She pillows her head on her arm, her free hand resting on his chest, smoothing down over his ribs, careful to avoid the still fresh bruises there.

"You might have said that, I think," she says, grinning like the proverbial kid in a candy store. "Did I mention I think you're sexy as hell?" God, the words that come out of your mouth, Karen, sometimes I swear.

She has a reason for being a little distracted, a little out of breath, with his hand playing over her body like that. She tries to even the playing field a bit, hooking one heel behind his calf and drawing it up to his knee, pulling his leg gently between her thighs.