Sheikh's Unlikely Desire

by Lynn, Sophia

  “That may bruise a little,” he noted. “But there looks like no harm done.”

  Leah nodded, grateful for the drink and the cloth. Despite the adrenaline pumping through her system like mad, she felt tired. It wasn't the sleepiness of a concussion, but instead simply the fact that her day had been one roller coaster after another. She drifted in a pleasant haze of not-awake and not-asleep for a short time until the door opened and the seat dipped next to her.

  “Are you all right? Did that man harm you?”

  Leah made herself sit up and look at Zayn. The sheik did not have a single hair out of place, but a perceptible aura around him spoke of heat and danger. Something had threatened someone that he cared about, and he was ready to do whatever it took to make sure that never happened again.

  “I've had worse in falls and in martial arts,” she said. “What about you?”

  Zayn smiled darkly. “A man like that is no concern to me. The moment he laid hands on you, I ceased to care about what he could do.”

  Leah felt a bolt of panic shoot through her. “Did you... did you give him the rights? Oh, Zayn, you shouldn't have done that, there was no need!”

  To her surprise, Zayn laughed, a light and boyish sound. “Darling Leah, still so protective. No. I would not dishonor the things you have done for me by going behind your back in that manner. Instead, I simply explained a few things to him. I told him that I had been polite up until now, and that I was running out of patience.”

  Zayn grinned, showing off his splendid white teeth. “I can be quite unreasonable when I am impatient.”

  Leah wondered if there was a small amount of fear to the shiver that went through her body as Zayn said that last line. Instead, she found herself wrapping her arms around him. There was no better remedy for the fine tremors going through her body than his presence.

  “You're amazing,” she whispered.

  “I appreciate the compliment, but that's not what I wish to hear.” The sadness in his tone was genuine. He wasn't toying with her. He wasn't infatuated. Something in him called to her. She had hurt him by sending him away and by leaving before.

  Suddenly, she couldn't stand to hurt him any longer. “I love you,” she said, her voice soft and broken. “I love you, and I want you...”

  He drew his breath in hard, and then his powerful arms were wrapped around her tightly. “You mean this truly?” he demanded. “You are not merely grateful, or...”

  “No, I love you,” she said again, chains snapping free inside her. Despite her strength and her fire, she had been afraid for a very long time. She had been frightened of the passion inside herself and of what it might mean. Now, however, she knew she had found her match. Better yet, she had found someone who would protect her fire.

  “I love you,” Zayn murmured fiercely, crushing her against his chest. “I love you, I love you, I will love you to the ends of this earth...”

  She did cry then, tears of happiness, but one by one, Zayn kissed them away until she smiled again.

  ***

  To Leah's surprise, Scholl appeared in front of the judge on Monday morning. A heavy coating of makeup had been applied, and whenever he caught Leah looking at him, he flinched away.

  When Scholl stood up to make his statement, however, he stated a short piece about how he had been wrong, he had been wasting everyone's time and that he would not do so in the future. It was, word for word, the apology of a spoiled little boy, and Judge Alvarez, a judge notorious for her strictness, glared at him.

  Leah watched in bafflement as she fined him for wasting county resources and ended the session before Leah had even had time to present a single word.

  In her Mercedes afterward, she turned to Zayn. “What in the world did you say to that man?”

  “It doesn't matter,” he said idly. “The only thing important to me is that he never does anything like that to you or anyone else ever again.”

  Leah took a deep breath, hands loose on the wheel but not starting the car yet. “So that's it,” she said softly. “We're done.”

  “The case is over,” he corrected her. “What's left is up to us.”

  He took her right hand from the wheel and held it gently. She could sense his warmth and his strength traveling straight into her, protecting her.

  “I don't know how long I'll want to stay away from practicing law,” she said by way of warning. “I don't know if I'll be able to stay away forever.”

  Zayn shrugged. “I wouldn't want you to,” he said. “It is a source of your fire, and it will always be a part of you. That makes it precious to me.”

  “It's probably just as well if I take a leave of absence from Hiller and Hiller anyway. Grant doesn't know what to do with me, and if Bryce got wind of any of this, he'd fire me.”

  Zayn snorted to let her know what he thought of that, but she continued.

  “But I need to live for myself now, and for you. I don't know what the future is going to bring, but I know that I want to go back with you. I want to see Almira, and I want to see the world that made you what you are. Because you are precious to me, and I want to see the source of your fire as well.”

  Zayn's grin was wide. “And perhaps I will come with you back to Los Angeles, and you will make a name for yourself here as I tend to Almira's interests abroad. The world is ours, my love, and I swear that you will never give up anything that you truly wish to be mine.”

  He drew her close for a kiss, and in that single moment, Leah knew that wherever she was in the world, she had found her true home.

  EPILOGUE

  Leah had never seen anything as enormous as the sky above Almira. Far away from the capitol city, the sky was as darkly glorious as a black silk painting, the stars as brilliant as diamonds. Her mare, Dunyazed, snorted a little, ready to be off like the wind, but Leah kept her restrained.

