03. Candlelight Dinner

She could smell the freshly cut flowers that lined the kitchen table even before she opened the door. She could hardly suppress the girlish thrill that overtook her tired body when she saw him pull out a chair for her. Candles were burning in the distance as she finally accepted the small gesture with pleasure.

"Should I be worried," she asked, as he took the seat across from her? "This isn't some attempt to apologize for something you know I'm going to hate is it?"

He smiled at his wife...he couldn't say he blamed her for her skepticism; Most men didn't go all out like this unless they had screwed up; He had to admit that in the past, he had even been one of those men.

"This is me wanting to show my beautiful wife how much I adore her."

She eyed him almost suspiciously before he reached for her hand. "I've made mistakes in the past Red...probably too many to count. But you know what I realized now that I'm retired and I have all this time on my hands..."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," she admitted hesitantly.

"Don't be... This is a good thing Red. It makes me realize how lucky I am to still have you. You've forgiven me for so many things in the past...things that most women wouldn't have."

"I'm not most women," she said.

"Don't I know it...and this...all of this is because I don't ever want you to feel like I take you for granted ever again. I see all the sacrifices you make on a daily basis. I get what you gave up to be my wife for a second time."

She stood up from the table and walked over to where he sat...when he took her hand, she let him pull her into his lap. "I didn't give up anything when I married you cowboy. I gained so much more then I could ever lose. I love you."

"I love you too Red. I just want you to know much I appreciate you; how much I cherish you."

Her lips found his lips and they started to kiss with a fiery passion that had long been missing in their lives with the busy schedule she kept. "I'm not hungry for food right now," she whispered breathlessly against his ear.

"Are you sure? I went through a lot of trouble trying to pamper you."

"The best way you can pamper me is by taking me upstairs and making love to me. I've had a rough day sweetheart. Right now what I really need is for my husband to remind me what it feels like to be wrapped in his arms. I want to be your woman tonight Bo. Just your woman."

Her eyes danced with the sultry fire he always loved about her and he knew he was no longer capable of being anything but her man...he kissed her deeply as he lifted her off the ground. "I won't make it upstairs," he choked out huskily. "I need you now."

He could never know how badly she was trying to restrain herself from taking him right here in the kitchen. "I need you too," she panted, as her hands moved for the buckle on his jeans. "I need you so badly."

He lowered her to the couch and she pulled her jacket off her shoulders...he couldn't help but be mesmerized by the way she looked tonight. " You are the air I need to breathe," he stated, completely taken in by the beauty of his wife. Clothes were torn in rapid urgency as they craved the skin on skin contact they had been missing for far too many weeks. She called out his name tenderly as he kissed up and down her body. It wasn't until hours later, when she curled up into the safety of her husband's arms that she realized she might be getting hungry. When her stomach growled, he opened his eyes and laughed.

"My wife likes to have her dessert before dinner. Let's go eat."

"As long as you save room for more dessert," she winked at him.

"I always have room for dessert," he joked, and they walked naked into the kitchen to have that candlelit dinner by the fireplace.