by Leslie North
“Then let me do it again. Again and again. Turn over,” he ordered quietly. Complying, she shifted restlessly and gripped the pillow. Riyad traced her spine with a single finger, up and down, as if he were mesmerized by her. Finally, he traced the same line with his tongue and lips. It brought her desire roaring back to life, and by the time he was done, she was drenched with her need for him.
His fingers stroked her pussy, testing her, and when he gently raised her hips, he settled behind her and entered her.
It wasn’t her favorite position. The depth and the angle were nice, but it had never seemed intimate…until now. As he thrust inside her, his hands did more than steady her. He slipped them around to play lightly with her, pinching at her nipples and strumming her clit. He pressed his lips to the back of her neck and whispered her name over and over again with each thrust.
Her orgasm built slowly, and he played with her and dragged it out until she couldn’t contain herself anymore. As the first shudder hit her, she felt him explode with a few hard thrusts that slammed the headboard into the wall. They came together, and they fell together. He immediately rolled over on his side, pulling her up against him.
No words were necessary. With their bodies pressed together and still shuddering from their orgasms, she closed her eyes and welcomed sleep in the hope of stretching her feeling of contentment all night long.
9
Antar’s lover was beautiful. Gorgeous, glistening, sun-kissed skin decorated in tattoos of ancient symbols representing peace and love and something he remembered having a more carnal meaning. She didn’t bother with a hijab. Instead, she let her dark curls fall loosely down her back, and they lifted in the slight breeze. She hid behind a pair of sunglasses, but Riyad had done his homework. He knew she sported a pair of stunning caramel-colored eyes. Her lips were painted ruby red, and she was dressed in a provocative form-fitting dress.
She was only a few years older than himself, and he could tell from a distance that she was experienced. There had been a time when he’d have had no problems introducing himself, seducing her, and enjoying a night or several nights with her.
Hell, even a week ago, he’d have had her in his bed. Now, all he did was stare at Miksa Antar’s stunning lover while wishing he was still in bed with Danielle.
What the hell was wrong with him? He was far too distracted. He’d been following the woman around all day and still couldn’t decide the best way to access her.
If Antar represented the money and brains behind the rebellion, then his lover was the key. Shaia’s questionable history was well-known, and she now resided in the man’s palace. Antar would never marry her, especially not if she’d been a whore at one time, but he was obviously relaxed around her. If anyone knew his secrets, she did.
The problem was discovering how loyal she might be. Riyad, from experience, had long assumed most women would sell out their men for a chance at more money or power, but Natalie and Amy had recently changed his mind.
Then there was Danielle. The woman didn’t seem to care about money or power. All she seemed to want from him was…sex. For some reason, the thought didn’t sit well with him.
Scanning the market again to regain sight of his target, his stomach clenched when he couldn’t find her.
Damn it. Not only had he wasted the day, but now he’d lost her.
“Looking for me?”
Forcing himself to relax, he turned to see the lovely Shaia standing at his elbow, arms crossed and an amused smile on her face.
“Oh, Sheikh Riyad. Your reputation precedes you.”
Her recognizing him was unfortunate but not surprising. “You have me at a disadvantage. You know me, but I do not know you.”
“Really? So you always stalk women for hours when you do not know who they are?”
“I’m sightseeing. The sights have been beautiful this morning,” he said as he reached for her hand. She gave it to him, and he lifted her fingers to his lips and flashed back to his meeting with Danielle.
Focus, man.
“My name is Shaia,” she said smoothly, reclaiming her hand. “And I can see that you live up to your reputation.”
“By reputation, do you mean my abilities to take a woman out, charm her, and make her laugh all evening?” As long as he pretended not to know who she was, he could gauge her loyalty to her man. Miksa Antar might have power and wealth, but Riyad was a sheikh.
“If you mean to showcase your talents tonight, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. I already have plans.”
Riyad shrugged. “I’m flexible. How about tomorrow night?”
