As the car idles in front of the school, in line with all the other parents waiting to pick up their children, I take out my phone and call you. "Hi, baby," you say, the tension in your voice coming through the line clearly. "Do you need something?"
"I was just about to pick up the kids and thought I'd see how your day is going and if you wanted something special for dinner. Is Michaels still breathing down your neck?"
"Yeah. Every time I try to get something done, he's there handing me a whole new list of bullshit to do. And if it's not that, I've had emergency meetings with three different clients today. I'm going to be late, so you and the kids just go ahead and eat without me."
"Sweetheart, why don't I just do something simple, like steak and green beans. Just call when you leave and it'll be ready for you when you get home, okay?"
"Yeah," you say with a sigh. You sound so exhausted. "That sounds wonderful."
"Will you need to work tomorrow?" I ask, knowing that you need a full weekend to recover from the extra workload you've been under.
"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I can catch up on everything urgent if I stay a bit late tonight. Everything else will hold until Monday. Hey, I've gotta go, baby. I love you and I'll see you tonight."
"I love you, too," I say before pressing end. As the line of cars begins to move, a plan starts to take shape in my mind. You've been too stressed out these last few weeks and it's past time I did something to help with that. A quick call to my mom doesn't help. She's still in Ohio visiting my sister and her family. So I call your mom instead. She gladly agrees to watch the kids for the night. Her sly innuendo and comments about 'needing time for the two of us' makes it clear that she knows what I'm planning. Or at least she thinks she does. After a quick trip home to get bags for the kids, we're soon on our way to your mom's. Again, she tells me we can take our time coming to pick them up.
With a hug and a kiss and a reminder to be good for grandma, I wave goodbye to our little ones and head back to the house. Going into the kitchen, I do some advance prep for dinner, getting a thick steak out of the fridge and salting it liberally before leaving it on the counter. It's going to be a light meal tonight as too much food on our stomachs would be a very bad thing for the activities I have in mind. Feeling hungry, I also pull out some cheese and cut a slice off the French loaf I'd picked up that afternoon and have a small snack before checking the time. Five fifteen. Plenty of time, I think, but it wouldn't hurt to get things ready just in case you don't have to work as late as you thought.
I go upstairs to our room and undress, tossing my dress in the direction of the hamper in the corner of the room, followed shortly by my panties and bra. I reach into the dresser and pull out a pair of black lace bikini panties and slip them on, making sure the lace waistband lies just so on my hips. I stand in the closet debating what I'm going to wear tonight for a few minutes, struggling to decide between the dark green corset with the black lace or the black brocade, I finally settle on the latter. Years of practice have made me rather competent at putting on a corset alone, though not nearly as quickly as when I have your help. I decide to pair it with the boots that have never failed to make your mouth go dry, soft black leather with a four inch heel that lace all the way up to my smooth, toned thighs.
Now dressed, more or less, I go to the locked cabinet in the back of our closet and open it. I remove the items I think we'll need and step back into the bedroom, placing some of them on the bed, arranging them for the best visual impact, before going downstairs with the rest of them. I place the remaining items in a neat row on the dining room table, knowing the impact they'll make on you when you see them, all lined up and waiting for you. All I can do now is wait for you to call so I can start dinner. I turn on some music, a collection of Vivaldi. For some reason, baroque music always feels like the perfect accompaniment to these evenings, something about the light, airy strains of the harpsichord serves as the perfect contrast to what will be happening in just a few hours. As the music is piped through the house, I settle into the couch with a book and wait for your call.
A few hours later, you walk through the door, dropping your keys on the sideboard the metal thunking against the wood. I hear your heels clicking against the floor as you walk towards the kitchen. As you pass through the dining room, you stop, your breath catching in your throat as you see me sitting at the table, an open book and a glass of beer immediately in front of me, the plate of cheese and bread sitting to the side, clearly picked at. Further down, you see the items I laid out, letting you know that I have an interesting night planned.
"You're late," I say, my voice deceptively soft.
"I'm sorry, I told you..."
I slap the table with a black riding crop, the sharp slapping sound reverberating off the walls. "Did I ask for your pathetic excuses?"
"No."