk away, though, and the ache in his groin grew at the sight of her lush bottom in the shirt. The sight of her long brown legs didn't help him, either, and he tore his eyes away to watch what was on the screen in front of him.
She was back in a two minutes, with a bottle of beer and a brimming stein, and a mug. She offered him the stein, and he took it and sat back. She placed the tray down on the coffee table and picked up the mug. He smelled peppermint.
"What's up?" he asked, eyeing her as she sipped the hot drink. "Upset stomach?"
"I had a little too much to drink last night," she admitted, carefully avoiding his gaze.
Theo couldn't suppress the chuckle that escaped. "You had a HANGOVER this morning?" he asked incredulously, obviously amused. He had always thought she was a bit straitlaced.
Sam lifted her eyes to glare at him. "It's not funny, Theo!" she snapped.
But the tension had been broken, although the sexual awareness remained. Theo took a long swallow of beer, and then asked,
"What was the occasion?"
Sam didn't answer for a moment, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Somehow Theo knew it had something to do with him. He waited, determined not to force any confidences from her.
"I was feeling melancholy," she finally admitted, "and some of my friends were going out for drinks." She sipped her peppermint tea, clearly unwilling to reveal any more.
"Melancholy? Why?" Theo pushed her, wanting answers.
She stood up, and walked away, and Theo took that as a sign that she was retreating, hiding away from him. His jaw tightened, and he said coolly,
"Sorry! None of my business!" He swallowed the rest of the beer in the glass, and bent to empty the bottle into the glass. He felt her standing over him and looked up. Her hands were shaking, and he took the mug from her, put it down on the tray and pulled her down beside him.
"Talk to me, Sam!" he said, and then he let her go, sitting back and regarding her expectantly.
She inhaled deeply, clasping her hands together. "I guess I was more nervous about today's presentation than I realized, and since I had been feeling..." here she looked at him briefly, and he saw the pain she tired to suppress. "I had been feeling very lonely, missing you," she looked at him again, "and between that and the stress of preparing for this presentation...well, I felt overwhelmed. I hadn't seen these friends in a while, and I figured I could forget for a while."
