They stood together on a precipice. One more step, one casual lean, and they would fall for good. The walls he’d built would crumble and nothing would ever be the same again.
For the first time, he felt ready for it.
He leaned forward. Ciana exhaled a heavy sigh of relief and fluttered her eyes closed. He forced himself to stop.
No. Not like this. Her emotions were frazzled, sent into disarray by the king’s advances. If he did this now, he would never know how much was real and how much was her desperation for comfort.
He shook his head, the barest of shakes. Her eyes snapped open.
“There is so much I want to say to you,” he rasped. “But I can’t say it yet. Not until after you’ve slept and completely settled from today?—”
Her brows had drawn together in a frustrated pinch as he spoke.
She silenced him with a growl as she closed the distance between them, soft lips capturing his.
For a moment, he was frozen. Caught between the pendulum swing of his mind telling him she wasn’t ready and his body begging for more.
For her.
For all of it.
In the end, his body won.
His world narrowed to the scent of honeysuckle and lilac, to the brush of soft curls through his fingers, to the fold of hercurves over his lap. He gripped her to him, a groan slipping from his throat, deepening the kiss. Heat spiked through him, heady and intoxicating. She opened for him, sweetness bursting across his tongue.
Their last kiss had been filled with the urgency that comes before impending destruction.
This one… This one felt like an answered prayer. A spark over dried leaves, igniting into a fervent inferno. A moment of revelation, a release of breath that had been held for far too long.
Sebastian dragged her luscious thighs over his lap to straddle his hips. Ciana rocked into him, hands winding into his hair, as if she were trying to crawl into his very skin.
And gods, he would let her.
She gasped when she felt him, aching between them. The pressure of her and the confines of his zipper was nearly painful, but he welcomed it. Begged for it. Demanded it.
He needed this. Needed more. Neededher.
His hands glided up her thighs, pushing up the heavy skirts. Slipped over the bodice, skimming his thumbs under the swell of her breasts.
Ciana whimpered at his touch, and fuck, that sound nearly had him falling apart right there.
It also pulled a piece of him back to reality.
He forced his grip around her to loosen, though it nearly caused him physical pain to do so. He pulled back enough to draw in a breath, hers still dancing across his tongue.
“Ciana,” he murmured in a strained whisper. “We should slow down.”
She whined—actuallywhined—in answer. Tried to press back into him, to again capture his lips with hers.
He was faster.
Sebastian gripped the sides of her face, holding her still. Her amber eyes snapped open in a glare, her wet, plump lips falling into a pout.
He couldn’t help it. She was so adorable when she was angry. A smile split his face, softening her frustration.
He leaned back in, giving her a sweet, chaste kiss. But he couldn’t stop his groan when he pulled away, catching the unmistakable glint of victory in her eyes.
Sebastian stroked his thumb across her temple. “One day,” he said softly, “I will tell you all the things you make me feel. Then when my words fail, I’ll show youexactlyhow much you mean to me.” His nose grazed her skin, drinking in that sweet, floral scent. “I’m going to replace every dark memory with ones that make your toes curl and your cheeks flush. But I won’t be doing it on the same day when your lips have been kissed by another man. I try to be gracious about many things, but sharing you will always be off the table.”
