Random Preview ~14

Her heart leapt as the doors closed firmly behind Sasuke. Self-conscious of the revealing, sheer white nightgown that covered her form, Sakura immediately reached out to snag the silk robe she had discarded onto the chair, meaning to modestly conceal the low-cut dress – but Sasuke got to it first. Purposefully, he pulled the robe from the chair and allowed it to slip to the floor behind him, not once taking his eyes off her.

He was dressed in black and gold. Like glorified darkness. Something that felt suspiciously like panic twisted deep inside Sakura's gut as Sasuke strode surely towards the bed, parted the gauzy curtains, and sat wordlessly down before her.

A distressed blush stained Sakura's cheeks as his gaze slowly travelled from her face, along her throat, down her slender arms and up again, lingering for a fraction of a second on her soft breasts, covered only by a thin film of material. She folded her arms protectively across her chest, unnerved by the power of his stare, and even more disconcerted by his continued silence.

He lifted his right hand, and she stiffened as the fingers grazed her jawline, a feather-light touch that caused fluttering feelings to flitter in her stomach. The callous fingertips continued to stroke her skin, before gripping firmly onto her chin. He tilted her face up, seemed to examine it even more intently.

Sakura stared at him in confusion, uncertain of how to react. He was touching her again. But why? She did not know what to do. Move away? Ask him to withdraw his hand? Connect a fist to that infuriatingly haughty nose?

But she did none of those things, for his obsidian gaze had captured hers, and she was powerless to look away. Something about those smouldering, heavy lashed eyes had always captivated her. In the flicker of candlelight his onyx irises seemed an almost lustrous grey, a beautiful, winter-like colour, the precise shade of which she could not quite discern.

Those eyes were trailing over her features attentively, her eyes, her cheeks and her nose, before stopping on her lips. A light touch brushed over her right shoulder, followed by a tug, and the feel of the strap of her gown falling away. Alarm whispered through Sakura's mind. What was he doing? She opened her mouth to ask him to stop, but those bottomless pools of darkness were drawing her in, pulling her under a black tide, drowning her. She couldn't tear her gaze from his piercing stare. Those eyes were like overpowering magnets to her metal core.

A shallow breath escaped her lips as the fingers of his left hand caressed the side of her throat. His touch sparked little shocks of electricity to surface beneath her skin. What was this feeling? She had a sudden, inexplicable, and terrifying desire to cover the hand that was exploring her clavicle with her own.

Tears blurred her vision; tears she hadn't even realised had been forming. She did not know why she was crying. Maybe it was the undeniable confirmation she had not even needed that Sasuke had stolen her away because he desired her. He had always acted like he had every right to touch her, to disregard her want of personal boundaries. There was now no mistaking the carnal need she glimpsed blazing behind those eyes. Its intensity frightened her, made her head spin to think that he had been holding back for so long.     

Or maybe she was crying because she felt powerless to reject his attentions – and petrified by the staggering realisation that a part of her almost didn't want him to stop, wanted to understand – rather than flee from – the foreign, heart-pounding sensations his sinful touches elicited.

He leaned forward, his eyes burning into hers, as he breathed sensuously against her lips, "Sakura…"

Devil. He was the devil, not a deity, seducing her with those eyes, with that black-velvet voice. She was plunging into those endless irises. Flowing towards him before she could even think to stop herself. She couldn't. She couldn't give in to something that was so wrong, so forbidden. But she couldn't fight him, either. The fingertips on her throat stroked down, a tantalising touch that made her entire body tremble inside, slipping down her shoulder to tug gently at the lowered sleeve of her nightdress. She could feel the silk giving way, slipping from her arm, but her mind's desperate cries for her to do something, anything to stop him, were drowned out by the roaring sound of blood rushing through her ears and the thundering of her heartbeat, and the dizzying feeling of the heat and electricity that radiated from Sasuke's strong form.

Closer… closer… his lips were a whisper away from meeting hers. The fingers gripping her chin rose to entangle in her pink locks, and his head tilted, the tip of his nose nuzzling the bridge of her own. He released a strained breath, his fingers tightening in her hair as he lost himself to the scent and feel of her. Unbidden, Sakura's eyes fluttered shut, and her face tilted up, as Sasuke's left arm wound around her, pulling her tightly against him.