The sun was setting when Shiun left the camp with her towel and soap in the direction of Silvertear Lake. Her tail lashed behind her as she made her way cautiously through the terrain, its sharp movements belying her calm gait.

There had been too much of G’raha Tia that day. Too many moments when he looked altogether too good, his lips so full and tempting, his hair so soft and tuggable, his waist so slim she could have easily snaked her arms around it. Shiun worried at her lip. She didn’t understand what made him so special that her eyes sought him out in any company, her heart pounding any time he glanced her way and her gaze lingering on every inch of him.

It was not the first time she had been attracted to a man – in her 20 years of life, she had encountered several who had caught her eye, despite her worries. But she had never felt so strongly. G’raha enchanted her, filling her dreams with his presence and his eyes and that cheeky, oh so irresistible smile. It was absolutely infuriating how often she thought of him, as if nothing else could be so engaging.

She couldn’t let herself be distracted. Shiun released her lip and sighed, slowing her pace a bit as she made her way down the path. Not only did she have the tower to clear (once they figured out how to open those damnable doors), but there was the matter of the primals, of Alphinaud’s new army, and the uneasy knowledge that the fragile peace in Eorzea was still at risk.

And, of course, her mother’s words – the words that had stayed with her since she’d been old enough to learn why the two of them had fled to Eorzea when she’d been only a baby.

“You cannot trust a man – particularly a charming man. Never. They’ll break you in the end, every time.”

For all his eccentricities, G’raha was too charming by half. So charming, when he gave her that smile and his hair spilled over his eye and she felt like they were the only two in the universe as his gaze devoured her whole. So dangerously sweet, like a ripened peach that hid a poisoned core. She wanted so badly, it sent her heart into a frenzy.

How had he done this to her? It was impossible!

Noise from ahead brought her to a halt as she approached the lake, and Shiun’s instincts took over. Crouching low in the tall grass, she crept up to a nearby deposit of corrupted crystal and peered over it to the edge of the water.

She was not ready for the sight that greeted her.

The very man her thoughts had centered around waded out into the lake, naked as the day he was born. A glimpse was enough. Shiun gasped, and he halted, turning his head sharply in her direction. She quickly ducked down behind the crystal again, pressing a tight fist into her mouth to keep the strangled noise that rose in her throat from escaping. Her face was hot, and the image of his muscled back giving way to a plush behind lingered in her mind.

There was a beat of silence, and she was too anxious even to breathe.

Don’t look. The very logical command rang sharply through her head. Shiun squirmed in her crouched position, finally letting out a slow breath and willing her heart to cease its hammering. She could not believe what she had just seen. All that bared skin… she could only imagine how it would feel beneath her fingers… if she were to… No. Don’t you dare look!

Her head spun, those logical thoughts weakening as a blend of curiosity and something strong and strangely pleasant at the pit of her stomach took over. She took in a quick breath and slowly, slowly raised her head to peek over the crystal again.

G’raha stood still in the water, his ears perked and eyes scanning the horizon keenly. He’d turned to face the shore, and she could see down the lines of his firmly muscled stomach to the trail of red hair leading down to… to…

Shiun lowered herself behind the crystal again, face flaming and arousal stirring in her loins at just the thought of what she had glimpsed. All of him, bared and brilliant. He’d not been hard of course, but with her knowledge of anatomy she could imagine just what it would look like, swollen and hot and ready for her attention. And what kind of expression would G’raha show if he were before her like that, presenting himself for their shared pleasure? She badly wanted to see it, a flushed and heated look, those plush lips wet and parted, as she gripped his hips and tugged him to her for –

No, no, no! She couldn’t. She mustn’t. And yet…

The quiet sound of water moving interrupted her inner turmoil. Shiun closed her eyes, opening them again almost instantly when the image of him appeared behind the lids. Her imagination conjured the rest of the details – water running over his skin, dipping into the crevices of muscle as he wet himself in preparation for washing.

