Silently, holding his gaze, she took his hands again, pulling them to clasp around her bare hips. She put her hands to his face, stroking along his cheekbones and running fingers into his hair again.
He massaged at her hips and pushed his face into her hand, each to keep the contact continuous, terrified of moving away, even for a moment. “I love you,” he breathed out then, breaking the long silence as he leaned in to capture her lips in a tender kiss.
She couldn’t answer while kissing him back, so she didn’t bother to try. Instead she stepped closer, offering him her bare body, shadows sliding across it in the flickering dim candlelight. It felt like there was nothing in the world but them, breathing softly in that room together. She stroked one hand down over his shoulder, following it up with trailing kisses along his throat.