He darted his eyes back and forth at the window before finally drawing the last of his blinds.
He smiled widely as he grabbed his popcorn, the remote and settled down on the coach.
Then he turned on his television and started the marathon of his favorite show, the one Tivo was set to record every time it was on and that he saved for the occasional night he had off to rest and be alone.
"Tonight on Iron Chef, Chef Andre Elegan will take on one of our four iron chefs."
He had just found out that the secret ingredient for the night was tomatoes when suddenly he heard keys jingling outside his apartment. Someone was unlocking his door and only one person had the key.
Just as the door opened he realized that the remote was no longer at his side and he searched frantically. When he caught sight of it on the floor he dove, just managing to turn the TV off as the door closed behind her.
"Jack," Chloe's voice cut through the dark room. She reached for the light and frowned when she saw him on the floor, "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," he said, standing quickly, "Just relaxing."
"On the floor in the dark?"
"Yes, meditating."
"With the remote in your hand?"
"……"
"Jack, what were you watching?"
"Nothing."
She glanced down at his crotch, "Was it porn? If it was than it must not have been very good because you're not even…"
"It was not porn," he said quickly and ordered himself not to get hard under her gaze.
"Then what was it?" she said, one hand on her hip.
"It…" he glared at her, almost putting his own hand on his hip before he caught himself, "It is none of your business."
Her eyes dropped immediately and she flushed. When her eyes darted up again he saw a quick flash of hurt.
"Chloe, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…."
"Ha!" she said and took advantage of is lapse of concentration to grab the remote.
"Hey!" he screamed as she turned the television back on.
Her eyes widened as Alton Brown gave the play by play on the great tomato showdown of the year.
She turned slowly to look at him, too shocked to enjoy the flush that was creeping up his neck and along his face, "I KNEW IT!" she yelled, "I knew I saw that chicken dish you made me on this show. You said you made that up."
"I did," Jack argued, "It was….I just watch this occasionally."
"Occasionally….okay." She began fiddling with the remote and looking at his Tivo menu, "So you've occasionally set it to tape every single episode of the show."
"That must have been an accident."
"Oh…." She said the word like it was a dawning realization, "So then you won't mind me deleting them."
"I…." his eyes widened comically, then he coughed, "No, of course not."
Chloe shrugged, "Okay," her finger was poised over the delete button when he lunged toward her and grabbed the remote.
Chloe laughed hysterically, bent over at the waist as Jack made sure his precious episodes were fine.
"Admit it."
"What?" he asked.
"Admit that you love that show."
"Fine….fine….I love the show."
"And that you have been stealing the recipes and passing them off as your own to impress me."
"Fine, yes," he finally growled.
She smiled, "And you're trying to impress me why?"
He glared at her, "You know why?"
She smiled and pulled her shirt over her head in one smooth motion, "Well, it worked," she said as she plopped down on the couch, "Shall we watch the great tomato challenge. There's a great recipe that I want you to make me."
Jack growled, "Forget the show," and kissed her.
"Ohhh," she said as she moved her hands over him, "I think I found an i iron /i chef of my very own."
"Chloe," he whined, blushing despite himself.
She giggled and pulled him closer, both of them forgetting the show as they got lost in each other.
&&&&&&
3 hours later….
"You stole that one and that one….and oh that one."
Jack kissed her, "It's a good thing I've finally found a way to shut you up."
"And that one," she continued forcing him to kiss her again and again.
Neither of them really minded it.