  “Shall we stop for a while? This is a fine place to watch the stars for a bit.”

  She smiled at Zayn, who had ridden up to her on his stallion Bayzid. In the darkness and in the black of his desert robes, there was something imposing about her lover. He looked like some mythical figure risen out of the darkness, and what his intentions might be, she could not guess.

  Then he came a little closer, and she could see the familiar and beloved planes of his face. She would never be afraid of him. She would never fear him or think him savage.

  “Let's stop for a moment,” she said, and she knew he could hear the huskiness in her voice.

  She watched him hobble their horses, ensuring that they wouldn't go far, and then he led her up a rise. The desert, far from being a featureless plain as she had thought, was as wild and lovely as any place she had ever lived. Portions of it, especially the parts closer to the oases that had been the source of Almira's wealth in the ancient days, even reminded her of Los Angeles.

  As they sat looking up at the stars, Leah felt a gentle pang for the world she had left behind. She had been set, once upon a time, on returning to it, even if only for a few years. Then she had come to Almira, where there was a burgeoning film industry on the verge of breaking out. Then she had fallen even more deeply in love with Zayn and him with her. The idea of being away from each other sometimes caused physical pain.

  As if he could sense her thoughts, he wrapped his arm around her, bringing her close. “Are you thinking of Los Angeles? Do you find yourself missing it?”

  She wanted to comfort him, but more than that, she knew that she needed to be honest with him. She gave the question the thought it deserved.

  “A little,” she said softly. “I miss the smell of the burning season, sometimes, and I miss the shadows that the chaparral cast on the sands and the rocks. But do I miss it very much? No. This is my home now, and this is what I want. You are what I want.”

  Zayn shifted next to her. She knew that their early days together had made him wonder about the depth of her love, but now she worked all day, every day to prove it to him. When he lifted her up on his lap, she cuddled clo
se. There were no barriers between them, and she wanted to be with this man, in his amazing country, for the rest of her life.

  Leah laughed softly when she felt the shifting of his cock under her thigh.

  “Have you taken me out here to ravish me?” she whispered teasingly.

  His answering laugh was husky and rich. “I do not need to take you out into the wilderness to want to ravish you, but I would be lying if I did not consider it.”

  “Hm.” Leah moved so she could straddle him, kneeling in the sand with her knees planted on either side of his hips. Now she could feel his cock even more clearly, and she rode against it, tantalizing both of them.

  “If you continue in that fashion, I will not last long,” he growled. In the darkness, his eyes gleamed like jade. This man could at once make her feel like prey and the most protected treasure in the entire world.

  “Perhaps I don't need you to last long,” she said teasingly, and then something about the words she spoke echoed in her head. She paused for a moment, and something about the way she did it made Zayn look up, concerned.

  “Beloved, what is the matter? Are you well.”

  “I just did some math in my head,” she said softly. “I'm... tonight, I'm... I'm very ready.”

  For a moment, it looked as if Zayn had no idea what she was talking about. Then he grinned widely. “You're fertile,” he said, his tone delighted. “You're ripe.”

  “Yes. The most I will be all month.”

  They had talked about this. This was the dream for both of them. They had given up the condoms weeks ago, but now, here they were in the desert, a scene as primal as any that had ever been.

  “Is this what you want?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she replied. “This is what I want forever, and I want it with you.”

  She could feel the reverent way his hands moved under her dark robes. She had taken to riding and to the Almiran clothes as easily as if she had been born to it. She wasn't sure if she believed in fate, but there were some days where she wondered if she had been.

  “I'm not such a wild mare that you have to tie me down,” she whispered teasingly.

  “I have already seen your spirit,” he said softly, never taking his eyes from hers. “I do not need proof of it right this moment, but perhaps I will ask later.”

  She shivered as he exposed her breasts to the cool night air, and then she whimpered when she felt him free his cock. With his encouraging hands around her hips, he lifted her until she hovered over him.

  “This is forever,” she said, wonder in her voice.

  “Forever, my love,” Zayn replied.

  She pressed herself down on his erection, gasping as he filled her. It had never been less than perfect between them. Sometimes it was fast, and sometimes it was achingly and beautifully slow, but it was always perfect.

  Now, as she rode him in the dark desert with the sky stretched high above them, she found another feeling with him. This felt right. It was perfect. It was sacred, and she had never been happier in her life.

  She still wasn't quite used to the feel of his bare cock inside her, but she knew that she craved it. There was something amazing about being with him without a single thing between them, something incredible about feeling him spill himself deep inside her.

  She undulated her hips, rolling them in time with his thrusts. She could feel his motions quicken, but she knew that he wouldn't take a climax without giving her one of her own. He reached between their bodies, and with fingers that were astonishingly nimble, he stroked at her taut clit until she was rising.

  “Not without you,” he murmured. “Never without you...”

