by Nadia Aidan
“Get down,” he growled at the same time he grasped hold of her arm. Startled, she was thrown off balance and before they both realized what was happening, Sabeen tumbled into his arms with a yelp of surprise. He caught her easily, and despite the darkened shadows of the club, Khalil knew the moment she recognized who now held her imprisoned within his embrace. Her expressive eyes went from surprise, to disbelief, then apprehension, before finally settling on anger.
“What are you doing here?” she snapped. “And put me down, you’re embarrassing me in front of my friends.”
“I could ask you the same thing, since last time we talked you were supposed to be meeting me for dinner.” At the mention of her friends he looked up and caught the wide-eyed anxious gazes of Sabeen’s three girlfriends. “Good evening, ladies.” He shouted as loud as he could so they could hear him over the roar of the music. “I’m Sabeen’s god-brother visiting from out of town. I’m taking her home now, but I am happy to give all of you a ride if you would like to leave as well—”
“I’m not going home,” she argued. “Put me down right now.”
Realizing he still held her in his arms, he reluctantly set her on her feet, but he didn’t release her as he held her close with a vice grip around her waist. That drew a frown, but when she seemed ready to protest again, his next words halted her.
“The music is too loud so you know your friend’s can’t hear us,” he deliberately said in an even tone, so only she could make out his words. “And right now they aren’t too sure about you leaving with a stranger. Which is why you’re going to tell them the truth and then you’re going to walk out of this club with me right now, because if you don’t, I will make sure this place loses its liquor license and gets shut down for letting in underage girls, and then I will tell your father exactly where and how I found you.”
Her terrified expression almost roused a tiny inkling of pity for her, until he remembered what he’d been doing for the past five hours. As he’d predicted, she said good-bye to her friends, and seconds later she allowed him to usher her outside.
*
I sat on one of the two queen beds in the two-bedroom suite, staring at the blank TV screen. In the background were the muffled sounds of the shower running in the other room, but I paid little attention while my mind and body warred over what I would do next.
Khalil had been furious the entire drive to the Intercontinental, especially when he had to explain to me that he wasn’t taking me back to my dorm because his conscience wouldn’t allow him to, given that he didn’t trust me not to sneak out again. But because of my stunt, it was too late to drive back to Stone Mountain, and it wasn’t like he could stay in my ‘females only’ dorm room, which left only one option—the nearest hotel, which ended up being the Intercontinental. But since I’d proven myself untrustworthy, as he kept reminding me, I wasn’t getting my own room, or the opportunity to go back to my dorm to get my own clothes for that matter, because Khalil was determined not to let me out of his sight. I knew the only reason why he even felt comfortable enough to take a shower, was because the valet had his car keys so he felt certain that I couldn’t go anywhere, and even if I did, I couldn’t go far since my purse was now in the bathroom with him.
Of course I’d protested his high-handed manner, and of course I was completely ignored. His only concession had been to purchase some clothes and toiletries for me from the hotel gift-shop. And as soon as he’d handed the items over, he’d further reprimanded me in very clear, stern words that I now had everything I needed for a comfortable night’s stay, which was more than I deserved.
I hadn’t uttered a word since. The involuntary tic in Khalil’s jaw warned me that I’d pushed him too far. He’d then ordered room service, and we’d eaten dinner in complete silence, until he’d eventually gotten up to take a shower.
It took me several moments to notice that the water had stopped. In a few minutes Khalil would emerge from the bathroom, and I would need to have made a decision, because I knew I would never get a chance like this again.
Ever since I could remember, I’d always wanted Khalil. At first in the way young girls do, with unfailing admiration, and a healthy dose of hero worship. As I grew older, my childhood awe gave way to a teenage crush. And it probably would have stayed that way, had I not caught him staring at me the night of my high school graduation. The look in his eyes as he raked my body with his heated, obsidian stare had been potent—possessive.
