His lips parted slightly, and she followed, startled by the depth of her own response. He tasted like wine and something darker, something wholly his. Maddie leaned closer, her body pulled by an invisible thread as though she’d been made for this very moment, and only now realized it.
Her breath hitched, her heart stuttering as a sensation unfurled low in her belly, warm and electric. She didn’t just feel it; she lived it. The world dissolved utterly, leaving only his touch, his steadiness, his impossible tenderness.
And then, finally breaking through the blissful haze enveloping her, came the understanding. This wasn’t just a kiss. It was so much more. Sebastian was showing her something she had avoided her entire life. Not just pleasure but vulnerability, not just passion but intimacy.
Her fingers curled into his coat, a desperate motion to keep hold of him as if he might otherwise slip away. She matched him, first timidly, then with a confidence that bloomed as he met her halfway.
When he finally drew back, his forehead resting lightly against hers, Maddie found herself trembling. She didn’t open her eyes right away, afraid the spell might break.
“You feel that?” he murmured, his voicerough, intimate, barely above a whisper.
She nodded, unable to trust her words, her lips still tingling from his kiss, her heart still soaring into uncharted skies.
“Feathers?”
“So much more,” he whispered hoarsely.
His hand slid from her hair to cradle her cheek, tipping her face up so her wide, uncertain eyes met his. The way he looked at her was molten, unreadable, but full of something that left her chest tight and her throat dry.
Maddie wanted to speak, to find some breezy, clever remark that might make her feel like herself again, but none came. Because she wasn’t that Maddie anymore. Somewhere between the first brush of his lips and the quiet intimacy that lingered now, something had shifted. It wasn’t just a kiss. It wasn’t just Sebastian. It was a truth she couldn’t turn away from. And for the first time in as long as she could remember, she didn’t wish to.
“You can tell?” Maddie asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Already, she felt the pull of him again, an ache low in her belly for the exact moment she had just lost. A foolish kind of longing, really, considering he was still so very near. What had become of her?
Sebastian’s gaze flicked to her lips before finding her eyes again, steady and deliberate. “This is it.” His thumb trailed along her cheek, his touch a contradiction of softness and certainty, before tilting her chin up. The gesture wasn’t forceful but rather guiding, like she belonged in the exact place he wished her to be. “This only happens with the right person, Maddie. And I knew it would be you.”
Her breath hitched, her lashes lowering for a moment to break the spell of his unrelenting stare. “But you… You said you’d never felt it,” she managed, her voice faltering even as sparks of curiosity flickered to life. “And yet you claim you knew?”
He nodded, the edge of his mouth curving slightly—not in his usual faintly arrogant smirk, but in something softer, more earnest.Gone was the quirk of his brow or the playful challenge that typically danced in his gaze. His eyes now burned, dark and unshakably sincere.
“I knew,” he said simply. “I know it’s only you.” The words weren’t dressed up, weren’t elaborated on, but they carried a quiet conviction that stole the air from her lungs.
Maddie blinked, her cheeks warming under his touch. That conviction, that certainty, it was entirely too much. Could anyone truly know such a thing? Yet the sincerity in his voice, the steady way he waited, as though her trust was not demanded but freely given, did something to her resolve.
And there it was. A terrifying, wondrous thing she hadn’t allowed herself to consider until now. She’d trust him. Suddenly, entirely, she would trust him with what she couldn’t yet name. But the thought came, overwhelming and immovable.
My heart, the words whispered through her mind unbidden. They lingered there, echoing softly as he leaned so that his forehead brushed lightly against hers.
“Tell me you feel it too,” he murmured, his voice rough and intimate, the kind meant for only one person to hear.
Her answer caught in her throat, her eyes searching his desperately, trying to make sense of what was happening inside her. Was it fireworks? Was it everything he claimed it could be? She didn’t know what to say. But her chest tightened, her lips parted, and before she could find the words, she nodded. Just once. Enough.
Chapter Sixteen
He’d followed herup the grand staircase, keeping his stride measured despite the way his body still thrummed with the lingering imprint of her warmth. He’d stopped at the landing to see her to her chambers, the door to the left that he now knew she slept behind. There had been so many things he’d wanted to say, a thousand foolish impulses to demand more of her time, more of herself.
But she was a lady.
A perfect, maddening lady who belonged on a pedestal he hadn’t the right to touch, even if he wished to drag her down to meet him in the chaos roiling beneath his steady composure. He would not follow her into her chambers. He would not demand the taste of her lips again tonight.
No.
His jaw tightened as he turned away, his own door shutting firmly behind him as though that could be the end of it. Except it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.
Sebastian leaned against the door frame of his chamber, his hand resting on the sturdy wood as though it might somehow keep him upright. He dragged a breath into his chest, shallow and burning, but it did little to steady him. The faintest scent lingered in the air, something soft, floral, and wholly hers, and it undid him all over again.
The memory of Maddie’s lips on his own was as fresh as though ithad happened mere moments before. Her mouth had been impossibly soft, pliant under his, and yet teasingly bold in the way she’d responded. He closed his eyes, shoving a hand through his dark hair as if to shake the thought free, but it was of no use. He could still feel her. Her hesitant touch, the almost clumsy, daring way she’d boldened, trailing her tongue against his in a way that had nearly broken him apart.
Sebastian pressed his hand to his chest, his palm flat against the hammering beat of his heart. What had he done? Or rather, what had she done to him? He’d kissed many women before, plenty of them beautiful and perfectly willing as society demanded. But not one—not a single kiss in his twenty-five years of living—had touched him like this.
