The Beastkeeper's Redemption

Nineteen

Nineteen 
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Kaede spun on his heel, but not before the image of her- so resplendently naked- had emblazoned itself onto the back of his eyelids to the extent that even if he squeezed them shut he would still see her...

"Izzy," he said, pained, grappling at whatever pathetic vestiges of self-restraint he had left, "you shouldn't do this."

He'd never seen any creature quite as beautiful as her, nor had he found one quite as... precocious. Tiffany Cotton had shown elements of tenacity with her peculiar mind and innate stubbornness, but this unveiled Isabella Hawkins left him feeling wholly out of his depths.

The soft pat of her feet as she approached him from behind made him tense up. He felt her sidle around so that she came to stand before him, and he knew that if he looked upon her he would be undone.

Even if the chamber was dark, he had still been able to make out the generous curves of her body- he doubted he'd ever be able to forget the fullness of her breasts, the graceful dip of her waist and the round flare of her hips. Her skin was flawless porcelain, broken only by the duskiness of her nipples.

"Is that what you really want?" she asked, a pout lacing her voice. Her hands trailed over his chest, her breasts brushing against his skin. "That's not what I want."

"We've had a long day," he persevered. Gods, this sort of valiant self-control in the face of such seduction should earn him a sainthood- at least. "You should rest until you have a clear mind to consider things between us."

"I've considered things well and truly for three days," Izzy told him stubbornly. Her arms draped over his shoulders, her fingers raking through his hair at the back of his neck. Sensation skittered along his scalp, and he felt his skin ripple in delight at her caress. She pressed up against him, leaning into his body so that every inch and soft contour met his hard angles. He felt her shift, easing unto the tips of her toes, and she managed a delicate, seeking kiss to his chin.

That almost made him smile... if he wasn't so transfixed by the exquisite feel of her against him, he may very well have submitted to that urge.

"You can't possibly imagine how difficult I found it," she murmured, trailing kisses along his jaw, "resisting you. Denying how much I wanted you."

"I believe I can," he rasped.

Her lips were scorching, torturous, and when they found the lobe of his ear, his fingers clenched into fists spasmodically. But she was too short to linger there for long and he felt her ease down slightly, focusing her attention on his clavicle- suckling, nibbling, tonguing...

A tortured sound left him.

"The thing about being honourable," Izzy was telling him, "is that one ought to have an equally honourable partner... and, Kaede, I am not very honourable."

Her kisses, her nakedness, hadn't compelled him to open his eyes, but her words certainly had. He tipped his chin down, finding her pressed to his chest, her face tilted up to meet his gaze. A painful constriction clamped over his heart at how devastating she was to his senses right then- all wild burgundy hair and pale skin, a stark contrast to his bronzed tan.

Vastly different creatures they were to each other, yet her differences made her perfect... and her similarities exquisite.

"Not honourable?" He couldn't stave it off a moment longer- his hands settled on her hips, long fingers spanning wide, as if he wanted to feel as much of her as he could. She felt so soft, warm, in the calloused palm of his hand. Another way that they differed in appearance- all his edges, the scars and skin on his body made firm and weathered with the beasts and elements he tempered for most of his life. He wondered what she made of their differences, if she liked how he felt...