by Annie West
It didn’t work. Images of Lina swam before him. The decorous yet tantalising plunge of her V-necked dress that made him recall the soft press of her breasts when they’d kissed. Those sexy shoes that accentuated her long legs. Her animation. Her smiles as she spoke to Senhora Neves and her dinner companions and, in short, everyone but him.
With a growl he snapped off the water and stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist and using another to wipe the water from his face.
Sleep was impossible. He might as well work instead. He stalked out of the bathroom and slammed to a halt.
He wasn’t alone.
A figure stood poised in the open door from his bedroom into the courtyard.
A jolt of something like lightning struck, spearing Sayid, sending shockwaves from his scalp to the soles of his feet, scorching every centimetre between. For an instant the world stood absolutely, eerily still, before his heart hammered against his ribs like a runaway train and he swallowed hard, ignoring the razored obstruction in his suddenly dry throat.
‘Lina.’ His voice was gravel and hot tar, rumbling half an octave lower than its usual pitch.
Heat blasted his belly and after that moment’s rampant acceleration his heartbeat slowed to a hard, ponderous, aching beat.
She stood on the threshold, neither in nor out of the room, hand braced on the window frame. Her face was composed but there was a tiny frown marring her smooth forehead and instinct screamed that she was torn between flight and entering.
Every cell of his body demanded that he prowl over there, wrap his arm around her and tug her inside. That he devour those delicious lips and then give free rein to the explosive, carnal hunger eating him up.
But Sayid retained just enough restraint to wait, even as his erection swelled needily. For he’d seen her eyes, bemused like a hunted animal facing a predator. He read doubt in her rigid form.
He had enough experience of women to know things would go far better if he let her believe it was her choice to stay with him. Never mind the fact that if she dared to try scurrying away now, he’d reach her in a few strides and seduce her into submission.
Breath tight in his lungs, he turned away and paced to the table where light refreshments were laid out for him. ‘Come in. Please.’
He only released his breath when he heard the swish of her dress as she stepped inside.
Sayid took his time pouring a cold drink then turned to find her halfway across the room, her eyes veiled by long lashes as she looked down at the intricately woven tribal rug covering the middle of the floor.
‘Here.’ He approached slowly, pleased when she stood her ground. He passed the glass to her and she took it carefully, not letting her fingers touch his. She lifted it to her lips and swallowed as if parched from the desert sun.
‘Thank you.’ Her voice was husky but even. Then her eyes lifted to lock on his and another charge of electricity zapped him. That violet stare held wariness and...determination. It tracked down his bare torso then back to his face and Sayid felt it like a flame licking naked skin.
She held the glass out before her as if she’d forgotten it and Sayid took it from her, lifting it to his lips and downing the liquid in one swallow, easing his own arid throat.
Lina watched him swallow, her pupils dilating, and he heard the soft intake of her breath.
The air between them clogged in a haze of awareness, of heat and unmistakable desire. He defied her to deny it when every hitched breath, every tiny shudder in her taut frame proclaimed it.
‘You came to give me your answer.’ He turned to put the glass down, ostensibly giving her time to regroup, but actually seeking the strength to wait, not haul her to him and ravish her where they stood. Had he ever been so mightily aroused, just looking at a woman?
‘I did. Yes.’
Sayid dragged air into his lungs, sliding the glass across the inlaid surface. ‘Yes, you came to talk or yes, you agree to my proposal?’
‘Yes, I—’
His eyes snapped to hers and again he heard that tiny catch of breath. The sound skittered over his bare flesh like a caress, drawing it impossibly tight.
This woman would be the death of him! They hadn’t yet touched and he was bombarded with erotic sensations. He felt his patience shred, like ribbons snatched away in a khamsin, the unstoppable desert wind.
Her chin tipped higher. ‘If you still want me, I’ll be your lover for a week.’
Relief hummed through him.
If he still wanted her!
Couldn’t she feel the charge between them?
