This is posted out of order to the rest of the story, but I really enjoyed writing it and it amuses me. Hope you enjoy.

The week overall hadn’t been horrible, but there had been enough little things that by the time Friday evening came around Sarah was ready to be done. She hadn’t gone into the office on Friday, much to the delight of her sister’s 1-year-old mutt Trix. She was watching him for a few days while her friend had to go out of town.

She wasn’t usually the one asked to take Trix but when the usual dog sitter couldn’t, Sarah was happy to help. Mostly Trix was content to lay in the same room with her and chew on a toy. Despite his age, Trix was pretty chill. They had no idea what breed he was and Iliza didn’t really care. They thought there might be some boxer or pit bull in there given his size, broad chest and head, and sweet nature, but he wasn’t a zoom machine, so there were definitely some other breeds working their magic.

When 5pm rolled around Sarah couldn’t log out fast enough. Trix was just as happy that she was done as now what time to go play with the ball in the yard; not for too long though, they both wanted dinner. Earlier Sarah had pulled out two steaks and seasoned them and left them to rest on the counter. Now she got out the broccoli, chopped it up to steam it, and put a pot of water on for the angel hair pasta that would get a shitike mushroom dressing.

Since everything took about the same amount of time to cook so she got things going. She decided to try out a new silicone drip mat she had gotten and put the steaks on it. She put the meat thermometer in and set the broiler to high. Despite the fact that she was a very good cook, the perfect steak eluded her if she didn’t use her probe thermometer.

She put the steaks in the oven, the pasta in the water, the broccoli in the seamer, and switched the vent hood on. Then she went to set the table. She went over, stirred the pasta, got out the dressing and the romano cheese, and put the cast iron on the stove to heat. She did a reverse sear technique with steaks. Everyone thought she was crazy, but it had never let her down.

She stepped out of the kitchen for a minute and when she came back she could smell more smoke than she would have expected. She reached up, turned the vent hood to high, and opened the oven door. She would be forever grateful that Tirx was in the other room sniffing around and not trying to get to the good smelling food.

Too much smoke came out and she saw flames. She couldn’t tell what exactly was on fire, but something that wasn’t supposed to be was. Her mind immediately went into emergency mode - grab the baking soda, put out the flames.

She kept a huge tub in easy reach for just this kind of thing. She flung handfuls over the flames. She tried to avoid getting the steaks, but there was no use. As the flames died down the smoke increased and set the smoke detectors off.

Trix had already sensed something was wrong from the smell but when the shrill piercing hit his ears he panaked, peed where he stood, ran around whimpering, before making his escape into the back yard - through the closed screen door.

When the flames had died away Sarah tried to look to see what the damage was but the timers for the broccoli and pasta were going off. All she could think to do was turn everything off. She took the lid off the broccoli pot. The broccoli would just get cold, it wouldn’t over cook. She glanced over to the sink, where she had already put the calendar, so she figured she might as well drain the pasta.

Then the fact that the smoke detector was still going off hit her and she could hear Trix out in the yard panting and whining. She noticed the hole in the screen door but all that really registered was that the door was open, so she went to open the front door and windows.

She had a broom in hand, trying to punch the button on the smoke alarm when Ian came running in.

“Sarah, are you ok?”

“I can’t get this stupid button.” She was at her wits end and only noticed that someone had spoken to her, not who it was or what was asked.

Seeing she wasn’t hurt and there were no actual flames, Ian went over to where she kept her step stool and brought it over. He climbed up on it and took the smoke detector off the ceiling so they could take the batteries out of it for the time being. He then repeated the process with the one in the living room. Thankfully Sarah had all the other doors in her house shut so no others went off.

Sarah’s eyes were watering from the smoke and she still hadn’t come down from the adrenaline high so all she could do was look over at Ian, look over at the kitchen. “I need a drink. Fuck.”

Ian went over to her “Hey you ok? What happened?”

She was starting to come back to reality. “Shit, Trix.” She turned and saw her screen door. “Fuck”

She put it aside, pulled the screen door open to go comfort the poor dog. He wasn’t pacing as much, but he was still whimpering a little. She went over to him and tried to comfort him the best she could. It didn’t seem to do much, so she let him be, figuring he’d calm down in his own time.

When she came back inside she shut the screen door out of habit, saw it, and growed throwing her hands up in the air. She looked at Ian, beginning to colapts from everything that had happened all week now culminating in this. “I think dinner is ruined.”

Ian had pulled the tray with the steaks out of the oven to look it over. She came over and stood next to him, leaning her head against his shoulder as they surveyed the damage. Everything was covered in baking soda. The silicone mat had several melted and burnt holes in it. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh at the hilarity of the image, or scream at her own stupidity.

Ian looked down at her. “I think we can just rinse off the steaks and give them a quick sear.”

