I crossed my arms and waited.
After a couple of minutes, she rose and wiped her streaming eyes. “Sorry. I enjoyed that.”
“Are you quite finished?”
That set her off again. The bout of laughter didn’t last as long this time. “Whoa.” She sucked in a breath. “My belly hurts. Damn bruise.”
Without checking the impulse, I nudged her under a streetlight and tugged up her shirt. A shadowy smudge stretched from above her navel toward her ribs. I laid my fingers on it, cutting my gaze to hers when she shuddered.
“Cold,” she whispered.
I lifted my hand and blew on it, brutally aware she was watching me. Feeling idiotic, I kissed my fingertips and placed them on her skin again.
If anything, she shuddered more.
“How’d you get this?” I asked, hoping my voice sounded steadier than I felt.
She jerked a shoulder. Somehow she hadn’t shoved me away yet. “Had a disagreement.”
“With who?” Whoever it was, I’d go show him what I thought of men who hit women.
“Some chicks.”
Chicks, plural. I couldn’t stop the inexplicable swell of pride. “How do they look?”
“Worse than I do.”
“Figured.” Though I didn’t want to, I drew my hand away and carefully pulled down her shirt. God, I hadn’t expected her to be so warm and soft. “Are you gonna tell me why you were laughing at me, Giggles?”
“If only you knew how rare it is for me to laugh, you’d rethink that name.”
“So tell me.”
She pushed her bangs out of her eyes. “You really don’t know what fox means? Other than the animal?”
“No. I really don’t.” I resumed walking. It was way too cold to be hanging around on street corners. Why the hell hadn’t I moved south?
Mia jogged to my side and we headed to my apartment in silence. Until she gave me one of those sideways looks and muttered, “It means sexy.”
Since my mind had wandered to what I would do with Mia once we arrived at my place—other than demand what the fuck she’d meant by asking me to fight her—I didn’t catch on right away. “Fox? You’re shitting me.” I thought back to the guys at the gym who leered and laughed every time they nailed me with that stupid nickname. “No way.”
“Yep. It’s kind of an old-fashioned term, but it means you’re hot. Sexually desirable.”
I rubbed a hand over my hair. Snow crystals had started to freeze on my scalp. My hand was so cold I barely felt them. “You said you thought it fit me. So you find me sexually desirable?”
She shrugged. “Sure. In a vanilla sort of way.”
“Vanilla, huh?” I stopped in front of the brownstone I lived in and snagged her arm when she would’ve kept going. “Don’t suppose you’d like a demonstration of how wrong you are?”
“Nah. Thanks.” She smirked. “I think I’m good—”
Cutting her off, I dragged her against my chest and tipped back her face with my thumb on her chin. I’d had enough of her amusement at my expense. “Open up.” I swept my tongue between her lips, silencing her brief protest.
Then I was inside her, if only in this insignificant way. The cold night disappeared. Everything did but the warm mouth that parted eagerly beneath mine.
Her rumbling moan vibrated through me and made me lightheaded. Need spiked low in my belly, causing a surge of blood into my cock that demanded more than our testing brush of tongues. Forward, retreat. I wanted to rake my teeth over the fullness of her lips, but they were cut. I didn’t want to hurt her while I was giving her pleasure.
Unless she wanted me to.