Her fingers felt the cold as she unclipped the lights from the window frame, and the corners of her mouth twitched as she worked. These windows had always been drafty this time of year, and she was in no way dressed to work in those conditions. But, it was time for the holiday lights to come down anyway, and she wanted to stay busy while she waited.
It was late, and time for bed, but she wasn't expecting to sleep soon. Time with friends always charged her up, and she'd enjoyed hostessing the party they had thrown that afternoon. She'd insisted on being the first in the shower, once they'd cleaned up the place - but that left her with nothing to do, when he shooed her out before his turn under the water. She had tried laying naked in their bed, listening for the sound of the shower running to stop, letting the party replay in her head. Smelling her own skin, however, and remembering all those wicked looks throughout the day, made her a little too crazy to stay still. Soon she'd found herself wandering downstairs with her nearest robe wrapped around her, and deciding to take down those lights as a different way to keep her hands busy.
She heard the water cut off at last, and the thumps of his feet as he stepped around on the floor above. The last clip came loose with a tug, and she lowered the string of lights to the carpet. One more window to go, and then the lights along their breakfast bar... the next ones she wouldn't tangle so badly taking them down. Reach down and gather the strand, shake it out - they're not too hot to coil up while they're still lit...
The coil unwound itself along the floor again, as she jumped and spun around. His hand had found the bare back of her thigh at a vulnerable moment, with her too busy bending over tangles to listen for him. His grin widened as she thwacked him on the arm, and he turned it into a hug somehow as he stepped into her. Rising to her tiptoes for a kiss was her idea, the very moment her cold fingers slipped inside his robe to touch his shoulders.
The lights at their feet illuminated them softly as the kiss deepened, as she savored the clean scent of him, the tightness of his arms around her waist. She felt sexy - he felt ready. Who knows where the kiss might have gone, had there not come the sound of tires in their back driveway, and flickers of passing headlights on the walls of the dim room.
She pulled herself away, wrapped her robe tighter as she stepped to the full-length window, and said an unladylike word as she looked out over the deck. She recognized the car as belonging to one of the partygoers, one of her man's idiot friends. She said the friend's name in a frustrated tone as she turned back to her man, adding "He probably forgot something when he left the party." Her brow furrowed slightly as she saw what her man had done, in the seconds she had been at the window.
He'd pulled one of the stools over from the breakfast bar, almost into the spot where she'd been standing, with its high back toward him. Her lips quirked at one corner - from the way his body had felt before she stepped away, and from the way his face looked as he watched her turn, she knew what he needed to hide with the stool. His lopsided grin acknowledged hers, and he chuckled a bit as he spoke.
"Well, I guess we should see what he wants." He stepped around the barstool, tightening the belt of his robe, his pocket bulging differently than she'd expected. He patted the black leather of the seat, saying "Come sit here. I've been wanting to put you on a pedestal."
She stepped toward him even as she rolled her eyes - if nothing else, she needed to get away from the cold draft on the backs of her thighs. He took her hand as she stepped back across the scattered lights, and was almost gentlemanly in helping her perch on the edge of the stool. He'd circled to stand in front of her by the time she settled in, and lifted her chin with two fingers to see her eyes. "Perfect," he said.
Her hands gripped the edge of the stool - she could feel herself blushing as she spoke. "Go find out what he wants." Her tongue moistened her lips. "Hurry."
He smiled, reached into his pocket, drew out its contents. His hand stayed close to his body, keeping his secret as he drew her hand close. "You better hold this," he said, pressing something into her palm, her hand automatically closing.
Her eyes widened. Her pocket rocket! Butterflies filled her as she remembered the time he'd first found her favorite little vibrator sitting out on the night stand, the long slow tease that night had turned into... She swallowed before she spoke. "You can't just leave me here holding this thing. How is THAT going to look?"
He sidestepped as she spoke, circling to her left, leaning in for a quick kiss on her forehead. "Well, you do look lovely." Hand on her shoulder, he circled around behind her. "Hell, maybe a look at you IS what he wants."
