We were curled up on the sofa together, Ivo and I. He balanced a book on the arm of the chair with a finger held to the spine to prevent it closing on itself. His other hand lazily smoothed over my jean clad legs that rested in his lap. Occasionally he would hum a noise of approval when something particularly interesting has presented itself. I could read the title: 'Unlocking nature's mysteries'. I would never understand how that interested him.
I loved novels that threw you onto ships on raging seas in a midnight storm, or dragged you across a parched, arid Sahara. I wanted romance and mystery. Ivo just wanted some mud and a magnifying glass.
I snuggled back into the soft upholstery, holding onto my yoghurt pot as I readjusted myself on the sofa, the coins in my jeans pocket digging into my thigh. My fidgeting was met by an exasperated sigh from the man opposite me and it made a small part of me, deep down inside, feel very childishly proud.
Despite Ivo being absorbed in his book the television was still showing a documentary of some kind about whales. He forbade me to watch 'the useless rubbish that my generation thought appropriate to take up valuable memory space somewhere in the data-sphere'. I was stuck with the whales.
"Ivo, rub my feet," I whined, nudging him in the ribs with my toes. He gave no reaction other than a haughty stare in my general direction and to turn a page in his book.
"Ivo," I said in a sing-song voice and he looked up at me under his lashes. I grinned at him and I could see him smirk a little. I celebrated my small victory when he moved his hand from my leg to my foot but it was short lived. My squirming from the tickles meant he soon gave up trying to relax me and instead just attacked me quite viciously. I screamed and batted him away from me but he was surprisingly strong. His laugh was a dark kind of chuckle and I had to lie down on the ground in submission before he stopped, his hands clasped tight around my wrists and holding me down.
We both lay on the ground panting for a moment before he got up and headed straight for the kitchen. I followed him, still breathless.
"So what do you want to do tomorrow," I asked, opening the fridge in the hope of finding anything appetising. Ivo continued in his tea making, glancing round at me for a moment.
"Jesus, Tim. Where do you put it all? You're like a human bin."
I patted my stomach and smiled at him deviously.
"I guess it's all the working out."
He looked at me quizzically.
"They say sex burns calories," I teased. His entire facial expression changed in an instant and I relished the slow burn that I felt as his eyes ghosted over my figure, becoming glazed over with the primal lust that would normally only be seen in the creatures he studied. But Ivo was so primal, so feral. I loved it.