She watched him peel back one side of the outer skin with his thumb nail.
“You’re not going to jab me with those spines!”
“Oh, come on, you’ll just feel a little prick.”
“I think I’d like to feel a certain prick again, but it sure didn’t feel little in the shower.”
Robin felt her heart give an extra, syncopated beat and an odd, almost queasy sensation in her belly when Jay blushed, his face showing a delightfully sweet combination of shyness and pride. She had put a ridiculous faith in her riddle’s ability to locate her own special brave, bright knight, and Jay T. Markham had charmed her ever since.
“Hmm. I might be able to arrange that, lovely lady, but first things first.” He kneeled above her on the bed, one knee pressing into the mattress beside her hip, the other sliding between her still-open thighs. He held up the peeled aloe.
“First I must succor the sadly afflicted Robin Red-breast. And then I must fulfill my duty as a Sap-sucker, even if I am no longer yellow-bellied.”
Robin moaned at that, her hips lifting off the bed. When they did, it dragged her tenderest flesh along his thigh. They both felt the slickness of the contact. Looking down as her hips lowered again to the bed, Jay saw a shining trail of her moisture ending at a small orange-red patch of curly hairs.
“Fuck.” It was a whisper full of awe.
Her answering whisper sent a charge of electricity through him. “I’m tempted to let you do just that, Mr. Markham.”
She watched him blush deeper, flushing red down over his chest. He swallowed, then grinned. “Looks like I’m not the only one who can mark ’em, Miss…”
Jay stopped. “I don’t know your last name.”
It was her turn to look embarrassed. Very.
“What’s wrong?” His instant concern warmed her. He was so sweet.
“Bird names aren’t the only jokes around here.” Her tight lips clearly showed a long-held frustration. “Parents should not give their children joke names.”
“How bad could it be? I had a class with Perry Winkle last semester.” She almost smiled, but Jay could see pain in her eyes. “Let’s see. Robin…Banks? D. Rich?”
The pained look dimmed as her smile brightened. “You really are a succor, aren’t you? Or is it succorer?”
“I’m not the only one, however you say it. Now come on, tell me. It can’t be that bad.”
She let out a long sigh. “My father’s name is Theodore Hood.”
“Robin Hood? Really?” It took effort, but Jay held back his laughter.
“Really.”
“So I was close with Robin D. Rich.”
“I know! You’re good.”
“So they tell me.”
“So they? Who tells you that?”
“Well, you did earlier. And there was that one old lady I helped across the street to get a merit badge. Robin Hood. You’re right, parents should not do that. At least it fits. When I saw you earlier you seemed to be surrounded by a band of hairy men.”
She finally laughed. “Merry, dang it. They’re supposed to be merry, not hairy. I saw men hairy in places I hope to never again see.”
They shared a shudder of somewhat-mock revulsion at the thought. “Me too, but they weren’t lining up to stare at my chest. Changing the subject, I have someone you should meet.”