"Hello."
I closed the front door behind me as I stepped into the house and waited for a response.
"Hello?" No response.
It had been a long day at work, and I was arriving home later than usual, but I figured that my wife couldn't be in bed asleep already. As I listened for a moment for her reply, I heard something else and it all came into perspective.
From the upstairs en suite bathroom, I could hear water running. Not the soft gentle rain of the shower, but the deep rumble of the bathtub being filled up. Now it made sense - she couldn't hear me because she was in the bath. Listening closely now, I could of her favorite dance tunes playing - that meant she was relaxing and enjoying her evening, which made me smile.
Knowing that meant she was, right now, behind the door at the top of the stairs, likely naked and lounging in a tub of hot water certainly perked me up. Long day or not, that's certainly something that brings fresh energy to a man when he arrives home.
Taking off my suit jacket and tie, I draped them over the bannister and started upstairs. Half way up the stairs the water stopped running, and I figured that she would for sure hear me as my shoes took the steps toward our bedroom door, then through the door toward the en suite. From the steam in the hallway, I knew that my guess was right and indeed there was a hot bath on the other side of the bathroom door even before I opened it.
"Hello." I said again just before opening the door; so as to not shock anyone.
"Hi honey." I heard, and I opened the door to see my wife ensconced in the extra long tub we had specially installed when we renovated the bath a couple of years back. A full soaker tub we called it, long enough for her to almost completely stretch out her lithe 5'3" frame in. And there indeed she was, propped up slightly at one end, only her neck and the tops of her shoulders visible, her face flushed slightly from the heat of the water. The rest of her lay very modestly sunken underneath water and a fine layer of bath bubbles. At the other end of the tub, just the tips of her toes peeked up through the water as her feet rested on the tile next to the faucet.
Closing the door behind me so as not to let out any of the heat out of the room, I stood for a moment and admired. Her long dark hair was arranged behind her so that it would not fall into the water, which accentuated the smooth curve of the tops of her shoulders above the water. Her skin looked like silk with a sheen of moisture from the steaming water and whatever moisturizing bath product she was using. She really did look good enough to eat, or at least good enough to nibble on for a good long time.
She looked back at me with an adoring, but slightly glazed look in her eyes. Must be the heat from the bath, I thought. Looking again, I saw the glass of wine next to the tub. Hmmm - maybe she's had more than a few glasses of wine? That might explain the oddly distant look in her eyes as she luxuriated in the bubbly water. It didn't matter the reason, because here she was: relaxed, aglow and naked with a smile on her face. The starting point for many a fantasy...and just as many real evenings we've spent together.