“Aleck Barlow,” the last name rolls off Aleck’s tongue like it’s covered in dog shit. “Now, Miss Winter Elizabeth Sommers, repeat after me…” I don’t even have to ask how he knows my middle name. He’s Aleck; he knows everything. “Aleck Rexford Fox, you stole my heart with your charm…”

I roll my eyes, not able to hide my grin. “Aleck Rexford Fox, you stole my heart with your charm…”

He nuzzles his nose against mine, then continues, “You’ve brought me back to life with your hypnotizing passion…”

I laugh, almost choking on a snort.

“Go ahead…” He laughs. “I’ll wait.”

I shake my head, then repeat, “You’ve brought me back to life with your hypnotizing passion…”

“Then you claimed me with your dick, just like you said you would. I, Winter Sommers, am yours Aleck Fox’s. Go ahead, repeat it just like that.”

My grin widens, and my feelings for this man deepen. “You claimed me with your dick, just like you said you would. I, Winter Sommers, am yours Aleck Fox’s.”

Aleck smiles, his perfectly straight bright white teeth on full display now. “Yes, you are. Now shut up and let me fuck you silly. I have a feeling three-fourths of the Fearless Four are going to steal you away from me today.”

“But then I’ll be back,” I say, tugging at Aleck’s boxer briefs while he pulls them down his legs to remove them.

“Then you’ll be back,” he says with a gleam of pride in his eye. “Where you belong.”

I almost squeal at his words. Aleck Fox doesn’t do relationships, and he doesn’t sleep in a woman’s bed. Currently, I’ve gotten him to do both. I push the looming dread of knowing this will end eventually from my mind so I can fully enjoy what we have now.

“Are you clean, Aleck?” I hear my voice before I’ve realized I’ve spoken.

A laugh puffs in his chest as he reaches for my nightstand drawer. “Yeah. A question you probably should have asked before we fucked like a million times. I get tested after every encounter.”

Encounter. Jesus, he makes it sound so clinical.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because I’m on birth control…”

His eyes drag from the condom in his hand to my eyes and his jaw muscles tense.

“I want to ditch the condoms,” I explain.

His brows crease, dipping in thought. He looks angry, but I know he can’t possibly be. “I’ve never had sex without a condom before,” he says, as if he’s just realized that fact.

“Well, our time together has included a lot of firsts for you… I’ll let you take one of my firsts,” I say, smirking.

His scowl settles and a smirk of his own plays on his lips. “Like I need an incentive to want to fuck you bare, Grimm. I’ve wanted to fuck you bare since the first time I fucked you, I just didn’t think you’d ever throw it on the table. And it’s true I’ve never trusted a woman enough to want to…” He tosses the condom to the floor, making me smile. “But I trust you. Still, I’m going to greedily take this first you’re offering. What is it?”