by Kristi Gold
His resistance waned as the emotional armor began to dissolve and in that moment, Sheikh Ashraf ibn-Saalem who had strove to be bound to no one, indebted to no one, was in grave danger of giving his new wife a liberal share of his heart, only to risk that she, too, would leave him.
In order to prevent history from repeating itself, he would not pressure her for intimacy. He would provide only comfort for however long it took to convince her to trust him. He would have to be content knowing that she needed at least that much from him now. Perhaps one day she would need more.
Karen couldn’t believe how good she had felt over the past week. Her energy level was better than she’d ever imagined it to be considering her doctor had told her that morning that she might feel sleepy at times. Truth be known, she’d had trouble sleeping even though she had spent her nights in the security of Ash’s arms since his return, engaged in quiet conversation and nothing more.
She’d had the devil of a time convincing him to wear some kind of clothes to bed because he preferred to sleep in nothing at all, but he’d finally agreed to pajama bottoms although he’d refused to wear a shirt. And oddly enough, he’d seemed happy to only hold her. Many times she had almost given in to the urge to turn to him and ask him to make love to her, but she hadn’t. In part her pride had prevented her from doing so, but her concerns over becoming too emotionally tied to him had kept her from acting on the impulse. Whatever the reasons, she had avoided any intimate contact, and she was frankly going nuts. Maybe she would be a total fool to invite his complete attention, to ask him to make love to her, but she was beginning not to care about the darned arrangement or the original terms. Especially tonight.
While she had been finishing up the dinner dishes, he’d joined her in the not-quite-renovated kitchen immediately following his shower, something that had become a part of their routine. But even with him dressed in a plain white T-shirt and a pair of equally plain pajama bottoms, her covered in a short navy silk robe and intentionally nothing else, the process seemed anything but routine.
Every innocent contact they’d made while completing the task had Karen’s lively libido coming to attention. Every whiff of his shower-fresh scent made her want to climb all over him without reservation. Every word he uttered, be it about his work or hers, sounded like bedroom talk to her ears.
“How have you been feeling?” he asked as he dried the last remaining pan.
Like a wicked, wanton female. “I’m feeling really good. I did have a craving today.”
He smiled. “And what would that be?”
“Don’t laugh.”
“I will try to refrain.”
“Olives. Spanish olives. I was in the middle of the dining room at work and I wanted one. Actually, I wanted the whole jar.”
Ash released a slight chuckle. “I would have to say that is an odd craving.”
If he only knew what else she’d been craving, he might not be so surprised by the olives. Karen wagged a suds-covered finger at him. “You said you wouldn’t laugh.”
“My apologies. I’m pleased to hear you’ve been well.” His expression turned suddenly serious. “I am concerned that you are doing too much with your work at the gelateria and the renovations here.”
She shrugged. “So far I have enough energy to handle it, so you don’t have to worry.”
“The new appliances should be arriving by the end of the week. At least this dishwashing will not be necessary. I also believe I should begin interviewing housekeepers.”
Karen wanted to tell him that this activity wasn’t so bad at all, especially since it provided the opportunity to spend more quality time with him at night, to know him better. She felt somewhat successful in that regard although he still retained a hint of mystery, enough to keep her guessing more often than not.
“I don’t mind doing a few dishes,” she said. “Besides, it’s only the two of us. We really don’t need a housekeeper.”
“This is a large house, Karen. When the baby arrives, you’ll not have much time to allow for upkeep.”
She slipped the final dish into the drainer. “If you really think that’s necessary, I suppose I wouldn’t mind some help around here.”
“I will begin the interview process as soon as possible.”
She rested her damp hands on the edge of the sink. “I think I should be involved, too. I don’t want just anybody coming into the house.”
He raised a dark brow. “Do you not trust my judgment?”
“I’m not saying that. I’d just like to be a part of the process.” She grinned. “Besides, what if I want to hire a houseboy?”
Ash looked as if he’d just swallowed something bitter. “You would wish to have a man tending to the chores?”
“Sure. Why not? I mean, you’re drying the dishes, aren’t you? And you’re handling it quite well, I might add.”
The sensual look he now gave her was downright deadly. “I enjoy working with my hands, although I have never used them on dishes before now.”
Karen was more interested in having him use his hands on her. As if he’d read her mind, he tossed the dish towel aside, reached around her to put away the plate in a cabinet while bracing a palm on her hip and pressing his body into her back.
Karen bit her lip to keep from blurting out, I want you here and now, on the drop cloths covering the floor, on the island bar, up against the refrigerator, anything to keep the hormones happy. After all, that was exactly what this uncanny, uncontrollable desire for Ash’s attention was all about. A raging case of pregnancy hormones. At least that sounded logical.
Ash closed the cabinet door above Karen’s head while she pulled the stopper from the sink. She froze with her hands in the disappearing water when his palms came to rest on her shoulders. “Exactly what services would you require of a houseboy?” His tone held a touch of amusement.
She sent him a teasing grin over one shoulder. “You know, mopping the floors, vacuuming and, of course, the occasional massage.”
He lightly kneaded the muscles at her nape. “Do you not like my massages?”
