Dessert Before Dinner

"I'm so glad we finally get to go to that dinner Kayla invited us to." Hope said from the bathroom, where she was getting dressed.
"I hope she can cook!" Aiden said from the bedroom, where he was waiting on the bed.

"Oh, she can. Don't worry. She's a far better cook than I am!" Hope assured him.

"Thank God for that!" Aiden teased.

"Hey!" Hope warned.

Aiden laughed. "You're the one that said you're not a good cook!"

"Yeah, well you didn't have to agree with me," Hope grumbled, though her tone showed she wasn't actually angry.

"Don't worry. You make up for your lack of cooking skills with other skills," Aiden assured her.

The bathroom door opened, and out came Hope, all ready to go to Kayla's.

Aiden sat up straight when he saw her. He let out a breath. "Whoa. You look fantastic, Baby!"

She grinned at him. "I thought you might like it."

"Like it?" He got off the bed, and walked over to her. He placed his hands around her waist. "Baby, I love it." He kissed her neck, then stepped back a bit to admire her outfit some more.

Hope was wearing a low cut sleeveless white peplum top with a black floral lace overlay. It had a little black ribbon tied into a bow between her breasts, joining the two sides of the very low V-neck together. She also wore a black faux leather skirt that went to her knees, but had a slit that went to the top of her left thigh. On her feet were black heels with a black buckle strap around the ankles and a strap of faux white pearls over her toes. Her eyes were done up nicely with black eyeliner and silver shadow. Her lashes looked longer than usual. Her skin was flawless, her cheeks perfectly dusted with just the right amount of rouge, and her lips a sexy blood red. Her nails were painted the same deep red as her lips except for her thumbs and ring fingers, which were painted white.

"You're looking quite handsome yourself!" she said, tugging at his blue silk tie. He was wearing a blue suit and black dress shoes.

He looked down at his own clothes. "This? I'm just wearing what I wore to work. I figured since we're just going to Kayla's and not out to a restaurant, it wouldn't matter. But now that I look at how incredibly gorgeous you look, I'm thinking maybe I should have changed."

Hope shook her head. "Mr. Jennings, please! You look fine. In fact, you look more than fine." She smiled, and ran her hands over his chest. "You always look more than fine to me."

Aiden's eyes lowered with love for her, and they kissed. As they kissed, he ran his hands down the sides of her skirt, and moaned. "Mm, baby, you are driving me wild in that outfit, you know that, don't you?"

She grinned. "Maybe."

They kissed some more, and he ran his hands up the back of her shirt, his fingers playing with the clasp of her bra.

She broke the kiss. "Mm, what are you doing, Mr. Jennings?"

"Trying to get this annoying contraption off you," he murmured. He kissed down her neck, then used one hand to untie the bow between her breasts while using his other hand to keep working on her bra clasp.

Hope threw her head back a bit and closed her eyes. "We're already running a bit late. We don't have time."

"Baby, there's always time for making love," he murmured into her ear. He managed to get her bra undone.

"Aiden, I'm serious! We should have left five minutes ago if we wanted to make it on time."

"Well, then, if we're already late, what's a little bit longer, hm?" Aiden asked, kissing down the side of her neck, and sticking his hand in her top now.

Hope closed her eyes. "I'll have to redo my hair."

"You're wearing it down. All you have to do is brush it."

"My makeup will get smeared."

"Only your lipstick. Nothing a makeup wipe and a reapplication can't fix."

"So now you're an expert on makeup," Hope teased.

"I learn whatever helps me get what I want," Aiden murmured, trying to tug her top off. "I always get what I want."

Hope sighed, and lifted her arms, letting him take it off. "You don't take no for an answer, do you?" she asked, and eyebrow raised.

"If you told me no, I'd stop. But I really hope you want this as much as I do." He lowered her bra strap and kissed her now bear left shoulder.

Hope closed her eyes as Aiden dropped her bra to the floor, and began kissing a train down from her neck to her collarbone. Her breathing was a little heavy now. "Just let me call Kayla so I can at least tell her we're going to be late."

Aiden grinned. "I knew I could get you to see things my way."

