It's innately hard to appreciate beauty when you're faced with it head on. You don't think about the intricacies, you merely stare at them in some kind of awe. At least â€" that's what a man does. Faced with a woman, sensual and seductive and feminine in every way, a man is more likely than not at his most vulnerable as he's prone to stupor reminiscent of a mime. And me? I guess I'm not so different, even though I'd like to protest otherwise. When the material of Serafina's dress fell away like a veil, yielding a sight that might make my words that would be inappropriate for polite company. The lace hugged her hips where I wished my lips were - and soon enough, would be. Deliberate and enthusiastic did I slide my fingers beneath the lace to brush over her delicious skin.

I wanted nothing more than to spend time in the company of the young witch I'd brought home with me. The lengths to which I went in order to keep our company private seemed to amuse Sera, but it was a brief and less than fleeting expression that I chose to ignore by carrying her to my bedroom. The prying eyes of my feline pride made me uncomfortable in the strangest of ways; they didn't understand, but oh they judged. Their little eyes narrowing to slits as they watched the two of us until my bedroom door was shut and Serafina's back was on my bed.

"It is not a laughing matter. They're judgmental fluffy jerks."

Indignant, I admonished her snicker at my admitting that the cats bothered me. To be honest, it totally did. The little things were freaks and I wanted to lock them in a closet instead of letting them roam the townhouse like they owned it (didn't they...?) In an attempt to ignore them, I busied my lips with planting kisses from her collarbone towards her jaw, until it was impossible to ignore them. The sensation of eyes on my back was far too strong â€" and the sudden spring of my Shadow dancing animatedly against the far wall was enough to pull my attention from the witch to the slinking shape of a feline I knew all too well.

"What in the name of all that is holy," I swore under my breath, propping myself up on an elbow in an attempt to catalog the presence of the were. He left quickly enough, but the stare he'd left me with sent a shudder up my spine â€" this wasn't something I wanted to have to attempt to explain later on. It didn't help that Serafina's fingers had traveled to the elastic band holding the last article of clothing on. "Good lord, I have an infestation." The last words were muttered, almost rendering me irritated enough to forget the stunning woman I wanted to bury myself in and chase the scoundrel out.

Good fucking riddance.

With Tobias gone, Serafina became the sole recipient of my attention once more. Without magic, I traced my fingers the landscape of her thigh, to her hip to her stomach and to her chest, exploring every inch of her body that I could. It was familiar in the strangest of ways; while I hadn't been here before with her, it felt more comfortable and ... satisfying than anything had ever felt before. Like the deep breath you take when you've surfaced from a long dive â€" yeah, that satisfying. There were no words to accompany the exploration of her body, my lips preoccupied with caressing her curves where I'd only longed to, before.

Retracing my lips back up her body to tantalizingly grace her jaw my lips curved into a wicked smile. It was only fair to continue the dance we'd begun that night in her shop before the vampire fiasco, right? I hitched one of her legs around my waist, lips remaining at her throat.

"You need to tell me exactly what you want."

And though I'd wanted that only moments before, every nerve in my body told me to act otherwise â€" and with a breathe caught in my throat I indulged in my deliciously wanton desire.