When Sonya came back from the water, it was dark but for the light of the fire. She picked up her clothes and used them to cover her breasts and hips.
“Let me get you a towel,” Dmitri said.
“No, you're busy. Where are they, in the bathroom?”
“Yeah, well, the shower stall.”
He watched her as she walked toward the shower. Her back and butt were uncovered, and he could see her smooth wet skin glistening in the glow of the rising moon.
Sonya rinsed herself off in the shower, then wrapped up in an old beach towel.
“Oh, Sonya, where did you come from? I thought I was here with a disco princess. I didn't recognize you,” Dmitri said when she walked over to the fire.
Sonya responded with a sarcastic smile.
“I should have stopped at a grocery store on the way, but I forgot,” Dmitri said.
“That's okay, this looks great. I never imagined you could cook.”
“You think because I'm so handsome I can't cook?”
“Har har. I didn't think macho guys cooked.”
“Macho? I'm as sweet as a butterfly.”
“Yeah yeah, let's eat.”
Dmitri put the food on a metal platter and carried it inside the cabin. He lit a candle and set it on a little wooden table. Sonya sat down at the table with a big smile.
Dmitri had made a stew from canned food. It was filled with beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, celery and heaps of spices, including dried chili peppers. The fire gave the stew a smoky flavor.
Sonya brought a spoonful to her mouth, blew on it to cool it off, and took a bite.
“Whoa, that's hot. I mean, not just the heat. Spicy hot,” she said.
“Oh, don't you like spicy foods? I do. We never had any in Russia, but I acquired a taste for hot food here.”
“I do. I just wasn't ready for it, because I've been eating all that fancy schmancy crap lately, not good ol' fashioned Mexican hot sauces, or this.”
There was a moment of silence as they both thought about why and with whom she'd been eating at nice restaurants. But the awkwardness soon faded.
“Hot food works better than oysters, for me,” Sonya said with a sly grin.
“What do you mean?” Dmitri asked, feigning innocence.
“It makes me, you know, excited.”
“Excited? Like a kid getting a new toy? Christmas?” he said, still pretending he didn't know what she meant.
“Not exactly. I mean, come on, you know. Hot food is an aphrodisiac. It gets my blood racing to all the right spots.”
She glanced down toward her lap as she spoke, and her foot instinctively bounced up, brushing against Dmitri's leg.
Even with one working arm, I bet he could still throw me around like a rag doll.
“Ohhhh, I see,” he said, acting shocked.
“Does it get you fired up, too?”
“No. I told you before, I'm always ready.”
He stood his forearm up on the table, his fist clenched, just like he'd done in the restaurant.
Sonya thought about how turned on she got the first time he made that juvenile gesture, wondering if he was actually hard and how big it was. Now, of course, she knew the size, but again she wasn't sure if Dmitri was erect at that moment.
She thought about standing up and letting the towel, which was still the only thing covering her body, fall to the floor. Her foot crept up his leg. Past his knee, along his inner thigh, and then…
“Dessert?” Dmitri said as he jumped up from the table.
The blood rushed away from the “right places” in Sonya's body. But if she wasn't getting sex, dessert is always the next best thing. Hell, with most guys, it's the best thing they can offer.
“Seriously, you made dessert, too?” she asked.
“Yes, I baked these chocolate cookies, filled them with cream and sealed them in a box while you were in the shower. I called them 'Oreos,'” he said, taking the cookies out of the cabinet.
“Perfect. I love Oreos,” she said, her voice trailing off as Dmitri walked out of the room.