She tipped her head forward to give him better access. “Oh, you do all right in that department.”
“Only all right?”
“Okay, better than all right. Especially when you hit the right spot.” As far as Karen was concerned, he wasn’t anywhere near that spot. Not yet, but he would be if she had any say in the matter.
Ash moved his massage to her lower back. “Is this better?”
Without thought of the consequences, Karen pulled his hand around to her breast and leaned back against him. All that solid, strong, warm maleness effectively incited her cravings—the ones not involving food—as well as her determination to have what she knew he could give her. “I could use a little attention here.”
He palmed her breasts, rubbing his thumbs across her nipples, effectively bringing every inch of her to attention. “Is this satisfactory?”
Oh, yes. “You’re getting there.”
“Where is it you wish me to be?” His warm breath fanned her neck, fueled the fire.
She guided his palm from her breast to immediately beneath her belly. “I need…”
“What is it you need, Karen?” His coarse whisper made her shiver, made her want.
She reached back and slid her fingertips through his damp hair. “I need you, Ash. I need to be with you in every way.”
“What are you asking of me?”
He knew exactly what she was asking, but if he wanted to hear her say it, Karen could definitely do that. “I’m asking you to make love to me.”
“Are you absolutely certain?”
“Yes.”
He pulled her hair away from her shoulder and planted soft kisses along her neck. “Then perhaps we should retire to our bed.”
The bed seemed somehow too intimate. If they made love here in the kitchen, Karen could convince herself it was only sex, not lovemaking. She could trick her head into thinking that she was driven on
ly by basic, biological urges. Convincing her heart was another matter altogether.
She pressed against Ash, finding him already aroused. No real surprise there. “Forget about the bed. I don’t want to wait.”
“I would not want to harm you or our child.”
She looked back at him. “My doctor said that making love is fine.”
“You have seen a doctor?”
“Actually, this morning.”
He clasped her shoulders, turned her around and studied her with fierce, dark eyes. “And you did not consider that I might wish to accompany you?”
Nothing like destroying the mood. “They had a last-minute cancellation so there really wasn’t time to call you. I had to take it or wait another month. Besides, I knew you were busy and it was only the first of many.”
He dropped his hands from her shoulders. “Exactly. It was the first. I should have been there. I would have made the time.”
Karen had done everything for herself for so long, it hadn’t occurred to her that something as simple as a doctor’s appointment would mean so much to him. “Today was only a routine exam. Everything’s fine. You can come with me next month. They might do a sonogram then and we’ll have our first picture.”
Ash strode from the kitchen and into the adjacent parlor without another word. Karen hurried to catch up to him, frustrated that he always seemed so determined to run away. She was determined not to let him this time. “Where are you going?”
“I am in need of some fresh air,” he replied without slowing.
Once inside the bedroom, Ash threw open the French doors and walked onto the porch, stopping at the brick wall to stare at the harbor.
Karen came to his side while he stood white-knuckling the ledge as if he wanted to tear it apart with his bare hands. “So that’s it, huh? I asked you to make love to me exactly as you said I would and now you’re no longer interested?”
“Perhaps I’m not in the mood.”
She let out a humorless laugh. “That’s not what your mood indicator was telling me in the kitchen.”
He kept his profile to her but she could still see his anger in the hard set of his jaw. “I cannot deny that I want you, but I also cannot deny that I am disappointed that you did not think to involve me today.”
“I’m sorry, Ash.” And she sincerely was. “I don’t know what else I can say.”
He sent her a brief glance before returning his attention to the glistening sea stretched out before them. “I would ask for your promise that you will consider me from this point forward when it comes to our child.”
In any other instance, Karen might have argued he was being unreasonable. But right now she didn’t want this night to end in bitter words and wounded feelings. She wanted to end it in his arms—a place where she could lose herself in a passion that defied common sense. “I promise. It won’t happen again.”
“Good.”
Karen swallowed her pride and found it much easier going down than she’d expected. “Since that’s settled, do you think maybe we could take up where we left off in the kitchen?”
Ash remained silent for a moment then pushed away from the wall. Karen’s heart dropped to her bare feet when she assumed he was about to go back inside. Instead he came up behind her and folded his arms around her middle, pulling her back against him. “A remarkable view, do you not agree?”
Karen didn’t care about the view. She didn’t care about anything at the moment aside from making love with him. Although she felt secure and safe in his strong arms, she wanted more than security. She needed more than to be held. She was afraid to ask him again, afraid of his rejection.
She rested her arms loosely over his. “Yes, it’s a nice view. Whoever built the house did a remarkable job with the layout.”
“I’ve been told that the original owner was a sea captain,” he said. “He was gone for months at a time while his wife waited for his return. I imagine she probably stood in this very spot, watching for his ship’s arrival.”
“A very romantic notion.” Provided they cared about each other, Karen thought. How nice to consider that someone’s love story had unfolded in the place where she and Ash now stood—two people whose future together was no more than a huge question mark beyond the present.
Ash slipped one hand immediately beneath the opening of her robe at her collarbone, keeping his other arm at her waist. “I can only imagine their reunion after spending such a lengthy time apart.”
