The Kitchen Island

Wes dials a number that he seems to know by heart, orders them grilled chicken, potatoes and some string beans from a restaurant. It should arrive in 20 minutes, they say.

Rae opens Wes's french door refrigerator. She immediately titters.

"What are all of these?" Rae points inside.

Inside the fridge, there were numerous premade meals in plastic containers, at least twenty of them.

"Yeah, that's... those are my dinners."

Rae covers her mouth, eyes big, she is surprised. She's obviously heard of the premade meals delivered in a cardboard box to your doorstep, but never actually seen them piled up in a fridge, "Oh wow, I suppose you don't have time to cook?"

Wes scratches his head and ruffs up his hair, "I really don't cook. This is just easier."

Rae is about to say something, but Wes tries to explain more, "I mean, when I order them, I can customize the menu and they make what I want to eat, it's really not that bad. It's not like TV dinners, you know."

Wes realizes it doesn't make it sound any better. He just sounds like a very single bachelor.

"Did you invite me here so I can make food for you?" Rae jokingly pushes Wes's arm, "I can, if you want. But you don't seem to have a lot of ingredients." Rae laughs.

"Well, we can always order any ingredient you need and have them delivered...,"

"No, no. I like doing grocery shopping. Actually going into the store."

"Do you want to do it now?"

"No, silly, some other day." Rae then sticks her tongue out, "I mean, sorry, I don't mean to invite myself here again."

"That's OK. I am inviting you to come back anyway, " Wes reaches his hand out, touching Rae's hair.

"What?" Rae blinks, she blushes.

"Your hair is a little damp."

"Probably from the rain, ha ha," Rae instantly becomes fully aware of his male presence after he touches her hair, "...um, do you want to sit down?" She was too excited to see this beautiful kitchen earlier that she almost neglected the fact this attractive man is standing next to her.

"You must be tired from working all day. What did you do today?" Rae asks.

Wes wonders if he should approach the topic, that he knew she lied to him.

"Oh. Same old same old. Nothing exciting. How about you?"

"I met up with my friend, Marina, you saw her the other day, and then just did some grocery shopping and cleaning."

"Do you do anything fun?"

Rae laughs, "You sound like Marina. She always nags me about that, too."

"Well, do you?" Wes moves close. It feels especially intense somehow, because his tall figure is reflected on the silver-colored double door refrigerator behind her; she can catch that from the corner of her eyes.

"I..., in my spare time I just try out different recipes. Experiment with ingredients. And I go walk in the park sometime," She nervously tries to list as many things as possible, "And I went to a baseball game last summer."

"Oh, you like baseball. That's good to know. We can watch it together in spring and summer."

Rae is flattered that he's speaking in future tense, she smiles, "How about you? What do you like to do for fun?"

"I like to cook...," Wes winks.

Rae laughs out loud, bending her upper body, "You're hilarious!"

Wes can't help but laugh, too, "OK, well, I can show you what I like to do sometime. To be honest, I used to be like you, I don't have much time to do anything else, but now I have earned myself some time to enjoy, I've tried out some different hobbies."

"That's really good to know," Rae tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, "I didn't know you worked a lot. What did you use to do?"

"Um," Wes thinks on this, but he doesn't answer right away, "Do you want some water?"

"Sure."

"Sparkling or flat?"

"Sparkling if you've got some."

"Alright. You like sparkling, too!" Wes winks, he moves his body directly into Rae. She tries to take a step to the right so he can open the refrigerator fully but he seems to know she is going to do that already, so he puts his hand on her stomach, while he opens only just one side of the door. He takes out two bottled sparkling water, hands one to her.

He opens one and drinks it from the bottle. Maybe because Rae waits tables long enough, her first instinct is to pour the sparkling water in a glass but she likes that he just drinks it from the bottle. She watches his Adam's apple going up and down. She also notices that there's some stubble on his neck.

"What?" Wes smiles, wipes his lips with a hand.

"Nothing," Rae quickly opens her bottle, and takes a sip... and then another.

"Thank you. I love sparkling water. The champagne of water," Her lips now wet, and she's also about to wipe her lips with her hand, but Wes suddenly swoops in and presses his chest near her. He drops his head down to her face, looks into her directly.

"I can't take this any longer. I want to kiss you," his lips only an inch away from hers.

Rae looks up into his eyes, she feels lost again. A little confused even. She tip toes a little, and meets his lips.

They start kissing, slowly, just on the lips first. Suddenly, he holds her up off the floor, puts her on the kitchen island. He sets his water down.

Rae's heart is beating so fast that she thinks she might stop breathing now.

Wes stands in between her legs, puts his hands on her waist, and they slide up gradually. Rae is still holding her drink, and she quickly takes another sip and puts it down because she knows she will drop it if she doesn't.

Immediately after she swallows that sip, Wes kisses her again, this time, his tongue comes in. His hands start to stroke her rib cage, and then his right hand goes down, lifts her shirt, and goes inside.

Rae gasps. His hand is cold.

"I'm sorry," Wes's face backs away to apologize. He looks at Rae. She giggles nervously.

"Wes..., I....," Rae isn't sure what she wants to say.

"Are you... OK?" Wes's eyes are soft.

"Yes. I'm OK."

Wes then leans in and lightly presses her towards himself. He starts kissing her wet and passionately, his right hand goes inside her shirt again. Rae can't help but moans. Wes moves his hand to the small of her back. She feels a tingling sensation.

Wes now moves his face on her neck, she strokes the back of his head, feeling his soft hair in her palms. And she feels the prickly stubble of Wes's chin scraping on her collar bone. He is now just breathing rapidly right under her chin. She can't think anymore. She doesn't remember being this aroused, this thrilled, in a dream kitchen.

She's never thought of using a big kitchen island like this.

Rae now moves one of her hand onto Wes's muscular chest, feeling it through his shirt. Wes tilts his head back, and suddenly asks:

"What's my name?"

"What?"

"Just... what's my name?"