Scarlett throws her head back and cackles, exposing the long column of her throat. The chair almost tips from underneath her, but she catches herself at the last second without interrupting her laughter. “I meant instead of secluded,” she says when she can finally talk again. “But if we’re naming you instead, I have some ideas.” One of her dark eyebrows ticks up, and those lips, swollen and pink from being dragged through her teeth, curl up into a smirk.

I take the steaming mugs back into the bedroom and set one on a coaster next to her laptop. Using my now-free hand, I tuck a wayward strand of her hair out of the way, letting myself linger in the softness of her skin. The mirth drains slowly out of her round, blue eyes as it shifts into something closer to desire.

“I’d very much like to hear what names you have for me in that big, beautiful brain of yours.” I press a kiss to her forehead as if I could kiss her brain right through her skull.

“Hmm.” Her eyelids flutter closed. “I don’t think you want to know what I call you in my head.” She lets out a breathy sound that’s somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “Most of the names I call you when going through your edits aren’t very nice.”

“No?” I tip her chin up so I can kiss her nose. “That doesn’t seem fair. Every name I have for you is exceptionally kind.” A chaste kiss to her lips. “Brilliant.” Another. “Beautiful.” Another. “Amazing.” I use my tongue to soothe the swelling where she’s scraped with her teeth.

“You really missed an opportunity for alliteration here, oh Wise and Witty Syntax Sorcerer,” she teases against my lips. Her hand snakes up to the back of my neck as she pulls me closer and opens for me.

“In my defense”—more kisses, as if even a moment separated is too long—“I’m distracted.”

“Mmm.” The sound of her hum vibrates through me and goes south, settling between my legs. “The Master of Manuscripts is slacking on the job.”

I put my mug on the desk next to hers. “I’m not on the clock,” I correct her, returning to kiss a line down her neck to that bare shoulder that has been plaguing me since she pulled her laptop out to start working. “You shouldn’t be, either.”

At that, she practically wilts. Where there was a tangible sexual energy between us not one second ago, now there’s nothing. I rest a hand on the edge of the desk and another on the back of her chair, caging her in before I pull back to see her wincing in apology.

“I’m almost done with this chapter. I need to get it out, or I’m going to be behind. Can we…put a bookmark in this, maybe?”