Page 59 of Love the Way You Lion
I swallow hard, trying to close my gaping mouth so I can speak. When I manage it, my voice is raspy. “Chocolate—uh, n-no, love. There’s nothing wrong.”
“Why are you looking at me like I’ve grown a second head in a very conspicuous place?” She gives me a peeved look, tapping her foot and pulling the brush through her hair again. It makes her jiggle ever so nicely, and I grin.
Sitting the glass down before I sodding drop it, I rest my palms on the wood of the bar. “Because you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen and somehow I forgot between when I saw you last and now just how breathtaking you are.”
She turns a lovely shade of pinkish rose, dipping her head. Her voice is tiny and all the starch goes out of her posture. “Oh.”
I grin; I can’t help it. Her ways make me smile. For someone who projects such a hard-nosed and confident image, she’s flustered like a blushing bride anytime you compliment even the smallest thing about her. I move from the bar to her side, running a hand over her hair. “Christ, woman, what you do to me. You look stunning.”
Wrinkling her nose—another one of my favorite cute-isms that I can’t comment on—she scrunches down. “I was in the bath. I wasn’t trying to be… I didn’t know you were home yet.”
My head tilts as I watch my finger trace down the soft skin on her cheek, then brush over her chin and trail down her neck. “Since when do you have to try? It’s not something you have to do, I don’t think. You are.”
“No, I didn’t mean—” she growls under her breath, getting pinker by the second. “Dammit, now I’m all flustered. I hate being a girl!” Stomping her foot, she huffs.
I smile wider. “What’s flustering you, baby? I’m rather fond of the girl in the woman in front of me.”
“I feel all—I don’t know. This is why I don’t wear stuff like this. It’s all frilly and I feel like I should bat my lashes and pout. I get all weird.”
It’s best not to tell her sheispouting. I pretend to ponder as if I’m considering. “I see it’s not your usual togs and it's right fetching, accurate enough. I’m not sure batting your peepers at me would make sense, what with all the naked glories we’ve had with each other. Besides, it wasn’t the garb that gobbed me, baby. It’s the woman inside it. You take my breath away sometimes.”
She makes a face at me as if I’m the most troublesome person in the universe, but gives in and chuckles. “I know. You looked at me and I think girly clothes rot my brain. I get all soft.”
“Only dressed like that, then? Never get that rotted brain feeling any other time?”
“Did I mention how you were looking at me? I think it plays a big part, too.” Her expression is indignant, and she’s tapping the brush on her arm, again setting every bit of her to jiggling.
That’s my favorite.
I look down and pluck the brush out of her hands and then sweep her into my arms. Striding over to our bed, I settle us against the pillows with her sitting between my legs. I brush her hair in lazy strokes, humming under my breath. It’s peaceful and despite how bloody fucking amazing she looks in that getup, I’m in the mood to show her why girly isn’t such a bad thing.
Her lips curve and I feel her mood lift. She tilts her head back, relaxing as I stroke through her curls, moving with the brush. It makes me smile to watch her let go, so I hum a little louder. Her hair is shining like a fire and she must have used some of her home brewed soaps and such because the mixture of scents combining with hers is like an aphrodisiac blended just for me. Everything about this is what I want for us all the time.
Peaceful. Loving. Pain-free. Relaxed.
Swaying a little as I pull, she lets me pet and brush her, acting very much like the cat she is. I bend and kiss her shoulder or nip her earlobe or nuzzle her jaw, reminding her I’m there and keeping her from snoozing. Her tail flips out and taps my leg in time with the brush strokes and I grin—the kitty isverysoothed. I feel my tail drop and find hers to twine together on the bedspread.
I sing low into her ear, crooning the King song I’d promised her. It’s only for her because we’re not in a bar full of people that hate us. It’s just us, cocooned in a wonderful moment in time where everything is right. We don’t get many of those, and I intend to savor it.
Her sigh is barely more than a breath, but I hear it, and I feel every muscle in her body relax. I’d bet she’s smiling like sunshine and I’d win hands down. As much as she protests girly stuff—much like my primary—she loves it. It doesn’t define her because she’s far more complex than some others give her credit for with their one-dimensional view.
I make no such errors. Drooping against me, she purrs like an outboard motor, tail flicking with mine. I can only assume our little haven was missing something because, in a blink, she has a Godiva box on her lap. I pause for a moment, whispering in her ear, “I didn’t want to wait for Presley week or some such, baby. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind.” She chomps one of the white chocolate covered strawberries in her box indelicately and the contrast makes me chuckle. “I didn’t drop these on your lap this time. Though, I ate the idiot who made them. Which is what he gets for being snooty and telling a pregnant woman ‘no’.”
Ah, there’s the blood warrior behind the fluffy kitty.
“You should have killed him a second time for being stupid, my love.”
“They don’t die twice. It’s no fun.” I feel her pout and it makes me laugh. “But how bloody hard would it have been to dip some blood balls in white chocolate for me? I even had the blood balls! People are no fun at all.”
My chest shakes as I try to contain the laughter bursting free. “Infidel. We could go kill his family.”
She shakes her head, sighing. “I wore black leather from head to toe—well, mostly, because there wasn’t too much to the leather, I guess. You’d think I came in toting a shotgun and wearing a ski mask.” She looks up at me, wrinkling her nose. “Why bother? I bet they would taste as bland and white bread as him. Ick—not worth the calories.”
“Philistine. Plebeian. Troglodyte. It’s a good thing he’s dead.”
“Very. He’d be pissed that I took all the good stuff.” She giggles and turns her head to one side, nipping my jaw. “Oh! Did you hear I did it all by myself?”
