The air was electric as he breathed it in, as it ran through the span of his lungs. It felt as though he exhaled smoke, fire gathered within his chest that burned with an intoxicating heat that bore no pain. Perhaps it was numbed by the surge of adrenaline, enough that he could no longer recognize the conflagration that smoldered like hot coals fanned with each and every inhale. Each and every touch fueled them ever further, the soft glissade of her lips upon his wrist sewing more until he would eventually be wholly engulfed. The lapse of her fingertips as they brushed sere nails across his scalp, fisting within the pale ivory of his hair.

"Stay with me..." just above a whisper, her features hot beneath his hand as if she too were burning from within. "Tonight." The askance was followed by the more hedonistic press of her mouth, a savage kiss that had him relinquishing a low growl as her tongue trespassed the threshold of his lips. He yearned now, more than ever, for the ability to taste, to partake of the wine she favored. The fervor of her affections had him pressing closer to her, the heat of her askance unwinding his arms from her as his left braced harshly behind her along the wall to which her back now resided. His right wrapped with a tenderly rough grasp around her wrist, bringing her delicate palm to the hard lines of his chest, allowing the one within his hair to remain.

He was trying to maintain his restraint, the ginger care he had placed upon her prior, and yet it was becoming ever more difficult, a feat shown with which he tightened his fingers around the pulse that hammered beneath them. Patience, he reminded himself, a resounding mantra - almost a plea - and yet he was not a man of many virtues, least of all this. Attempt was made in the way he would draw away from her kiss once more, teeth nipping softly against the corner of her mouth, a heavy breath falling against her cheek. "Say it again," came the low command, vocals rough, a reverberating grumble with the husky intonation that invoked them. Loud within the cage his body molded around her dulcet frame. Confirmation, affirmation. Such reassurance he needed, a desperate heed to see he had not heard wrong.

He would shift his weight, taking a slight step back, maintaining the hint of distance in the form of her extended arm, the one he placed in restraint against the breadth of his chest. His head lowered slightly, each exhale warm, pressed fervently against her skin, along the precious curve of her throat where his ravenous stare rested. Careful, more measured came his vocals this time, "Tell me what you want." And yet despite the control that filled them, they were followed by the bite of his teeth, scathing, hungry as they threatened to pierce the softness of her flesh.

The touch of her soft fingers on the bare of his chest was razing, the slight scrape of her nails. The soft pads dragging over the reminders carved into the skin under her curiosity. Such a strong difference, an alien feeling in comparison to what had marked him so. Never had he been treated so gently, pressing into her exploratory caress, greedy for more of her affection. Always more, something he felt as though he could never sate, never satisfy. Ruination. She was ruining him, piece by piece, one moment at a time. It had begun slow enough, the way she permeated his mind, wormed her way into his thoughts. Now this, to the point the seemed to be under his very skin.

Again, she would meet his mouth, impassioned, starving. When he lifted her, she did not rebuke, lithe legs wrapping around him, and he would partially lean his weight into her, feeling the rough reminder of her camisole. Her hands at his shoulders, in his hair and he would release a low rumble, deepening into something darker as her hips would roll against his own. His grip would tighten against her dulcet skin, pulling her down against him in a fevered grind in answer to her tease. There was a sense of abandon no, the restraint which he had previously shown struggled not to discard entirely.

Another heavy breath, a soft groan against the curve of her ear as he readjusted his grasp, shifted his weight from the wall. Steps carried them the familiar path traced to the open door of his own room. One that smelled faintly of the familiar oils and maintenance of his weaponry, the leather and steel of his armory. A rather empty space as far as decoration was concerned, babbles and knick-knacks hardly being anything with which he concerned himself. Now did not change that idea, either, his attention focused entirely upon her, on the unbearable warmth that flowed like magma through his veins.

It was here he sat her, brushing her lengthy locks from her flushed features, a face he tore his sights away from alas. Finally, his stare would trail over the splay of her frame beneath him as he leaned over her. The way her breast heaved with the plight of air, the way the disheveled article of clothing rolled and slipped over her bodice, the way it remained pooled askew around her hips. Fingertips traced from just above her knee, a soft path up her thigh, and he tore his focus from the sight, once again affixed to her, to the pout of her mouth as his touch lingered under the aegis that remained of her gown, teasing over the covered apex of her thighs as he once more lowered his lips to hers.

She rolled beneath him, pressing into his touch, unabashed, or perhaps unable to care any longer over the carnality of the action. They were lost to the tumultuous sea, consumed by the dark waves that swept them far from the coast line, away from comfort, from safety. He was losing himself, a sense known to him, yet condemned with disregard, affirmed by the reaction she poised. She drove him further to that hooded madness, to that menagerie of madness so eager to bleed him dry, and he allowed it without restraint. Her own hands made their way across him, sinew rolling under the pressure of her glissade.

Her soft moan brought a muted gasp from his lips, his weight shifting as her indulgent grasp eagerly ran the heat within his breeches, teeth clenching, head low as he pressed into her palm, releasing another shuddering breath. His lips trailed down the curve of her cheek, nipping softly at the underside of her jaw. He paused at her pulse once more, resisting the urge to once more mark her skin, instead biting his own lip slightly. Simultaneously, he would run the length of his middle finger slowly between her clothed folds, rhythm slow, full against her. It was only then he continued to lavish her, a branding of tooth and tongue that made its way down to where the strap had left her shoulder exposed.

She was beautiful, a sentiment he had awkwardly orchestrated before. Once on the day they were sworn to one another at gunpoint, and again when she had playfully modeled the coral gown within the dress shop. How many other times it had crossed his musings he could not fathom. The way she danced, the small, mindless actions she committed without thought with the same flourish. Her dancer's grace, effortless and without flaw. She was breathtaking, perfection, a silent adoration that he worshipped her with. His his his.

It was this greed that bid him to recline slightly, freeing his other hand from bracing himself over her to now dragging the veiling cloth up her frame. His lips parted slightly as his gaze drank her in without contemplation. Curvature he'd had the opportunity to view once before, and yet had cast the notion away at the time. One he would savor now. His thumb hooked through the thin fabric of her under clothes, baring her entirely to his caress now, a warmth, a heat that made his head tilt lightly as he released a heavy breath. However, he did not stop there, pushing the evening gown further, his palm smoothing over her abdomen. His teeth clenched as he continued lazily working his finger through her slick, stare edging from revealing her bodice entirely to once more study her face. His touch carefully tender as he cupped her breast, unable to keep the molten sapphire of his sight trained on her features. Only for him to still entirely, his own cheeks flushed with heat once again as he noted the silver band that hung loosely against her skin on its dainty chain. The slight hint of a lopsided simper ghosted his lips as he had to avert his gaze after all.

"So... you did keep it.