You shake the plastic bag loose, finally finished with pouring salt along the walkway and driveway. Thankfully just in time too, as the heavy snowfall begins to somehow get worse and begin battering you. Maybe you should've thrown out the salt a little earlier, but at least it's better now than never. After tossing the now empty bag in the trash, you hurry along inside to the safety and warmth. Thankfully, you weren't out long enough to warrant completely stripping down, though you at least took off your jacket and shoes to avoid tracking water through the house. It's just as when you put the last shoe into the closet that you hear a loud clatter in the kitchen.

"Crap!"

You approach the kitchen, curious and hoping that nothing broke. What immediately catches your eye is your mousey... well, jumping mouse wife, hunched over the sink attempting to clean the dishes. A very admirable feat, especially considering she needs a footstool to not need to lurch over and press against the sink to reach the dishes. She takes a wet dish and sets it aside, then reaches across to the other sink to grab another dirty plate. You see her place the dirty plate down into the clear sink, squirt a dollop of soap, then attempt to scrub it down... all with just one hand.

Despite lacking a left arm to make an otherwise easy task done fast, she adamantly continues cleaning the dishes one by one. While you can't see it at this distance, you can tell she's having trouble as she attempts to get the particular bits of stuck food off using the abrasive. You hear the dish loudly clink against the side of the sink, and you assume she's using it to keep it somewhat stable as she scrubs it down. Her lengthy tail twitches to and fro on the ground as she works, with the tuft of hair on the end sweeping along the clean tile.

"Something up with the washer, 'Bell?" you ask, unable to hide the slight smile on your face at her hardworking attitude.

Annabelle looks over her shoulder at you, eyeing you from the corner of her eye past her round-framed glasses. "No, I just didn't want to waste a pod when it's just a few dishes."

You break eye contact to look at the counter. There's almost half of a load worth of plates and cups set aside to dry. You'd say something or offer to do it in her place, but you can already imagine that angry, but admittedly cute, pout she'd do in response. Instead, you nod and let her continue to clean as you help put aside the dishes. "Snow's getting real rough. No doubt we won't be getting anywhere come tomorrow."

"Well, it's a good thing then I got groceries yesterday," she responds, looking back over to you with a smirk on her snout. You still don't know how or why such a tiny woman is able to lug as many bags of food and drinks as she did, but you think she takes pleasure in surprising you like this.

You lean against the counter after placing the last cup away and ask, "So, any ideas for dinner?"

She places the final cup aside and fetches a dry dishrag. "I dunno. I mean, it's only 3. Can just figure it out later," she says as she does her best to rub down her arm. She places the rag onto the counter and then begins rubbing her soaked arm on top, albeit with minimal progress.

"I guess." Your eyes glaze across the kitchen as you try to find something else to talk about. Without much else on your mind, you ask, "So what do you want to do until then?"

She gets down from the footstool, seemingly satisfied with how dry her arm is. Turning to look at you with a smug grin, she teases in a sultry tone, "I want to pick up where we left off yesterday."

You find it near impossible to resist her infectious smirk. "Alright, alright. I swear, you gotta do something for me to pay me back for all of this."

"Hey, I cleaned the dishes; that's a fair trade," she responds as she walks past you. As she leaves the kitchen for the living room, her long tail lifts up and the fluffy tuft at the end gingerly dances across your legs and torso. You shiver slightly at the feeling, which she notices as she lets out a slight giggle. You follow her to the couch, still feeling the slightest bit sore around your hips from yesterday. She may be light and small, but for how long she was on you it really made your legs sore for the rest of the day.

She stands beside the couch, still donning that smirk from the kitchen. You move to sit down, but she stops you with a quiet, "Uhm, can you, well, you know... Lose the pants? Feels uncomfortable."

"Yeah, yeah. Pervert," you respond with an exaggerated roll of your eyes. You slip off your pants and lay down on the couch. Your wife quickly does the same, throwing her own pants beside yours before climbing in to rest her back against your chest. You can feel her butt press up against your groin as she scoots into you, all the while giving slight sighs of relief. Once she's finally situated, she drags the cover from the opposite end of the couch and brings it over you and herself, and then rests her head against your shoulder.