“I’m afraid I have certain duties I must attend to on the weekends. I do not know how long you plan to stay, but I have no plans on Monday,” she said with a seductive smile.
There it was. His in.
“I’ve heard that this cafe on the corner has the most amazing cakes. I might have to come back on Monday and check them out. Say, noon?”
“I can imagine it won’t be the most delicious thing you taste,” she cooed, adding a wink. “Enjoy your weekend, Your Highness.”
He had every intention of enjoying his weekend, starting with tonight. If he wasn’t going to have to work, then he was going to have to put a bit more effort into getting Danielle out of his system.
Especially if he was going to have to seduce Shaia on Monday.
“So this is the living room, and this is the kitchen? Shouldn’t the kitchen be next to the living room?” Aisha asked with a frown.
Danielle’s suite had appeared empty when Riyad entered, but a quick search revealed her and his two nieces on the terrace overlooking the gardens. Danielle had been spending more and more time out there.
Careful to stay hidden, he watched them, smiling. Iris and Aisha had apparently not told Danielle about the expensive dollhouses each of them owned. Instead, a house was outlined in rocks on the floor.
“Having a kitchen right off the bedroom makes it easier to sneak a midnight snack,” Danielle pointed out. The two girls squealed with laughter, causing Beetle the dog, curled and napping in a corner, to twitch an ear. “All right. What else do we need?”
“A playroom for our dolls to play with their dolls!” Iris shouted.
“Your dolls have dolls? Goodness! Do your dolls’ dolls have dolls?”
That garnered even more laughter. “My dolls’ dolls’ dolls’ dolls’ dolls’ dolls have dolls!” Aisha exclaimed, jumping up and down in delight.
“Hmmm.” Danielle stroked her chin as she looked at the house. “That means we’re going to need six extra rooms! With that many dolls living in one spot, we might need more than one kitchen. Certainly more than one bathroom!”
“They also need a toy shop. And a movie theater. And a large yard so they can all play soccer. Oh, and some place for Beetle to…you know.” Iris picked up a few rocks to mark out the spaces, but it was obvious that they were running out of playing space.
Riyad opened the screen and stepped out. “Are you going to have a separate room for the man of the house?”
“Uncle Riyad!” Iris and Aisha exclaimed together. Even Danielle gave him a surprised but pleasant smile.
“Uncle Riyad, this is a no-boys-allowed palace! There isn’t going to be a man of the house,” Iris informed him primly. “My mother told me yesterday that men are the worst!”
Danielle’s eyes widened, and Riyad chuckled. “Sounds like your father is in trouble. So where is this girls-only house going?”
“On the other side of the gardens, silly,” Aisha said. “We need a place for Danielle to stay.”
Immediately, Riyad’s stomach twisted. He had no doubt where the need for his nieces to build Danielle a house originated. Obviously one or both girls had overheard their fathers’ desire that Danielle leave.
Apparently, Danielle didn’t see the truth behind their game. Her smile immediately fell as she told them, “Girls, you don’t have to worry about me disappearing from your lives. I will have to move on at some
point, but I promise to stay in touch.”
“But why do you have to go at all?” Iris reached over and touched Danielle’s stomach. “We want another cousin!”
Danielle immediately turned her head, which meant that Riyad couldn’t see her reaction, so he took control of the situation. It was obvious that the girls thought that she and Riyad were going to marry.
“If I promise not to touch your stone palace, can you ladies give Danielle and me some time? I believe I might have smelled pistachio cake downstairs.” It was the girls’ favorite, and their fathers used it shamelessly as a ploy to distract them from Danielle. Riyad felt guilty about employing the same trick to draw them away, but he wasn’t lying, and he did want to spend some time alone with Danielle. He was feeling amped up, and he knew that the only cure was Danielle’s sweet body.
The girls blew past him without a second thought, Beetle hot on their trail, yapping as he ran. Reaching down, Riyad helped Danielle to her feet.
