"Where…" Her body still twitched. "Where are you taking me?"
“To wash you.” His tone softened. “It was your first time. You need warm water.”
She settled against him.
He carried her inside solely to help her wash. That was the plan.
Then under the warm shower, she pressed her lips to his throat. "Hukum..."
He stopped. A low breath left him, half a laugh. “You are not helping.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
"Meera."
“I can barely think.”
“You are thinking very clearly.”
She smiled against his neck. He felt it and it ruined him just as thoroughly as everything else about her had tonight.
He kissed her, slower this time, holding her there, until everything else faded.
Time blurred after that.
He had taken her enough that her body refused to cooperate anymore, limbs soft, strength gone. She lay against him, half-covered in a sheet, her head on his shoulder, his arm firm around her waist.
He brought a sweet to her lips. “Eat.”
“You are a tyrant,” she murmured, eyes barely open.
He chuckled softly. “Your tyrant.”
She took a bite, too tired to argue.
He watched her, then held a glass of milk to her mouth. She drank because he asked, because his hand remained there until she did.
“You look…” her voice trailed.
“Unbothered?” he offered.
She frowned. “Unfairly energetic.”
“That too.” He bit the inside of his cheek. “You were not complaining a while ago.”
Her fingers curled weakly against him. “I was not… capable of complaining.”
“No,” he agreed, far too pleased. “You were very cooperative.”
“I was not…”
“Hukum,” he reminded her softly.
She stilled. “…that is not fair.”
“You made it very effective.”
A breath passed between them.
