by Lia Lee
"I am so glad that you were honest with me," he said, his eyes dark and glowing. "I am happy beyond words that you decided that night to go out and get what you wanted."
Charlotte laughed a little self-consciously.
"Well, that's about as far from traditional as you can get, isn't it?"
"How do you mean?"
"Well, essentially, you're running away from perfect traditional girls who will wait for you in an orchard to girls who step right up and tell you exactly what you can do for them. It's got to be a bit dizzying."
"A little," he admitted. "When it comes right down to it, marriage was what my parents wanted for me, and then...and then you offered another option."
Something inside Charlotte winced at that. She wondered if there really were some women who were for fun and others who were for marriage. She forcefully reminded herself that this was about her fun as much as his, and she buried the feeling as best she could.
"So now what?" she asked, sipping her mocktail absently. "What happens now?"
Aladdin raised an eyebrow, something that made him look very attractive to her in that moment.
"Well, you're the one who has always guided me on that," he said with a smile. "Isn't what happens whatever you want?"
Charlotte laughed a little.
"I want…so many things," she admitted. "I want you to come home with me, but for some reason, I'm a little reluctant to have that be all. I mean, it's been interesting enough running into you at all of the watering holes in Manhattan, but..."
"But there's something a little disconcerting about it, too. I understand," Aladdin said thoughtfully. "How about this. We spend time together when we are out. When we wish to sleep with each other, we will. I can make you welcome in the house where I am living. I would like to spend more time in your space, which is charming. And perhaps we can cook for each other sometimes."
The options that Aladdin was offering flew around her head like a deck of cards that had been thrown in the air. There was too much there, too much she wanted and had thought she would not be able to get. Through it all, her mind latched on to one thing.
"You cook?"
Aladdin smiled ruefully.
"I do, as a matter of fact. When I was very young, I became very insistent on learning. My parents were a bit taken aback by the idea of their young son learning such a thing, but they obliged. Over the course of a year, I learned to make most basic things, and a few fancy dishes. Then I lost interest, became much more fascinated with football and swimming, but the skill remains."
Charlotte laughed, shaking her head.
"I can make the basics, but once things get fancy, forget about it. I can scramble eggs, and I can make my world-famous call to the really good pizza place around the corner."
Aladdin laughed at her flippant tone, but there was a question in his eyes. She had to make her decision. She couldn't simply waffle about it and assume that it would go well. Instead, she had to say outright what she wanted, and somehow, that was scarier than anything else.
"Yes," she said finally. "I want all of that. With you."
In response, he slid into the booth beside her. There was something more pressing about the idea now. When he had been across the table from her, it was just something that they were talking about. Now, with his bulk looming over her, she could see how it would feel, how every nerve in her body seemed to wake up and cry for him.
Charlotte found herself holding her breath as he turned to her. His hands came up to cup her face, and as she looked deep into his eyes, she felt as if she were falling through space.
"You have no idea how precious you are," he said with something like awe. "You have no idea how amazing you are to me."
She started to respond with something light and flippant. It was as if he knew what she was going to say, because he stopped her by kissing her.
They had kissed before. Of course they had. There had been frantic kisses in bed, and wild kisses at the museum, but this one was different. This one was far slower, considered and gentle. It was one that explored her mouth, learning her rhythms of sighs and gasps. Her hands found their way to the fabric of his vest, desperately holding him close.
Finally, he pulled back, a soft smile on his face.
"Would you like to go back to my place?" he asked.
"Yes, I would like that very much."
CHAPTER FOUR
Aladdin's home wasn't the mansion that she had been expecting. Instead, it was a lovely brownstone, one that made her feel at home as soon as she walked in.
"This is gorgeous," she said, looking around. "It must be more than a hundred years old."
"You're just about right," he said with a grin. "I believe this place turned a hundred just a few years back. Do you like it?"
She turned back to him with a teasing grin.
"You know I do. I'm a New Yorker who's living in a very small Manhattan apartment. Getting me to like an old brownstone with space and tall windows isn't hard."
"I guess I'll have to work a little harder to impress you," he said with a smile.
"No, I don't know about that," she said. "As it turns out, when you have your mouth on mine, I'm very easy to impress."
Her grin was a challenge, and it was one that he rose to quickly. He crossed the space between them, and then he was pushing her flat against the wall, pinning her body in place with his own. She relished how forceful he was, how small she felt in his arms as he kissed her leisurely.
"I have to admit," he said between kisses, "that I enjoyed the night we spent at your place, but there was something hurried about it. There was so much I wanted to do, and I realized that I was trying to do it all. Tonight's going to be different."
"Is it?"
"Oh yes. We're going to take our time tonight, and we are going to realize that if there is something we want to do, there is enough time to do it."
She started to respond to him, but then he was sweeping her up in his arms, carrying her to the bedroom as if she were a prize. She laughed at his flair for the dramatic, kicking off her shoes as they went.
He set her lightly on the bed, coming to kneel over her. There was something strangely intimate about this moment, something sweet and fraught at the same time. They had seen each other naked, but in this space, there was something fragile and new between them.
