I Can Love You Like That
I can love you like that
I would make you my world
Move heaven and earth if you were my girl
I would give you my heart,
be all that you need
Show you you're everything
that's precious to me
If you give me a chance
I can love you like that...
~All-4-One
Chronology: Tristan is 26. Raja is 16.
The familiar large gates opened, and for the first time in a year, Raja saw the interior of the fortress, the place that had been her home for seven years. Ardeth and Raja slowed their horses to a light trot. Raja’s heart was beating faster than Odin’s legs were moving. She had missed her Sarmatian kin terribly, even though she had enjoyed the traveling with her Uncle Ardeth the past year. The courtyard loomed closer and closer until Raja could see their faces clearly. Lord Ra and Odin came to a stop, and the two Egyptians dismounted. Bors was the first to pick her up into a big bear hug. He greeted her in Sarmatian and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Dagonet lifted her off her feet when he embraced her. Her gentle giant. Dag smelled of various herbs, hay, and kindness.
“I missed you, Dagonet,” she said.
“I missed you, too, Raja,” he replied, setting her down.
Gawain and Galahad gave her strong hugs, as well.
“Artie!” Raja exclaimed, and all chuckled, hearing her childhood nickname for their commander.
“All right. Move aside. Let me hug my cousin.” Lancelot smiled at his young cousin. He was happier to see her, more than he’d admit to anyone, of course. No one knew how much it had hurt to see her go, and how much he worried that he would never see her again.
“I missed you so much, Lottie.” She said his name quietly so no one else would hear.
“Me, too, cousin,” he said reverently, giving her a last squeeze before letting her go.
Finally, Raja turned fully to Tristan. He looked the same. Scraggly hair and beard, tattered clothing, watching eyes. He gave her a closed lipped smile as he approached her, but Raja knew that that laconic smile was filled with joy at seeing her. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she could not help but breathe him in. Her Trissy. The smells of earth, hay, horse, and nature encompassed him.
“Trissy,” she whispered.
He didn’t say he missed her; all his words were wrapped up
in the hug he had given her. They had never needed words to communicate.
Tristan had missed her so damn much that her absence was palpable. She had
become an essential part of his life when she had come to
Ardeth had greeted everyone, joyous to see them as well. Especially so to see his niece with a smile a mile wide.
Despite the fact that she had been separated from the only family she’d known
for seven years, he felt that the year away had been good for her. Away from the frigid winter of
“You must be tired from your journey,” Arthur said. “Your rooms have already been prepared.” Ardeth’s and Raja’s belongings had arrived before them and had been put in their quarters.
“Thank you, Arthur,” Ardeth replied in kind. He stopped his niece from leading Odin to the stables. “Let Jols take care of Odin this time, Raja.”
Reluctantly, she complied, knowing she did need to rest. And wash.
“He’ll be well taken care of, Raja,” Jols said, approaching.
“Jols!” She gave him a big hug as well. “It is so good to see you!”
“You, too,” he said.
Raja turned Odin over to Jols, who smelled the Head of
Grooms familiarly. Lord Ra joined Odin in the welcoming sniff. Penelo made her
appearance in the air, and Horus cawed in response, flying up to his winged
counterpart.
They all dispersed soon after. The keep was the same, Raja
thought. When she entered her bedroom, she saw everything was in the same
place, and free of dust. The fire had already been lit; the drapes were pulled
back from the windows, letting in rays of sunshine. She would have to unpack
her trunks of clothes and trinkets, but later. She plopped on the bed, her legs
sore from over a week of riding, her buttocks numb from sitting in a saddle.
Raja still could not believe she was back. And seeing her friends! How
wonderful that was. She had enjoyed her year traveling with Uncle Ardeth.
Setting feet on
Raja had a while before dinner. She contemplated whether she
should rest or bathe first. But her head hit the pillow and she was fast
asleep.
----
When the two Egyptians entered, the knights were already seated at the round table. They stood up and sat as Ardeth and Raja did. She was wearing a simple cut, lavender dress with a square bodice. Her long, black locks hung straight down her back, along with the iridescent white streak among them. Tristan couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was so beautiful. For once, that admission was not accompanied with guilt or self-reproach fast on its heels. From the moment he first held her earlier that day, she felt different in his arms. She had developed over the past year. She was a couple of inches taller, though she still did not reach his shoulder. She was more curvaceous, though still possessed gentle lines. Best of all, that guileless sparkle in her silver eyes had not dissipated in the least. But she felt like a woman in his arms, but still like Raja.
