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✲꘏ ꘏ ꘏ ꘏✲
I froze, staring into Tobias's brown eyes, uncertain what to do. I wanted to pull away, yet I found myself unable to move. I could not understand why such a powerful desire for this man had suddenly awakened within me. The same desire burned unmistakably in his own eyes. I had seen it from the very first moment we met in the Allied camp's mess hall, when he had pressed a pistol against my forehead.
With quiet assurance, Tobias slipped his strong hands around my waist and gently lifted me, drawing me closer as he carried me toward the sofa. His lips found mine again, and he kissed me with a fervor that made my heart race even faster than before. Blood thundered through my veins. I could not remember the last time I had felt such an intoxicating rush of exhilaration. Perhaps only as a child, when my father built me a swing and hung it from the branch of a tree, and I soared higher and higher into the air.
I let every other thought fade away.
There was only Tobias and the sweetness of his kisses—my first, and perhaps my last. Even so, I did not resist. I wanted them.
I did not pull away when he slowly unfastened the buttons of my blouse or slipped the garment from my shoulders. Nor did I stop him when he undressed me completely, moving with deliberate patience, watching every reaction that crossed my face. Strangely, I felt no shame lying before a man I barely knew.
A moment later, Tobias undressed as well. It was only the second time I had seen him without clothes. I caught my lower lip between my teeth as he settled beside me, and an involuntary gasp escaped me.
When he drew me close and our bodies became one, a brief ache coursed through me. I did not know whether Tobias realized that I had never belonged to anyone before, but if he did, he gave no sign of it. Nothing in his expression changed.
He held me with quiet tenderness, his movements unhurried, at times gentle, at times more urgent, before easing once more into a slower rhythm. I wrapped my arms around him, my fingers clutching tightly at his back, while he breathed softly against my ear.
I could not suppress the quiet sounds that escaped me.
The moment overwhelmed me completely.
Yet beneath it all lingered a trace of guilt.
Never in my life had I imagined—let alone believed—that the day would come when I would surrender my heart and body to a man who had once been my enemy.
★ ⋆ ★
"What's happening?" I asked, hearing the commotion somewhere nearby. Tobias and I were lying naked on the cabin floor beside the dead sailor, while voices, shouted orders, and hurried footsteps echoed throughout the ship.
"I'll go and see," Tobias said, rising to his feet and gathering his clothes. He dressed with astonishing speed. It was hard to believe he managed it in less than two minutes. In that same time, I had barely managed to pull on my underwear and bra.
