Feline contentedness and human lust played a precarious balancing game as Iona's hand slid over his hair and sleep-warmed skin, reminding him at once of the near midnight hour when he slipped most easily into sleep after a long day and of the lust that was always coiled hot in the middle of him when he was around her. Any other time and he might have been distracted away from what he had in mind but he had already been distracted on two other attempts in recent days to ask what he needed to ask and there seemed no more perfect an hour than when he had made sure her day was full to the brim with happy things. When Patience was brought back in the morning and they had a more family friendly celebration with the three of them, he wanted for them to be able to share it with Patience.
Didn't mean he didn't want to be distracted away from it, as her teeth nibbled at his ear and her turning onto her side had filled his peripheral vision with creamy naked skin. He turned his head to catch her mouth with his for a moment, leaning back onto one hip in order to face her a little more and sink a hand into her hair to pull her in to kiss her properly.
Her lips were soft and still swollen from earlier kisses and he had to groan against them as he pulled away, the thought of his plans kicking right back into the forefront of his mind and reminding him that kissing her and starting right from the beginning again could wait a little while. "It's your birthday," he told her, fingers still curled in her hair and pushing the heavy weight of those dark strands over her shoulder. He couldn't resist a look down at her bare breasts before he grinned and met her eyes again, eyes going again soft. "You should be spoiled. Now," he pulled away from her completely then, sitting up and keeping his hands very carefully from her before he forgot himself again. "One more thing."
He climbed off the bed and strode over to the heavy chest of drawers the little box was tucked away in, as unselfconscious of his own nudity as ever and only, when he caught a hold of the box in one hand, looked over his shoulder at her. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands." And only when she complied and only when he was sure she wasn't peeking, he carefully set the box in her open hands and sat down on the edge of the bed to watch her expectantly as it was opened to reveal the ring inside.