With your wife finally in place, you blindly reach behind you for the small table. After a few blind checks, you eventually find it: a romance fantasy book. You bring it back in front of her and open it back up to the bookmarked page. "Alright, alright... You want me to go back a bit or just start right on this page?"

"Hmm...." she hums as she takes off her glasses to place it behind you, "Whatever you want to do, Tom."

You decide to read from the top of the page, picking up just a few sentences before you came to a stop. While this genre isn't anything you particularly like, you do admit that this particular story has started to grow on you. Annabelle bought it for herself a few weeks ago, though it was only recently that she started to go through it. Or, rather, listen to you as you read through it. You know she doesn't have any issue reading books, or at least enough of one to want you to read it to her, so you know this particular book is a special case.

Regardless, she seems to enjoy this time you spend with her, even when you play around and give bombastic performances for certain characters. You sometimes ask her to play out as the female characters. The first time you ask she groans about having already taken her glasses off, but she reads along as you bring the book closer for her to better see. Sometimes, you surprise her with a kiss where ever your lips could reach on her head when the main character kisses. For ease of access, you sometimes kiss around her torn ear, though each time you do so you keep reminding yourself of that horrible accident she went through so long ago.

You were scared for her life at the time, the image of her bloodied face still clear in your mind. You bring your other arm around her under the covers, to which she rests her stub of an arm atop yours. You're more than thankful for her pulling through, especially with how she continues to live everyday life with you. For the most part, she continues on like hardly anything's changed, and you can't help but respect her for that. She still has her insecurities, though you're quick to rebut them whenever they pop up.

You focus back onto the story, though a cursory glance at the window shows that time has passed by quicker than you expected. It was pitch black outside, though without a clock nearby you were left at a loss on what time it currently is. Annabelle seems to notice as she turns back to look at you.

"Want to stop for now?"

"Yeah, can pick up later," you answer, making sure to bookmark the page before putting the book back behind you. You expect her to get up first so you can leave, however, she instead remains put.

"Um... Remember you saying you wanted something back for this?"

"Yeah?"

"W-Well... I... I can, uh... Pay you back tonight. After dinner?" she asks, her bashfulness peeking through. While her message was received loud and clear, the bedroom is the one scenario where her insecurities surface the most. She was always insecure about sex, even before the accident, though it's only manifested twofold ever since then. She'd still crack jokes and tease, but when it came to the real deal her entire act comes crumbling down. Of course, you always refute whatever unsureness she has about herself. She thankfully seems to accept it, but it seems it always comes back in some form or another.

"Sure," you answer, planting another kiss on the top of her head. You would make a cheeky joke about if she wanted to act out as the characters in the story in bed, though you didn't want to downplay anything. She really does seem to appreciate the care and tenderness you show her, which you're more than willing to show each and every time. "You want to stay here a bit longer, or you want to go eat now?"

She remains silent for a moment. She shifts herself closer to you and rests her head against your chest. "Yeah. Just for a bit longer."

You bring your book-holding arm under the cover, eventually finding her sole hand. You intertwine your fingers with hers, feeling the small, fine hairs on her fingers brush against your skin. She gently tightens her hand around yours and closes her eyes. Dinner can wait, at least just for a little bit.

-

Even if the little bit lasted almost half an hour, it almost felt like an instant when Annabelle finally decided to get up. You soon follow after her and prep dinner. You're quite satisfied with the result, but your mind is too preoccupied with the night ahead than internally congratulating yourself for using the right amount of spice and salt. Annabelle looks to enjoy it too, but judging by the expression on her face as she pauses between bites, she's thinking about tonight as well. You want to say something, but you decide to keep it in til later.

Eventually, you both finish your meals and put the dishes aside. Annabelle gives you an uncertain look before leaving for the bedroom, her nervousness palpable. You've only shared this passion with her a small handful of times after the accident. From the first time to now, it takes plenty of effort to coax her into it and convince her how much you really care for her. You follow behind her to the bedroom, noticing that her tail is no longer trailing behind her, but is instead collected in her one hand as she walks forward. From behind, you can see her anxiously brush the fur at the tip of her tail with her thumb.

Upon reaching the bedroom, she sits on the bed to look at you, tail still in her hand. "I-If you want something else, I can-"

"Hey," you interrupt, walking forward to place your hand over hers. "I know what you're going to say. You shouldn't put yourself down like that." You lean down and lock your lips with hers. You can see her eyes close as she embraces you, finally releasing her tail to bring her arm to your back. As you continue to show your passion to her, her tail begins to slowly wind around your bare leg as you both share the moment. You continue the kiss for several seconds before needing to break away to breathe.

