His gaze darkens, steady and certain.
“Exactly the way you deserve.”
Because she does deserve this. Deserves to be the only woman in the room, the only woman in his heart.
He stands tall, all six foot five inches of him towering over Seren’s small frame. He does not take his eyes off her, does not let the past take this moment.
He raises his hands, hooking a deft finger under the chain at his neck, and lifts it over his head.
Seren swallows thickly.
He drops the chain, eyes still firmly fixed on Seren.
Something between them shifts—unspoken but real.
Seren’s eyes soften. Not with hope, exactly. But gratitude or acknowledgement. Or just the aching relief of being chosen.
Teddy is a man of his word—there is nothing he takes more seriously. And he intends to honor Seren in every way he can.
She nods, like she understands the weight of what that means. The weight of removing his marriage ring for the first time in a decade.
She pulls her braid over her shoulder, untying the leather band from the ends, and dragging her fingers through the wild curls that fall in twists and whirls over her shoulders and back.
“Will you show me what I deserve, Teddy?” she asks, though it’s more like a challenge.
Teddy’s fingers drop to the buckles on her leather vest, working them loose with deft fingers.
“I would be honored,” he admits, his voice a low, gravelly rumble.
The leather vest falls to the floor in a heavy thud.
He reaches for her tunic, and she raises her arms as if to say,I want this.
He pulls the tunic over her head slowly, her bare, delicate flesh unfurling in a gradual reveal.
Her breasts are bound, like the ancient female warriors, and that only makes him love her harder. Love her softer. To see who she’s become in the face of a broken world.
His hands move in hypnotic circles as they unbind the bandage from her chest, her arms raised patiently at her shoulders.
Her eyes settle on him, taking in every line, every edge, every movement like she’s committing him to memory, too.
The last loop of bandage falls from her chest.
Her breasts fall in perfect round swells, nipples peaked already. Teddy exhales like the sight physically wounds him.
His hand reaches out, cupping her cheek, trailing down her neck in a tender caress, and finding her breast.
His mouth finds her neck, lips and tongue lapping her up, drinking her in.
His hand works, massaging her breast, and she sighs reflexively.
A moan slips past his lips at the sound, and Seren drops her head back, a breathy pant escaping her. Her breath is relief andacceptance and resentment all at once. The sound of a woman making peace with what will never be.
Hearing her breathe like that sets him alight. His cock hardens instantly, straining against his linen pants. Need slams through him so hard it borders on violence.
His hands slow, not stopping—but grounding. Anchoring.
“Thank you for trusting me with this,” he says quietly. “With you.”
