She tipped her head to the side and smiled. “Am I.”
“In theory,” he said, unable to fight the grin on his own face.
In response, she untied the sash around her waist, letting her robe slip off her shoulders onto the desk. Des dropped his head back and groaned, forcing himself to look away from her. Laughing at the absurdity of this situation, of how easily he could be undone by a beautiful woman in a silk shift. An obscenely short shift, he now realized.
She tucked her legs underneath herself until she was on her knees, bringing them nearly eye to eye. “Des. Look at me.”
He complied too easily, drinking her in, exposing himself to the shameful knowledge of how defenseless he was when it came to Aurelie. Her shift was just transparent enough to hint at everything underneath, and something about that was even more intoxicating than her bare skin.
“I am a grown woman. I am capable of deciding what I can and cannot do. So if you don’t want me, you simply need to sayso. But don’t fall back on some vague notion of what’s proper or appropriate.Wecan do whateverwewa—”
He caught her mouth with his, his hands cupping her face, and he felt her smile against him. It faded as he pulled her to him, her legs wrapping around his waist. He walked backward to the sofa until it hit his calves, sitting as gently as he could, bringing her with him so that she straddled his lap. She giggled, reminding him of the first time they’d met.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, pressing back to meet her eyes, suddenly insecure.
“It’s nothing,” she said, catching her bottom lip in her teeth.
He somehow resisted the urge to claim that lip for himself. “You giggled at me like that once before, the first time we met. What is it?”
Her cheeks flushed crimson. “Your... sword. It’s just... larger than I expected.”
Now it was Des’s turn to laugh.
“I like you like this,” she said, cupping one hand to his jaw. “I like you so much more than I thought I could.” She seemed as stunned to be saying the words as he was to hear them.
“I like you, too.”
She leaned forward, her lips barely skimming his ear. “Are you certain?” she whispered, and though he thought the answer was rather obvious, he could hear the fear in her voice.
He smiled, adjusting her on his lap, and she gasped. “Does that answer your question, Aurelie?”
She replied with another kiss, bolder this time, her tongue darting past his lips to taste him. He sensed she’d never done this before, but she wasn’t shy and timid like he might have expected. She wascurious, studying him, her hands skimming over his muscles, her own body reacting in response to his. If he had all the time in the world, he might have allowed her to explore him forever, because it felt so fucking good.
When she rocked against him, he inhaled sharply, already at the brink of his self-control. She smiled as she repeated the motion, and though he was trying his very hardest to be a gentleman, he couldn’t stop himself from touching her, too. “Is this okay?” he whispered as his hand skimmed up her side.
She nodded, her own breath hitching at the sensation. She was exquisite, soft and pliant, and yet somehow in complete control. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her orange-blossom scent as if he could memorize it.
And for once in his life, there was no one there to make fun of him later, to tease him for falling for the prim and proper bookish girl. The girl who had risked her life for his. The one who made friends with demons.
The thought was like a bucket of ice water on his entire body, freezing him involuntarily.
Aurelie sensed the change immediately and sat back, her eyes searching his. “What happened? Am I doing this wrong?”
He laughed at the absurdity of her question. A few more minutes, and he might have lost himself entirely without even removing his trousers.Notthat he was going to remove his trousers. “You’re perfect,” he murmured, his stomach already clenched against the thought of leaving her. “But I really do need to get back to the barracks. And you need to rest.” He slid the strap of her shift back into place. “This wound won’t heal otherwise.”
She studied him for another moment, clearly distrustful, but finally she nodded and scooted herself off his lap. He closed his eyes and took in a shaky breath, willing his body into submission before he rose again.
She bent to retrieve her robe, and he was grateful when she put it back on. Otherwise he wasn’t sure he’d make it out the door. “Can you do one thing for me, Des?”
In that moment, he would have said yes to almost anything.
“Tomorrow, can you train me how to use a sword? Whatever ends up happening with the portal, it’s going to create one hell of a demon. And I need to know how to fight it.”
She was too brave for her own good, he thought, and she’d never be able to lift a sword with her injured shoulder. “You need to rest and heal. Get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She opened the door for him, then stopped him with a hesitant hand. “Des, what’s going to happen now?”
Did she mean with the portal, or with him? Either way, he had no idea what the answer was. And because he was as much a coward as she was brave, he bent down and kissed her beautiful lips one last time. It was exquisitely bittersweet, knowing he’d never be satisfied by anything less ever again. “Goodnight, Aurelie Blake.”