They reminisced over dinner, easily falling back into camaraderie of friends and family. Raja snuck peeks at Tristan. Her heart beat like thunder behind her chest, going a year without one’s best friend had been difficult. They hadn’t had a chance to speak privately yet, as she had slept the afternoon away. But she knew they would come together, just the two of them, before the night was over.
Ardeth didn’t fail to notice the invisible tie that
connected his niece and Tristan from across the circular table. Ah, so it
begins, the Egyptian thought. Yes, Ardeth had suspected this might happen upon
their return to
Dinner ended, bellies full. Ardeth and Arthur had business to discuss, so they went to Ardeth’s study. Raja accompanied the knights to the tavern. It was rare she spent an evening with them like this, but it was her first day back and she wanted to spend it with them. Lancelot and Tristan flanked her as they entered the raucous establishment. Vanora spotted them had held open her arms to hug Raja.
“Look at you!” Vanora exclaimed, holding her at arm’s length.
Raja blushed.
Someone demanded more drink, so Vanora apologized and went off to return to work. Lancelot sat across from Raja and Tristan next to her. She was unaccustomed to the loud atmosphere, bawdy taverns not having been one of her and her uncle’s many stops during their travels. But she was glad to be there with her friends. She sipped heavily watered ale while the others were served pints of frothy liquid.
A buxom woman insinuated herself next to Lancelot and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek. Raja lowered her head, hiding her smile in her cup. She was slightly jostled when Galahad plunked down next to her. She could feel the heat coming off of his skin he was so close.
“It’s good to have you back, Raja,” he said, all smiles. “We missed you.”
“I missed you all, too,” she replied.
Tristan heard a tone he didn’t like in Galahad’s voice. Ingratiating, flirtatious. Lancelot heard it too, as he had used – although better executed – the same demeanor many a time when it came to wooing the women. His dark eyes darted from the woman on his lap to Galahad, who was obviously trying hard not to look at Raja’s bodice. His cousin had to be the most modestly dressed person in the room, also the nicest. Still, he did not appreciate the sweaty pup’s eyes on his cousin.
Tristan was perfectly still next to Raja. He couldn’t believe Galahad was flirting with her with him and Lancelot both at the table! He felt jealousy and indignation curdle in his gut.
Raja was slightly uncomfortable with Galahad so close. There had been a moment in time when they had been closer, lips locked in feverous kisses. But that was a long time ago. She was clutching her cup between both of her hands, and her palms were becoming sweaty. Maybe it was the memory of Galahad’s utter rejection that so disconcerted her. Only a few hours after they had parted that year ago, she’d found him emerging from a horse’s stall in the stables with a woman, still flushed from his first intimate moment in a biblical sense. Had she been so forgettable or unsatisfying that she could push a man into another’s arms mere hours after sharing something she had perceived as special?
Lancelot was becoming frustrated with Galahad. Couldn’t he tell that Raja clearly didn’t appreciate his attentions? His eyes flicked towards Tristan, his unspoken partner when it came to defending and protecting Raja. It was obvious Tristan didn’t like it either. Good, they were still on the same page. Lancelot whispered something in his wench’s ear, and she smiled and hurried off, returning in moments with another wench arm in arm.
“Galahad!” Lancelot said. “This is Stella.”
Stella was blond and generous up top. Lancelot’s wench none-too-subtly pushed Stella towards Galahad, and the blond purposely fell onto his lap.
Lancelot winked at Galahad, who had a shocked expression on his face, or maybe it was shock from the enormous bosom that was level with his face.
“Well, I think I’ll go check on Odin and Horus now,” Raja said, standing up. Might as well escape while she could. She gave Lancelot a kiss on the cheek for she figured she would not get a chance to see him the rest of the night. Tristan got up and left with her, leaving a still ogling Galahad in their wake.
Fresh hair hit them like an ocean breeze. Raja had to shiver. Tristan gave her his cloak and she wrapped the large garment around her, unconsciously taking in the scent of the cloth. Their strides matched one another’s as if they were one body and not two. They walked slowly towards the tables. When she was younger she would have put her smaller hand in Tristan’s bigger one. Now, she held on to his elbow and leaned into him.
“I missed you, so much, Trissy,” she said.
His heart fluttered hearing her nickname for him.
“Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I would be half-asleep and be thinking about something I would want to tell you. Then my eyes would open, and I’d remember where I was, and realize you weren’t just a couple of halls away from me.” Raja looked up at him. “It was so odd not having you close to me.”
