When he heard the sound of footsteps, Leander didn’t even have to look up to check who they belonged to. He knew. No one else would have approached with a racing pulse and stuttering breaths, and once the sound of her voice confirmed her identity, he turned toward her with a somewhat mischievous half-smile, half-smirk that promised justification her eagerness.

“You found me, Zarha” He greeted her, eyes lazily tracing her curves and reigniting the heat simmering in his core before returning to her face. With a bold confidence to which he had only hinted earlier that day, Leander stepped forward and wrapped one hand around hers. “You begged so prettily for somewhere private,” He told her, thumb stroking the smooth skin on the back of her hand. “How could I not oblige a beautiful lady?” A pause. “I can’t stop thinking of you.” The words were whispered in her ear as he leaned close, teasing at the feel of his body that he had granted her before. “Would you like to go inside?”

If she agreed, he would back up a few steps and, still facing her and joined by their hands, push open the door and gently pull her through.

Eyebrows raised, he smiled at her in warm surprise. “Is that so?” He asked as he guided her through the door. “Here I thought you were untouched, but an experienced woman who knows what she likes…” His sentence ended in a wink. Stepping around the door, Leander closed it behind him with his foot and shoulder and pulled the witch toward him with their linked fingers. “Then it seems I have some learning to do.”

Both hands fell to her waist and slid around to the curve of her ass. After a moment of appreciation, he used the leverage to drag her hips to his, where Zarha would be able to feel his rising excitement. “You could tell me.” Maintaining the contact, he spun them both to press her back against the door. He leaned over her, right forearm resting on the wood beside her head while his left remained where it was. Lowering his head close to hers, Leander met her eyes and whispered, “But I rather think I’d like to find out for myself, don’t you?” His gaze dropped to her lips, then dropped further still. “Hands-on experience makes everything more… memorable.”

Even through his shirt, her hand was warm on his chest, and he let out a quiet sound at the thought of other places her slender fingers could rest. For one so young and possibly inexperienced, her eagerness stoked the heat in Leander’s core in just the right way. He found it intoxicating, and when she shifted against the door, he did not hesitate to slide into place. Pressing more firmly against her in a silent promise if what was to come, he murmured, “If you forget this, then I’ll have done something wrong.”

Sliding upward, the hand on her back slipped under her shirt, and as her fingers reached up to trace his lips, his own trailed along the small of her back. With a smile, Leander leaned in closer, mouth lingering close to hers in a silent invitation. “If you know what you like,” He breathed softly, “why don’t you show me, Zarha.” And with that, he would let her close the distance between them.

Leander felt her hand wrap around the back of his neck, and a moment later, their lips met. Fingers flexed against the door as he made the conscious decision to let her lead the kiss, which he returned with equal passion. His hand abandoned the wooden surface in favor of cupping the back of her head where her head and neck met, while its partner still stroked the soft skin of her back. When he felt the hand she had rested on his chest begin to drift south, he pulled slightly away, breathing heavily and offered her a smile that included everything he couldn’t - wouldn’t - put into words.

The flames in his belly only grew as he realized just what her nimble fingers were up to. Letting his hand slip from the small of her back to her hip, he dove back in for another kiss and shifted backward to give her just enough space to work. When she had finished loosening both their pants, he closed the space between them once more. With one hand tangled in her hair and the other beginning to explore the newly revealed territory, he broke off the kiss once more. Though quiet, his voice held a certain toughness to it as he asked, “Do you want me to keep going?”

When her questing fingers showed interest in familiarizing herself what he had to offer, Leander shifted slightly to allow her better access. After all, a woman’s task in these situations was to please the man, and the feel of her fumbling explorations did just that. To encourage her, he made a quiet noise of approval and swooped in to capture her lips once more.

They broke apart, but he stayed close when she answered his question with mischief. “Only say?” Leander asked, a teasing note to his voice. He smiled as his hand slipped fully beneath her pants, palm resting on the soft skin beneath her belly button while his fingers teased at lower depths. “Zarha, I want you to scream my name.” She felt so warm, so tempting. He might have thrown a Coheedswoman to the floor by now, but she was a Nevermerean soldier. They required different treatment. “But maybe not too loud.” Dark eyes glittered. “We wouldn’t want to be interrupted, now would we?”

And with that, his hand slid home.

Despite what her words and coyness had suggested, she was young, and he could tell from the way she responded to his touch that all of this was new to her. But Leander could hardly complain. What she lacked in experience, she made up for in enthusiasm - and the thought of claiming for himself that which she could never give any other man only enticed him further.

Throughout it all, he watched her eyes, and as her excitement grew, he could feel his own resolve weakening until finally she shucked her pants and gave him the permission he had been waiting for. Lifting her up, he would give her a moment to wrap her now-naked legs around him lest she fall before carrying her to a corner of the shed. Carefully, he would lay her down on a humble bed of blankets and furs spread across the wooden floorboards, an attempt to protect himself from injury that doubled as something of a token effort toward softening the surface for her comfort. It probably worked. Or, at least, no one had offered up any complaints to him.

With one hand running over her thigh, he would kneel above her and lower his own pants. His fingers trailed up the sensitive skin before he silently urged her to let him move between her legs once more, which he would do with the assurance of a man taking what belonged to him. The anticipation in his belly grew as he leaned over her. “I want to hear you say it,” He breathed, eyes on hers, fingers clenched with the effort of restraining himself just long enough to cover his bases as thoroughly as he was about to cover her. “Do you want me, Zarha?”

If she answered how he expected her to, he would close the distance between them and, with a whispered, “Tell me when you’re close,” settle into place.