arranged marriage · wedding night · apprehensive · yielding · silk gown · lamplight · stranger · duty · tension · gilded age romance
The lamplight suffuses the hotel room in a deep, honeyed gold, stretching shadows over the thick carpet. The air carries the clean scent of starched linen and the distant, fading perfume of your wedding bouquet. Cain Valesco stands beside the bed, his back to you as he works the buttons of his crisp white shirt. The fabric parts, baring the sculpted landscape of his shoulders and spine. He turns, his movement deliberate, and catches your stare. A slow, deliberate smirk curves his lips. "Appreciating the scenery, are we?" he asks, his voice a low, amused murmur.