“Me too,” he said. He stopped under the moonlight and reached into his pocket. The ruby eyes in her dragon trinket glinted in the moon rays. “Here.”
Raja had given it to him, a tangible promise that she would
return. Tristan slipped it over her head. She touched the carved wood that she knew
by heart and clasped it against her chest. “Thank you for keeping this safe.”
She was so overwhelmed with emotion that she threw herself into his arms. He
returned her embraced unabashedly, her soft body wrapped within his arms. He
felt her breasts against his chest, her meadowsweet scented hair under his
chin. His member in his breeches was beginning to respond, so he gently
extricated himself from her. Now was not the time for her to know the extent
and depth of his feelings for her. But he vowed she would know soon. Tristan
didn’t know how long he could go with his heart restrained like this.
----
If Lancelot had had any doubts that his cousin’s year abroad had changed her into a full-blown noble woman who was now accustomed to fancier things and events he was proven wrong. He was slightly ashamed to have had that niggling doubt, but a few days after her arrival, and he walked into the stables to see her harnessing Odin, three empty baskets at her feet.
“You’re just in time, Lottie!” she said.
His face was comically bemused. “Time for what?” He was eyeing the baskets. Those baskets.
“Adonis is all ready.”
And indeed his black steed was. Raja handed Lancelot two baskets for him to carry, and she carried one. He knew this all too well, and was nostalgically pleased to be so easily coerced into the flower-picking exoduses that she often made them come on. Once she had picked a field, they dismounted and Lancelot followed her around with empty baskets as she selected them methodically then carefully placed them in the baskets. She was still his little cousin, inside, he let go of a rush of relief. She had not been corrupted by riches and snobbery, high fashions and expensive cosmetics.
About an hour later, she finally said, “I think we have enough.”
“We,” he snorted. “These flowers are all yours, cousin.”
Raja laughed. “You know you’ve missed fresh flowers, Lottie!”
When they returned to the fortress Lancelot bid her and her feminine frippery goodbye. And a few hours later when he entered his room in the keep, he saw a vase of freshly cut flowers on the table, and for certain the other men had flowers in their rooms, too.
After sorting out her flowers, Tristan and Raja caught up with one another to play a game of chess. They were in her room, sitting across from one another. He had a mug of ale next to him, and she a mug of peppermint tea. As she contemplated her next move, examining the board carefully, Tristan examined her. The light glinted off her ebony hair, and he wanted to run his fingers through it, tuck a stray strand behind her ear while letting the tips of his fingers whisper across her skin. Raja’s tongue was slightly jutting out of the corner of her mouth in concentration, her full, luscious lips. He felt his groin tighten.
“Ah!” she said. Long, graceful fingers reached out and situated one of her pieces. “Check.”
Tristan’s mouth tightened, back on the game. He grumbled
something under his breath, not seeing any viable moves. Raja was watching him
with a playful grin on her face. Both elbows were on the table and her chin
rested on her fists. He was keenly aware of her gaze but did not meet her eyes.
So the two danced around one another without moving.
For Raja, she wasn’t sure what these budding feelings inside her meant. Within
the last year she had been in
These feelings were something like she had felt when kissing Galahad that day so long ago. But what she had felt with Galahad was only a fraction of how she felt even thinking about Tristan. She wondered if Tristan thought of her as a woman...or simply his young friend. Did he truly see how she had grown? Was he aware on a visceral level? It had taken her time to get used to her own bodily changes; going from hate and disgust to uncomfortable and shy of it. At worst she was merely self-conscious.
Tristan grumbled again and made the only move he could at the time.
“I think we’re at an impasse,” she said, after several moments of contemplating her next move.
He chuckled and took a drink of his ale.
Raja looked down at the floor, extended her arm, and a mouse scuttled up her appendage. “Hello, Ginger.” The tip of her finger petted the small mouse on its head. “She was just waiting for me on my pillow last night,” Raja told him.
Her words brought an erotic image to his mind. Her head on a pillow, hair spread out like wings. Her...naked and waiting for him, then him, covering her like a shield and...
----
Lancelot really did not like the way Galahad was looking at his cousin. And he had the audacity to be so blatant about it. Did he actually think he had a prayer with her? It was morning; they were in the tavern having a quiet breakfast. Lancelot sat across from Raja, Tristan to Raja’s right, Galahad on her left. At least he wasn’t slobbering over her like he had been last week. Ginger the Mouse was on Raja’s shoulder.
“What are you doing today, Raja?” Lancelot asked.