Yet even as he wondered, he read the staunch pride in the angle of her jaw and the blaze of her stunning eyes.
Of course she felt it. But this was a bargain—his bargain. Not some spur-of-the-moment impulse.
He owed her acknowledgement.
Gravely Sayid inclined his head, gesturing with his hand in the time-honoured way to signal respect and gratitude. For, despite his ravening impatience, he felt more than lust and relief. He...esteemed her.
None of his other lovers had stirred such respect, he realised. For them a fling with a rich man was easy and uncomplicated. He’d felt attraction and liking but no more.
Lina was different. Despite her western attitude to marriage and sex, her decision took guts. She wasn’t from some faraway place where a short affair was condoned if not encouraged. The fact she’d taken all day to deliberate, when he knew she felt the same hunger he did, proved her choice wasn’t made lightly.
‘Thank you, Lina. I’m honoured by your decision.’
A shaky sigh escaped her. Instantly he wondered if his acknowledgement reinforced her qualms.
The idea of her having second thoughts was untenable.
Sayid crowded close, so close the purple folds of her skirt slid against his legs and his groin tightened needily. He’d kiss her into mindless pleasure—
Except, he realised as he bent his head, that would leave him mindless too. He stilled, recalling how last night’s kiss had driven him to the edge.
He ached to taste her mouth again, lose himself in her welcoming sensuality. But if he kissed her on the lips the sex would be over in seconds and he wanted to savour their first time.
Abruptly Sayid straightened, noting with satisfaction her pouting lips and dazed, disappointed expression.
‘Come.’ Smiling, he took her small hand in his and led her towards the bed.
CHAPTER EIGHT
STRANGE HOW LINA’S quivers of nerves settled when Sayid took her hand and smiled, despite the hungry edge to his expression.
She wanted to be with him, wanted to learn with him the intimacies men and women shared, yet anxiety had undercut her decision. Anxiety that a week as his lover might cement rather than erode her feelings for him. Anxiety that he’d find her gauche or lacking with her total absence of sexual experience.
Even the heady moment when he’d acknowledged his respect for her had underscored the enormity of what she was doing.
But his smile, his touch, bathed her in a glow of delight and anticipation that obliterated all else.
This is right, her soul sang as they stopped by the bed.
So utterly right, her body crooned as they sank side by side onto the edge of the mattress.
Lina licked her lips, dry again despite the juice he’d shared with her, and saw with faint wonder the fixed way Sayid stared at her mouth. As if mesmerised. She registered the pulse suddenly noticeable at his temple. Tentatively she licked her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue again and felt a ripple pass through the big frame beside her.
But before complacency at her power could take hold he’d relinquished her hand, moving from the bed to the floor. Startled, she watched him kneel before her and lift her foot onto his thigh.
A quiver shot through her as those large, warm hands closed a
round her ankle, her nipples peaking in response to the darts of sensation spearing through her body. She had no name for them except possibly awareness, or need.
His smile was knowing but his shoulders were rigid with tension as he investigated the delicate suede ankle straps of her purple shoes.
‘Sexy shoes,’ he murmured as he tugged one tiny buckle undone and moved to the second.
‘I...’ She cleared her throat. ‘I bought them the week before I came back to Halarq.’ She didn’t bother to add they were more daring and expensive than any shoes she’d ever owned. After years of frugal living, and with the shimmering purple fabric waiting to be made into a dress, Lina had succumbed to the urge for excitement and luxury. For who knew what life in Halarq would bring?
An affair with the Emir, that’s what!
Even now she found it hard to believe. The sight of Sayid Badawi, kneeling before her, undoing her shoes as she’d once knelt before him, removing his boots, made her tremble.
Did he remember that night?
Even then, despite her fear, she’d been attracted to him. She’d decided it wouldn’t be a hardship after all to share the Emir’s bed. Yet that attraction was a mere shadow of her feelings for him now.