Karen could only imagine Ash’s hand on her breast again, but she decided to proceed with caution and allow him to take the lead, at least for now. “I’m sure the reunion must have been passionate. If neither one of them took lovers while they were separated.”
“He would not be in need of another lover.” He lowered his palm in small, tantalizing increments, until it came to rest immediately above her breast. “His wife would be all that he needed, and she would not be in need of another man.”
“Then he must have been one incredible lover.”
Finally Ash cupped her bare breast beneath the robe, causing Karen’s breath to hitch hard in her chest. He thumbed her nipple slowly, gently. “Pleasing his wife would be of the utmost importance.”
The conviction in Ash’s tone caused Karen to shiver. “Do you think they made love in our bedroom?”
He rimmed the shell of her ear with his clever tongue. “Perhaps they never made it beyond this porch. Perhaps he lifted her skirts and undid his trousers and took her right here because he could not wait.”
Karen felt the tug of the sash at her waist as well as the strong pull of desire. “I could understand his hurry.” At the moment she wanted Ash to hurry but as usual he took his time, grazing his warm lips across her neck as he slowly opened her robe, allowing the cool ocean air to breeze over Karen’s bare skin. The wisp of wind did nothing to alleviate the heat jetting through her entire body.
“I suppose had they chosen to make love here,” he continued, “someone might have seen them.”
“Maybe that’s why they built this wall.” Karen’s voice sounded coarse with need as visions of Ash making love to her on the porch flickered in her hazy brain.
He planted his palm above her belly while he continued to fondle her breast with the other. “True, but the wall only offers so much privacy if one is standing. Any passing sailor would have seen what they were doing.”
“Only if he had some high-powered binoculars, and I’m not sure they made those back then,” Karen said, proud that she had come up with a solid argument at such a mindless time.
“But they most certainly have those now.” He circled a fingertip around her navel, sending Karen’s heart into a mad dash against her chest. “Perhaps someone is watching us.”
She again nudged her bottom against Ash, hoping to encourage him, finding he didn’t need any encouragement. “Are you saying we should continue this inside?”
“Only if you so desire.”
She only desired him, longed for what he could give her. Here. Now. “Why should we? We’re hidden enough. No sailor could tell what we’re doing.”
Ash skated his fingertips through the covering of curls between her legs. “He could most certainly tell.”
Karen drew in another sharp breath as he made one slow pass over her flesh, then another, not quite hitting the mark. “How would he know?”
He began to ply her with gentle, breath-stealing strokes, this time directing his attention exactly where she needed it the most. “Even if he could not see what I’m doing, he would recognize it by your expression alone.”
An almost guttural sound escaped Karen’s lips as Ash worked his magic to appease the ache, as he continued to speak to her in a deep, hypnotic voice that caressed her as surely as his skilled hand. “He would know how I am touching you. He would envy me.”
Ash effectively fed the firestorm in Karen with only a few well-chosen words and well-placed caresses. When the wind picked up in intensity, so did Ash’s stroking.<
br />
“Can you imagine what he is seeing in your face, Karen, knowing it’s only moments before you give in?”
Karen closed her eyes, not yet wanting to let go of the pleasure. But she could do nothing, nothing, to stop it, when Ash whispered, “He would know, Karen. He would know the moment I made you—”
Karen rode surge after surge of a climax that hit her with a resounding fury. Her body trembled, her legs felt as if they might give way, but Ash was there, holding fast to her as she fought to recover her respiration. Ash brought her face back and dipped his head to kiss her, his tongue deftly advancing then withdrawing between her parted lips, reminding her that she still wanted more. She wanted it all.
She started to turn in his arms but he stopped her with a firm, “No,” and an equally firm grasp on her shoulders.
He stepped back and Karen regarded him over one shoulder to find him twisting his shirt over his head. His beautiful, bare chest took on a copper glow as it reflected the last remnants of the sun. He snaked out of his pajama bottoms, revealing his complete arousal, and Karen was completely at his mercy.
He came back to her and nudged her legs apart with his palms. “Open for me, Karen.”
She did as he asked without question yet she wasn’t at all sure how this was going to work. He slipped her robe from her shoulders, bunched it between her and the wall and said, “Cross your arms on the ledge.”
Again, she did as he asked and again she looked over her shoulder. “Ash, are you sure—”
“There are many ways to make love, Karen.” She felt the gentle nudge of his erection. “You only need to trust me.”
Karen did trust him, trust that he would take good care of her, and she wasn’t wrong to do so. He guided himself inside her then braced her hips with his palms, angling her away from the wall. Karen rested her forehead on her folded arms to absorb the sensations as Ash curled into her, filling her body completely, his chest so solid against her back, one arm folded around her middle, one hand drifting lower to touch her again. With her senses heightened to the surroundings, she was mildly aware of the sound of lazy waves lapping against the shore in the distance, Ash whispering lyrical words she didn’t understand yet whose meaning became quite clear as he rocked against her, setting a calm cadence at first, then moving faster, deeper. So close, she thought as she moved in sync with Ash. So close, as if they were remarkably one body, completely in tune with each other.