Certainly, it wasn't the first time a man had called her by an endearment; even strangers seemed keen to call her things like 'dollface' and 'babe', and there was even that one time a wealthy man in his sixties had called her his 'girlie'. All of those instances had only left Vixen feeling either mildly annoyed or downright disgusted, but...
Christopher was different, she thought again. She loved, really truly loved having him call m'dear, but...
"Do you also call the other girls that?"
Christopher smirked. He was about to ask her if she was jealous, but the moment he saw the expression on Vixen's beautiful face, he realized how pointless it was. The look on her face said it all. She was jealous, and she wasn't doing a thing to hide it.
Not exactly a smart thing to do for a girl who was willing to get paid for sex, Christopher thought, and for once, he found himself taking a mental pause to consider if perhaps...
Bollocks.
She might be different, but not that different—-
What the hell?
Vixen had suddenly walked out on him, and Christopher, after a moment of disbelief, swiftly recovered and went after her. "Hold on—-"
Vixen angrily shook his hand off her arm. "I don't want to fall in love with a womanizer!"
So that was why.
Christopher caught after Vixen again, but this time he took a firm grip of her hand and forced her to spin around to face him. "Look at me."
Vixen crossed her arms over her chest and stubbornly kept her gaze on the floor. "No."
"Look at me, m'dear..."
Oh, how dare this man—-
"And yes," she heard him murmur, "you are the only one I've ever called my dear."
This time, Vixen needed no prompting to look up, and Christopher nearly grinned at how quickly her lovely dark eyes had turned from furious to hopeful.
"You mean it?"
The note of uncertainty did strange things to his chest, and Christopher had to clear his throat before he could speak again. "Yes, I do mean it—-"
"Then why did it take you so long to answer me?" Vixen demanded, still suspicious.
"Because you surprised me," he admitted wryly. "I knew you were asking about it because you were jealous—-"
"Naturally."
His lips pressed together at Vixen's sensible tone. There was nothing 'natural' about anything between them, and that was probably why he was becoming increasingly obsessed with her.
"Anyway, that was what surprised me. That you'd choose not to hide your jealousy."
Vixen's brows creased. "I don't understand. Was I supposed to hide it?"
Christopher was about to say yes. Revealing one's jealousy meant exposing one's own weakness, so yes, one tended to hide this, but...
"No," Christopher said with a pained sigh. "I truly detest that you're making me say such things out loud, but no. Even though people often hide their feelings, jealousy being one of them, no one is supposed to do it, and—-" Having seen Vixen open her mouth again, Christopher was quick to add, "—-this is the last time we shall talk about something so appallingly sentimental."
Vixen couldn't help laughing at the shudder of disgust that punctuated his words, and honestly...
It felt really good to laugh.
She couldn't even remember the last time she had been able to laugh this much and this freely, but she loved that it was happening with Christopher. Surely...surely this meant what she thought it meant?
She wanted to believe it was so, but because Vixen liked being thorough...
Christopher bit back a groan when Vixen said his name oh so softly. She was doing it again, dammit. Didn't she realize she had the kind of voice that turned every word she uttered into something hot and dirty?
Lowering his head, he said in return, "Vixen?"
The exaggerated tone of his whisper wasn't lost on her, and Vixen's toes curled at the way this also made her want to smile. "Is this another thing I'm not supposed to do?" she asked half-seriously. "Is whispering prohibited, too?"
"With other men? Absolutely."
Her lips curved. "But with you..."
"Whisper away, m'dear."
Vixen laughed.
"I love the sound of your laugh."
"Me, too."
It was Christopher's turn to laugh. "You really are one of a kind."
"And so are you."
Christopher started to reply but managed to hold the words back at the last minute. If they kept this up, he had a feeling Vixen wouldn't ever run out of things that he'd find funny and hot at the same time.
Clearing his throat, he said, "What were you going to say?"
"I'm sorry." Vixen winced, realizing how easily distracted she was when Christopher was around. "What I keep meaning to tell you is that I've made up my mind, and—-" Vixen stopped speaking, realizing only at that moment how everyone in the gym had their eyes on the two of them.
The sudden flash of disconcertment in Vixen's gaze made Christopher feel fiercely protective. "Forget they exist," he told her firmly, "and focus on me."
Vixen, after calculating the odds, decided it was excellent advice, and so she focused her gaze on the athlete alone, and oh...
Her breath caught.
He really was so spectacularly handsome, and...
Oh dear.
Christopher was bemused when Vixen suddenly said, "It won't work."
"What won't?"
"To forget them, you said I should focus on you, but when I let myself look at you, I lose focus—-"
Christopher threw his head back with a laugh.
Vixen's brows furrowed. That was funny?
When he finally had a hold of himself, Christopher managed to say in a fairly steady voice, "If it means anything, I find you just as distracting."
Vixen brightened. He found her distracting? Truly?
"It's not just as easy to tell in my case," he murmured, "since I have more experience eliminating mental distractions."
Vixen thought about this. Mm. That actually made a lot of sense. Clearing his mind was likely a part of his pre-game prep, and if he could do it, well...surely she could, too. She just needed practice—-
"Vixen?"
She glanced up. "Yes?"
"I think we've gotten a little off topic again," he said dryly.
"Oh. Right." Vixen wrinkled her nose, hating the way this whole love business was making her so mentally disorganized. One could only hope that she would become like Christopher one day, and—-
"Vixen."
Oh no, she had done it again.
Determined not to be sidetracked so easily, Vixen decided to simply go for it, and after raising herself on her toes for what she hoped was the last time, she whispered into his ear, "I believe the only way we can be really sure about our feelings is by having sex—-"
"Thank fuck."
Christopher muttered the words with such feeling that Vixen had to laugh, but this quickly turned into a gasp as he suddenly gripped her hand...
And then they were running.
Fast.
So fast that it only took mere minutes before they were back in Christopher's suite, the athlete was kicking the door shut, and the next thing she knew, he was already pulling her shirt over her head—-