Lingering and yet desperate, his tongue swept her own in a manner different from how he'd kissed her earlier that day. The fiery heat was absent, replaced with a longing she had never felt before. As if he needed her as much as he needed breath.
She was pressed and cradled against a fruit tree, the solid trunk at her spine, him lifting her up until she was sitting in the vee of two great branches. She reached for his shirt, and it pulled over his head just before he bunched her dress in his hands and pulled it over her. Her undergarments shuffled off; she reached for the ties on his pants and swiftly undid them. The bark on the tree scratched her skin, but she hardly noticed.
Because his lips were on hers again, and he was already pushing inside her.
The tingle ran over her arms when he filled her, and she moved her hips up to meet his, gasping and then pulling back so that she could see his face. See that flutter of his eyes, the rise of his chest, and the crinkle in his forehead when he stilled inside.
"What?" he whispered, kissing her palm that rested on his cheek.
"I..." She swallowed, not even trying to still her thumping heart. "I wanted to memorize you too."
He moved slowly out of her, and when he thrust back in, her mouth sagged at the deliberation and depth of him inside her, feeling his pelvis against her clit, his sack on her cheeks, and then she felt him press harder, as though he thought he could bury himself further inside and wanted to try.
A low groan left him when her heels pressed into the back of his thighs. His forehead leaned against hers as they settled, and she felt her breaths shaking with an emotion so strong that everything else around them seemed to mute.
"Youare everything, Nyssari," he whispered, his hand wrapping around her cheek. “You are everything and enough andsomuch more. And I will be at your side no matter where this war takes us."
His lips pressed softly to hers, but he didn't linger. He reached up and grabbed the branch above them.
"Evermore."
She knew he meant it. And the confirmation of the look in his eyes sent her heart spiraling.
With his every deepened and slow stroke, the tree marred her back, the bark scratching at her bare skin and her butt. His need for her passed from his body into hers. Up and down, her movements matching his, that depth of them together making her feel whole. It hardly took a few strokes more for her to see stars. She could feel herself tightening around him as his pace picked up, and he buried his head in the crook of her neck. She heard the branch above them crack slightly with his grip. Her fingers dug into his back, her mouth agape, body moving quicker with his. Until he started coming further out of her and then slamming back in. Until she could resist her undoing no longer, and the noise of her high-pitched moan echoed out into the darkness. She felt him shudder when she came apart, and with only another two strokes, he came apart with her, stilling in that depth within as he came down.
The branch he was holding broke off in his hand when he pulled back. She nearly laughed at the 'oops' expression on his face.
"Florna won't be happy about that," he uttered as her feet hit the ground. She pushed off the tree, and he leaned the great branch against the trunk where she'd been. As though it was meant to be like that.
Nyssa snorted, quickly clapping her hand over her mouth when he raised a brow at her. But he grinned nonetheless and grabbed her dress from the ground. She pushed a hand through her hair to fluff it only to find bits of bark and flowers in the strands.
"I am going to have to bathe before dinner," she said as she picked the blossom out of her hair.
Nadir stepped forward and leaned around to look at her back. A low whistle emitted from him. "Why didn't you tell me the tree was eating you?" he asked as he brushed the bark off her skin.
"What and interrupted... Whatever that was?" she asked, taking the dress from him.
She pushed it over her head, and he was smiling down at her when her head popped through the neck.
"Whatever that was?" he mocked.
He squeezed her waist and kissed her again when she couldn't respond.
Because she genuinely didn't know what this was, and it scared her that it was happening so quickly.
"Come on," he said with a tug on her hand. "Let's go to dinner, and then we can talk about whatever this was while you're kicking my ass again."
"I'm starting to think you like my putting you on your back."
"Being on my back beneath you is quickly becoming my favorite thing."
The wink he gave her made her shake her head, but she followed him out of that food forest and back onto the beach without another word.
It was the sight of the stares when they reached the rest of his people that killed every moment of bliss they'd just shared together.
Every head seemed to turn in their direction, smiles dropping from laughing faces. Whispers fluttered between groups. Nadir didn't seem to notice. He greeted all of his friends with his usual words of charm and smiles, clapping them on their shoulders and giving a few of the older women kisses on their cheeks. They all smiled back at him, and then they looked at her in the same disgusted manner they'd looked at her in the days before.
Their glares made Nyssa feel smaller than she'd ever felt, and every time Nadir would smile at her or take her hand in front of them, their eyes would travel over her in such a manner that she once thought she might vomit. Hatred and distrust. Wondering why she was on his arm. She could see their itching to question him on their tongues.
