Summer Nights and Ice Cube Fights
It was the start of summer, a season that tended to not last long in Sweden unless you lived further south. Luckily for Erika, the tall blonde green eyed Swede, she did live in the south, but it was only the start of the summer and there were many more days of heat to get through.
To deal with the heat, Erika had opened up a window before she went to bed, in an attempt to keep her cool as she slept. However, even with a slight breeze the heat was still getting to her. The warm air blew in through the open window and into the sleeping Swede's bedroom, taunting her as it crept over her skin, already prickled with heat. The temperature was starting to become uncomfortable, and the sleeping Dane behind her, with his arm round her waist was not providing any aid with the cooling process.
Not being able to fall back to sleep, due to the stuffy air, lazing about the room like so many tourists at an art gallery, Erika grabbed her glasses from the bedside table and put them on. Bringing her alarm clock into focus, a big red 4:06 glared at her. Glaring back, she cursed it, wanting it to be a more acceptable time of day for active pursuits. Knowing she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, she carefully moved Mikkel's arm and sat up, looking round her room whilst debating what to do, now that she was fully awake.
The room was decorated in a shade of creamy-yellow paint, contrasting with dark hard wood flooring, as was the rest of her apartment. The bed was positioned against the back wall of the room, placed in the middle so as to make the room seem less spacious. Two bedside tables stood sentry by the head of the bed, a wardrobe leant up against the opposite wall. To the right, a small television, perched on her work-laden desk opposite the bed, took up the remaining space. The room itself was always in a state of cowed organisation, messiness was a war, and one should never let the house win the battle.
After a short while of debating on what she should do with her new found time, Erika looked over to her desk. Being the head of publishing in the small Malmö based publishing company she worked for, it was her job to sift through submissions previously handled by her staff and approve them. Or failing that, send it back to be reproofed. Earlier that evening, during her allotted work hour, she'd managed to get through most of it before one drunken Danish co-worker and part time lover, otherwise known as Mikkel, had stumbled into her apartment and distracted her.
She got out of bed and made her way over to the chest of drawers, opening the top drawer and picking out matching underwear for the day, slipping it on for decency's sake. As she made her way to the desk she wound her hair up in a loose bun and clipped it in place, with a clasp she had picked up from the top of the dresser on her way past.
Sitting down at the desk, she adjusted the lamp on the table so it wouldn't disturb the sleeping Mikkel, and turned it on, illuminating her workspace.
After half an hour of reading and highlighting errors that had been missed, Erika had become engrossed in her work. It was only when she felt the extra weight on the back of her chair, accompanied by a complaintive creak of distressed wood, and the hot air on her neck, that she realised she was no longer the only one awake.
"Why are you up so early? Hmm?" The haze of sleep, as well as the remnants of alcohol still limping round his system caused his words to slur, but only slightly. Gently, in that persuasive way only Mikkel seemed to manage, he placed a few kisses on the side of her neck.
"Just finishing some work that should have been done earlier." She placed emphasis on the word 'earlier', indicating to him that the reason all this work wasn't done right now may or may not have something to do with him. Although she was secretly grateful that he had interrupted when he did, since the heat had been getting to her. There were times when she could get annoyed with him for interrupting her focus, but that had not been one of them. A smile twitched at her lips as he began to trail the kisses down her neck and across her shoulder.
"Don't try and tell me that you would rather slave away for the office than have me indulge you." He grinned, picking up on her smile, moving his head to rest his chin on her shoulder, to get a better look at her face.
"I wasn't going to. Your 'indulgence' was much appreciated… But I do have to get this done, and I couldn't sleep." Erika pulled her focus away from her work to look at Mikkel. Even though they weren't an official item, as such, he knew her intimately enough to hazard a guess at what may have woken her up. His guess was also aided by his own, similar dislike for extreme summer weather.
"Heat?" Erika nodded, turning her attention back to the paragraph she was reading through. At this response, Mikkel had an idea. Standing up straight, he went through to the small, well stocked kitchen, which had been bullied into a state of tidiness more extreme than the bedroom. Erika was once more engrossed in her work, assuming he'd gone to get himself a glass water or something similar, she didn't worry too much about what he could be getting up to and allowed herself to resume ignoring him.
