Shit, her trust is such an amazing turn-on. I never would have expected it. I’m more used to a little fear (or a lot), that’s normally what does it for me. That’s all I’ve ever been offered, and I’ve never complained – hell, fear smells almost identical to lust, and for a lot of women they’re one and the same. To the kind of women who frequent cage-fighting bars, they are.

Yeah, that’s what I’m used to. Women who think you might kill them, and that’s what makes them want you. Women who piss you off on purpose so you’ll hold them tighter and growl at them more. Women who want bruises. God knows I’ve been happy to oblige – being feared, being in power, *taking*. . .gets me off, you know? Not something to be proud of, I guess, but who can help what turns them on?

Even Jean. Strong as she was, she was scared of me. The first time we met, I grabbed her by the throat. Scared the shit outta her. And she never forgot it. Not much scared that woman, and I think it was the novelty of being afraid that drew her to me. She wanted the intensity that fear brings, wanted to be thrown off her normal careful guard. Smart woman, though – changed her mind.

So now here I am, just like Jean being drawn to something I’ve never experienced before. When Rogue looks up at me with those big honest eyes, and stands so close to me and lets me put my hands in her hair – it makes me crazy. It makes me want to see what else she would let me do.

Hell, she’s had my claws rammed all the way through her sweet little body, and still she looks at me like she does – with complete trust and not a hint of judgement. She’d let me do anything, everything, things I do in my dreams and things I haven’t even made up yet. . .

Well, I think she would, at least. I think she actually *wants* me to. When I hold her and smell her hair, she pushes herself against me in an unmistakably sexy way. When she catches me ogling her ass as she bends to tie her shoe, she smiles. When I slip into her room at night to watch her sleep, sometimes I can tell she’s awake but she doesn’t adjust the sheets.

I’ve been testing the water lately. A touch here. A nuzzle there. A growl behind her ear. A hand placed not-so-idly on her thigh.

Testing the water, getting ready to dive in face first.