Chapter 14

Reality returned by slow degrees, coming to him as if out of a mist. The rose colored bed sheets, the night stand nest to the bed. The stripes of filtered moonlight falling through the blinds. The woman beneath him. He looked down at Quistis and felt something squeeze painfully in his chest. She was crying silently, her head turned to the side, the teardrops leaking out through the barrier of spiky lashes. He'd hurt her. He'd taken her like a stag in a rut. He'd felt how tight she was and still he'd let his own need overwhelm him and banged the living daylights out of her. What kind of animal had he become? The idea of hurting Quistis, brave, proud Qusitis, whose regal mask hid secret fears, cut deeper than he wanted to admit.

His hand trembling slightly as he brushed her hair back from her temple.

Seifer: Quistis? Quistis, I'm sorry—

Quistis: Don't be. I'm alright.

Seifer: I hurt you. I was too rough. I—

Quistis: No. That's never happened to me before.

Seifer went still above her as comprehension dawned.

Seifer: Never?

She turned her head and gave him a tremulous smile.

Quistis: I didn't have any idea it could be like that.

Nothing could have aroused Seifer more strongly. Knowing he had taken her somewhere no other man ever had was the best thing for him to know. She was his. He felt it on a fundamental, instinctive level. She was his. Still snug in the silken pocket of her womanhood, his body stirred strongly and her body tightened around him in automatic response. He stared down at her, feeling caught in the grip of a powerful emotion he couldn't name. She looked up at him, her eyes dark and liquid, her lips parting softly as her breath caught.

Seifer: Oh, that might have been your first trip to heaven, but it sure as hell won't be your last.