Everything I Need

39

Once I finish fixing my hair and applying minimal makeup, I grab the new dress I bought for myself and put it on. It's a burgundy, mid-thigh length dress that stops near my shoulders and has a plunging neckline showing a fair amount of cleavage. The fabric hugs my curves in an appropriate but sexy way. This is not our first date but I feel like I have first date jitters and definitely the butterflies to go with my nervousness. Why am I so nervous though? I'm just going on a date with my wife. My wife, whom I know will look really good in that black dress I bought her. My wife whom I love so much. Just thinking about Kyler makes my heart race.

I check myself in the mirror one more time and take a deep breath as I leave our bedroom and head to the guest bedroom to get Kyler. I knock on the bedroom door and it swings open, revealing my stunning wife. The black, high split dress with a plunging neckline looks so damn good on her. Her thigh tattoo is visible from the split and it's so sexy. My eyes travel from her feet up to her face and she is biting her lip as she looks at me. "Fuck me." She mumbles as she licks her lips.

"Damn, Lauren you look..."

"Just shut up and kiss me." I say as I cut Kyler off and cup her face bringing her lips to mine. "You look beautiful baby." I say as I end the kiss.

Kyler looks me over again and says "I might be but you just... you look so beautiful, so breathtaking. Damn!" She chuckles and pecks my lips.

"Thank you baby, now come on, let's go." I say as I grab Kyler's hand, pulling her behind me and we walk to the garage. I use the remote to unlock my car as we close the door to our house but before I can do anything else, Kyler rushes to the driver side and opens the door as she smiles from ear to ear at me. "I'm the one taking you on a date, remember."

As Kyler holds the door open she shrugs, "you might be taking me on this date but I'm still going to open doors for you." I laugh at her as I get inside my car and she shuts the door. She rushes to the passenger side and gets in. Once we are both buckled up, I back out of the garage and begin the drive to Paesanos 1604. I know Italian is Kyler's favorite and she really likes Olive Garden but I wanted to treat her to a really nice true Italian restaurant tonight.

Norah Jones is playing softly on the radio and I feel Kyler's gaze on me while I'm driving. Before I can say anything about her heavy stare, she says "you are so fucking perfect. I am so thankful to have you and at the same time I'm kinda jealous of you because you are so beautiful."

I glance at Kyler and smile as I take her hand. "Thank you baby and trust me when I say you have nothing to be jealous about because you are absolutely gorgeous."

About 16 minutes later as I'm pulling into the parking lot of Paesanos 1604, Kyler realizes where we are and quickly looks at me with raised eyebrows. "Lauren? What are we doing here? This place is expensive and I know because I looked it up before."

I unbuckle my seatbelt and lean over the center console to kiss my wife. "I wanted us to have a very nice dinner before both of us get extremely busy starting Monday. I don't care if it's expensive because this is for us. This is something we need no matter the cost. I need life to feel normal again, we need to get back to normal and put all the past... shit behind us. I'm not saying this dinner or this date will erase what happened and what we went through or that it will automatically make everything feel normal again but I do feel like this is a step in the right direction."

Kyler doesn't say anything and just gets out of my car. At first I thought she was mad when she didn't say anything. I realize that's not the case as she rushes to the driver's side and opens my door with a smile on her face and offers me her hand. I take her hand and she says "come on wifey, let's go eat. And thank you Lauren. Thank you for all of this and for everything."

We walk inside the restaurant hand in hand with our fingers laced together. "Reservation for Lauren James." I say as we stop at the attendant. We are led to our table and I notice from the corner of my eyes a few heads turn in our direction. Kyler doesn't seem to notice or care because her eyes are on me the entire time just as my eyes are quickly back on her. We sit across from one another and once we are handed our menus, we both look over the menu to see what we want. We both order water to drink and decide to skip an appetizer and just order our food. Kyler orders Capellini Pomodoro and I order the Shrimp Paesano.

Before long our delicious looking and smelling Italian dishes arrive. We fall silent as we start eating and this is the best Italian food I've ever had. Soon Kyler breaks the silence "this is so delicious" she says with a mouth full of food.

"I take it this is better than Olive Garden?" I smugly ask since Kyler has made the remark before about how good Olive Garden's food is and that it's hard to beat.

"So much better but I never had true Italian food before. My mom couldn't and didn't do expensive restaurants so... I couldn't really compare authentic Italian to Italian-American until now."

I freeze, fork hanging mid-air as I realize how Kyler might have taken what I said. I was not judging her or her mom for never having authentic Italian food. I quickly put my fork down and reach for Kyler's free hand. I take her hand in both of mine "baby, I was not judging you or your mom for only having Olive Garden. Their food is really good and you know for a fact that I don't usually go to expensive restaurants either. I just... I just wanted to treat you, treat us to an authentic Italian dinner since we both love Italian food so much. I meant nothing by what I said and would never judge anyone by their financial status and what they can and can't afford."

Kyler looks at me and pulls her hand from mine as she quickly raises up from her seat, leans over the table and kisses me. She smiles against my lips as she pulls back "I know baby because you're not that type of person." She wraps her hand around the back of my neck and pulls me back to her. Kyler's lips move against mine passionately this time. I nip lightly at her bottom lip and chuckle at the small moan that leaves her lips.

"Sorry" she whispers as she pulls away and sits back in her seat. She smiles as she looks down and touches her lips. I smile, loving the effect I have on her. I love the effect we have on each other.

We spend the rest of our time eating, discussing the 12 week doctors appointment, me returning to work and Kyler returning to campus at The Art Institute. She told me about an email she received this afternoon concerning two internships being offered that she can apply for at the end of May. I told her she should apply because it's a great opportunity and would give her a chance to get her foot in the door with a design company. She was excited about it and is going to apply to both but wanted my thoughts on it first.

After our main course, I convinced Kyler to share a desert with me. I ordered the Godiva White Chocolate Tiramisu and even though she claimed she was full, she still ate a good bit. Once we were finally finished, I paid and my wife happily held my hand as we walked out of the restaurant. With a smile on both of our faces we chat about random things on our way back home.

As soon as we are both inside our house we kick our heels off. "Ready to get in some comfy clothes?" Kyler asks as she turns to walk towards our bedroom.

"Actually," I say as I grab Kyler's hand to stop her and enclose the space between us. Tenderly, I caress her face as our noses are nearly touching. "Actually," I whisper this time as my heart is racing and I lick my lips, inspiring Kyler's eyes to fall to my lips. I suck my bottom lip between my teeth as I skim my thumb across her lips "I want... I want you to make love to me Kyler."