A groan tears from my throat as I close my hands on her hips, feeling the heat of her skin through her clothing.
“I want you more than I have a right to. But we shouldn’t do this.”
She pulls back, looking into my eyes. Searching them. Whatever she finds there must satisfy her because her expression doesn’t waver.
“No. I want this moment. I want you.”
I kiss her. Not softly this time. I kiss her with everything I’ve been holding back.
My hands slide up from her hips, one spreading wide across the small of her back, the other moving into her hair. I tilt her head and deepen the kiss, sweeping my tongue against hers. She tastes warm and sweet, and I want more. I want all of it. All of her.
She kisses me back with a hunger that matches my own. Her fingers move from my face to the collar of my tunic, gripping the fabric, tugging at it. She gets hold of the hem and pulls upward.
I break the kiss long enough to catch her wrists.
My breathing is ragged. “I can’t make any promises about tomorrow. Or…about anything. I can only give you right now.”
She looks up at me. “Right now is enough.” A small, sad smile touches her lips. “There is no future for a half-breed and a king.I know that. You have your path, and I have mine, but right now…we have this. I’m not some maiden. I know what I want, Sebastian.”
I don’t say anything in response. I can’t make her promises, and she isn’t asking for any.
I release her wrists, and she pulls my tunic up and over my head. She slides the fabric from my shoulders, tossing it aside. The cool air hits my bare chest, and I hardly feel it. Not with the way she’s looking at me.
Her hands are on me before the tunic hits the ground. Her fingertips trace the eclipse marking on my chest, following the lines where sun meets shadow. The touch is light, exploratory, almost wondering. Heat rolls through me wherever her fingers travel. My stomach tightens. My breath comes harder.
I cup her face in both hands and bring her mouth back to mine. I kiss her deep and slow while my hands move to the hem of her tunic. I slowly pull the fabric up. She lifts her arms, and I pull it over her head. More of her hair falls loose.
She’s wearing a thin chemise underneath, soft and worn from use. I gather the hem and draw it up, breaking our kiss only long enough to lift it over her head as well. Then Isla removes the pouch of coin, tossing it aside.
She stands before me, bare from the waist up. I keep my eyes on hers for long moments before looking down, and may the goddess help me.
My breath leaves me. Kakara be thanked I have my sight back because Isla is something to behold. Her skin is smooth, her breasts full and round, her pink nipples are tight. She’s lean but curved, all softness and strength at once, and the sight of her undoes something inside me that I’d thought was long dead.
I trace the line of her collarbone with my thumb, watching the gooseflesh rise in its wake. She shivers. Her eyes never leave mine.
“You’re beautiful,” I whisper.
She smiles, and it robs me of what little thought I have left.
I take her mouth again while my hands learn every part of her. The weight of her breasts as they fill my palms. She takes in a sharp breath when my thumbs brush across her nipples. I roll them gently, and she gasps into the kiss, her fingers digging into my shoulders.
I find the ties of her hose, pulling them loose, and then work the fabric down over her hips and thighs. She helps pull off her boots, shimmying free of the last of her clothing until she stands completely naked before me.
I step back so that I can look at her.
Isla doesn’t try to cover herself. She stands tall, her chin lifted, letting me look my fill.
She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Too good for this broken realm. Too good for me.
I gather our discarded clothing and lay it on the ground between the boulders, creating a rough, makeshift bed. It isn’t much, but it’s better than the bare earth, and she deserves at least that.
I lead her there and lay her down, lowering her onto the spread of fabric. Her hair fans out beneath her. She watches me, her lips parted, her chest rising and falling with quick breaths.
I sink to my knees between her legs. I run my hands slowly up the outside of her thighs. She trembles at the touch, and her thighs part for me, her body opening.
I press my mouth to the inside of her knee. Then higher, kissing a slow path along her inner thigh. Her breath hitches. Her fingers find my hair, threading through the strands.
“Sebastian.” My name, breathless on her lips, is the finest thing I’ve heard in a good long while. She shifts her hips, restless and wanting. A small sound leaves her. A sound that makes my blood run thick and hot.