Hope rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

She then took out her phone and dialed Kayla's number. There was a pause, and then she smiled. "Hey, Kay. I am sorry, we got a little tied up. We won't be able to get there for another half hour. I'm sorry. Is that too late? I don't want to ruin dinner if you already have it set out." There was another pause, then Hope grinned. "Really? Great! All right, we'll be there no later than a half hour. See you then. We're looking forward to it too. Okay. Bye." She clicked off the phone, and set it on the nightstand. "She says she was a little delayed in getting dinner started, so it's not ready yet anyway."

"We got tied up? Mm, sounds fun," Aiden said, going back to kissing her neck.

Hope ignored his comment. "She said a half hour will be perfect."

"A half hour? Is that all we have?" Aiden asked, a look of disappointment on his face as he pulled her so close her body was pressing against his.

"Take it or leave it, "Mr. Jennings," Hope said, starting to loosen up his tie.

"I can work with a half hour," he said simply. He then picked her up, causing her to squeal with delight. He laid her down on the bed, and ran his hands up her legs. They were flawless and smooth, and it drove him even wilder than she was already driving him.

They made quick work at removing each other's clothes, and in no time at all, they were making love, dinner with Kayla the last thing on either of their minds.

"Mm…"Hope kissed Aiden's chest, and then rested her head on it, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking. "We really have to leave now if we're going to make it on time."

Aiden leaned his head down to kiss the top of her head, then he played with her hair. "I have a better idea. Why don't we order something in and have another go at it?" He moved so that he was now on top of Hope. He kissed her hungrily on the lips and gently ground against her. He then brushed his lips against her ear. "I want more," he murmured in her ear.

Her breathing became heavy again. "Aiden, we really have to…" She moaned, and closed her eyes. He was already making love to her again.

"If you want me to stop, I will. Would you rather go to Kayla's, or agree to be just a little bit later so we can keep doing this?" he asked.

Hope couldn't find the words as he continued to make love to her.

"Wouldn't you rather let me love you?" He kissed down her neck. "Let me make you feel good?"

Hope was now in no condition to make him stop. Not that she wanted him to. She took his face between her hands. "Five more minutes, and that is it!"

He grinned. "I told you I always get what I want."

She rolled her eyes. "Just shut up and continue doing what you're doing, Mr. Jennings."

He moved over her again. "You mean this?" He asked.

Hope threw her head back and gasped, her eyes closed. "That would be it," she said, her breathing heavy.

Aiden moaned, and continued making love to her, gently nipping at her neck now.

Five more minutes ended up being ten more minutes, and they ended up arriving at Kayla's forty-five minutes late.

"So sorry were late!" Hope said as Kayla let them in. She hugged her friend.

"Oh that's okay, don't worry about it. Dinner just came out of the oven ten minutes ago. All I have to do is reheat it a bit," Kayla said, who was hugging Aiden in greeting now.

"We brought wine," he said, smiling, and gently shaking the bottle at her.

"Thank you!" Kayla took it from him and examined the bottle. "From the year Joey was born. Good year!"

"Speaking of Joey, is he here?" Hope asked.

Kayla shook her head. "No, he's out God knows where. I swear he is becoming a handful more and more with every day that passes."

"Teenagers will be teenagers, right?" Aiden asked.

Kayla nodded. "He's way too much like his father for my taste."

"Maybe he'll find a nice girl that will help him to calm down a bit," Hope replied as they headed into the dining room.

Kayla sighed. "That would be nice. Though, I hate to say it being his mother and all, but I can't see what girl would want to put up with that!"

Aiden chuckled, and Hope smirked.

"I'm sure it's just a phase. Give him time," Hope assured her.

Aiden held her chair out for her.

She smiled at him. "Thank you!" She kissed his cheek, then sat down in it and let him push her chair back toward the table.

"You two are so sweet," Kayla said.

Hope grinned. "I'm very lucky to have him!"

"Baby, I'm the lucky one," Aiden said

They kissed.

Kayla smiled, and put a hand over her heart. "I'll go reheat that food now."

She headed to the kitchen.

"Do you need any help?" Hope asked.

"I'm good, thanks," Kayla called from the kitchen.

Kayla came out a moment later with a roast.

"That smells and looks delicious!" Aiden said.

Hope nodded. "Mm, yes it does!"

"I hope it tastes as well as it looks!" Kayla said, going back into the kitchen to get the side dishes.

"I'm sure it will," Hope said.

Once everything was heated up and brought back to the table, they all sat down to eat together.

"This is delicious, Kayla!" Aiden gushed.

Hope nodded. "Mm, superb!"

