I had been dating Cate for about a year. She had just turned 26, but I knew that she had been a social smoking for several years; she smoked when she went out with her friend, who all seemed to smoke and were gorgeous, she smoked a few times during breaks at work, and after a good dinner she always loved a good smoke or two. And while I tried to cast the impression that I didn't approve of the habit, I knew she believed that was simply a front. I could sense she knew that privately I enjoyed it, I was aroused by it and more over, her smoking had become a central force in my attraction to her. Not that that her physical qualities weren't intoxicating on their own. She was 5'9", weighed about 125 pounds, had great brunette hair, long slender legs and pale blue eyes.
One night she was getting ready to meet some friends and was sitting in front of her make-up table. She was wearing a white v-neck t-shirt and faded jeans. She took out a pack of Marlboro Red 100's, slipped one between her fingers, put it to her mouth and lit it. As she pulled that first drag it accentuated her high cheekbones. She let it dangle and enjoyed another drag as she used her hands to apply some smokey silvery eye shadow and black eye liner. She glanced over at me, snapped another inhale and said, "What?"
"You know I'd prefer it if you didn't smoke in the house." I sheepishly replied, towing the publicly approved party line.
I could get away with faking my disapproval at the apartment. But in the company of her other friends, all of whom were beautiful, alluring women in their own right, I didn't dare speak up. Many times we would be at Laura or Ellie's place, they would open a bottle of wine and, soon after, a pack of cigarettes would come out and they would smoke like fiends. Devouring a pack over the course of a couple of hours of laughing, gossiping, making fun of the guys they were dating. Every so often on these nights, Cate would put her arm around me, give me a kiss on my cheek and say, "Are you enjoying yourself? I think you are." She would take another long drag of her ciggy, pop a snap inhale and rub my inner thigh. She could feel how I truly felt.
But back to this night. She pulled some sexy black suede boots up over her jeans, grabbed her beige large leather shoulder bag, placed the pack of Marlboro Reds inside and told me she had a surprise for me later.
"What?" I replied.