Writing female characters in stories with sexual themes

Hello all. I'm currently writing a fantasy adventure story where some of the main themes are deeply tied to love, specifically physical desire (horniness). For reference, one of the main character's prominent flaws is that they refuse to express their romantic feelings to others out of fear it will make them uncomfortable/feel objectified. This story is not a pornography, but part of driving conflict for this character need is going to involve sexually charged scenes.

I am worried about how I am going to write the female characters. If readers came away from my story feeling like women only existed as sexual fodder then that would 1. Deeply upset me, and 2. Be directly antithetical to the story I want to tell. I have never written a story like this before, and I am worried I don't have the tact to write women in these sexually charged scenes without compromising their believability or taking female readers out of the experience.

I would appreciate any advice about walking the tightrope between recognizing that my story is inherently going to involve sexuality and writing scenes that ultimately sexualize characters with their own fully fleshed out stories that don't necessarily directly tie into these sexual themes.