She instantly brightened. “Tristan is helping me put up birdhouses.” She playfully nudged him in his side.
Her cousin chuckled. “She’s back and she already has us holding baskets and serving the birds.” But he loved the way she fell right back into their lives.
“Need any help?” Galahad asked.
“No,” Tristan answered before Raja could say anything.
“Oh, look, there’s your lover, Galahad,” Lancelot said, an impish smile on his face.
Galahad turned around and saw Stella heading for him. One night of bedding her and she was constantly at his heels. She was an enthusiastic bed partner, but every time he was trying to have a conversation with Raja...
Lancelot said goodbye to his cousin and Tristan as they left to cater to the woodland birds. One of his lovely possums smiled at him as she served him drink. Already his cousin was fading from Galahad’s mind. Served him right. No man was right for his cousin if he couldn’t keep his eyes off of other wenches. What did he think? That his young cousin was disposable? A passing fancy? The dark knight saw the way other men observed Raja, even Gawain, but he knew Gawain would do nothing. Galahad, however. As much as he didn’t quite like the idea of Raja being wooed, if she was to be, it wouldn’t be by the likes of Galahad. His cousin deserved a real man, one who could take care of her, one who would understand her, and be gentle with her. Galahad was much too immature for that. His cousin was complex and sensitive, and didn’t need any bumbling fool courting her. She needed someone steady, loyal, someone who knew her...someone like...Tristan. That notion hit him like a rock in the head. Would that work?
Finally, Stella departed, having to head to work. Once she was gone, Galahad shot daggers at Lancelot. Gawain turned his full attention to his hot-headed friend.
“What is your problem?” Galahad spat.
Lancelot gave him an innocent look. “I have no problem.”
His face began to turn red. “Every time I speak with Raja-”
“My cousin,” Lancelot interjected pointedly.
“A grown woman!” Galahad reminded him.
“Dear boy,” Lancelot told him, his condescending manner obviously infuriating the younger man, “if you truly, truly were attracted to my cousin, you wouldn’t go off with other wenches such as you do. It’s disrespectful.”
Galahad laughed harshly. “Oh, this coming from you.”
His dark eyes were serious. “My cousin is no wench. And she doesn’t need you flirting with her, and then you going off with a whore later on in the night. How do you think that would make her feel?”
As always, Galahad’s mind reeled when Lancelot spoke so about his cousin. It was mind-boggling to hear him talk about respecting a woman and considering her feelings. But he had always been protective of his cousin, but Galahad hadn’t expected this sort of problem. He remembered kissing Raja, and quite frankly, wanted to do so again. He did care for her, but they were not betrothed, so why could he not bed another woman in the night?
“Raja is your friend. Nothing more.”
Galahad’s hand curled into a fist. “She can make her own decisions. Raja likes me.” Gods, he hated nothing more than being treated like a childish idiot.
Lancelot smirked. “As a friend, I’m sure. And she can make her own decisions. But you have no intentions of giving her the undivided attention she deserves, so I suggest you avert your whoring ways to others better suited for you.” He went in for the kill. “Besides, I don’t imagine Ardeth would appreciate you treating Raja like a typical dalliance. Imagine if you hurt her feelings!”
He was silent. His eyes flicked towards Dagonet and Bors who had remained silent during Lancelot’s tirade.
“I wouldn’t take kindly to anyone hurting our Raja,” Bors said, stuffing a piece of bread into his mouth.
“Perhaps heeding Lancelot’s advice would be in your best interest,” Dagonet said.
Lancelot smiled at Galahad. “Glad we had this talk.”
Soon, only Gawain and Galahad were left at the table. Gawain was smirking at his younger friend, having thoroughly enjoyed the scene.
“It’s not funny,” Galahad sneered. “She does like me.”
“What makes you so sure?” Gawain asked.
Never had he told anyone of Raja’s and his shared kisses. But now, Galahad leaned across the table and quietly told Gawain. But he made the mistake of telling him about what he had done later that night, too.
Gawain reached over the table and slapped him upside the head. “You idiot.”
“What?”
“Maybe you could get away with that with any other woman, but Raja? She’s too nice.”
“She wasn’t angry!” Galahad insisted.
“Of course! Because she’s too nice! But did you think that she might have been hurt by it? Walking in just as you were coming out of the stall? Gods, man.”
A nugget of shame flushed his face.
“Take Lancelot’s advice, Galahad,” Gawain told him.