Sarah didn’t respond. She just nodded and went over to get the pasta out of the sink. She tested it to see if it too was salvageable. “Well the pasta turned out perfect.”

She put it in the serving bowl and added the dressing and cheese. She would just need to heat it in the microwave before they ate. Same with the broccoli. Ian worked his magic on the steaks, heating the cast iron back up to full and giving them a good finish on both sides.

While he finished up the food she cleaned up where Trix had peed. Trix eventually wanted to come back in, but he didn’t come through the hole. Instead he scratched at the entry mat asking to be let in. That helped lighten Sarah’s mood. She gave him an extra treat for being so good.

When they finally sat down for dinner Sarah had pulled a hard cider out, added a shot of vodka, and set a beer at Ian’s place. All she had was his NA beers. She offered to mix him something stronger, but he declined. She downed half her drink before cutting into her food. Ian had indeed saved the steak. It was closer to medium than either of them liked, but it was still delicious.

After a few bits she looked over to him and, with a ‘fuck the world’ grin on her face, she asked, “so how was your day?”

He almost didn’t want to answer. “Well, it was great actually. I had the meeting with my lawyer and we’re almost done and things are going smoothly. Other than this,” he pointed to the kitchen, “how was your day?”

Through a mouth full of food she pointed to the kitchen as well, “about like that. Well, maybe not the whole day, but it certainly is a fitting end to my week.” She was pissed, exasperated, and wrung out. She was so glad he was there with her, and that things were going well for him. “I’m really glad things went well for you though. Really.”

He reached over and took her hand, “and thank you for making dinner.” He motioned to her glass, “do you want another?”

“No, I’m ok.” She was actually. The one very stiff drink had hit the spot. “I know we were going to maybe do something tonight…”

Ian held up his hand, “Let’s just stay in tonight.”

“Thanks.”

They ate in peace and Ian helped her clean up the kitchen. She took a picture of the ruined matt as a record of the ridiculous events. Later that night she posted it on her social media page with a heading of ‘note to self, do not put silicone mats under the broiler’.

After dinner they went into the living room and tried to relax with a TV show but Ian could tell Sarah was still a bit tense so he positioned her in front of him and he began to massage her shoulders and back. At first he just worked her muscles and she began to sink into his touch. As he felt her relax he let his hands wonder beyond where it was strictly necessary to test the waters, as it were.

She responded positively, tilting her head back and to the side, exposing her neck for him in that way he loved. He kept his pace slow and langued, working his hands over all of her shoulders and upper back, slipping the straps of her tank top and bra down, leaning forward to kiss her neck as his hands slipped down the front of her shirt.

He didn’t play with her nipples or grab her breasts. He rubbed them in the same motions had been working her shoulder with. He could feel her nipples grow hard under his touch and she arched into him slightly. He pulled his hands back up and then ran them down her back, dragging her shirt down with him. Her arms were almost pinned to her side as he had left her bra where it was, the straps around her biceps, the tank straps now at her elbows. He leaned over her again and kissed her on the lips, his hands holding her on either side of her ribs.

She had her eyes closed and relished in his touch. When he kissed her lips she responded with all the need that had been building in her. It wasn’t that they hadn’t had sex all week, but the stress of everything that had happened hadn’t found a release yet. She wanted this to be it, needed this to be it. She tried to put all her need and desire for the kind of intensity she desperately needed into that kiss.

He understood. He had understood since she had poured that extra shot into her hard cider before dinner. He also knew that wasn’t the time to dive head first in though. He had needed to relax her into it so she could really sink in and feel everything she needed to feel. For his part the joy of what was happening for him wanted to celebrate. He felt so lucky that his celebration and her relaxation could be accomplished together.

He tightened his grip, letting her know he understood. He firmly moved his hands up to the top of her bra and pulled it down, settling it under her breasts. He had her exposed and slightly restrained. Her breath quickened. They had only played with restraints a little, but she was quickly learning to love them.

He pulled her closer against him and she could feel the bulge in his pants wanting to be freed. She couldn’t reach though, so she just rotated her ass into him just a little; she didn’t want to move too much from where he had placed her after all.

He used his right hand to reach across her body and cup her left breast as his left hand unbuttoned her jeans and went exploring. As his hand slid into her pants and beneath her lace panties he found her already wonderfully wet. He wanted her sloppy wet though. Her jeans were too snug for him to truly play with her, but he did what he could.

He slid his middle finger between her slit and rubbed, giving little flicking motions as he went. He worked his ring finger next to his middle and used his pinky and index to keep pressure on the outer lips while his fingers gilded and flicked her up and down.

She began to mone and tried to arch her back but his arm across her chest prevented her from moving much. He gave a small grone of satisfaction as he increased his hold on her letting her know she wasn’t going anywhere. He wasn’t trying to make her climax, he just wanted her ready to beg for it.