He removed her shoe and put it aside, then slowly, oh, so slowly, rubbed firm fingers the length of her sole and up her calf. Lina splayed her hands on the bed as her bones liquefied and pleasure swelled.
‘Good?’ She opened flickering eyelids to see his glittering gaze sweep over her.
‘Marvellous.’
‘But not as expert as you. You’ll have to teach me.’ He lifted her other foot onto his thigh and reached for the miniature buckles.
Lina said nothing, too swept away by his touch and the intoxicating notion that Sayid wanted to do this again, but even better, to please her.
A moan built at the back of her throat as he removed the second shoe and massaged his way from her foot, up her calf, to her knee and the sensitive spot behind it that she’d never known about.
When his mouth followed his hands in a torturously slow trail of open-mouthed kisses and licks, it was as if something snapped inside her. Her elbows gave way and she collapsed onto her back, waves of delight lapping higher and higher.
‘Sayid.’ It was a whispery breath, almost inaudible over the rush of blood in her ears.
Instantly the caresses paused. ‘Yes?’ She felt the word in a waft of warm breath against her knee. That caress, or perhaps the fact he’d stopped, seemingly attuned to her sudden tension, eased the nerves unexpectedly coiling in her belly.
‘Just... Sayid.’ For a moment she was overcome, by the wonder of this man and what he did to her. Nothing had prepared her, and they’d only just begun.
Lina blinked and watched him rise over her, hands planted either side of her on the bed.
‘You’re safe with me, you know that, don’t you?’
Of course she knew it. It was crazy to feel so emotional about what was, after all, the most natural thing in the world.
Besides, if her logic worked, a week of intimacy with Sayid would cure her of this emotional see-saw. She’d glut herself on him and be able to walk away, head up and heart whole. It had to work. The alternative was unthinkable.
‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘I trust you.’
Which was all the encouragement he needed to slide her higher up the bed then lower himself beside her. In the move the towel at his hips came undone and Lina felt the hard, hot swell of his erection heavy on her thigh. She wrenched her gaze from his taut features, down that hard, muscled chest and lower, feeling nervous and fascinated at the same time. She wanted to trace the shape of him, discover how that hardness felt.
‘Not a good idea.’ Sayid’s hand cuffed her wrist then brought it up to the mattress beside her ear.
‘But I want to touch you.’ Did she sound like a little girl deprived of a treat? There was nothing childish about how she felt.
He huffed out a laugh, yet the sound was stretched as if it covered pain. ‘Later. Touch me now and this will be all over.’
Holding both her hands in his, he lowered his mouth, not to hers as she’d hoped, but to her neck, nipping with tiny bites that had her writhing till he swung a heavy thigh across her, pinioning her beneath him.
It was the most marvellous feeling, his weight pushing her down, evoking an instant need for her to rise against him, even though she had no desire to escape. But then Sayid pressed his lips to her décolletage, following the V neckline of her dress, and fire exploded in her veins. His lips, soft as a wisp of silk, brushed the upper slopes of her breasts again and again, and this time she couldn’t stop the moan of pleasure.
‘You’re sensitive there.’ His voice sounded hard, rough even, but there was definitely smugness in his eyes as he looked up at her. Then, holding her gaze he sank lower, drawing her nipple into his mouth and sucking hard through the fabric.
Lina jolted as if from an electric charge. Aftershocks radiated from her scalp right down to her toes.
‘Shh, it’s all right. I’ll make it all right.’ Sayid moved a little, hovered over her other breast then lowered his head again, this time gently scraping his teeth over her peaked nipple and making her cry out in wondrous delight.
Heaven help her. She was wound so tight she wouldn’t survive much more of this.
‘Please, Sayid.’ She tried to reach for him but those strong hands still manacled her wrists as he teased her breasts with his mouth. ‘It’s not fair,’ she gasped. ‘You touch me but you won’t let me touch you.’