Once in the kitchen, Mikkel opened up the freezer and pulled out a tray of ice. After acquiring this new stealth weapon he walked back into the bedroom, keeping the tray out of Erika's sight. Still absorbed in her work, Erika only took note of the fact Mikkel had returned. So it was a complete surprise when a hand suddenly come into her vision and dropped a few ice cubes down her cleavage, swiftly followed by another hand slipping a handful of ice cubes into the front of her panties.
The cold ice elicited a shriek of indignation, and Erika dropped her pen. Standing up, she turned slowly and looked at Mikkel, unamused. Now feeling a lot less sleepy, playful grin in place. Erika glared at him, and reached into her bra, pulling out one of the ice cubes that had managed to stay between her breasts, as well as reaching into her panties to take out the ice cubes that had been deposited in there. Now equipped with ice cubes of her own, she made a move to put them down his boxers, that he must have put on when he got out of bed.
However, Mikkel had predicted this turn of events and moved back effectively dodging her ice cube laden hands. This only made her more determined, and she kept moving forward. Naturally, Mikkel moved back with every step she took forward, not realising just how close he was to the bed until the back of his legs hit the bed. In a moment of panic, he flailed, and fell back onto the bed, crashing into the tray of ice cubes he'd left on the bed.
Erika took this opportunity and quickly shoved the ice into his boxers, then in a moment of inspiration, sat across his stomach, hindering his removal of the ice. Although Erika knew it wouldn't be long until Mikkel would use his strength to topple her over and shake the ice out of his boxers, she stayed put, temporarily victorious.
Mikkel on the other hand decided to grab Erika by the waist and flip them over. Once he was on top, he shook his hips, sending the ice stashed in his underwear skittering out over the bed. Taking a stab at freedom whilst he was distracted, Erika rolled to the left, hoping to escape whatever Mikkel had in mind to do to her next. Unfortunately, however, Mikkel wasn't about to let her go, laying on top of her, but not so much as to squash her.
Scrabbling next to them on the bed, he grabbed at the ice tray, grinning. "You're going to regret trying to escape, Princess."
"Mikkel, I swear to God if you put that ice on me I-" Before Erika could even finish her threat, Mikkel had sat back and emptied the remaining ice onto Erika's upper body. Despite the fact she'd tried to threaten him, after the first squeal from the sudden cold, she began to laugh. At her laughter, Mikkel grinned and began to tickle her, which only encouraged more laughter from her.
Sensing it was time to stop, Mikkel withdrew his hands when she began to gently hit his chest, not being able to get her words together to tell him to stop.
As she calmed down and got her breath back, she continued to smile at Mikkel, cupping his cheek, thumb brushing over the slightly rough skin. Once she had fully caught her breath she leant up, causing the half melted ice to fall off of her and onto the now slightly damp bed. She gave him a brief kiss. "Thanks…" She whispered.
"No problem… Now, are you cool enough? Or do I have to take you for a cold shower?" He raised his eyebrows at her suggestively, which made her smile grow, and she had to stop herself from laughing again.
"I'm fine now, but if I end up falling asleep with some Dane hugging me again I might just need a cold shower when I next wake up." She moved herself backwards, out from underneath him, and sat up, resting her back against the headboard, removing her glasses and letting her hair down. She put both items on the bedside table.
"In that case, why aren't we sleeping now?" He chuckled and moved up the bed, lying down with his head on the pillow next to where Erika was sat. He gently pulled her leg, indicating she should lie down with him, and slunk an arm back round her waist again when she joined him. Facing him, she leant forward to kiss his cheek, before resting her head back on her pillow. From lack of sleep and fun she'd just had, as well as feeling a lot cooler, Erika could feel herself becoming sleepy again, and decided that the rest of her work could wait till tomorrow.
"Night, Mik."
"Night, Eri. Sweet dreams." Mikkel smiled and kissed the top of her head, his grip round her tightening slightly as he too began to drift off to sleep.