"May I make love to you?" he asked tenderly.
Charlotte wasn't sure why tears suddenly stung her eyes.
"Yes," she whispered. "Yes, please."
He started to undress her slowly, pulling her dress over her head before relieving her of her underwear. Now she lay naked before him, gleaming like a pearl in the darkness. He was still clothed, and it made her feel shockingly vulnerable, as if she were something that he wanted to inspect, to touch and to admire.
He started to kiss her, but it was still slow, achingly so. He kissed her throat, marking her pulse with his lips, before trailing down to the rise of her firm breasts. She whimpered a little when his clever tongue brought her nipples to hard peaks, making him laugh.
He brushed his fingertips along her shoulders, running them down to her hands. Aladdin raised one hand to his mouth, kissing her sensitive palm and running the very tip of his tongue along the space between her fingers.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered. “Look at how responsive you are.”
She couldn't stop herself from shivering as he explored her body. Charlotte stifled a giggle when he ran his hands behind her knees, but she gasped when he rubbed at her firm calves, working at the knots that were always there from her endless walking in the city. She was so soothed by his gentle touch that she barely noticed when he parted her legs, kneeling between them. She still remembered how he had made her whine and beg with his mouth, but it seemed as if he had a different idea in mind tonight.
He brushed his fingers over her dampening slit, barely parting her folds until she was ready to whimper for more.
“I want you ready for me,
” he murmured. “I want you to part for me so easily that it feels as if we were meant to be joined like this.”
When he finally slid a finger inside her, his thumb pressing firmly against her clit, she nearly levitated off of the bed. There was something masterful about his touch, something that made her crave him more. Soon she was digging her heels into the mattress, raising herself up to meet him over and over again.
He leaned down over her, kissing her belly and her breasts, and without the ability to stop herself, she ran her fingers through his hair, pulling hard. In response, he worked her clit harder, drawing moans from her lips. She needed him, and she needed the release that he could provide her.
She was trembling on the edge of her climax, almost to the point of begging him, when he drew back. Charlotte cried out, her eyes flying open, but he was reaching for the condoms on the bedside table, drawing one over his cock.
“Here,” he said roughly. “I want you to be with me when...”
He lay back on the bed, and she understood what he wanted in an instant. With a hunger that shone like a jewel in her heart, she came to him, straddling his hips as if she were born to do it.
Now it was her turn to tease. She rocked herself along the length of his shaft. She knew that he could feel how warm and wet she was. His frame shook with the need to plunge deep inside, but somehow, he held back. Instead, he held her hips gently, holding her to his body without forcing anything on her. He was prepared to wait for her, to allow her to move as she needed. She teased him until she was nearly light-headed with need.
Suddenly, she went from trembling on the edge of desire to having it crash down over her. Her need for him was overwhelming, and she couldn't take it anymore.
Charlotte reached down between them, adjusting him so that she could feel the very tip of his cock at her entrance. Then, not really understanding why, she glanced up to meet his eyes.
"Please," he mouthed, his gaze desperate. "Please. Please."
Even if she could resist her own needs, she could not resist his heartfelt plea. She closed her eyes and sank down on top of him, letting him fill her as intimately as possible. When they were fully joined, she could barely believe how intense it was. They were a part of each other, and it felt like more than just sex.
When she opened her eyes to look down at him, Charlotte was shocked to see an expression of awe on his face. He looked stunned, as if he could scarcely believe what he was feeling. Never breaking eye contact, she started to move on top of him, lifting her hips and lowering them to the thunderous beat that she felt in her heart. It was slow and steady at first, but when the heat inside her would no longer be denied, she started to slam herself down on top of him.
Aladdin was saying words, but she couldn't understand them. Some of them were in English, but some were in Arabic. They were hot words, loving words, words that were absolutely filthy, and she couldn't pull herself back from how good they sounded and how hot they made her.
She clenched around him like a velvet fist, making both of them gasp with desire. She could feel her climax roaring up like storm wave, ready to rear back and crush everything in front of it. Charlotte dug her fingers into his chest, holding on tightly as her pleasure crashed down on everything.
"Oh! Oh god, oh god, Aladdin!"
She threw her head back, every muscle in her body tense as she gave way to her orgasm. Charlotte let the power of the climax take her, leaving every nerve feeling as if it had been roasted in a hot blast.
Underneath her, Aladdin was bucking up into her body while gripping her hips with heavy hands. He drove up into her, faster and faster, until finally he froze, his face contorted with ecstasy. She could feel the powerful pulse of his cock as he spilled inside her.
In her post-coital haze, she wondered what it would be like to feel that hot rush come inside her. Then he was bearing her to one side, pulling away but cradling her firmly in his arms.
"Hi," she said when she got her voice back.
"Hi yourself," Aladdin retorted. "Are you really so energetic that you want to talk right now?"
She laughed softly.
"I feel amazing. I want to, I don't know, run a marathon, or cook something, or go out and write a book."
