My Taboo Harem!

Her gaze followed the line down his body before she could stop it. Then snapped back up. Too late. Phei had seen but said nothing.

Sienna’s hand moved before her pride approved.

Her fingertips touched his chest. Lightly. Barely. Then traced downward.

The moment her fingertips made contact with his warm skin, a visible shiver ran through her slender frame and Phei himself, shivered.

Her touch was feather-light at first, almost reverent, as if she were afraid he might vanish or that she might be dreaming. She felt the warmth of him, the firm resilience of muscle beneath smooth skin, the way his chest rose and fell a little faster under her hand.

Her own breathing had gone shallow and quick.

The blush on her face burned hotter as her fingers traced the center line of his chest, then lower, following the hard ridges of his abdomen.

She could feel his heartbeat — strong, fast, betraying how much her touch affected him. B

etween her legs, where she straddled him, she felt the thick, hard length of his his pressing up against her through their clothes, and the knowledge sent another rush of wet heat to her core.

The contact was so soft that it should not have mattered, but Phei felt it as if she had dragged a blade of warmth through him. Her fingers followed the line of muscle with stunned concentration, moving over him like she was trying to reconcile imagination with fact and losing badly.

Sienna’s face remained composed. Her blush did not. Her fingertips slid lower to the hard ridges of his abdomen.

Then stopped as she realized what she was doing.

Her hand jerked back.

Phei caught it, simply closing his fingers around her wrist and held her hand against him.

Sienna’s eyes flew to his. There it was again. Vulnerability, flashing beneath violet like lightning under ice.

Phei’s voice was low. "Go on."

Her throat moved once. "I was not—"

"You were."

"I was confirming."

"My anatomy?"

"Your arrogance."

He smiled faintly. "Then confirm thoroughly."

Her eyes narrowed, but the blush spreading across her face ruined the effect with tragic efficiency. Phei kept her hand against his chest. "At this moment," he said reassuringly, "I am yours."

Sienna went still.

"You can do what you want as I you’re with me, Sienna," he continued. "Touch where you want. Ask what you want. Stop when you want. Try things and fail. Try things and like them. Be curious. Be clumsy. Be cold. Be embarrassed. Be you."

Her fingers flexed against his skin.

Phei leaned closer, but not enough to crowd her. "This place is enclosed to only us," he said. "Only us. Whatever you do here, whatever you ask, whatever you think of, whatever I do to you later if you still want that... it stays in this room."

Sienna’s eyes searched his.

"And forever in our minds," he added. "Safe from anyone any one to never know what happened here, Cuz."

Sienna’s hand still rested on his chest. but Phei could feel how cautious she was. How intensely aware.

How much force it took for her to continue touching instead of retreating into silence. To anyone else, her fingers moving half an inch would have meant nothing. To Phei, it felt like a confession.

A huge one.

Her fingers moved again and this time it was deliberate as she traced the center of his chest, slower than before, then followed the line down toward his abdomen. Her touch was still hesitant, but less accidental now.

The wonder in her eyes deepened, hidden behind that cold face which had become increasingly useless tonight as a disguise. Her thumb brushed over one hard line of muscle, and Phei’s breath changed before he could stop it.

Sienna noticed. Of course she did. Her eyes lifted with triumph like she’d achieved unimaginable.

"You reacted."

"I am alive."

"You reacted to me."

Phei held her gaze. "Yes."

He wanted her hands on him, her curiosity, awkwardness. Her slow, careful exploration. He wanted Sienna, not some confident version she thought she needed to become first.

Her lips parted faintly. Phei’s gaze dropped there, then returned to her eyes.

He was trying to behave. Trying very hard. A heroic attempt, really. Doomed, probably, but worth a footnote in whatever tragic archive recorded men attempting restraint while a beautiful goddess sat on their lap touching their bare chest for the first time.

