Thank you all for your kind words and your incredible patience. Let's just say real life got in the way a bit. That, and this one turned out to be incredibly hard to write. Had to backtrack a few times because I felt they were going OOC. Took me a while to get it right, but in the end, I'm quite happy with how it turned out.
Enjoy!
"Nicholas P. Wilde. Did I not explicitly forbid you to apologize?"
Nick found himself speechless under her gaze, a blaze of anger tempered with something indefinable. She leaned in and he instinctively made a futile attempt to back away, halted by her hold on his tie. A soft paw gently nudged his muzzle down.
Judy leaned her forehead against his, her eyes closed in a pained pinch.
"No apologies. Not for this. Not ever."
A hot shudder ran through his spine, releasing him from his stupor. He remembered how to breathe again. Tentative arms pulled her off the desk into his lap and she came willingly, the tie going slack between them.
"And why is that?"
She rested her paws on his shoulders, leaning back to look at him with a look that was half confidence, half exasperation.
"Because there is nothing wrong with it."
He had to chuckle at the response, so utterly her, while lifting one paw to caress her cheek. Her eyes fluttered close with a happy smile.
"Your turn. You still got one left."
His body moved before caution could. She froze ever so slightly at the touch of his nose against her cheek, right at the corner of her mouth. He trailed up in a tender nuzzle, revelling in the friction of fur on fur, in the subtle change of her scent. He stayed right there, soaking in the moment, quite content.
"You understand that one?"
She sounded unsure. "I... think so."
She broke the contact and he suddenly felt cold, the flicker of panic quickly quelled as she snuggled close into his chest. Her breath tickled his fur.
"Bunnies say it differently though. Like... this?"
Her head came up under his chin, gently searching. She started at the very tip of his maw, her fur brushing firm along the underside of his jaw, until she was again safely snuggled against his chest.
His arms enveloped his bunny in a warm embrace, one paw caressing her drooping ears. They were warm to the touch, almost burning. His voice sounded rough.
"Something like that, yeah."
He chucked as she buried her face into his chest. "You're picking now of all moments to be bashful?"
She punched him lightly against his shoulder, unwilling to resurface. "Oh shush. How can you even tell?"
He nudged the base of her ears with his nose, eliciting a happy rabbit hum. He felt giddy, lightheaded.
"The nose don't lie, darling." Her huff was quite unconvincing, and utterly adorable.
He caressed the length of her ears, revelling in their softness, her enticing scent, her weight on his lap. He would have been completely content to sit like this forever. Until her nose started exploring his neck with soft nuzzles, and then his mind went happily blank. His bunny buried herself in the nape of his neck, inhaling deeply, drawing a breathless whimper. There were no words for this. It was a struggle to keep certain parts of his mind from shutting down, parts he sorely needed to keep a lock on things. He gently but firmly pulled her off, trying to look stern.
"Judy, maybe we should slow—"
She shushed him with a kiss, quick and sweet, leaving him startled and just a bit dizzy. Her ears dropped and flushed with sudden shyness. "I'm sorry, was that too forward? It's just that, well, you never really said my name before, and—"
He was looking at his flustered bunny, quietly grinning. He loved her for her boldness, but these rare moments of bashfulness were surprisingly enticing. He leaned in with a smug smile, waiting for her to fall silent. When she didn't look at him, he gently tipped her chin up until she did.
"Judy." He kissed her then, and found a whole new reason to be damned. He couldn't break away: his lips found hers again, and again, turning her surprised gasps into soft hums that seemed to vibrate straight through his body. He wasn't thinking anymore, her scent clouding his head, driving away every thought except the one that wanted to kiss her, taste her, claim her.
She came up for breath with a gasp, gently tapping his nose to halt his onslaught. He flicked his tongue at the offending paw with a soft growl, making her giggle and cuff him softly against his snout.
"Not here."
He stopped, looking at her through wild eyes, trying to regain some focus. It took him a while to get his voice to work.
"Then you should probably get off my lap now, before I do something you'll regret."
"Oh? Such as?"
