“Damnit,
why did Ryo have to do a fire drill now?” Rowen muttered in frustrated
anger as he entered his room and flopped back onto the bed. All the excitement had brought
him to a state of complete awareness—it would take forever for him to go to
sleep now. He buried his face in
his pillow and groaned as he thought of the morning to come—he had to be up
tomorrow at nine—nine!—and now Ryo had unwittingly fouled up Rowen’s
plans to go to sleep early. (Which,
in his case, was midnight.)
“Ryo’s just
concerned for our safety,” Kayura pointed out placidly as she walked in behind
him tying the loose end of her long pigtail. This nighttime hairstyle was
her way of preventing morning tangles in her long flowing hair. It was also a way to keep Rowen from
anchoring her hair under him as he tossed and turned in the night. She had gotten used to his sleeping
habits, but that didn’t mean she had to risk a painful pull on her scalp every
time she got up in the morning.
She
flipped the long braid over her shoulder as she passed the bed and disappeared
into the adjoining bathroom to brush her teeth, leaving the door open. Midnight was her bedtime, so she hadn’t
minded Ryo’s disruptive impromptu house evacuation as much as her night owl of a
husband did. Her body was ready for
settling down to sleep, but after the fire drill Rowen looked like he could go
on for four more hours. “You can
hardly blame him after last time.”
she called out from the bathroom.
After the last incident, Mia wasn’t upset by the burnt living room wall
as much as the length of time it took to account for everyone, especially the
children. Accidental flareups she
could expect as Wildfire’s wife.
But preventable danger she would not tolerate, and so Ryo had installed
smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and had started planning fire drills.
“But in the middle
of the night? Ryo doesn’t
start fires in his sleep,” Rowen pointed out.
“He’s just
covering the possibilities. Fires
aren’t started by just him, you know.”
Kayura picked up the tube of toothpaste and squeezed some on her
brush. She paused as something
occurred to her. “And considering
how you sleep, we need a plan to carry you out of the house in case there
is a fire. It’d take too long to
get you up.”
He scowled in the
direction of the bathroom. “If it
were a real emergency, I’d come downstairs on my own two feet like
everyone else.”
“Oh, please.” Kayura turned her attention back to the
sink and wet her toothbrush with a quick turn of the faucet, on and off. She didn’t believe in wasting
water. “You wouldn’t wake up if I
straddled you in the middle of the night and made you come.” She began brushing her
teeth.
Rowen was silent
for a moment, pondering her words, then lay back down on the bed, pulling the
thin cotton sheet over him.
Kayura’s last remark had thrown him for a little loop. Out of propriety, she rarely spoke of
sex, much less in explicit terms, even to him. Restricting the topic to the bedroom was
her way of keeping it private and playful, and she considered the mention of sex
in everyday conversation tasteless, and needless, when it could be so much more
fun demonstrating it.
Ah, well, she
probably didn’t mean it that way. He rolled over onto his side
and resolutely shut his eyes.
Tonight he really needed to sleep.
The sooner he got to dreamland, the better. Yes, off to
dreams…
…Dreams…
Somewhere in his
subconscious, he felt a prickle of recognition. Puzzled, he lay there, letting mind and
body relax…and then the pieces clicked together. He froze, and then sat bolt upright in
bed, shocked at the thought. She
wouldn’t do that, would she?!
Considering the circumstances lately…………aw hell, she would!! “Kayura!”
“Mmmph?” She was still brushing her
teeth.
“Come here,” he
ordered.
He waited in stern
expectation, listening as she finished brushing and rinsed out her mouth. She came out of the bathroom, switching
off the light. “Yes,
Rowen?”
He folded his arms
across his bare chest. “How do you
know I wouldn’t wake up if you were on me?” he demanded.
Her slight wince
and guilty look confirmed his suspicion. “It was just an expression,
Rowen—“
“Kayura.”
She looked at the
ground and capitulated. “I tried it
once.” After stealing a look at his
face, she amended her confession.
“Two, no, three times.”
After stealing another look at his face, she was contrite. “Oh, Rowen, don’t be mad at me. It’s just that I had wanted to…try a few
new moves…you’ve been so busy with work lately and I didn’t want to go to the
trouble of trying to wake you…”
Rowen sighed and
bowed his head. She did have a
point there—he was notoriously difficult to wake up, period. And his increased workload and their
schedules lately had put their time together at a premium. She had just wanted to please
him…alone…and being the way she was, went ahead and did it. And he, being damned unreachable and
unwakeable, just could not share in it with her. Oh, Kayura…“I’m not mad, not
really. It’s just… I like to be
there when you’re making love to me.”
