“You’ve had bad breath before, Scarlett. What’s the big deal?”
“WHAT! When? What did I eat? You never told me! I do not have bad breath, Brando Fausti!”
I shook with silent laughter, and finally she caught on and smacked me in the face with a pillow.
“That was cruel.” She gave an indigenthmph. “And you didn’t even kiss me. I see where Mia gets it from. She refuses to share her peanut butter with anyone either.”
“I’m not sure if I’m worthy of kissing you anymore,” I said. “My brothers, Mitch included, think you're the equivalent of the hot girl in a music video.”
She laughed so hard that she covered her face with the pillow she’d smacked me with.
I yanked it from her.
She sighed, looking up at me. “What doyouthink, Brando? Am I the equivalent of the hot girl in a music video?”
“What did you call me?”
Straddling her, I pinned her wrists to the bed, one on each side of her head.
“Uncle! I mean, my husband! All right! I give. I give, you beast! What doyouthink,my husband?”
“What does your husband think? I think I married the most beautiful girl all the boys want, but only this man can fucking handle. A toothbrush obsession is no easy hill, even for a climber.”
“Suuure. I’m the girl all the boys want. Do you remember what kids called me in school? Stranger Danger,my husband.”
My mouth twitched. She was being dramatic on that last point. Kids used to say she was strange, but it came across as peculiar. And none of the boys ever called her that. It was the girls.
“This coming from the woman who’s made countless ‘most beautiful people’ lists.”
“Potato. Tomato.” Forgetting that I had her pinned, her wrist strained against me, attempting to wave. “We all love our choices.”
“That made no sense.” I laughed, leaning down, kissing her before I released her.
Her tongue made a round around her lips, and she made a comment about the taste of my tongue.
Resuming my spot beside her, hand keeping my head up, I pulled her in as she scooted even closer, making a contented noise in her throat.
“I’d freeze to death without you in the colder months,” she said, sticking her chilled nose against my throat. “I had no idea how cold my bed was until you were in it and then out of it.” Her legs moved against mine, her feet chunks of ice.
“Fuck me. You had a snowman in our bed when I was gone?” I made a noise that conveyed this. Somewhere between brr and grr.
I wasn’t one to feel the chill, but her feet were like skittering cold bugs with ten searching feelers. I checked under the covers to make sure they weren’t blue.
Her laughter came out raspy, repeating the noise I’d made. “No, I've beenwaiting,” she said, a mocking tone to her voice. “You were out of my bed, remember?”
“Waiting’s not always bad,” I said. “Good things come to those who—”
“Good things come only when I get to waitwithyou.” She touched the tip of my nose with hers. “If I’m forced to wait, I freeze to death. It’s no fun sleeping with a snowman.”
“Don’t make me kill a snowman,” I said. “I’ll set the cold bastard out in full sun.”
We grinned at each other. Both of us were delirious.
The space of eleven heartbeats came, and in those moments, we became quiet.
Her toes were not the only feelers out. Whatever I brought to our bed, she felt, just like the temperature of my body.
She moved toward me, a magnet drawn to the darkness that existed within me.
