Even Steven

Steven had moved over to sit behind me on the bed. His arms were around me, one hand stroking my right breast. He was nuzzling the back of my neck.

"My God! Steven, thank you," I said. "Why?" It was the best I could do with the question.

"I don't know. Our fifth anniversary is close," he said.

"In case you don't know, the fifth is the wood anniversary, I think, or maybe it's copper," I said. "These don't look like they're made of wood or copper. You don't get to diamonds until, well, maybe it's the sixtieth."

I felt him shrug. "I just saw them and wanted you to have them. Maybe it's a look ahead. I really want to be with you when that sixtieth anniversary rolls around. I love you, Annie. I couldn't live without you." He squeezed me and said, "Hey, I want to see them on you."

I disengaged, rose, and went to the bathroom. It took me a little fumbling to get the earrings in since I was mostly looking at my face in the mirror, trying to read the emotion there. It looked like apprehension. Then they were on. I peeled off my thong, dropped it in the hamper, shut off the light, and moved to the bed. I rolled on, onto my back at the middle. We almost always do it with the lights on to accommodate my imaginary voyeurs. I'd made good use of the clipping scissors and a razor earlier to make sure my pubes were in an alluring configuration. I crooked a knee to make sure Steven had a clear view to the goods.

Steven slid over. Then he was above, looking down at my face, the earrings, my eyes.

"God, I love you so much, Annie," Steven said, and I thought, Don't tell me. Please, please just keep it to yourself. But I knew he would. Why else bother with the earrings?

Steven was ready to go. That or a zucchini had suddenly materialized between us. He reached around and began to pull me up, encouraging me to get into whatever female superior position might suit me. I shook my head. "This is good," I said.

Steven looked at me skeptically. "You sure, Annie? On the bottom? Miss Ride 'Em Cowgirl?"

"Yeah, help yourself," I said. "Dinner's served."

I expected him to roll onto me, but he didn't. He still seemed hesitant. Then he said, "You know, I was thinking while I was away that we should just get that kitchen remodel done. You really deserve the kitchen you want."

"Okay," I said, "we can talk about it."

"Screw talking about it," he answered, "we'll just do it."

"Okay," I said, thinking, Five more minutes and he'll be offering the Taj Mahal.

Steven had made his offerings. I made mine. On my back, naked save for the down payment on a new BMW dangling from my ears, I subserviently spread my legs: atonement and a hope of finding some sort of absolution. Steven moved on top of me and pushed in. Before we really started to rock and roll Steven said, "Oh, shit, Annie. Sorry. You said you had something I really needed to know?"

I wrapped my legs around his middle and put my hands on his ass cheeks, encouraging him to go deeper. "Yeah, you really need to know I'm horny as a toad and need some hard dick. Now." Then we were at it.

So, Bradley is back in Portland, and she - whoever she is - is down in Idaho. I guess we're going to keep our secrets to ourselves. I'm fine with that.

We're...well, you know.