It starts with a horse's stumbled step, a jostle, and a stifled curse whispered into her neck.
Well. Really it started with a hasty rendezvous in a secret hideaway, and then another, and then a whole series of them, and finally and argument and an escape and a valiant rescue effort, just him on his horse in the gathering dusk, seeking her out so he can apologise. Explain himself. Try to convince her that it's not her; it's their families, it's their obligations, it's the impropriety of it.
The words get stuck in his throat when he finds her, sitting in the grass wearing a crown of flowers and surrounded by the wreckage of several more. Wordlessly, he offers his hand, and she rises to take it. She wasn't wearing much when she ran off, just leggings and a long-sleeved tunic, so when she settles into the saddle in front of him, he feels every curve pressing against him.
* * *
It starts with a horse's stumbled step. She jolts, just slightly, but enough to push her back into him, enough for him to mutter an oath that he tries to muffle in her neck. He's clearly trying to play it off, but the ghost of his breath on her neck has the opposite effect, and heat runs down her body.
Slowly, she moves her hips again, intentionally this time. She wriggles from side to side like she's just trying to get comfortable in the saddle, and he groans.
"Careful," he whispers.
"Or what?" she asks, leaning her head back onto his shoulder. She tugs on the hem of her tunic, lowering her neckline.
"What are you trying to do to me?" he asks, and bends down to press a kiss to the exposed curve of her neck.
"I'm pretty sure you know exactly what," she retorts. She nudges her hips backwards again, encountering something considerably firmer than just moments ago.
His arms are around her, the reins gathered loosely in hands that rest against her legs. He transfers them to one hand now, laying the other open-palmed across the inside of her thigh. "Do you really think you're in control here?"
They both know she isn't, and damn if that isn't the thrill of it. Her entire body is bracketed by his: his chest supporting her back, his legs enveloping hers, his arms caging her in.
His hand moves up her thigh until he's tracing a path up her hipbone, and she shivers, as much in anticipation as anything else. They have a ways to go yet before getting home, and she is completely at his mercy.
He leaves her hip for now, moving his hand up to palm her breast through her shirt. His thumb brushes across her nipple, and she gasps. He brings his mouth down to her shoulder, leaving a trail of open-mouthed kisses as he makes his way across to the sensitive skin of her neck. He reaches a particular spot they're both well-acquainted with, and she tries to squeeze her thighs together, only to be blocked by the two-ton horse between her legs. She grabs his thigh.