Her Heart's Desire

“That you didn’t wake me per se, but you did in my dream—it was pretty hot.”

“Is that so?” Ivan rolled Tiffany under him. He kissed her neck and grinned down at her with purpose in his eyes. “Let’s see if I can give that dream of yours some competition.”

*

This time, when Tiffany awoke hours later, Ivan wasn’t in the room. She stretched languorously. His bed was extremely comfortable, and between it and his massive body, and being spent from lovemaking, she had slept like the dead. Reluctantly, Tiffany got up. A pile of clothes and a note were at the end of the bed. She opened it and saw Ivan’s bold handwriting and three words on the page. In the kitchen.

In the bathroom, she stared in the mirror at her reflection. Aside from having tousled hair, a sheet mark across her right cheek and a huge grin, she looked no different. I sure feel different. Her body hummed with newfound energy.

Ivan had set out towels and a basket of bath products. Excited, she glanced over the mesh sponge, shower gel, body lotion and deodorant. No guy she had ever known was that thoughtful. Clearly Ivan was used to planning for every contingency.

She finished her morning routine, got dressed and went downstairs.

When he saw her, he strode over and kissed her soundly. “Good morning,” he whispered into her ear. “How’d you sleep?”

“When I did get some sleep,” she said, “it was great.”

With a devilish grin, Ivan picked her up in his arms. “I’m absolutely not apologizing for keeping you…busy last night.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist. “You’d better not,” she warned. “Last night was…” She blushed just thinking about it.

Ivan kissed her tenderly. “That about sums it up for me, too.” He set her down. “It’s incredible how you make my T-shirt and shorts look erotic.”

“I’ll bet,” she told him. “I had to double knot the shorts, and I’m swimming in this shirt.”

“Yeah, but you still look hot.”

The way he said it, combined with the heated look he gave her, made her quiver. “Why did you let me sleep so late? I could’ve helped with breakfast.”

“I’m used to getting up early, and I wanted you to get some rest. After all, you had a long night.”

“We had a long night,” she corrected. “Then she took a container of orange juice and two glasses into the dining room. Ivan followed with a platter of banana pancakes, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs and a bowl of fresh fruit. He set them in front of her before he sat down.

She looked at him. “And who’s supposed to eat all this? It looks like you cooked for a small village.”

“I forgot Cole wasn’t here this morning. Between the two of us, there’s usually nothing left.”

“It’s like a buffet.” Tiffany fixed her plate, and then one with more generous portions for Ivan.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I opened the basket of fancy toiletries in the bathroom.”

“You were supposed to. I left them for you.”

Suddenly, a thought popped into Tiffany’s head. She glanced up. “Do you always keep that in your bathroom? You know, just in case?”

“Just in case what?”

“You know…if you ever need it.”

Ivan choked on the pancakes he was eating. “Are you trying to ask me if I keep all that girlie stuff around for women spending the night?”

She bristled when he burst out laughing.

Tiffany pushed her chair back and got up. She went to stride past him, but he caught her and plopped her into his lap.

“Let go.”

She sat there stiffly in his arms, not moving an inch. “I mean it, Ivan. Let go.”