  Something about the way he said it made her breath catch in her chest, and then she was exploding, her body tightening and bearing down on his. The pleasure rocketed through her, and she almost couldn't bear it. She had to dig her nails into his chest, her head thrown far back as she rode him through her climax.

  She opened her eyes just as he pushed up inside her one last time. The feeling of being filled with heat and life made her gasp, and her eyes were full of stars.

  This is my life, she thought in wonder. This is my world. This is the man I love.

  She laughed at the beauty of it, and when Zayn made a questioning noise, she fell forward against his chest. He was still inside her, though softening, and that was a pleasure as well.

  “I love you,” she said. “I love every part of you.”

  Zayn chuckled. “I love you, and I swear that I will be yours until the stars fall and every year after that.”

  Cradled in the arms of the man she cared more for than anyone in the world, his seed deep inside her, Leah knew that her life would be full of Zayn and his love forever.

  The End!

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  Chapter 1

  Tanya flashed a clear bag of white powder at a security guard at the gate. He reached his hand out to take it, but she smacked his hand away before tucking the bag back in her pocket. “Only Sergei can sample the product,” she informed him.

  “What did you say your name was?” one of the guards asked her. Before she could reply, another man interrupted the conversation.

  “What do you want with my brother?” His deep voice almost intimidated her, but she was not going to allow him to throw her off as she slowly turned to face him. Briefly, her brain registered his good looks with his short, wavy, dark hair, day-old beard, solid build, and impressive height. He looked more like a model than a member of the Russian mob.

  Wait. Did he say brother?

  Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself why she was there. “Business,” she blurted out as he glared at her with suspicion.

  “What kind of business?”

  Tanya flashed him the clear bag with the white substance in it. Reaching his hand out to take it, she pulled it back. “N’uh uh. I want to speak with your brother.”

  The man looked her slowly up and down, and Tanya fought to maintain eye contact. She was not going to be intimidated by him – not when she was this close to seeing her best friend again.

  The guards laughed when he said something in Russian. Shrugging his shoulders, he turned and began walking toward the house. Pausing, he turned to look at her.

  “Are you coming?” Not bothering to see if she was, he continued walking to the house as Tanya struggled to follow.

  Her suitcase kept twisting when she dragged it behind her through the small patches of snow. Planting her feet, she caught her breath when her foot twisted and she almost slipped on the slippery walkway.

  “No, really, I don’t need any help,” she muttered under her breath as she followed along.

  “You are the one who showed up on my doorstep brandishing drugs, why would you think I would help you?” he called over his shoulder.

  “Oh, I don’t know, politeness? Male chivalry?”

  His bark of laughter caught her by surprise. Stopping at the bottom of the steps, he snatched her suitcase and mounted the steps two at a time, while Tanya jogged to keep up. When she got to the top, she stared up at the imposing house as she caught her breath.

  He dropped her bag next to her. “Never let it be said that a Markov does not know how to be chivalrous,” he declared before he continued toward the house. When he got to the entrance, he opened the door and waited for her to follow.

  Staring at the open door, Tanya wondered at her madness. It had been more than a year since she’d seen her best friend Olivia Lockheart. As the victim of a political ploy, she had been kidnapped by the Russian mob in order to
secure the release of the mob leader’s younger brother. Looking up in surprise, his comment about his brother finally sunk in.

  “You’re Nikolai Markov?” she asked, surprised.

  He laughed sarcastically. “Dah. Now, if you would hurry up, you are letting the cold in,” he reprimanded as she covered the distance between them and followed him inside.

  When Olivia had disappeared the second time, Tanya had learned that she had run off with her abductor, Sergei Markov. Even worse, when his replacement decided to stay in Washington DC, Liv’s cousin Daisy supposedly fell head over heels for him.

  What was it with the Lockheart women? she had mused more than once. Well, make that fumed. If all this were true, why didn’t her best friend keep in contact with her? Clearly, something was amiss and Tanya was determined to find out what was going on.

  As she followed Nikolai down a long hallway, she couldn’t help admiring his body. Dressed casually in dark jeans that fit him like a second skin and a wool sweater that did nothing to hide his physique, Tanya was oblivious to where they were going until it was too late.

  Opening a door, he gestured for her to enter first. Thinking he was still bristling at the chivalry comment, she quickly stepped inside. After she looked up, she realized that she was in a rather austere bedroom. She turned around and was about to ask what was going on when she caught his malicious smile before he pulled the door shut and locked it from the outside.

  “Hey!” she shouted, as she ran to the door. Pulling on the handle, she tugged ineffectively at the door, shouting for help. Tanya didn’t know how long she called out before she eventually stopped. She sagged against the door.

  “What the hell am I going to do now?” she said aloud as she looked around at the almost empty room. “Dammit!” Giving the door one last smack with the palm of her hand, she pushed away from it and walked farther into the room.

  Quickly surveying the room, she looked at the meager furnishings. “Hopefully, this isn’t a guest room,” she mused. “Although, I guess it would be effective at keeping guests away. Except for the locked door.”