….“Cold out here, isn’t it?” he says with a wry smile upon his lips. “Would you like to get naked and cuddle? I understand naked bodies produce more heat than clothed ones do, and I believe it would be especially welcome for such a cold environment as your heart.”

“I very much doubt that to be true, and you’re game for saying I’m COLD!” she quips back.

His smile grows and he allows a muffled laugh to escape. “Are you now calling me a liar as well as a heartless braggart?”

“Aren’t you?”

He laughs louder and with more gusto this time, clutching at his stomach like a small child would a bowl of lollies. “You are a cruel woman Jessica, an idiot, but a cruel idiot.”

“Why, because I’m honest? Or is it because I’m not afraid of you?”

“Neither of those things my dear, it’s because you are foolish to somehow believe our relationship will ensure that I won’t hurt you, when in reality I have another fifty women like you. The unfortunate thing for you my dear is, they know their place, and to speak when spoken to, and to SHUT UP when not.”

“They sound utterly boring.”….