"Oh... " she started, then laughed, but it sounded thin. "I was joking, okay? Don't... don't look at me like that."
Like what, I wanted to ask. Like I'd already tasted the thing she'd named and wanted more. Instead I stepped closer, my hand still straining with the weight of the bags. I reached out and, before reason could tell me not to, I cupped her jaw with two fingers and pulled her nearer until we were close enough that the crowd fell away again.
"Say it again," I said, hardly more than a breath. My voice had that rough edge to it... the one that made her freeze. "Say it like you mean it."
She blinked, horror and mischief warring across her face. Then, because she was who she was, because she always dared me in the smallest, most dangerous ways, she smiled and whispered, "Husband?"
It sounded different this time. Not a tease. Not armor. Just her... soft, exhausted, bewilderingly real. The market seemed to exhale.
