Foxheart

Chapter Forty-Four

Fox stood in the kitchen alone, which he was thankful for. He had no idea what had just happened but his body was on fire and his face was burning. He couldn't move. He kept thinking of Dupont, about how close she had just been. About her natural doe eyes; heated and angry. About her soft pink lips; parted and puffy. A familiar hankering spread through him but something else too. Something new.

Fox groaned in frustration and tore a hand through his hair. He closed his eyes tightly and pushed the images away. While he was familiar desiring someone, this new feeling was weird. It made his heart race and his mind go numb. All he could think about was Dupont; about all of her. Not just her curves and very appealing features but her smile, her haughtiness, her voice.

Fox hunkered down on the floor and buried his face in his arms. His ears burned, his heart thudded madly, his breathing was awkward and his stomach twisted nervously. All because she tried to kiss him!

'Gettin' tame.' Fox muttered to himself, not liking how thick his voice sounded.

He had slept with several women in his lifetime; women a lot better looking and with bustier figures than Dupont. Sex and women were not new things to him so it was bizarre to him that he was reacting like this. Maybe it had been too long since he last did anything. He'd been so stressed lately trying to stay alive and keeping out of the way of the enemy that sex was the last thing on his mind. Maybe that was it. His hormones were just playing with him; making Dupont look good.

He had calmed now he had come up with a logical reason. He was just sexually frustrated at the moment, that was all, and Dupont may not have even intended to kiss him anyway. She may have intended to shout at him over Catriona and the whistles and was so upset that she couldn't utter a word. She did look angry. Very angry.

'I mean, why would she want to kiss me.' He mumbled to himself broodily.

He was a lowly thief. A criminal. She hated them and it would be a terrible move for a woman of her standing to go for a sewer-rat. That and he was tiny. It wasn't like he could make her feel like a woman by towering over her protectively, wrap her up easily in his arms or anything.

He scowled deeply and shoved his fingers in his hair again. It didn't matter though. It was all just some big misunderstanding and Fox was just a little horny at the moment. Nothing nearly happened.

Fox stiffened and looked up when he heard footsteps but breathed a sigh of relief when Catriona entered the kitchen.

'Fox. Everything okay?'

'Yeah.' Fox said then cleared his throat when it still sounded a little husky. 'Everythin's good.'

She smiled brightly, making her pretty face that much prettier. Fox liked that face. It made him feel grounded as a familiar desire sparked softly in his chest. Unattached attraction. That was what he was used to. Enjoying sex with no further commitments, no desire to become entangled in that woman's life. No love. Just pleasure.

He stood suddenly. The turmoil Dupont had just shoved him into was fading now as the memory of the corpse, writhing around and groaning, came barrelling into his mind's eye. Right now, there were bigger things to be focusing on, like finding out what was resurrecting the dead and if Catriona was behind it all.

'You ready to go?' Catriona asked.

He stared blankly up at her and very quickly realised they weren't and Dupont was most likely in a foul mood. He dreaded facing her. She was so adamant about not hearing out Catriona that she was going to fight tooth and nail against his decision. He just hoped she would follow if he went off on his own. He wanted someone who might be able to fight off magic in case it all went wrong.