"Don't tease a fox in winter, Carrots." He grumbled in her neck, hiding from her searching smile.
He instinctively puller her closer as her scent overpowered him. It was a foreign mash of confidence and shyness, joy and desire, so utterly new to him and yet unmistakably Judy. And it was pushing all kinds of buttons he had worked so hard to block. He whined into her fur, his paws sliding down to her hips. She was about to say something, but it died in her throat when his tongue flicked against the side of her neck. It was like liquid scent, dripping straight down to his core. Something behind his eyes snapped, and suddenly he couldn't stop, couldn't even remember why he even should. He was tasting her all over, planting urgent nips along her neckline, growling low in his throat. She tasted divine, and when she started making little breathless sounds, he moaned with pure want, paws grabbing her hips to pull her even closer.
She cuffed his snout, gently, and then a bit harder when he only gruffed, not comprehending. An impossibly soft paw found its way to his ears, gently scratching at the base. He deflated as if she had flipped a switch, pressing his head against her chest, offering her better access. His heart was pounding in his ears, but hers was steady, soothing, steadily pulling him down.
Desire slowly gave way to reason.
"Better?"
He groaned into her chest, completely and utterly embarrassed. "Is it spring yet?"
She laughed, a strangely carefree sound. "You mean bunny season?"
He huffed. "Least you have your pills." He was pouting, he knew, but he was feeling quite stupid. She hadn't let up on his ears, which was an amazingly soothing feeling.
"Don't be like that. You've done nothing I didn't like."
He sat up to look at her, his jaw set in a stubborn scowl. "So far."
She responded with a sly smile. "Let me be the judge of that."
His retort broke off as her paws trailed down into his neck, following his spine, scratching all the way. He stretched out in pure delight, eyes fluttering closed with a low moan. For a bunny, she sure seemed to know a lot about handling a fox.
A soft giggle made him open one eye. "Are you mocking me, Fluff?"
She was grinning openly. "I would never, Slick. But I got to admit, this is a good look on you."
He pulled his lip up in mock annoyance, not altogether sad her paws weren't stopping. "What, the rumpled look?"
She shook her head. "Happy."
That stopped him. He stared at her incredulously. "Carrots, why would you even think that I was unhappy?"
She shrugged, a bit embarrassed. "Well, you seemed out of it of sorts. Snappy. Distant."
He gently took her paws and tried to nuzzle them. "I was only trying not to jump and scare a certain bunny."
She pulled her paws back with a frown. "You could have just told your bunny, Nick." Sudden worry showed on her face. "What?"
His eyes had closed to slits, ears flat against his skull. "Damn you."
He slid a paw in her neck and pulled her to his lips, his other paw firm on her lower back as he deepened the kiss, allowing himself just this once, just for a while, to let his basic instincts guide him.
Mine.
Her frame melted against his chest, returning his attention with fervour. He dipped his snout to nudge her chin up, ignoring her feeble protests as he left her lips. He trailed his nose over her throat with a low rumble, drawing a startled gasp.
Mine.
His paw cupped the back of her head as he returned to her lips. He could feel her heartbeat against his chest, a guttural rumble building in his own. She twitched with a delicious moan as his claws brushed the base of her ears.
"Yours."
A blinding light went off behind his eyes. He practically leaped out of the chair, taking her with him, pushing her down on his desk with a rough snarl. She was gorgeous, she was his, and she didn't even flinch when he pinned her down; only looked at him with a sudden and stern discipline.
"Nick."
For one impossible moment he froze in her stare, and then that moment passed. He slumped against her, suddenly breathless, burying himself into her neck to hide his chagrin.
"Damn you rabbit. You're going to be the death of me."
She patted his head with an apologetic chuckle. "Maybe we should take a break?"
He didn't move, absurdly grateful she didn't push him off. "A break sounds nice." She had begun to scratch his ears again. He was grateful for that, too.
"Want to go for a walk?"
Darkness had settled over the city, and it had begun to snow. He sighed into her neck.
"Yeah, a walk. Let's have a nice, long walk."