She brushed herself off and cocked her head to study him. “What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be gone all weekend.”
“My plans changed. Does that make you unhappy?”
“Not at all. Are you unhappy? I got the feeling that you were leaving to follow a lead.” Danielle immediately averted her eyes, and Riyad frowned.
“I was following a lead, but it’s not going to go anywhere until Monday. Is everything okay?”
She smiled. “Everything is fine. I’m glad you’re back.” She walked by him and headed back into the suite.
Following her, he closed the terrace door and took hold of her arm. “You’re afraid that my lead is a woman. Or maybe you’re jealous. The real question is why you won’t simply ask me about it.”
“Because it’s none of my business. You’re not my boyfriend. You can do whatever you want.”
“Then what I want is for you to be honest about what you want from me,” he growled. The intense feelings she stirred in him were overwhelming, but he didn’t want to scare her. All he wanted was for her to stop tiptoeing around him.
Biting her lower lip, she stared up at him. She didn’t have to voice what she wanted. It was obvious that she desired more from him. She wanted all of him.
He wished he could give it to her, but he didn’t know how.
“What I want is to spend the weekend with you,” she said finally, moving closer. “And simply enjoy it.”
“I can certainly give you that. Iman, Bahir, and their families will be traveling all weekend, so we won’t be interrupted by well-intentioned visitors. Is there anything else you want?” He wanted to hear her admit there was something between them, to hear from her the desire that they would still be together long after the rebellion was over.
“I wouldn’t mind a repeat of that…thing you did last night,” she said with a sudden grin as she reached for his pants. “I really enjoyed….”
“That thing?”
“Uh-huh.” She undid his pants. “There’s something else I really want.” As she eased his pants downward, she sank to her knees. Riyad inhaled sharply as his cock hardened. She slowly slid a finger underneath it. “I didn’t really enjoy doing this with my ex. He sort of expected it, even when we were working together. I hated that.”
“Danielle.” As desperate as he was to feel her lips around his cock, he didn’t want her thinking of her ex. “You don’t have to. Your pussy is more than enough to satisfy me.”
Smiling, she leaned over and licked the tip. “I want to, though. And you did ask me what I wanted from you. I want you to stand here while I lick you, Riyad, and I don’t want you to touch me or move.”
Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes. “I’ll try.”
There were a few tense seconds when he thought she might change her mind, but suddenly, her lips enveloped him, and he had to fight not to touch her. If he opened his eyes, if he looked down at her, he would lose that fight. He’d want to run his hands through her silky hair and play while she played.
Not watching was even more torturous. Closing his eyes deprived him of the sight of her moving her wet mouth up and down his cock. He could only imagine how she looked. Eventually, he opened his eyes and looked down.
And lost the battle. The sight of her on her knees, staring up at him as she licked, was too much to handle. Hissing, he reached down and grabbed her arms.
She protested as he lifted her up, “That is not what we agreed to!”
“We’ll try again,” he promised, and then he picked her up and carried her to the couch. Turning, he sat down and straddled her across his lap. “We’ll try as often as you like, I swear, but right now, I’m going to snap, Danielle, and I need you to come first.”
It was easy enough to tug down her linen pants. She stood and finished undressing. She wasn’t slow, and there was no showiness to it, but watching her undress was one of the most erotic things he’d ever experienced. She seemed to have no idea how absolutely breathtaking he found her.
She was already wet. He’d known that she would be, and after a few strokes of his finger to test her, he gently lowered her onto his cock.
Those first few seconds were always pure bliss. She was the absolute perfect fit, and her body’s reaction was intoxicating. She cried out, her head fell back, and he leaned forward and kissed her throat.
He’d had good sex. He’d been with some of the most exquisite women in Europe, but they couldn’t hold a candle to what he felt with Danielle. Certainly, she was flawed. Insecure. Inexperienced. Her boss must have been a total idiot. But when he was with her, he felt something he’d never felt with anyone or anything.