I might as well have been naked the way his gaze had combed over me like a wanton caress, stroking my breasts, before trailing downward to the space between my thighs. At first I’d been shocked and maybe even a little indignant, until I’d felt a powerful, pulsing sensation sweep through me. I’d been immediately shaken by his dark, possessive stare, and the desires he’d awakened with a single look.
His eyes had narrowed then as if searching for something. Within the span of seconds, his piercing stare gave way to surprise, which was quickly masked by a pensive frown. At that moment, I knew that he had discovered my secret, just as I had discovered his.
Khalil had quickly shuttered his gaze and broken eye contact, and for the rest of his time in Sharjah, I could not so much as get him to glance my way, so I’d certainly been unable to get him alone, until tonight.
The bathroom door creaked open, and I knew then, I was out of time. In my daydreams I’d imagined if I ever got him alone, I would greet him wearing nothing, and then I would offer myself to him, and with it the chance to fulfill the passions he’d aroused within me all those months ago. But I was no seductress, I was an eighteen year old virgin who hadn’t even been kissed until a month ago at a homecoming party. Khalil, however, was a man of experience, and more importantly he was the man I’d desired for so long, but never thought I could ever have.
He was the man, my young, naïve heart was sure I was in love with, so when he entered the room, dressed in faded jeans and a black tank, with his hair still wet from the shower, and his skin glistening with moisture, not only was I still fully clothed, I blurted out none of the sexy, coy phrases I’d rehearsed, but five stupid words that would haunt me forever.
“I know what you are.”
*
Khalil studied Sabeen from the doorway that separated their two rooms. He knew this moment would come from the second he’d found himself alone with her, but what else could he do? When he’d caught up to her she’d been tipsy, there was no way he would have allowed her to return to her dorm alone, only for her to sneak back out. God only knew what trouble would find her then. Like it or not, he was stuck with her for the night, and while he’d showered he’d prayed for strength and restraint, because he had no illusions that this would prove to be one of the worst nights of his life. Pure torture, he was sure.
Even now, as she stood only a few feet away from him, her perfect features, open and vulnerable, she was all wide-eyed innocence and seductive allure rolled up into the delectable package of a beautiful woman, a beautiful, innocent woman who was too naïve to recognize the danger she was in. He frowned at that thought. When had he started seeing her as vulnerable and innocent? The Sabeen he’d known and grown up with was spoiled and selfish. A shallow, airhead of a girl. The woman who stared back at him was different, deeper, and there was a knowing in her eyes.
Or maybe you just decided she was nothing more than a silly, shallow, socialite because then you could dismiss her, and you definitely wouldn’t have to admit that you’ve always wanted her.
Khalil started, silently cursing, first his conscience, and then Abdul’s name. Her father had sent him to watch over her—a wolf to watch over the sheep. He refused to admit the truth whispered in his sub-conscious, just as he refused to allow some innocent, slip of a girl to provoke him into unleashing the nascent urges he’d spent years fighting to restrain.
“Go to bed, Sabeen. It’s late and after your stupid stunt, I’m tired. Good night.” He started to turn toward his bedroom, but her next words stil
led him.
“Don’t you even want to know, what I know? I mean aren’t you even curious as to what I mea—”
“No. I’m not curious, because I don’t care what you think you know.”
Anger sparked in her golden eyes. “I know you’re a dominant,” she continued stubbornly, heedless to his earlier statement or the dark glower now hardening his features. “I know you must have power and control when you’re with a woman, that you like when she submits.”
Khalil didn’t know whether to be furious or amused at her outburst. In the end, it was a little bit of both. “And how does a spoiled little socialite think she knows so much, huh? You read that in one of your little Cosmo magazines?”
“I’m not stupid,” she snapped. “So stop treating me like I’m too dumb to recognize an insult.” She stopped abruptly to study him, and when her eyelids narrowed, it felt as if a lead weight had just been dropped onto his chest. “What are you afraid of? Or the better question is why are you afraid of me, because I know you’ve been purposely avoiding me since my graduation.”