----
Tristan couldn’t help keeping his eyes locked on Raja’s backside as she climbed the tree to set up the birdhouse. She was wearing a pair of hose and a light blue tunic, a sash tied around her waist, emphasizing her soft curves.
“I got it!” she called down to him.
She scaled down carefully, making sure she didn’t lose her footing. Tristan didn’t need to, but he helped her down the last few feet, if only for an excuse to touch her. Raja liked him touching her; it sent chills throughout her entire body. Sometimes she caught him looking at her with a glint in his golden eyes she’d never seen before. Raja wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but that glint mirrored how she felt. She wondered if he could ever love her like she loved him.
They were standing close, somehow stilled by the other’s close proximity. Raja looked up at him, and the world stopped. Her heart beat rapidly.
Tristan wanted to kiss her. Kiss her in a different way than that one time he had over a year ago. That kiss had been a goodbye one; he wanted their next kiss to be filled with the future. She was so close. All he had to do was lean down, just a little...
But Penelo and Horus interrupted.
Raja startled and stepped away. “They’re probably hungry.”
“They know how to hunt.”
Dyne and Odin trotted into their clearing.
“They don’t,” Raja said.
“Yeah,” he grunted under his breath.
They rode back in silence, their moment having passed, but the energy still charged.
“Thank you, Trissy, for helping me today.”
He impulsively reached out his hand to squeeze hers. And she squeezed back, her eyes intense and inquiring.
He wanted to tell her he loved her right now. He wanted to scoop her down from the saddle and embrace her, kiss her and take her breath away as she did his. But the horses still moved, and he let her hand go as people came into view.
----
Raja was sharing dinner with her Uncle Ardeth later that evening. They were in his study. Ardeth could tell his niece’s mind was preoccupied with many things. She had been spending a lot of time with Tristan, and he continued to see the expression in the scout’s eyes, one he knew all too well – love, desire. He imagined it was what his own dark eyes looked like when he would set eyes on his late wife Inara. Yes, he knew love very well. That look in Tristan’s eyes was the same look Raja’s father, Lancelot, had had for her mother, Aisha.
Over the year, in the places they’d visited, Ardeth had been
approached many times as to Raja’s availability. If she was already married, if
not, was she betrothed? What was her dowry? Their family name was well known in
“Uncle Ardeth?”
“Yes, little one?”
Raja set down her eating utensil and put her hands in her lap to hide her twiddling thumbs. “How...How do you know if someone is in love with you?”
Ardeth smiled softly. “I am not sure if one can know for certain if someone is in love with them unless they are told.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Did you know that Aunt Inara loved you before she told you?”
Ardeth chuckled fondly, the image of his beloved Inara bringing both a stab of pain and joy. “I did not know for certain. We met only a week before Memnon and I were shipping out.”
“Tell me again how you met,” Raja interjected, her eyes alight and ready for a romantic tale.
His own smile could not be wiped away. “Your uncle Memnon
and I were shipping out from
“And you were married three months later,” Raja finished.
He nodded and took a sip of his wine.
“I wish I could have known her.”
“As do I. I know she would have adored you.”
Raja saw the sad look in her uncle’s eyes. How awful it must be to have one’s true love taken away from them. There had been Irisi, but it wasn’t the same, no where near as close. It’s not everyday that a person can find that one somebody to love them like they want to be loved.
----
Despite Lancelot’s words that morning, Galahad continued to sit close to Raja. She was in the tavern with them again that evening. Tristan had had it up to here with Galahad’s obsequious ministrations.
“I’m going to go say goodnight to Odin,” Raja said. She had to get out of here. It was loud and raucous.
Tristan left with her, not liking her walking around in the dark alone.
“I am going to say goodnight to Odin,” Raja said, “but mostly I just wanted to leave.”
“You want to walk then?” he asked.
“All right.” She took his arm again, and their footsteps led them to their place in the forest. It was a clear skied night with many twinkling stars and a full moon.
“You okay?” he asked. They sat down in front of the creek.
Raja hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on her kneecaps. She had to know if Tristan loved her. She could simply tell him that she loved him, but if he didn’t feel the same way, what then? Their friendship would become strained. Maybe she was too tainted for him. She obviously was not that great of a kisser either because Galahad had went off with another woman mere hours after kissing her. Perhaps there was something about Raja that didn’t inspire fidelity.
“Did you meet anyone while I was gone, Trissy?” she asked quietly. “A woman?”
Meet a woman? He hadn’t even bedded a woman in five months, and he had no compunctions to either.
