He kissed her shoulder, her neck, up to her ear, like he might sooth any irritation she had just with his mouth alone. He thought he could make a fairly admirable attempt at it, anyway.

"Of course in here; we already discussed the clean up. And as much as the lady wishes to provide me," he whispered against the shell of her ear, and then he pulled away from her.

He collected her dirty dishes and left the table to take them to the kitchen. It gave him a breath to compose himself, to approach how he was going to go about this. Like his own dishes, he gave Adaline's a perfunctory wash and then left them in the sink for now. He'd deal with them later.