Maybe he sensed the eyes on him… Did he suspect that it was her? If he did think she was watching, what would he do? Would he be angry? Or maybe… maybe he would…

Gods, she couldn’t help it now. Shiun bit her lip, eyes falling shut once more. She could see that little smirk on his face so clearly. It was easy, from there, to imagine his hand sliding low down over his abdomen and following that trail of hair to where his cock was starting to perk up… fingers closing oh so slowly around the base as he let out a breathless sigh and his head tipped back…

The damp, pleasant feeling in her nethers was almost unbearable now. Shiun slid one of her own hands between her legs, palming herself and letting out a shaky breath. It felt so good to think of him… but if she did this now, within easy range of being caught…

No, she couldn’t. She dared not.

With effort, she forced her hand back, teeth digging into her lower lip as she slowly, painstakingly crept away from her hiding spot towards the relative safety of the path. Her face still felt impossibly hot, and her mind was full of G’raha – from behind, the firm cleft of his backside… from the front, the soft line of his unhardened cock… in her imagination, stroking himself to hardness… for her, all for her…

When she hit the path, she broke into a run and did not stop until she reached her tent.

Shiun was breathing heavily as she closed the opening behind her, pulling down her shorts and smalls unceremoniously and tossing them haphazardly to the side. She sat down hard on her cot and leaned back, fingers sliding once more between her thighs as she lost herself in her imaginings.

G’raha leaned over her, parting her legs… She spread them on the cot, sighing softly. His fingers traced around the line of her clit, teasingly… Shiun had to clench her teeth to hold in the moan as her own fingers grazed that sensitive spot. Those teasing fingers of his pressed down through her folds, finding the entrance to her body and plunging inside. Her other hand reached down to follow the same path, the first working on herself more thoroughly as she imagined it.

He took himself in hand, lowering his hard body over her. His lips brushed hers in a whisper of a kiss and she could feel his uneven breath fanning her heated cheeks. His eyes were dark with lust as he prodded her entrance with the head of his cock, sliding in the first few ilms.

Shiun pushed her fingers deeper, scissoring them as she thought of him spreading her open. Pleasure spiked up from her loins as she quickened her pace, sparks beginning to dance behind her tightly closed eyes.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, wondering at the weight of him as he took her, his hips rolling in slow, sensuous thrusts that sent her reeling. She could see the muscles in his arms straining to hold him over her, small beads of sweat forming on his flushed face and his lips parted as he panted with the effort. A low, rumbling moan escaped those lips, the timbre of his voice in that erotic tone suddenly the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.

Gods, she was close. Shiun arched on the cot, her mind a mess of arousal and heat and pleasure clouding every thought. Her fingers trembled, slipping on her clit in her haste. She wanted to come so badly. She wanted him, more than anything. Oh Twelve, please…

His thrusting grew more erratic as he neared his peak, sweat sliding slowly down along the line of his jaw as he moaned her name and sought his pleasure in her…

The dam broke. Garbled sounds made it out of Shiun’s tightly closed mouth as she came harder than she could ever remember coming, the world fragmenting around her as she convulsed on the cot. Her toes curled against the thin bedding as she imagined him coming right with her, releasing his hot spend inside of her and moaning so prettily as he shook helplessly above her. Her pleasure spiked and throbbed, and then began to ebb, all of the breath leaving her as she sank back against the blankets.

For a long moment, the only sound in the world was her breath as she came down.

Reality was slow to set in, but her mortification grew in time with it, until it became too much and she shifted on the cot so she could bury her flaming face into the pillow, shame and disbelief threading through her scattered thoughts.

I really just did that. Her thoughts of him had been positively sinful. She had never been this bad, especially not in her waking hours. Was that all it took, just his exposed body, and she lost it completely?

What if he came to her one day, full of heat and lust and promise? Would she give him everything she had?

Shiun did not trust herself to answer that. It terrified her.

She was going to have to be careful around G’raha Tia, that was for sure – assuming she could even bring herself to face him after this. But she would, she knew it, because she liked him. Wanted to be around him and hear his voice and listen to him prattle on about Allag. He was so smart, and so charming and brash. He was dangerous, this man who made her unable to trust her own mind.

But she liked him all the same, and hated herself for it.