Meet Lea and Bran.

[Yva]

((Lea's Vincenza's cousin, Bran is Bairix's brother. This made us lol.))

" . . . please?"

"No."

There was a long pause.

"I'll rub your feet. Here, swing them into my lap."

" . . . no. You'll do that thing with the spot and the . . . no. I'm onto you."

She flipped the page of the book, tucking her feet under her for extra security. He had that look in his eye that suggested she had to stand firm, even in the face of the adorable pouty lip and the magic hands and the . . .

Damn it. Massages are cheating.

He'd moved behind her, his fingers now rubbing her shoulders and the back of her neck. His lips skimmed over the shell of her ear, and every knead of his fingers went further south, and further south, and fur . . .

"I'm sorry, Sweet," she said. "But the answer is still no."

"But I love you," he whispered. "You know that, right? I do love you? You're the first woman I come home to five whole nights a week. Six even, sometimes." He blew a stream of air against her neck. Normally it would illicit a goose pimples and shivers, but this time it just made her squirm away.

"Yes, and I really appreciate . . . stoppit." His fingers dirzzled over the upper curve of her breast, and she batted at them with her book. "It's day three! I'm swollen and retaining water like a whale. I feel about as sexy as a kobold."

He buried his nose in her hair. "You're much sexier than a kobold. I wouldn't sleep with a kobold."

"Thank you. But the an . . . is this what happens if you don't have sex for three days?"

"Yes. It's horrible. You should save me."

She rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and sighed. He took that as a sign of compliance, his hand streaking down over her abdomen, toying with her bellybutton. When those fingers dared to plummet lower, she manacled his wrist and tugged.

"All right, that's it. You. You come with me, now." Big green eyes blinked at her as she started dragging him to the door. "You're going to go to a bar and find someone pretty, and then when you're done, you can come home and bathe and we'll go to bed. Not . . . for that, but to sleep."

"Sleep?"

"Yes, Branien. It's this thing people do when they lay next to each other. Sometimes there's snoring involved."

"I don't snore."

" . . . I know you don't. Now, shoo." She shoved him into the hall, watching his broad shoulders slump. He had the most pathetic look on his face, like his dog had just died, or she'd told him she didn't love him anymore, or that the tooth fairy wasn't real.

"But Lea, I want you right now."

"I know, honey, but I just can't. "

The bottom lip jutted out.

She frowned at him. "Stop that. Now go. Good night."

She shut the door and walked back towards the couch, picking up the book and finding her place. It took him a whole minute to start knocking. She tried to ignore it, really she did, but then it became more insistent, to the point she ended up reading the same passage over and over again. Add to it the sad lilt when he finally said "Leaaaaaaaaa," and she knew she was done for.

You're stronger than this Lea Stone. You are.

So why are you getting . . . no, you sit back down on the . . . WHY ARE YOU GETTING UP?

You dumb bitch.

"Bran, honestly." She swung the door open, her fists going to her hips, book slapping against her thigh. "This is ridiculous."

"I know. I just . . . I want to be with you, though." He buried his hands in his pockets, his mouth now in full on pout mode. "I like you best. Please?"

It was the please that broke her.

"Oh dear light, the things I do for you."

She held her hand out to him, and he shuffled back into the apartment with a beatific smile. There was a notable spring in his step as she pulled him towards the bedroom.

You love him. You must really, really love him.

Hell.