He looked up, his mouth still closed around her nipple and the sight of him there sent a rush of liquid heat down to that needy place between her legs.
Finally he lifted his head. ‘I never promised fair, Lina. But I promise you’ll enjoy our time together.’
She had no trouble believing that. Already her body hovered near the brink of something momentous. The knowing gleam in his eyes told her Sayid understood exactly how to tip her off the edge.
‘At least let me undress.’ Because perversely, being fully clothed when he was naked felt almost embarrassing, because she was receiving all the pleasure and giving none. Or perhaps she was simply desperate to be one with him.
‘Allow me.’ He slid his hand under her shoulder and across to the zip at the back of her dress, lowering it so slowly Lina found herself arching her body against what felt like a caress.
When the zip was down, instead of peeling the dress from her shoulders, he grabbed the hem and lifted it by inching degrees up her legs. Lina found herself transfixed by the fierce intensity of his stare as he focused on revealing the bare skin of her legs. Finally there was a waft of air across her panties and she waited, breathless, for him to drag them down, or invite her to.
Instead, to her amazement, Sayid leaned down, nuzzling the flimsy damp fabric that hid her from his gaze.
Lina jumped as sensations she’d never known burst through her. She lifted her hands to push him away, then hesitated, fingers hovering above his head, mesmerised, as he kissed her again, right on that throbbing, swollen, exquisitely sensitive nub. Except it became more than a kiss as he drew hard, then kissed, then sucked hard again.
Suddenly light exploded in her soul, in her veins. Her vision blurred and she grabbed his head, hanging on for dear life as a cataclysm burst upon her, burning from the inside out, rolling through her in massive wave upon wave of delight.
Ecstasy.
As the universe-melding power of it eased and she came back to herself, Lina finally understood the meaning of the word. To stand outside yourself. She knew the dictionary definition, but never till this instant understood the stunning reality of it.
For moments there Lina had been both within her body and galaxies beyond it, exploding like a star in a distant solar system.
Slowly, infinitesimally slow
ly, her body floated back down to the bed, to limp satiation. To Sayid’s tight smile and the high flags of colour across his cheeks. As if he’d got pleasure from her pleasure.
Except the proof that he was still unsatisfied lay heavy against her bare leg as he moved up beside her.
Abruptly embarrassment welled. Sayid had watched her come apart, more vulnerable than she’d ever been to anyone. It was another layer of self-possession peeled away by this man against whom she already had too few defences.
‘I want to watch you come.’ The words were out without her consciously forming them.
‘That can be arranged.’ His voice was gravel and black velvet. Yet he didn’t move, instead meeting her stare with a look that told her he was trying to read her thoughts. ‘You’re not happy? What’s wrong, Lina?’
Put like that, she felt ungrateful. What did she have to complain of when he’d given her such pleasure? She’d heard enough gossip to know some men didn’t feel obliged to satisfy their partner’s needs. Far from being ungenerous, Sayid had taken her to the stars and back. And yet...
Lina reached out and cupped his face, feeling the tiny abrasions from what would become his beard. It was the first time she’d touched him like that and she revelled in her right to do so. Her hand splayed over the sharp angle of his jaw, fingers stroking his cheek. That was better, that connection.
‘It was wonderful. Spectacular. But I don’t want to be alone. I want you with me.’
She firmed her mouth, afraid of what her words would reveal. But instead of looking concerned, Sayid smiled and it was a caress, bathing her in luscious warmth.
‘As I said, that can be arranged.’
After that Lina grew a little crazy, for Sayid stripped her of her clothes, but slowly, taking his sweet time peppering her with kisses and even, occasionally tiny nips that made her flesh tingle and need grow anew. He learned her body from the sensitive place behind her ears to her wrists where her pulse throbbed frantically. From the hollow near her hip bone, where his stubble was erotic bliss and torture at once, to her ankles which to her amazement were another erogenous zone when Sayid lavished attention there.