His neck was killing him.

Her thighs were burning, but not in a good way.

She looked down at him, her "sexy face" falling into a frown, ‘Jim, this isn't working."

He sighed and let her climb down, "I know."

She laid next to him, balling the comforter in her hands and covering herself up to her neck.

He turned toward her, she didn't look angry...but she did seem to be pondering something quite hard. When she glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes he raised his brow, pressing her for the contents of her brain.

"How long has it been bad Jim?"

He laid back and stared at the ceiling, "I don't know. A month or so?"

A few more moments of silence and then, "Pam, are we stuck in a rut?"

She groaned and covered her eyes with her hands, "No!" she whined, "It's too soon for this!"

He tentatively rubbed her arm, "it's ok, and these things pass quickly...don't they?"

Pam still held her palms firmly on her face, "Roy and I were stuck in a rut for eight years."

Though blind, she heard Jim's groan and could imagine the look on his face, it made her smile a little. She threw the covers off and scurried to the shower, leaving Jim watching the ceiling fan turn slowly.

He heard the water running and tried to assess the situation. What had changed in the last few months? He thought long and hard, but nothing came to mind. Everything was the same.

He looked at the bathroom door and thought about mornings before they were married when he would sneak into the shower with her...and they always ended up being late for work.

It was worth a shot.

As quietly as he could, he tiptoed naked across the bedroom and turned the knob very slowly. The small bathroom was already thick with steam. He could hear Pam humming on the other side of the flowery shower curtain he despised. He pulled the back corner and stepped in as quickly as he could.

"Oh. My. God." Was all she said.

He tried so hard not to laugh when he saw Pam standing with one arm up over her head, razor in hand, toothbrush hanging loosely from one side of her mouth. "What are you doing?" she asked, the toothbrush flopping with every syllable.

He reached out and took the razor, he tried to put on his sexiest voice, "I just thought we could use the shower to get dirty." he raised his eyebrows at her.

She smiled, but stole the razor back. "I only finished one side, I can't be uneven."

As much as Jim loved Pam, which was more that anything, he still could not stand watching her shave her armpits. It was the one thing that grossed him out, but on the flip side if she didn't, it might be worse.

He pretended to be interested in the ceiling until he heard her place the razor and toothbrush in the soap dish.

"Okay, all ready" she smiled wrapping her arms around his neck. He grinned and leaned down to kiss her, she ran her hands up through his still dry hair. She noticed his hands and knees shaking, she laughed, "Are you nervous?"

"I'm freezing" he admitted. He'd been standing naked and dry on the other side of the shower while she was hogging all the hot water.

"Then we'll switch places, no problem" he could tell she was annoyed. This was their third attempt today.

Jim put his hands on her shoulders and he tried to shimmy past her, and then they got stuck. Their arms were tangled and there was nowhere in the narrow tub for either of their feet to go. She shoved him toward the empty end, but tripped over his feet. He stopped her before she face-planted into the tile. She stood and gave him that look.

"And I'll be getting out now" he announced, leaving the shower quicker than he'd arrived.

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Jim sat in the living room in his ratty sweatpants that were reserved specially for Saturday afternoons. As he flipped through ice dancing and endless infomercials he contemplated his situation. He tried to remember the last time he and Pam had had amazing, earth-shattering sex. Her birthday, three months ago.

Compared to the routine, boring and now completely unpleasant sex they attempted this morning, her birthday had been romantic. He bought her flowers on the way home from work. She wore a new dress, a sexy dress with a low neckline that he stared down all night. They drank white wine at the fancy restaurant downtown. He lit candles in the bedroom, made her breakfast in the morning.

He couldn't recall a single time after that when he'd made even a slight romantic gesture for Pam. He was caught up in work, but she never complained, not for a single second. Not even when she begged him to take her to that play last month, but he was just too tired.

Jim decided her needed to bring the romance back, and quickly. He headed back to the bedroom and yelled through the door, "Pam I'm going to the store, do you need anything?"

He was sure he heard her yell, "What?" before shutting off the water and repeating, "What Jim?"

"I'm going to the store," he told the hinges.

"Ok," she said sweetly, "and Jim? Don't yell through the door. I really hate that."

"Got it." He grinned as he swiped his keys off the dresser and ran out the door.

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Pam stepped out of the shower and wrapped the large beige towel around her. She was feeling guilty for kicking Jim out of the shower and driving him out of the house. She knew this was the case since she had gone to the grocery store last night. She just didn't want to feel like a failure anymore. She found herself feeling solely responsible for the lag in their sex life. She was always so short-tempered with him, and she annoyed him to no end over stupid things. Like last month when she asked to go to the play so many times that she wasn't surprised when he said no.

Jim didn't even seem that interested in her as often. He was always too tired from work. Well, that's what he said. She wondered if Jim still found her as attractive as he used to. She made the brave decision to stand in front of the steamy bathroom mirror, and open the towel. This always made her nervous, she was never one to dance naked in the mirror, and it wasn't until Jim that she was okay being naked with a light on. She held her breath and stared at her reflection. Her damp curls were hanging around her shoulders, she made a mental note to make an appointment for a haircut. She scanned her body nervously, turning slightly to the sides to inspect the inches on her waist that didn't look familiar. Had her breasts always sat that low? Thirty was still a year away and seemed to be catching up with her entirely too fast.