"I like to think that I'm good at what we just did, but I know I don’t work magic," he said wryly. "Why don't you try walking to the bathroom first, and then see how you feel about the rest."
She laughed, but as he had predicted, her legs felt as if they were made of jelly when she got up. With an amused chuckle, he scooped her up and carried her to the shower, placing her under the warming spray. He disposed of the condom before he came to join her. Then she had the pleasurable feeling of having someone caress her body with a fluffy loofah and run his strong fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp as he did so.
"That feels amazing," she said, her eyes closed. "I mean, what we did earlier feels better, but wow, this is still amazing."
"Good. I am glad to hear it."
A thought occurred to her as he finger-combed her hair under the warm spray.
"Is this something that’s allowed in a casual relationship?" she asked, suddenly worried.
Aladdin was thoughtful for a moment, and then he shrugged.
"What we have together goes beyond that, I think," he said. "At the end of the day, we are both adults who have the right to decide what our relationships should look like. We know what we want, and we know what's good for us. Why can't we have relationships where we decide what is appropriate and what is not? Do you think we should do what we are doing?"
She thought about it, and she still had no answer when Aladdin turned her around to face him. In the steam of the shower, there was something almost foreign about him, something that made her think of fantasy princes and long-forgotten lands.
"Charlotte, I need you to tell me what you thought of what we are doing. If we should not be doing it, we should stop, no matter how good it feels."
"No, I want to keep doing it," she said in a small voice. "I definitely want to keep doing this. I'm just afraid...afraid that it's not allowed, I guess."
Aladdin's response was a broad smile.
"Well, how about this. I am the prince of Abu Dhabi, and I say that it is definitely allowed. You are Charlotte, and you know what is best for you, so if you say that it is allowed, then it is. What do you say?"
Charlotte thought for a long moment. The water was cooling off, and though Aladdin was very calm, she could see that there was something anxious in his eyes.
"I say that it is allowed," she said finally, and his grin was wide and warm.
"Good. That is what I hoped."
He turned off the water, and instead of handing her the towel, he proceeded to dry her off. By the end, she was rosy and warm, a slight blush on her face from how attentive he was.
After that, he led her back to the bed, where he slung one arm over her hip as if they had slept together for ages.
"What in the world are we going to do?" she sighed.
"Tomorrow?" he asked, already more than half asleep. "I was thinking of taking you to Albrecht's Deli for breakfast. They have amazing breakfast food."
She definitely appreciated the idea of breakfast, but there was something else tugging at her mind. She knew very well that this couldn't last forever, and she hated the fact that she was afraid of it ending anytime soon.
"Let's have all the fun we can have while we can have it," she whispered, and she snuggled back against him.
* * *
The next morning, she wakened to an empty bed. It was similar enough to their first encounter that she was almost nervous, but then she heard him stirring in another room. There was a fluffy robe thrown over the bedpost. It was wonderfully warm when she shrugged it on. She went to look for Aladdin, finding him making calls in the living room.
She might have felt a little shy about being in his territory, but then he ended his call, turning to her with a smile.
"I have prese
nts for you," he said. "Come see."
"Presents?"
"Nothing much," he said with a shrug that still managed to show off his pride. "I just know that you likely need some other clothes since you weren't intending to be away from home. I bought you some and had them delivered.”
Charlotte wasn't sure exactly what she was expecting, but it wasn't the elegant sapphire dress in the cashmere knit, or the silk blouse and long skirt set in deep chocolate brown. She could tell from a gentle touch that the pieces were lovely and pricey, and she turned to Aladdin.
"This is too much," she protested. "I can't accept these!"
"Of course you can," he said with surprise. "Unless they're the wrong size? I looked at your own clothes and made my best guess."
"No, no, they look amazing, but my god, Aladdin, they must have cost a small fortune."
He shrugged, and she realized in a way that she never had before that the amount of money he had was truly difficult to imagine.
"It's nothing," he said firmly. "As long as they fit and you like them, there's no reason for you to refuse them. Please. It'll be much nicer for you to get breakfast like this rather than in the dress from last night."
Charlotte had to admit that he was right. The flashy dress she had come to the townhouse in was beautiful, but it was evening wear. It would look almost comically out of place at breakfast. She sighed.
"Thank you," she said, touching the cashmere dress. "You don't need to buy me things....”
Aladdin shrugged, a slight smile on his lips.
"Well, it really is nothing," he said, "but if I am completely honest, I will say that it gives me a certain delight to make sure that you have what you need, and to make your life a little easier. Be honest with me. Do you really not want the clothes?"
She couldn't even pretend that she didn't.
"No, I definitely want them," she said wistfully, stroking the cashmere dress.
"Good. Then I did something right. Go and put them on. I want to catch breakfast before the brunch rush gets in."
As she went to the bedroom to change, she wondered what she had gotten herself into. A one-night stand was a simple thing. It might have left her a little sad and nervous, but the truth was that there were strong boundaries in place. Now they had leaped into something else. Now there were no boundaries, and they could end up simply anywhere.