"I want another."
She grinned at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, pulled her hair into a high ponytail. "Greedy. I'm running out of inventive places to put your bruises."
"Please. Tonight." He turned and grabbed her, his arms melting around her. On his chest was a bruise, just beginning to ripen. She kissed it. "Ma'am." He purred the word into her hair, began nuzzling at her neck.
She smiled up at him and caught his mouth with hers, kissing him to quiet his pleas. "Always trying to sweet-talk me, aren't you?"
He nodded. "Obviously."
"I love it when you do."
"Really?" The surprise flickered in his voice with enough force that the moment the words came between them he instantly regretted it. "Good."
Though it was an attempt at saving face, she laughed anyway; a gentle noise that lilted upward, hit him right in the chest.
"I like it. I take it as a compliment that you're still trying to woo me."
"Of course I am." He said, tilting her in his grip. "Keeping the romance alive and all."
"The bruises." She rubbed his chest.
"What about them?"
"When you feel them remember I love you."
"I know you do." He said. "I see it as...a shorthand. Our currency, I suppose."
"Oh, this isn't a business deal." She chided. "You know that." She batted at him, laughed as he grabbed her again. "And it would have nothing to do with simply angling for sex, would it? All this sweet talk." She stroked his face, remained deadpan despite the hot ache within her.
"Nope."
"Nothing to do with the fact your hand is edging under my towel?" she kissed him again, let him pull the thin, white fabric away and carry her towards the bed. He fell backward and took her with him into creaking springs and disarrayed sheets.
"Utterly coincidental," He sighed, the words blooming upward from between a flurry of more snatched kisses.
"Well then," She said, "So long as that's settled." She laughed, pulled off his t-shirt. "We've nothing to worry about."
"Nothing."