A fierce, beautiful crimson flooded her face, not the flush of shame, but the glow of a woman awakened to her own desires.
"That the sun would take its time setting," she admitted, her voice barely audible over the lap of the water.
"I'm not ready to go back to being the Matriarch. I'm not ready for this day to end."
Shen Yu took her lantern and his, setting them into the current. As he straightened, he didn't pull back. He wrapped a powerful arm around her waist, drawing her flush against his chest, her soft curves molding against his hard frame.
On that bridge, surrounded by hundreds of people, they were utterly alone in a world of their own making.
"Then don't go back," he whispered, his gaze dropping to her lips with a hunger that made her knees tremble.
"The woman I see right now... she is the one I have wished for. Stay here, in this moment, with me. Be mine, not just for a day, but for an eternity."