Kayla grinned. "Thank you! I'm glad it came out okay."

"I'm sorry again that we made you wait so long," Hope apologized.

"Stop apologizing, it's fine. So, what was it that delayed you?" Kayla asked.

Aiden and Hope side glanced at each other.

Hope coughed, and took a sip of her wine. "Oh, I just had to help Aiden with a problem."

"Was it big?" Kayla asked.

Aiden nearly choked on his water.

Hope blushed. "Excuse me?"

"The problem. Was it a big problem, or something minor?" Kayla asked.

"Oh. Nothing that couldn't be fixed," Hope said, taking a bite of the roast.

"Was it hard?" Kayla asked next.

Hope started chocking on her roast.

Aiden quickly handed Hope her drink, and pat her back as she drank.

"Are you okay, baby?" he asked.

Hope nodded. "I'm fine now, thank you."

"Are you sure?" Kayla asked, concern spread over her face.

Hope smiled. "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry. It just went down the wrong way."

Aiden snickered, and she subtly elbowed him hard in the side.

He grunted.

"So, was is a hard problem to fix?" Kayla asked, explaining her question better this time.

"No, it was quite easy, really. Didn't take too long to achieve the goal," Aiden said, teasing in a way that he knew only Hope would catch on to.

Hope shot him a warning look.

"So, you're satisfied with the end result? Problem solved?" Kayla asked.

Aiden nodded, then looked at Hope, his eyes wandering down her outfit again. "For now." He licked his lips.

Hope blushed.

"So, what exactly was the problem?" Kayla asked, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

Hope and Aiden looked at each other.

"Um…" Aiden trailed off, having no smart comeback for that one.

Hope was at a loss for words as well. "We uh…I mean he…"

"I had a body ache—the kind that aches down to the bone." Aiden finally spoke up. He glanced at Hope. "I needed her to help me work it out." He rubbed is shoulder so that Kayla would just assume he meant his shoulders and wouldn't ask him where that ache was exactly.

"Oh. I see. I'm glad she was able to work it out for you then," Kayla said.

Aiden sighed with relief that she had bought his half lie. He smiled at Hope, who was smiling at him, her cheeks flushed pink not from the rouge she was wearing. "Me too."

They had a wonderful visit with Kayla. Thankfully, the subject of them being late hadn't been brought up any more.

Kayla had made a red velvet cake with butter cream frosting for dessert, which they had all adored. They had even played a board game and had a lot of fun.

When it came time for the night to end, they exchanged hugs, kisses on cheeks, goodbyes, and promises to make another dinner date soon.

"It was really fun tonight. I'll be looking forward to the next time we all get together," Aiden said to Kayla as he kissed her cheek.

Kayla smiled at him. "Me too."

Hope and Kayla exchanged hugs then.

"Thanks again for tonight," Hope said to Kayla. "It was a wonderful time. Just what I needed."

Kayla hugged her tightly. "You're very welcome! Thank you for coming out. I love you."

"I love you too," Hope said.

They hugged a second longer, then broke the hug.

"Goodnight," Hope said.

"Yes, goodnight," Aiden chimed in.

"Goodnight," Kayla said, opening the door for them, and watching them leave.

They headed out the door.

"Oh, and guys?" Kayla called out to them.

They turned and looked at her.

"Yes?" Hope asked.

"You could have just taken care of your problem in my spare bedroom. This house could use some more action. It hasn't seen any in a while." Kayla grinned at the opened-mouthed looks of surprise on her friends' faces. "Have a good night." She smirked at them and winked. "I'm sure you will." She then shut the door.

Hope an Aiden looked at each other.

"Well that was embarrassing," Hope said.

Aiden sighed. "And here I thought I had her fooled."

Hope gently slapped his chest. "This is all your fault, you know."

Aiden placed his hands around her waist. "Then Baby, let me take you home and make it up to you, okay?"

Hope's expression remained serious only for the briefest of moments before her lips stretched out to a smile. "Okay."

Aiden smiled too, then they kissed.

Hope laughed as Aiden then took her hand and sprinted toward the car with her. He was crazy and impulsive, and always in the mood for her, but lucky for him, that was exactly what she wanted in a man. And she was more than ready to show Aiden exactly how much he meant to her. Once they got home that was. She blushed, thinking of Kayla's reveal. From now on, she planned on being more discreet when it came to her and Aiden having their…dessert before dinner.

*The End*