The door creaked, and his familiar scent poured through the opening. Bai Ye stood on the other side, bathed in the silver moonlight, a faint shadow of worry casting over his eyes.

“Everything alright?” he asked. His brow knitted slightly.

I gave him an assuring smile. “I … just dreamed of you.”

Though I knew that the Bai Ye in my dream wasn’t him. The real Bai Ye would never say those things to me, never force me to admit those thoughts that I had kept from him. But somewhere deep inside, I hoped he could be a little less gentle at times and give the stubborn me a push, just like he did in that dream.

The worry on his face eased at my reply. “A nightmare?” he asked softly. “What did I do?”

I stood on my tiptoe and cupped his cheeks in my hands. “This,” I said and kissed him.

He breathed in sharply, obviously not expecting my action. I kissed him the same way he did to me in my dream, parting his lips with my tongue, sweeping and stroking the roof of his mouth. A noise escaped his throat, and I felt a hand sliding behind my nape.

Encouraged by his response, I pressed in harder, delving deeper into his mouth and sucking in the taste of him. He took a step back from my push, and I stepped forward, maintaining the exchange between us. He kept retreating until we were at the edge of his bed, and with a soft sweep and tumble, we were in it.

He was the first to break the kiss. “What did I do next?” he asked. There was a pleasant surprise and carefully suppressed excitement in his voice.

I smiled and rolled us over so that I was on top of him. “The dream ended there.” I brushed a strand of silky hair off his face. “That’s why I came.”

He laughed softly. His ageless features were sublime under the moonlight, sharp with chiseled edges yet smooth with a soft luster, speckless without the slightest trace of wrinkles. He hadn’t changed a bit since the day we first met.

But I had grown from that little girl into the young woman I was today.

“Do you ever dream of me?” I asked and tugged on the simple knot on his night robe. With a light pull, it was undone.

His lips curved. “Of course.”

I was a little surprised by the answer. What was I like in his dreams? I wondered if I would be more beautiful, or more talented.

“What do I do in your dreams?” I turned his earlier question back to him as I brushed my lips over his chest, mimicking the way he had always done it to me, learning the dips and ridges along his body with my touches and kisses. Divested of the incense of cedar from his day robe, his skin smelled like musk, rich and masculine.

His breathing changed, and his hands slid under my nightgown, moving up my hips in a slow caress. “I’ll show them to you, one by one. You’ll like it.”

This would be the time when I usually blushed, but tonight, his words only stirred the fire inside me. I craved more, and I couldn’t help passing my tongue over the hollow of his throat, savoring him with all my senses. He heaved a light sigh of pleasure. His hands glided behind my bottom and between my legs, stroking the length of my inner thighs. I sighed with him.

“I see you’ve reached an epiphany, Qing-er.” His voice was a rasp just like in my dream.

I straightened myself and met his eyes. “You taught me well, Master,” I replied. Under his dark, unblinking gaze, I shed my nightgown and let it fall onto the ground.

The moon was full tonight, dousing the room with its bright glow. I knew he could see every detail of my body under the moonlight, every imperfect curve and turn, but for the first time, I wasn’t shy. He was my lover, and I wanted to share every part of me with him, perfect or not.

“Like what you see?” I asked, recalling his tease the first time I saw him fully unclothed.

He smiled, and his gaze didn’t shift when I repositioned myself to kneel astride him. “Every time,” he said.

His hands proved his words, skimming over my skin and leaving a hot trail of sensation in their wake. After all this time, he had learned all the right places to touch, all the spots that made me gasp and pant and moan for more. I bent over and nibbled his bottom lip, breathing heavily into his mouth, and my hand slid under his breeches.

It was his turn to let out a groan when I curled my fingers around him. The sound wasn’t much more than a sigh, but the way it escaped him almost out of control, and the way he closed his eyes and tightened his grip on my hips, ignited me even more than his caress. I suddenly realized how much he must’ve reveled in all the sounds he elicited from me, and how much they must’ve affected him.

To hear the person you love losing control beneath you … is such a pleasure beyond words.

I stroked his shaft gently, feeling all the creases and bulges with my fingers, relishing the subtle throbbing of him within my palm. The heat of him burned me. “Bai Ye,” I whispered between kisses and short breaths, “next time we bathe together … will you let me do all the work?”

He laughed. At the reminder of his deed last night, his hands slid up and pinched my nipples. I moaned and almost sank my fingernails into him.

“I certainly can’t let that happen,” he rasped. “You’d unman me before I’m inside you.”

“Oh, I certainly can’t let THAT happen,” I breathed and released him, freeing him from the burden of his breeches in the same move. “I want you, Bai Ye. Most preferably inside me.”

Meeting his gaze again in the unwavering silver light, I sat into him.