He had an answer for her--but her fingers went to his hair, and his eyes fluttered shut with a deep breath and a gravelly sigh of pleasure as he tipped his head into the gentle touch like an attention-starved cat. Every muscle that was already relaxed and soft in the glowing aftermath of great sex went completely liquid under her touch, left him defenseless against simple, meaningless words that were everything to him.

It makes me want to help.

It brought to mind everything he'd ever wanted and hoped for when he'd been given into military service, the early camaraderie of his brothers in arms--everything he made himself forget he loved and ached for when he rose through the ranks and got plucked from the army again to serve at the Night Dragon's left hand.

It compelled him to pry his eyes open from under the lazy pleasure of Regina's fingers in his hair so he could look into her face with a drowsy smile.

"Funny story? 'Round the time the Night Dragon took me from my world, there was this weird--fad, you might call it?--anyone that still said 'awesome' instead of 'cool' was a nerd and not worth a good goddamn. So when I'm talkin'? Using it as slang is always a conscious choice. When I'm just talkin', I use the real word."

He drew his fingertips along the line of her jaw, shifted to trace the bow of her upper lip with his index finger.

"The one that means 'breathtaking.'"