He’d misjudged her and apparently underestimated her too. Whatever Sabeen was, stupid she was not. With her discerning eye, she was far too astute for his sense of well-being. Realizing she would not be so easily dismissed, he switched tactics. In three strides he closed the distance between them to tower over her. With his imposing stature, and harsh features, he had quelled the likes of many who were far bigger and far more dangerous than the woman before him.
But Sabeen didn’t cower as he’d hoped. But neither was she immune to the danger of his threatening presence. Even as she lifted her chin in defiance, he glimpsed the wariness in her eyes. She was questioning whether she’d gone too far.
Good, he thought, because she had.
“Me? Afraid of you? An eighteen year old virgin who thinks she now understands me because she hasn’t missed one issue of her silly magazine.” He laughed right in her face, mocking her, but there was no laughter in his eyes, or even the hint of a smile on his face when he spoke again. “Do not fool yourself into believing you are safe with me. It is not me who should be afraid, it is you. And the fact that you don’t even realize the danger you’re in tells me who have no clue what I truly am.”
“You would never hurt me,” she said after a long pause, displaying more bravado than he knew she felt given the slight trembling of her lips.
“You’re right. I won’t because this discussion is over. Now, goodnight, Sab—,”
He’d already turned away from her, but faster than he could have imagined she slipped around him to block his path, and with his forward momentum he literally collided into her. When she would have stumbled backwards, he snaked his arm around her waist, catching her, and then bracing her against the solid weight of his frame. Every lush curve now molded to the hard, masculine planes of his body. Now that she was not in danger of falling, he could have released her and set her aside, but he was frozen where he stood, the raw ache he’d fought to ignore ever since the night of her graduation became insistent, and his cock which had been semi-hard now pressed painfully against the zipper of his jeans.
“You want me. You can’t deny that you don’t, not anymore.” Sabeen spoke softly as she pointed out his obvious aroused state. He wished she’d left it at that, but she was too headstrong for her own good. “And you know I want you too. I only told you that I know what you are, because I—I think you know what I am too.”
Her last words were little more than a whisper, as she stared up at him, her gaze expectant, her eyes full of trust. Khalil closed his own eyes with a heavy sigh.
“What do you want from me, Sabeen?”
“I think you know what I want.”
His lids snapped open as he pinned her his dark glare. “But why me? And why now? You’ve known me for years, so what’s this about? And no games, I want the truth.”
“I honestly can’t give you an answer. Cause I don’t get it either. All I know is that when you looked at me the night of my graduation, what I saw in your eyes, I can’t’ explain it—it just felt right. Like I could finally trust someone, like I could trust you, because you understood what it was like to feel things, want things, fantasize about things that others don’t. Things that some people think are wrong. Like I said, I can’t really explain it because I don’t fully understand it myself, but what I saw in your eyes made me believe you wouldn’t make me feel dirty, or ashamed about what I am.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her exactly what was she? But he was certain that she hadn’t put a name to her desires, because she didn’t truly know, but he knew, and his body did as well. Her submissive nature was like a siren’s call to the beast lurking within, and if he didn’t get a grip on himself very quickly, Khalil wasn’t convinced he would be able to restrain himself if his urges took hold.
There was no denying that he wanted her, but he couldn’t. She was practically family. The things he wanted to do to her, if anyone, especially her father found out…He cringed.
Displaying a strength of will that he was astounded he still even possessed, he set her away from him because if he gave into temptation, he would only wind up hurting her, and not just physically either.
“You’re a beautiful woman, so I know one day you will find the right man to introduce your body to the type of passion you crave. But the man I am…” He hesitated for a few moments, searching for the right words, so that she would understand he wasn’t rejecting her because he didn’t want her, far from it. He just wasn’t what she needed, not if she was just starting to embrace her nature. “I know this is going to sound like a stupid cliché, but the truth of it is, just like every man is different, no dominant is alike either. While there are some who live for training new submissives, there are others like myself, who are far too rough to ever deal with a virgin.”