She quickly scooped her towel up and ventured into the bedroom, getting as far away from the funhouse mirror in the bathroom. She pulled open her underwear drawer and her eyes were drawn to a corner of light coral satin that peeked out from the back of socks and cotton underwear. She pulled it out and held it up, she hadn't taken it out of the drawer since their honeymoon. Kelly had convinced her that she needed some sexy lingerie. Pam had never been one for sexy underwear, she thought it was too uncomfortable. She looked through racks of tight corsets and tiny g-strings, shaking her head at every item. Finally near the back of the store some shiny fabrics caught her eye. What she finally deemed acceptably Kelly called a "chemise." It was light pink, thick halter straps, and rested high on her thighs. Much to Kelly's delight, (and later Jim's) she bought it.

Pam thought about the gown in her hands and what she'd rolled into bed in the night before. She was wearing one of Jim's holy basketball t-shirts, it still had green paint spattered on it from when they painted the dining room. And under that an oversized pair of plaid pajama bottoms, also filled with holes. She was suddenly inspired to do something special for Jim tonight. She called him and instructed him to pick her up some Sun Chips, but not at the store by the house...at the wholesale club 20 minutes away. He obliged her and she was grateful he was so eager to please her...she had a lot to do before he got home.

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Around 6:30 Jim came into the house, which was strangely dark. He left the enormous bag of Sun Chips on the kitchen counter and headed right back to the bedroom. What he found there was not what he was expecting at all.

The bedroom was almost completely dark with the exception of the setting sun barely peeking in through the drawn curtains. The candles on the nightstands and dresser that hadn't been lit...ever were burning brightly.

"Pam?" he called quietly, still clutching his brown paper bag in his left arm.

The bathroom door opened and Pam walked out in the negligee he'd been missing for two years. Her hair was messily pinned on top of her head and she was shyly looking up at him through her gorgeous eyes. He wasn't sure if his jaw was on the ground when he tried to speak, "you-um...wow."

"Thank you" she blushed, "I just thought I owed you something special."

"Me too," he admitted, dumping the contents of his bag onto the bed, "but you beat me to it."

She scampered over to explore the loot, a bag of tea lights, champagne, and a bottle of massage oil.

"Wow, you really went all out" she smiled. He looked embarrassed and defeated. Pam grabbed the bag of tea lights, "no reason we can't put this stuff to use! Why don't you get glasses for the champagne?"

He smiled slyly and kissed her cheek before ducking back out of the bedroom.

She set the tiny candles all over the dresser, the windowsill, and any other flat surface she could find. Jim came back into the room with two glasses of bubbling champagne. She happily took one and retreated to the bathroom to check her hair one last time. She twisted a few curls around her fingers but her attention quickly turned to Jim. She watched him through the mirror, lighting the candles she'd set out. He was so handsome, and even after everything his smile still made her melt.

He must have felt her eyes on him because he turned over his shoulders, matches still in hand and winked at her. She giggled but it quickly turned into a gasp when she saw that Jim's sleeve had caught on fire from one of the previously lit candles.

"Oh my God Jim!" she squealed

Jim quickly batted out the small fire, but Pam from watching through the mirror had lost all sense of the room around her and banged her shin hard on the bathtub when she tried to rush to him. Jim heard the first thud, and then saw her collapse onto the bathroom floor.

He rushed over to her, he hadn't seen what happened but from what he could tell she wasn't making any sound. He knelt on the floor and turned her over to reveal Pam laughing hysterically, the kind of laugh that doesn't make any noise. She took a deep breath and the loud cackles continued. Jim looked at her, rubbing her shin and laughing hysterically. His long sleeved blue shirt was still smoking a little from the elbow. He quickly joined Pam with a giggle fit of his own.

When Pam could finally breathe she managed to say, "We're so terrible at this."

Jim took her hand off her shin and looked at it closely, "Does it hurt bad?"

She nodded, tiny giggles still escaping from her throat. She had never looked more beautiful, her face flushed from laughing, her curls spread around the damp tile floor, her sexy chemise pulled up past her hips. He bent down and placed tiny kisses on her shin, which was already starting to bruise. He quickly began to move higher and Pam's giggles stopped abruptly.

He reached her hip and replaced his mouth with his hands. He held her down while he continued to kiss the soft fabric on her stomach, her breasts, collarbone, neck, higher and higher until his lips were hovering just above hers. She craned her neck forward to stop him before he could tease her anymore. Their kisses were hungry and his hands roamed everywhere, he was fiercely kissing her neck while trying to remove what little clothing she had on.

"Jim?" she breathed quietly.

"Yeah?" he answered, the sound muffled her shoulder.

"That shirt smells horrible."

He ginned, "well, I guess I should take it off then."

The candles in the bedroom kept burning, and the champagne went flat on the dresser.