“I am not going anywhere.” She reached for the buttons of her dress with her free hand, her fingers trembling as she worked. “I am just… making it easier.”
He went perfectly still, his eyes locking on her hands and tracking every movement. The buttons slipped free, one by one, for moonlight spilled through the window, silver and cold, painting her skin in pearl. She let the dress fall, the silk pooling at her feet with a quiet whisper.
Stays and chemise remained—but even those felt like a wall between them.
“Come here.” The command was pure gravel, rough with a want that seemed to vibrate in the air as his hands reached for her.
She climbed onto the bed, careful to straddle his thighs without putting weight on his injuries. His hands found her hips immediately, large and trembling.
“You are shaking.” She touched his face, tracing his jaw with her fingertips.
“I have wanted this for so long.” He stared up at her, his thumbs pressing into the curve of her hips. “I didn’t think you’d ever...”
“I know.” She leaned down and brushed her lips against his. “I was afraid.”
“And now?” He slid his hands up her sides, his touch reverent.
“Still afraid.” She admitted, her breath mingling with his. “But more afraid of losing you.”
He reached for the laces of her stays, his fingers fumbling in his eagerness.
“Let me.” She helped him, loosening the ties and tugging at the fabric until the stays fell away.
He pulled the chemise over her head, his eyes never leaving her body. She was bare in the moonlight. He stared at her like he’d never seen anything so beautiful, his hands hovering just above her waist.
“You are perfect.” He breathed, his palms finally settling on her skin.
“I am not.” She tried to cover herself, arms crossing over her breasts as she curled inward.
He caught her wrists, gentle but firm, pulling her arms away. “Don’t hide from me.”
“I am not young.” The words spilled out faster than she could think. “I’ve had children. My body isn’t...”
“Your body is a miracle.” He released her wrists, his hands finding her waist and the soft curve of her stomach. “You grew two lives inside you. You survived. Every mark on you is proof of that.”
Tears threatened again, and she blinked hard. “Dominic.”
“Let me worship you.” He pulled her down toward him, his lips brushing her collarbone. “Please. Let me show you.”
He kissed her throat, his touch soft and reverent, the way she were something sacred. Then he moved to her collarbone, his lips tracing the bone with a warm, gentle pressure, his breath hot against her skin. He moved lower still to the swell of her breasts, his hands cupping their weight while his mouth trailed heat across her flesh.
She arched into him, her fingers threading through his dark hair, careful to avoid the bandage. “Dominic.”
“I have dreamed of this.” He murmured the confession against her skin, his mouth trailing lower as his hands mapped the curve of her waist. “Every night since the maze. Sometimes even before.”
“Before?” She gasped as his lips found the sensitive underside of her breast, her head falling back.
“Since the first time I saw you.” He took her nipple into his mouth, sucking gently, while his hands tightened on her hips.
She gasped, her fingers tightening in his hair as her back arched off the linens.
“Since you threw that sovereign back at me.” He switched to the other breast, his tongue tracing slow circles around the peak. “I knew then.”
“Knew what?” She barely forced the words out, her breath coming in short, ragged gasps.
“That you’d ruin me.” He looked up at her, his eyes dark as midnight and his lips swollen from her touch. “And I wanted you to.”
She kissed him then, a hard and claiming thing. She poured everything into the contact, the love, the fear, and the desperate need that had been building since the first moment she’d seen him in her shop. Her hands found the hem of his shirt, tugging it upward. He hissed when she pulled it over his head, the movement jostling his injuries and forcing his jaw to clench against the pain.