“You could never hurt me, Khalil, at least no more than I already desire.” He felt himself unraveling when a seductive smile teased across her full lips, but her next words were ultimately what caused him to snap. “And besides if you’re worried that I’m a virgin, don’t, because I’m not.”
*
It took every ounce of fortitude to stand there beneath Khalil’s intense scrutiny and not once flinch, or betray my lie by looking away. With every passing second, I could feel the scorching hot blaze of fury radiating from him. What was his problem? We both wanted each other, but my virginity had been an obstacle, so now that it wasn’t, why wasn’t he eagerly stripping off his clothes like I wanted him to?
“Do not lie to me, Sabeen. I know you’re still a virgin.”
The hard, dangerous gravel in his voice sent an icy chill of actual fear down my spine. I could tell he was deadly serious, and it was on the tip of my tongue to admit I’d just lied, until I remembered, if I told him the truth, he would never touch me, not now, not ever.
“I’m not lying. I’m not a virgin.”
Within a blink of an eye, he dragged me into his arms, and then trapped me against his hard muscled body as he pinned my back to the wall.
“I am not some little boy you can play with. I know you’re lying to me, and you said it best a few minutes ago, I must control, I must be the one who holds the power. But when you lie to me little girl, you make a fool out of me, and my nature won’t allow me to simply ignore the insults of a submissive, and a virgin at that.”
His thunderous expression had me regretting my decision to deceive him, but before I could speak, he seized me by the wrist and hauled me into his bedroom. I thought he would go all wild on me and toss me onto the bed, so when he sat down and pulled me over his lap, with my ass in the air, it took me a second to register his intent, but as soon as I did, I was the one who went all wild.
“No! You will not lay a hand on me. I won’t stand for this, Khalil. I will not be spanked like I’m some childddddd—”
He silenced me with a hard swat to my backside. I hadn’t changed out of my club attire because I’d been wa
iting to shower, so my mini skirt provided absolutely no coverage. As if affirming my thoughts, he pushed my skirt up over my ass until it was bunched at my waist, and then simply ripped my thong from my body with the flick of his wrist. Now completely bare-assed before him, he thwacked my ass with hard, punishing slaps.
It hurt like hell, and with his hand between my shoulder blades, holding me firmly in place, all I could do was take it until tears stung my eyes.
“I should have done this as soon as we arrived at the hotel to teach you a lesson for that little stunt of yours. But I didn’t want to punish you because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from claiming you, and believe it or not, I was actually trying not to hurt you. But you’re a spoiled little liar.” He paddled my ass through the storm of his tirade until I couldn’t take it anymore and begged him to stop.
Surprisingly, he did, but he was far from done. Abruptly, he stood, sending me tumbling to the floor. I barely managed to catch myself and ended up sprawled out on my hands and knees. I glared up at him, my anger rising when I saw the smug grin on his face, although I was well aware he was far from amused. His eyes were furious, hard chips of pure black coal, devoid of any hint of mirth.
“You’re turning out to be a very poor, submissive, Sabeen. You can’t endure a well-deserved spanking and even now your eyes are filled with murderous intent when they should be staring at the floor beneath you.” I guess he expected me to lower my gaze but I only glared at him harder, earning a small chuckle as he shook his head.
“I’m going to really enjoy this,” I watched with a mixture of burgeoning lust and curiosity as he began to undress before me. “Too bad we only have this one night and that we’re not back at my home where I have everything I need, or I would really show you the true meaning of pain and punishment.” He had stripped down to his boxers, but he stopped and lowered himself until he was balancing on his haunches, so that he was now eye level with me. With a single finger, he lifted my chin, so that I had no choice but to witness the truth of his next words in his eyes.