“What if I met someone?” she asked tentatively.
His heart skipped a beat and the hairs rose on the back of his neck. “Did you meet someone? While you were away?”
She didn’t answer right away. Raja just wanted to know if he loved her. Then she could tell Tristan that she loved him. If she waited too long he might get tired of waiting.
When she remained quiet, he began to get a bad feeling. “Did you meet someone, Raja?”
“I...” She cleared her throat and sat up straight. “I wanted to be the one to tell you.”
His face went slack.
“I was married.”
Tristan didn’t want to hear her. In fact, he thought she was joking, but when she didn’t break out into a smile he nearly died.
“In
Tristan shot up to his feet and stepped away. Raja got up to.
This couldn’t be. Tristan stood stock still, facing the creek, staring at nothing. How could she be married? Taken away from him before he truly had her? His beautiful Raja. Married? And to some juvenile! No one knew Raja better than he. Did this Demetrius know her patterns of breathing? Could this Demetrius read her face like a book? Did this Demetrius remember all the names of her animal friends, and be able to identify one from another? Did he know to stay close to her when she was around new people? Especially men, to make her feel secure? Was he completely and utterly comfortable when she cried, did he know that no words were needed to comfort her? Just steady arms and a loving heart?
“No!” Tristan growled. The sound was so inhuman that it startled even Raja. “How could you do this, Raja?”
“I...”
“Do you even love him? Trust him? How could Ardeth allow this?!”
“I didn’t have many options,” she said.
“Options?”
“Because I’m me. I have no maidenhead, and my options are limited.” Her heart was beating so fast it made her entire body shake. She wanted to take it all back. She hadn’t imagined Tristan would be so angry.
“That is ridiculous,” he said harshly. “Anyone who would even consider that is a fool, and doesn’t deserve you!” A took deep breaths. “Damn it,” he hissed. “Damn it.”
“Tristan...”
“I’ll undo this,” he said, more to himself than her. Tristan looked her straight in the eyes. “I love you, and I will undo this. I won’t let some other man, a boy, have you!”
She had to force her legs to move, chase after him. He was going to go to her uncle! “Trissy, no! It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.” He kept walking.
“Wait!” When he kept walking, she blurted. “I lied, Tristan! There’s no Demetrius!”
He stopped cold, three feet in front of her. He turned around. “What?”
Raja was shivering from trepidation. “I just wanted to know if you loved me.”
He was quiet for a moment. Then, “So you told me you were married?” His voice was flat and it worried her.
She swallowed a lump in her throat. Her voice was dry. “Yes. I’m sorry. But I didn’t know how to... Because if I told you, and you didn’t feel the same way...”
“Told me what?”
She inhaled shakily. “That I love you. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, Trissy.”
He was still reeling from the fact that she wasn’t married. His relief was mixed with anger that she had lied to him like that. But she lied because she wanted to know for certain if he loved her. And...she loved him, and was frightened that he wouldn’t feel the same way. He laughed. Then laughed again.
“I’m sorry.”
When he looked up she was standing by the creek looking so alone with her head down and cloak wrapped tightly around her body.
Raja felt him beside her and hastened to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
“Don’t ever do that to me again,” he finally said.
She stared at him uncertainly. He wiped the tears from her eyes with the pads of his thumbs.
“Don’t ever do that to me again.”
Raja nodded.
“Thinking of you with another man kills me, Raja.”
Her brow shot up in surprise. “It does?”
He half-smiled. “I don’t think any man likes the idea of the woman he loves with another.”
“You’re not angry?”
“I was. But I can never stay angry with you. I know why you did it.”
“I won’t ever do that again.”
“Say it again, Raja.”
She gazed at him for a moment before she understood what he meant. “I love you, Trissy.”
Tristan grinned. He tucked her hair behind her ears, and her eyes closed when he caressed her face. She felt the heat of him near her lips, until his touched hers. He started softly but couldn’t hold back. He pressed her to him and devoured her. His tongue prodded her lips until she opened for him, and their tongues danced. Her arms went around his neck to hold him tighter. His hands explored the expanse of her back, gliding down until they settled on her hips. Heaven and earth careened around them, and the only thing that kept them grounded was their hold on each other.
Raja felt something jabbing into her lower stomach, but ignored it. She was too invested in kissing Tristan. He was so powerful, yet tender with her. She couldn’t trust anyone better to give her heart and soul. She had to catch her breath when they broke apart.
He rested his forehead on hers, her face cupped between either of his hands.
“My Raja,” he whispered.