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"Why don't you take a look? I won't tell you what's in it."
"What if I don't like surprises?"
Unimpressed, she shrugged. "It's from me. So you might like it. Or do you think that I don't know you well enough to be able to know?"
"Shall we find out?"
Audrey bobbed her legs in the air. Was she nervous because I was putting her on the spot? Or because she couldn't predict my reaction, now that I'd said I didn't like surprises?
Slowly, I ran a hand down her bare thigh until my fingertips brushed against the box. It was long, and as I stroked the lid, I felt how expensive whatever was between her legs was.
Whatever it was.
To keep her on the edge, I played around the edge a little. Lifting her up a little, only to let her sink back down again. Until she finally let out a gasp.
"You're impossible!"
"Does this remind you of anyone else?"
"No!" Audrey hissed promptly, giving me the answer I wanted. "If you keep this up, I'm going to take this and go to bed. Then you can sleep on the couch for all I care, or wherever you want."
I bit my tongue to keep from grinning. "Why so tense?"
"Because you make it damn hard for me to get excited about giving you anything."
Promptly I let go of the box, grabbed her chin, and forced her to kiss me, even though she resisted a little offended. If only to annoy me in return.
"Thank you," I finally managed to get out, which she only acknowledged with a snort.
"You don't even know what's in there. So you can't thank me for it."
Obviously, it had more meaning than I wanted to give it at first. Which in turn meant I pulled away from her, pulled the box out from between her legs, and opened the lid.
Whatever was inside was buried under a velvet cloth. Audrey pulled the lid from my hand and looked at me. I waited.
Would jewelry be revealed? Some sex toy?
"Lei! Go ahead. Otherwise I'll really sleep without you."
So I finally reached for the fabric and pulled it aside, only to have it slip from my fingers the next second, so surprised by what it had revealed to me.
The dim kitchen light refracted off the Damascus steel blade. Dark grooves adorned the otherwise bright metal, and one look was enough to make it clear that this knife was not just sharp. No, it was so sharp that just looking at it gave me the tiniest of goosebumps. And I hadn't even looked at the handle. Native wood. Two thin bands of unmistakable volcanic stone. The knife was a work of art beyond words– but when I discovered the fine engraving just above the handle, I was completely taken. I felt it gradually awaken. Slowly. Steadily.
On one side was her name. On the other, mine. A knife that could not have been more perfect.
"I know you already have a favorite knife. But I also know how often you've used it. Maybe it's silly, but I don't want to be one of many. If you want to play with me again, you'll have to use this knife."
Not once did it occur to me that Audrey actually deserved a little more than what was good enough for everyone else. She had every right to impose this rule on me and to forbid me to play with the knife if I didn't obey.
"Are you mad at me?" she followed up because I didn't answer right away.
Shaking my head, I let her know that I wasn't. "No. Because you're right. The knife we're playing with shouldn't have come into contact with others before." It was still in the box, untouched. "And it's a beautiful knife. I should have given it to you, not the other way around. Will you let me dedicate it?"
"Maybe I'd better punish you for taking so much time to unpack it."
Which, in retrospect, was clearly a mistake.
"Do I have to apologize for that?"