His cock reacted harder beneath her, the thick length twitching visibly against the confines of his trousers every time her fingers brushed a particularly sensitive spot on his abdomen. He could feel the heat of her pussy through their clothes — warm and tempting — and it took every ounce of his control not to roll his hips up into her.

His breathing had grown heavier, the muscles in his chest and stomach flexing subtly under her exploring hands.

Sienna’s hand moved lower but stopped and moved back up placing her palm flat against his chest, over his heartbeat.

"You are nervous," she said.

"Yes."

"You?"

"You keep asking that as if I am a stone."

"You act shameless."

"I am shameless." His smile faded into something more honest. "And nervous."

Her gaze stayed on his face. "Why?"

Phei laughed under his breath, but there was no mockery in it. "Because it is you, Sienna."

Sienna’s fingers curled slightly against his chest.

Sienna looked down. A terrible defense. She was sitting on him. There was nowhere to flee without admitting retreat. "You talk too much," she said.

Then he took her hand from his chest and kissed her knuckles.

Sienna froze. The blush returned like it had been waiting just outside the door for a new excuse. Her thighs tightened slightly around his hips where she straddled him, the movement pressing her more firmly against the hard ridge of his cock.

She looked completely undone by such a small, tender gesture.

Phei looked up at her. "Your turn."

"My turn?"

"To do what you want."

Her brows drew together. He smiled. "Within reason."

"That is vague."

"It is safer for both of us."

"You are making jokes again."

"I am trying not to scare you."

"I am not scared."

"No." Phei studied her, voice softening. "You are overwhelmed."

Sienna did not deny it. That, too, was a confession.

Her hand returned to his chest after a few seconds. This time, she used both hands. Slowly. Carefully. As if learning the map of him.

Her fingers traced his shoulders, then down his arms, then back to his chest. She tested pressure once, pressing her palm more firmly against the muscle there. Phei did not move. Only watched her.

Sienna’s curiosity grew bolder under his silence. She touched the side of his neck. His collarbone. The line of his abdomen again.

Every new place made her blush, but every blush angered her into continuing. A very Sienna method of seduction. Shame as fuel. Pride as poor navigation. Naturally, it was working.

Phei sat still beneath her hands and let her discover him. Let her have control. Let her feel that he was not untouchable, not some distant dragon surrounded by women who knew what they were doing, but a man sitting half-bare beneath her hands, breathing differently because she had decided to touch him.

After a while, Sienna looked at him. The aloof mask remained. Barely. "I thought..." she began. Then stopped.

Phei waited.

She hated that too. "I thought it would feel stranger."

"Touching me?"

"Yes."

"What does it feel like?"

Sienna looked at her hands on his chest.

Then, in a voice so quiet it almost vanished beneath the library lights, she said, That you’re mine and I shouldn’t hesitate."

Phei went still. Sienna seemed to realize what she had said at the same moment he did. Her eyes snapped up and neither of them spoke.

Phei’s heart struck harder beneath her palm.

"I meant—"

"I know what you meant," Phei said softly. "You do not."

"I do."

"You are assuming."

"I am?"

Phei reached up, brushing a strand of hair back from her face. "At this moment, I am." Her breath caught. "Yours," he finished.

Sienna’s fingers tightened against him.

Her entire body had gone tense and trembling on his lap. The word "mine" had clearly shaken something loose inside her. Her thighs were gripping his hips more tightly now, her breath coming in soft, quick pants.

Her violet eyes were wide and glassy, filled with a mix of terror, wonder, and raw, unguarded emotion she could no longer hide.

And for a long, trembling second, the ancient goddess, the cold girl, the secret first love, and the woman about to take the first real step all looked at him through the same violet eyes.

Then she leaned forward but not enough to kiss him.

Only enough to rest her forehead against his.

"Idiot," she whispered.

Phei closed his eyes. "Your idiot?"

Sienna was silent. Then, barely, almost too softly to count, she said, "Yes... for now."

Phei smiled.