Fulfilled.
She challenged him. Pushed him. Satisfied him. As he sank deeper inside her and spread his palms over her back, he knew that he couldn’t let her go.
“Riyad. Riyad. Riyad!” she chanted as she fell apart around him.
“I’ve got you,” he promised her. Closing his eyes, he pulled her down hard and spilled himself inside her with a low groan. “I’ve got you.”
With the rest of his strength, he twisted her so that she lay across his lap. Pulling a pillow under her head, he blew out his breath and relaxed as his hand gently splayed across her abdomen.
Soon, her belly would swell with someone else’s child, and as he stroked her smooth skin with his thumb, he wondered what it would be like if it had been his child. He’d never thought of himself as a father, but he wasn’t sure he’d mind it if it was Danielle carrying it.
This was a dangerous train of thought but one he couldn’t let go. He’d always told his brothers that he wasn’t the type of man to get a woman pregnant. He’d always been careful because he’d never wanted a family.
Now, with Danielle, he couldn’t help thinking that maybe he was wrong. He froze, remembering their first time. In all the time, they’d been together, he’d never once used a condom. Never even asked her about birth control. Maybe he really did want a family. He wanted her to be his family.
And the child that she carried.
10
Her hair still wet from the shower, Danielle reached for the clothes she’d left on the counter, only to discover something entirely different.
Riyad’s black button-up shirt and nothing else.
Pausing for a second, she considered ignoring it and getting something different, but she couldn’t resist. Using the towel to wring out more water from her hair, she reached for the shirt and slipped it on. It was far too big and fell mid-thigh, but her stomach fluttered when she caught a glance of herself in the fogged-up mirror.
In his shirt, she looked less like a lover and more like a girlfriend, and when she pulled the collar up to smell it, she felt like one, too.
The weekend had been amazing. The older Karawi sheikhs and their wives and children were out making public appearances at the different orphanages, and Riyad had given most of the staff the weekend off. The palace was theirs, and they’d made good use of it.
No matter how m
any times she fell into bed with him, she couldn’t get enough of him.
Opening the bathroom door, she stepped out into the suite and wasn’t surprised to see Riyad lounging on the chaise by the window. He’d said he’d had an errand to run, which was why she’d taken the opportunity to shower. Obviously, that errand hadn’t taken very long. “You break into my bathroom and steal my clothes while I’m in the shower, and I didn’t hear anything. You really are a ninja.”
“Or maybe you simply aren’t very aware of your surroundings,” he said, lifting his eyebrows. “We need to work on that.” Relaxing against the cushions, he added, “I like your choice of outerwear. You should unbutton it and show me what you chose for underneath.”
“I didn’t choose anything,” she laughed as she picked up a throw pillow and lobbed it at him. “This was all I was offered, and I’m fairly certain by now that you know exactly what I have on underneath.”
Casually tossing the pillow on the floor, he crooked his finger. She didn’t hesitate as she walked over to him, and he easily pulled her down onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned back against him and glanced out the window. The suite overlooked the massive gardens and fountains that decorated the back of the palace. It was still difficult to believe that anyone could be this wealthy.
“Sustenance,” he murmured as he kissed her ear and produced a tray of fruit and bread. Laying it on her lap, he grabbed a strawberry and popped it in her mouth. “Eat. You’ve expended a lot of energy this weekend.”
As she pulled the stem from her mouth, his hand settled on her stomach, and her heart skipped a beat. He’d been doing that more and more lately. Like a father who wanted to feel his baby kick. It made Danielle uncomfortable not because of the touch but because of how the gesture now filled her with longing.
For the first time, she found herself wanting something she’d never really thought about before. A family. A husband. Children. Stability. Love.
“We expended a lot of energy,” she reminded him as she tried to push the heartache away. “Of course, it doesn’t seem to bother you, but not all of us were trained to be secret spies.”