He gave just enough play so she could twist around and meet his lips. Their tongues danced, tasting the remains of dinner on each other, tasting the need they each had. They devoured each other with their kisses, trying to satisfy with their lips what their body’s were demanding.

Slowly, Ian pulled his fingers from between her legs, ended the kissing, and got Sarah to her feet. He left her as she was, arms snugged to her sides, breasts hanging out, pants open at the waist, and walked her to her bedroom.

Once there he closed the door and took her clothing the rest of the way off. Before he stripped himself he went over to her dresser and got out what was fast becoming one of their favorite items. It was a thick waist belt with arm restraints that fastened just above her elbows. It gave her enough play with her arms to do things, gave him something to grab on to when he needed, and restricted her enough that she was at his mercy.

He helped her onto the bed and laid her on her back, her head facing him at the foot of the bed. He then stripped. She grinned when she saw his hard dick come out. He brought his dick to her lips and she held them together with just enough pressure so he could press his way in. She lay her tongue along his length and closed her eyes, feeling his cock sink into her throat. They had been working on getting her to deepthroat and she was getting good at it. And loving it. Especially since the best position to do it meant he had easy access to her breasts.

He leaned over slightly to pinch her nipples and she used what little play she had to suck him, moving her tongue from side to side along his shaft. One of her hands was flung out to the side, gripping the bedspread. The other was reaching between her legs to start rubbing herself. When he saw this he decided to go for it, balls deep.

He thrust in, held for a moment, then pulled back just enough to make her think he was pulling out before going all the way down again. This time he gripped her head with one hand and held her there. She gagged and spluttered a few times before he pulled out to look down at her. She had a wicked grin on her saliva streaked face.

He grinned back at her and decided she needed a good face fucking before the main event. As he worked her throat he let her keep playing with herself. When her body tensed and she let out a small moan from an orgasim he gave one last thrust and pulled out.

He told her to get up and turn around. She wobbled slightly as she did this, her arms still strapped to her sides. When she got into position, ass in the air, he buried his face between her cheeks. He licked greedily at the juices that had dripped down onto her puckered little asshole. As his tongue worked he took two fingers and thrust them into her.

He didn’t hang out there for very long though. He got on his knees behind her and took his dick in his hand to guide it to her wet slit. When he had the tip pressed to her entrance he grabbed the belt at her waist with both hands and thrust forward. He didn’t take his time nor was he subtle about it. He pounded into her.

With her hands bound her face was buried in the pillows muffling her cries of pleasure. Sometimes he would release her hands after he had his initial thrusts, but this time he kept her as she was and kept pounding.

She was loving every glorious second of it. It was all she could do to keep her knees under her. He was taking her, hard. Occasionally she would turn her head to the other side, but that was all she did. Her arms were useless. She had one of them on her ass and the other gripping the bedspread beside her knee.

She could feel herself building to a climax and when she crested her knees gave out and he came down on top of her, remaining buried in her, still thrusting hard. As her body began to still he pulled out and repositioned her onto her back.

She looked up at him, grinning, seeing her pleasure echoed in his face. He leaned over and kissed her. She brushed her fingers along his chin, returning his embrace. She wrapped her legs around his hips and he sank into her once again, slowly this time.

They kissed as he made steady even thrusts in and out of her, her hips matching his. Slowly he began to pick up the pace before he sat back, pulled her ankles over his shoulders and began to pound once more.

Her hands were at her sides and reached down with one of his to take it, using the other to keep her legs in place. They held on as long as they could like that. As he felt himself begin to crest he splayed her legs open again, braced himself on his hands to either side of her, leaned over, and took his release.

She had already had hers and she relaxed in her afterglow watching him, bent over her as he was, reach his own climax. As his thrusts slowed and his grunts quieted he lowered himself to rest on his forearms and looked at her. They didn’t say anything, they just looked at each other for a moment, enjoying the sensation of their spent naked bodies against one another.

He leaned over and kissed her softly, running his hands along her face, down the side of her body, admiring what was his. She lay there, her hands resting on his abdomen, feeling at peace. She had gotten her release.

He slid off to one side of her, unbuckled the restraints and tossed them aside. He then pulled her to him, face to face, and kissed her. Despite the fact that she had full use of her arms again she kept them tucked up against his body, allowing him to wrap his arms completely around her. She loved being held by him.

As they came down from the high of it all their bodies relaxed and they shifted slightly further apart. They repositioned to a more comfortable lounging configuration, still facing each other.

“Feel better?” Ian asked.

“Much,” Sarah replied with a very satisfied sigh.

They lay there for a few moments longer before they heard a scratching at the door. Trix wanted in. He didn’t know why the humans had shut him out.

“I guess we better get up and give him some attention.” Sarah laughed.

“I guess so. He was very good about not trying to interrupt us after all.”