A lazy smile crossed her face. "I’ve got. . .precautions in the way."
“What precautions?”
“I’m on birth control.”
I frowned. “Get off it.”
“We haven’t even known each other for longer than a month.”
“I won’t repeat myself.”
“I’m not thinking about kids until I have a ring on my finger.”
“What’s your ring size?”
She blinked and then swallowed. “There’s the war.”
“What does war have to do with rings and babies?”
“The Fox sounds like a slick, sick bastard. You’ve got the lead now. Use it. Once you win, we have forever to talk about ringsand kids.” She lifted her finger and then touched the bite mark on my shoulder—gentle, careful, following the impression her teeth had left in my skin. "I can’t believe I bit you."
"You did."
"Does it hurt?"
"Yes." I smiled. "Do it again."
She laughed.
I studied her. “Tora.”
“Yes.”
"I'm serious about the birth control."
She shifted to drawing a circle on my chest. "I know you are."
"Then get off it."
"Kenji," she said my name the way a woman says a man's name when she loves him but won't be moved. "I'm not bringing a child into the middle of a war and carrying your baby while the Fox is still breathing."
“Tora—”
“If he killed a Black woman that Hiro just took on one date, what the hell do you think he will do to a pregnant-me?”
I clenched my jaw.
She was right and I hated it.
"When it's safe," she whispered and pressed her lips to my chest. "When the war is done and the empire is yours and there's no one left who can touch us. Then. . .we talk about babies."
"And the ring?"
"And the ring."
I was not a man used to a moment like this. Typically, I ordered and it was followed, immediately. But I was learning more and more that in these delicate moments. . .my Tiger was the one in charge.
She has more power over me than she will ever understand.