“You were
there.”
“You know what I
mean.” He paused and considered the
look on her face. She seemed so
disappointed that he found her out.
“So you learned a few things and decided to try them out on me, eh? Is that why I’ve been having these
erotic dreams lately?” He had
chalked that up to their decreased nighttime together.
She perked up a
little. “Yes. I would’ve stopped
if…if nothing happened. But…it
worked and…you didn’t seem to mind…”
No, he realized,
he hadn’t minded at all. And he
really didn’t mind now, except…”You should have told me anyway
Kayura. I don’t like it when you
keep something like this from me.
It isn’t good.”
She bowed her
head, contrite again. “I’m
sorry. I didn’t think it was
important.”
His eyebrows shot
up in surprise and he leaned forward on the bed. “Kayura. Kayura, look at me.” She met his gaze hesitantly. “Your happiness means everything
to me. Especially in something like
this. Just because I’ve been busy
doesn’t mean we can’t talk. If you
need me, or if you want us to try something new, I’ll make time for
you.”
She stared into
his eyes and smiled tenderly. “Oh,
it’s no problem talking to you, Rowen.”
He looked at her, caught her meaning, and as usual, leaped to its logical implication. “Well.” He smiled and lay back in bed, arms folded underneath his head, and devilishly raised his eyebrows at her. “Why don’t you show me what you’ve learned?”
She looked at him
askance.
“Now?”
“I’m wide awake,” he pointed out.
“Don’t you have to
get up early tomorrow?”
“That’s what
coffee is for. Come on, I think I’m
entitled to know what you’ve been doing to me.”
“Well…” Excited
earnestness quickly replaced her hesitance as she thought it over. “All right. But you have to do your part. Close your eyes and lie still. And no grabbing. I’m still getting used to this and I
don’t want any distractions.”
He smiled at her
excitement and closed his eyes.
“Yes ma’am”.
Kayura walked over
to his side of the bed. Swinging
her braid and pulling up her white nightshirt out of the way, she sat on Rowen’s
thighs. Throwing one small shapely
leg over him, she rose up on her knees on the mattress and sank down to sit on
his boxers. Her eyes danced as she
regarded Rowen lying submissively under her. Now that she had pinned him, she might
as well try a few more new moves.
It would be interesting to see his reaction to what her imagination had
devised.
She
smiled appreciatively as she ran her fingers over his bare chest, thinking of
his quick mind. Anyone else, she
was sure, would have never caught on to her, much less turned it into this in a
single conversation. A reminder, as
if she needed any, of why she married him.
She lifted her
gaze to his face and stopped, blushing. His bright eyes had been
watching her very intently with unabashed interest. “Close your eyes.”
“You know, taking
off your shirt might help.”
She slapped him
lightly on his side. “Close your
eyes. I’m trying to show you what I
did and it did not involve me undressing. Not that you were awake to see
it, anyway.”
He shut his eyes
again and she leaned over to kiss him gently on face and neck, the touch of her
lips a warm, welcome sensation.
Her fingers softly tangled in his hair, and then lightly lingered over
his ears and played down his neck, tracing the musculature of his
shoulders. Her mouth trailed the
same route as her fingertips and then doubled back to kiss its way across his
neck to play with the other side of his head, sweetly exhaling on warm, flushed
skin as his breathing increased.
She was about to move her lips to his chest when she froze. His hands had slipped
underneath her shirt.
“This
is nice,” he murmured, eyes closed.
“No touching,
either. You really are a scoundrel,
Rowen.” she whispered in his
ear.
He reluctantly removed his hands and slid them underneath the pillow as she ran her hands down his abdomen. “I’d have to be,” he said, “to handle a little vixen like you—oh!“ He broke off abruptly, hissing in a breath and squeezing his already shut eyes in shocked delight. Relaxing as Kayura’s fingers stopped, he opened his eyes to regard her, impressed and intrigued. Gods, how could he have ever slept through that? not once, but three times! Was there a way his brain could snap awake when Kayura………mmmmm…oh, she was doing it again………wanted him?
Well,
if Kayura couldn’t rouse…his brain with body…then he’d really………have to talk
to…Ryo……about……carrying him out of the house……in case of fire……mmmmm…he could
catch…Ryo……next……next…………whatever--thinkaboutitlater…aaaaahhhh…he
abandoned all thought to focus on Kayura continuing her attentions on him while
keeping his hands still. Oh,
Kayura.
Kayura smirked at the look on his face as she leaned over to work on him again. “Yes, definitely a scoundrel.”