Your head feels dizzy sharing the air with her as you both catch your breath, especially with her sea-blue eyes staring deep into yours. You back away and begin taking off your shirt, spotting your mouse wife bite her lip slightly as you lift the fabric. As you toss aside the shirt, she releases her tail from your leg and slowly begins the same as you discard your underwear. She slowly takes off her clothes, both limited by having only one arm and her skittishness to revealing her naked body to yours. Even now, it amuses you somewhat seeing her transform into a completely different woman when outside the bedroom. A part of you wishes to enkindle that same confidence here than have her worry about every single step.

However, you still appreciate her for every facet of her being, both mental and physical. You close the distance as she finally removes her last piece of clothing. You quickly get to work before she could raise her first objection, crawling on top of the bed over her to resume kissing. Your already firm member brushes against the fur of her body, twitching slightly from the stimulation. Her hand gently grips yours as she leads you back further into the bed.

You gently break from the kiss, prompting her to look at you with half-lidded eyes. You can see her chest rise and fall as she breathes in through her nose, her pert breasts screaming for your attention. However, you want to lead in by showing her how you love every detail of her body. You bring your free hand to her arm stump and gently lift it up, then you begin planting kisses along its length. You've done this several times before, though it never fails to send shivers through her body. Between breaths, you whisper sweet nothings into her ear.

"I love you."

"You are everything to me."

"Everything you are is everything I love."

You slowly trail your kisses past her arm nub to her body, where you then begin pecking at the sensitive spots of her neck. You can feel her twitch at your touch, all the while making small gasps that light your heart ablaze in adoration. With each gasp, she presses her body closer to yours, squishing your member against her abdomen and her increasingly warm flower. Eventually, you return to kissing her on the lips. It's there that you believe she has reached her breaking point, as she slowly begins to mount your member as you both continue kissing.

You can feel the near burning warmth of her slit begin to envelop your erection, slowly and gradually welcoming it inside. Her inner lips are slick with built-up passion, easily taking your manhood as you both continue to explore each other's mouths. She gasps and moans into your mouth with each slight movement you make, almost threatening to send you over the edge despite how briefly you spent delving into her sex. However, Annabelle gives you no moment to recover as she slowly begins lifting herself up and slowly letting herself back down. All the while, she keeps her lips firmly planted against yours, this time turning the tables on you and forcing you to gasp out to her.

You want to endure and bide your time, but a part of you feels like she really appreciates having such a tender touch on you. You can't pride yourself on lasting long, especially as long as the fantasy characters in her books. However, you would gladly trade that and more for this special touch the both of you have over one another's body. From the very first night, sex with you and Annabelle has developed into a battle of meager attrition. Each touch and movement of hers send you wild, and you leave her a shuddering mess with your own. While some nights vary, your and Annabelle's shared acts of love become more focused on brief, but passionate throes of intimacy as you both set each others nerves alight in ecstasy.

Eventually, you can feel your endurance wear thin as you come to a climax. You thrust your member deeper within her out of instinct as your seed floods her canals, causing her to squeak out and tightly squeeze around your length. You can feel her body spasm as she rides out her orgasm, mixing her seed with yours and causing her nectar to drip down along your sex. She backs her head away, her breath heavy as the adrenaline wears off. She looks to you with a caring, warm but tired look, her lips seemingly ready to say something but failing to pronounce a single letter. While out of breath yourself, you speak first with another whisper.

"I love you... I love you, and all of your perfect imperfections."

You see her mouth form a smile and her eyes begin to glisten. She leans forward and briefly kisses you on the lips once again. For the next several moments, you both relax onto the pillows in the afterglow. Neither of you dares to move, let alone remove the bond your sexes share. She rests her head against your shoulder, still trying to catch her breath. As you catch yours, you see her long tail slowly snake its way up the covers, eventually reaching your legs to gently coil around it.

And if you're to remember correctly about her tells, perhaps tonight will be like "those nights" again: a long string of short, but passionate bouts of intimacy before the two of you can't share your love no more.

You'll be happy to make it one to remember, and judging by her eyes, so would she.