"You have less HP."

"That’s not —" She stopped. Took a breath. Her fingers flexed under his palm, and he felt each one move individually against his skin. "That’s not why you did it."

Liam considered this. He had done it because she was closer to the Naga’s attack trajectory, and he had higher defense and more total health, which made him the logical choice to absorb the initial strike. That was why he’d done it. Tactically obvious.

But she was looking at him like the answer mattered in a way that went beyond tactics, and he didn’t understand the question she was actually asking.

"You were in the way," he said.

Wrong answer. He knew it immediately from the way her ears snapped flat, and her jaw tightened, and she yanked her hand out from under his. She sat back on her heels, mouth pressed into a thin line, and for a second, the chamber felt colder.

"Great," she said. "Thanks. Glad I was in the way."

"That came out wrong."

"Did it?"

He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. The bruised shoulder protested. He ignored it. "I meant you were between the Naga and me, so I moved you. Because I didn’t want you to get hit."

Elizabeth went very still.

"Because your HP was already lower," he added, because the stillness was making him nervous and adding qualifiers seemed like the right move.

It was not the right move. Or it was. He genuinely couldn’t tell. Her expression had gone through three distinct phases in the span of a second — angry, confused, and then a third thing that softened everything about her face in a way that made his stomach drop like he’d missed a step on a staircase.

"Stop talking," she said.

"Okay."

"You’re making it worse."

"Making what worse?"

She pressed both hands over her face. Her cat ears were vibrating. Actually vibrating, a low-frequency flutter that he’d never seen from her character model before. The tips had gone pink.

"Elizabeth."

"What?"

"Your ears are doing a thing."

She slapped both hands over her ears so fast she nearly fell sideways. "They are NOT."

They absolutely were. Even pressed flat under her palms, the tips poked through her fingers, still flushed, still twitching. Liam watched this with the detached curiosity of a man observing a phenomenon he had no framework for.

"Is that a debuff?" he asked. Genuinely.

"OH, MY GOD." She dropped her hands

Elizabeth glared at him, and Liam found himself moving closer without thinking about it. Her face was right there, close enough that he could feel the heat of her breath against his skin. The pink flush had spread from her ears down to her cheeks, across the bridge of her nose, making her freckles stand out like tiny constellations.

He studied her face like it was a map to something he’d been searching for without knowing. Her lips were full and slightly parted, still wet from when she’d licked them during her frustration. The lower one had a small scar at the corner, some old fight she’d never mentioned.

His hand moved of its own accord to the curve of her lower back, fingers pressing into the slight dip above her hips. He pulled her closer.

"Eep!" The sound escaped her before she could stop it, a high-pitched squeak that made him chuckle.

"I’ve been wanting to taste you for a while now," he said, his voice rougher than he’d intended.

Elizabeth’s eyes went wide. She tried to pull back, but his arm held her firmly in place. "Liam, I..." The blush deepened, spreading down her neck.

He didn’t let her finish. He closed the distance between them and crashed his mouth against hers.

For a moment, she went rigid, but then her body melted against him. Her hands found his shoulders, gripping the fabric of his shirt. Her lips were soft, softer than he’d imagined, and they moved against his with increasing urgency.

Her body pressed closer, her chest flush against his. Even through their armor, he could feel the soft fullness of her breasts, the way they yielded against his harder frame. The contrast sent heat spiraling through his body.

Liam deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding against hers. Elizabeth made a small sound in the back of her throat, a moan, half-surprise and half-desire. Her fingers tangled in his silver hair, tugging gently.

He reached up with one hand, cupping her breast through her tunic. She gasped against his mouth but didn’t pull away. Instead, she arched into his touch, her body responding before her mind could catch up.

Liam’s fingers found the edge of her armour and slipped beneath it, working the clasps with surprising dexterity. The breastplate came loose, and he pushed it aside, his hand sliding under her thin tunic to find warm, bare skin.

Her breast filled his palm, heavy and soft. He circled her nipple with his thumb, feeling it harden under his touch. Elizabeth broke the kiss with a gasp, her head falling back.

"Liam," she whispered, her voice shaky. "We shouldn’t...not here!"

But her body betrayed her words, her hips grinding against the hard ridge of his cock straining through his trousers. His fingers captured her nipple, twisting it with deliberate slowness, the gentle pinch sending jolts of electric fire through her. A low, throaty moan escaped her lips, bouncing off the damp stone walls like a siren’s call, mingling with the distant drip of water echoing in the shadowed chamber.

"I-i-i", she tried again, but the words dissolved into a whimper as he lowered his head to her neck, his lips finding the sensitive spot just below her ear. Her hands clutched at him, nails digging into his shoulders through his shirt. His tongue flicked out to tease the spot until she bucked against him.

The dungeon around them seemed to fade away, the danger of the Naga and the possibility of other players stumbling upon them becoming distant concerns. All that mattered was the heat of her skin under his hands, the small sounds she made when he touched her just right.