Jean glanced up from her cooking as Lucien came into the kitchen. He seemed keener than usual to know what was going on, looking at the things she had out on the table for some clues.
"Jam making?" he offered tentatively.
"Yes, what gave it away?" She laughed easily in his company now.
"Well, the first clue was the amazing smell, then all these jars, and finally that bubbling cauldron you are stirring," He came closer to peer at the boiling concoction on the stove, and took the opportunity to lean over Jean's shoulder and kiss her neck. He ran his lips up her neck to her jaw and felt her shiver a little in his hands, which were firmly planted on her hips.
"Go carefully," she said, but indulgently. "This is really hot. Be useful and put the jars in the oven for me please..."
"The jars? In the oven?" He waved two of them in the direction of the stove and looked confused.
"...to sterilise them." She smiled as he nodded in realisation of what she meant.
"At least you are not stealing them this time and filling them with filthy water," she added. Was that really only a year ago? It seemed a lifetime away.
As Jean stirred, Lucien tried to distract her, intent on holding her against him. They had been married just a few weeks, and his hands seemed to gravitate towards her whenever they could.
He had been slightly surprised at how enthusiastic Jean had proved to be. She seemed to yearn for his affectionate touch, and once they were married the floodgates had been opened. Now she pushed herself back against him at the stove, wriggling against him in a way that made it hard for him to think straight.
They swayed a little together and he kissed her hair behind her ear, knowing just the place she loved.
Eventually she stopped him and took the jars out of the oven. Ten minutes later she had filled them, and she looked with satisfaction at a dozen or so jars of plum jam lined up on the table. The last few scrapings from the pan went into a bowl, and she offered Lucien a taste of it on a spoon.
He took the sweet jam from the spoon, and grinned at her. "Amazing!" he said, with a glint in his eye. He dipped the spoon in the bowl again and touched Jean's cheek with it quickly, before she realised what he intended.
He slid the spoon gently down her jaw then quickly kissed where the jam had touched her.
"But it's even sweeter like this." He kissed a line along her jaw, licking away the jam delicately with his tongue as he went.
"Lucien!" she said. "What on earth...?" but then she groaned, eyes closed, as he carried on down her neck, and she tilted her head so he could reach better. The spoon clattered on the hard floor, forgotten.
When he lifted his head to kiss her mouth, his lips were sticky and tasted of plums. While he was concentrating on sliding his hand under the waistband of her skirt, he didn't notice she had dipped her finger into the bowl beside them.
When she reached up to stroke his cheek he realised, too late, what she intended, and then her tongue was on his cheek as she kissed her way, rather stickily, down into his beard.
Soon Lucien had his hand under the back of Jean's skirt and she started to kiss him firmly on the mouth, with her hands linked round the back of his neck, and pressing her hips against him.
Minutes passed when they entirely forgot where they were, standing in their kitchen with Jean now backed up against the table edge as Lucien leaned into her. Suddenly she broke away, breathless, and murmured, "Charlie will be home soon, we should stop."
"Or we could just go somewhere more private?" Lucien suggested, and his eyes inclined towards their bedroom door.
"Hmm," Jean nodded briefly, then smiled at him, as she picked up the bowl of jam and led him away by the hand.