Page 86 of Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox
“It is the least you can do.” Given the ongoing debacle, he supposed he was owed some comforting. So he pulled pillows into alignment and hid his face against her throat. Her fingers stroked through his hair, and he stole a quick lick.
She began afresh. “Tell me what it means when your tails sway.”
“That I am comfortable.”
“With me?”
“Clearly.” His tails came around, trailing over her bare arm, tickling under her chin, looping around her body from every direction.
Tsumiko asked, “What does this mean?”
“There is an element of protectiveness.” He wanted to kiss her but couldn’t. “More often than not, tangling a female in one’s tails signals attraction and … intentions.”
“What kinds of intentions?” she asked softly.
“You need to ask?”
Tsumiko said, “Yes. Otherwise, I won’t know for sure. And I need to be sure.”
“The intent to share a den.”
“We already live together. Both here and at Stately House.”
Argent could be clear when he wished. “A vow of sole fidelity. Pleasurable pursuits of an intimate nature. The establishment of a family.”
“Are you proposing?”
He had been prepared to do far more than suggest. “Yes.”
“Oh.” Puzzlement seeped through their connection. “Are you teasing me?”
“Only as much as you are teasing me.”
Tsumiko’s hand tightened in his hair, and he lifted his head. She said, “Iwillsee you freed.”
“So you say.”
“I’ll keep my word,” she pledged.
“I await the day.”
“Good idea. We’ll wait until then.”
Argent searched her face, his gaze lingering longest on her lips. Such a stubborn line. “You will not give your answer until the day you keep your promise?”
Tsumiko solemnly said, “That day willbemy answer.”
It took several moments for the import of her words to put a sway in Argent’s tails.
“What?” she whispered.
“You are resolved to free me.”
“Yes, of course.”
“So you are resolved to accept me.”
She offered no correction or clarification. Only another question. “Do Amaranthine fall in love?”
