Gilbert traced his hands down her softly curved sides, savoring the warm, supple flesh that gave slightly beneath his calloused fingertips. There was muscle there, a good deal of it hidden in the round edges of the feminine form, and as Erzsebet shifted in his hold he could feel her latent strength. But now, for this moment at least, she was showing him her soft side… a side he had only glimpsed previously.
He surprised her with his tact, choosing against words as the garments slipped away like red velvet curtains to reveal the greater spectacle beyond. Bending forward with his neck slightly cranked, he stooped to kiss the sparse freckles on her shoulders as she ran her hands across his chest, finding in adorned with fine, fair hairs spanned in a modest patch between pale pink nipples that contrasted quietly with his otherwise skin. They both had scars – some whitened and flat, some purple and knotted – that spanned over their seemingly youthful bodies as though placed by some weapons wielding artist. She felt the mottled, ruined skin as her fingers trailed up his back, recognizing what had once been a capital. He traced the curved path of a scimitar up her side to her ribs.
"Let's not linger," she murmured, setting her warm lips to his throat as she pulled him away by their intertwined fingers, both rough with work, use, and combat. "The past's passed… I'm more interested in the future."
"Y'mean the immediate future," he prompted, clumsily verbalizing what would have otherwise remained unspoken and erotic.
She almost rolled her eyes, but still she smiled coyly. "Yes, that future."
And the bedroom door was pulled shut because for a few glorious moments, they would escape titles, territories, and history to live in that heart-pounding moment of perfect unification.