I pull on oven mitts and remove the bubbling dish from the oven. The heavenly aromas of cinnamon, apple, brown sugar, and toasted walnuts waft up to my nose. My love wolf whistles from his spot leaning against the wall. "Panties are so overrated, especially when you're wearing a short skirt like that."
I laugh. "I'm not sure where they wound up, but I'm not planning on going anywhere tonight. Are you?"
He grins. "The living room, the bathroom, your bedroom. We'll be spending a lot of time in there."
"Tired already?" I ask playfully as I shift to the fridge for the vanilla ice cream I've stashed away.
"Nope. I'm used to being up all night, baby."
I turn and quirk an eyebrow at him. "You're used to being awake all night. You being up all night would be awkward and probably very uncomfortable."
He smiles, shakes his head, and walks over to kiss me. "Okay, Captain Semantics." And just like that, he's distracted by food. "Smells good." He grabs two bowls from the cabinet and rattles around a drawer looking for an appropriate spoon. He helps himself to a monstrous bowl of baked apples and crumbly goodness topped with a mound of vanilla ice cream that quickly begins to melt and mingle with the dessert. I serve myself a slightly more modest portion, and we make a very short parade back to the living room.
He takes a huge bite, and I can't help cracking up. He looks like a confused hamster, cheeks all puffed out, caught between the very hot apples and the very cold ice cream. He swallows his bite somehow and asks, "What?"
I smile and eat a smaller bite of dessert, licking slowly at the melting ice cream, savoring the different flavors and textures. "You're doing it wrong, love. Dessert is about pleasure. You're not really hungry anymore, and there aren't a whole lot of nutrients in here. This is the sensual portion of the meal."
"Sensual..." His eyes are glued to my lips.
"Would you like me to show you what I mean?"
"Yes, I think I would."
"I'll be right back." I run upstairs to my bedroom and open my drawer of naughty things. It only takes a moment to find what I'm looking for: a blindfold and a tin of miniature cinnamon breath mints.
Downstairs again, I detour into the kitchen and fix myself a rum and Coke with more ice than I generally prefer. I make him a drink too.
I hand him the glass, and he takes a long pull from it, still clearly wondering what the hell I'm doing. I'm not 100% sure either, but he doesn't need to know that.
I sit beside him and place the blindfold lightly on his knee. "Put it on."
He picks it up and turns it over in his hands. "Why?"
"Because covering your eyes heightens your other senses. Taste, smell, hearing, touch..." As an accent, I run my fingertips just barely across the sensitive skin of his inner forearm. "If you're ever uncomfortable or you want to stop, just say so, and I'll stop."
"I don't think you'd hurt me or anything."
"Good, because I wouldn't, well, unless you wanted me to, but you're not really into pain, which is good, because I wouldn't really be into hurting you."
He thinks about it for another second, and then he dons the blindfold. I adjust it over his eyes so he can't peek. "Just relax," I tell him, though there's clearly at least one part of him that's not relaxed at all and is really looking forward to whatever I have in mind. I stand up and turn off the big floor lamp and the kitchen light, then the tv. I slide the coffee table away from the couch to give me more room to work with.