I see this as a controlling gesture on his part. He wants to be thought nice and romantic and a good husband, but he's not actually listening - in fact, he's deliberately doing things that are what she's asked him not to do.

It's the same thing as, say, asking him to both clean up his pee after he's spilled it around the toilet and asking him to put the toilet seat down. He's only putting the toilet seat down while saying, "look, I know I spilled pee around the toilet and you asked me to clean it up but I didn't" and he expect to be praised for it!

No. It's not a romantic gesture, it's one that displays his control and his superiority because he can 'make her happy' with something that doesn't actually please her.