by Leslie North
“Of course you did. We tell you to find a wife, and you go and pick the one person you knew we would all hate. The idea is for you to settle down, not saddle yourself with some loose American.”
“Loose!” Mila spluttered.
Rashid just shrugged. “I am free to marry whomever I wish,” he said in a bored tone.
“I think Mila’s great,” Amira said warmly.
“That in itself should be a warning,” Asad muttered.
Mila snapped. “Enough!” she cried out as she stood up.
Everyone fell quiet.
“You don’t have to talk around me. I am right here. I’m sure that Rashid did pick me as a form of rebellion, and that’s why, when he first asked me, I said no. He offered me money, and I wouldn’t take it.”
She smiled fondly at Liyah. “Thanks to Liyah and Asad, my exchange-mother and I want for nothing. Rashid has been courting me for several weeks now. I know that this marriage is quick, and I understand the reasons behind it, but it’s not based on a mask for the public. I have feelings for Rashid, and he has them for me. We’re developing a real relationship. I’m sorry that it’s come out like this. I wish I’d had time to get to know everyone a little better. I had hoped that when we did, you’d all come to love me.”
Even Amira and Liyah were staring at her with open mouths. Embarrassed, she finally sat down, and Asad started to laugh. “I apologize, little brother,” he chuckled. “I can see now why you chose her. Apparently, it takes someone like Mila to finally bring you to heel.”
Everyone else started laughing as well, and Navine nodded his head to her. “Welcome to the family, my dear.”
Only Shekinah didn’t seem to soften toward her, and as Mila looked across the table at Rashid, she realized that he didn’t look happy, either.
9
The rest of the evening went fairly well. At the conclusion of dessert, Shekinah excused herself, and the men wandered off to talk business. Alone with Liyah and Amira, Mila sat back and closed her eyes. “Am I still alive?”
“Much to my mother’s dismay,” Amira said in an amused voice. “I’m proud of you, Mila. You handled yourself well.”
Liyah reached over and hugged her. “You did wonderful. Mila, I’m so sorry about the fight we had. You’re going to make a perfect sheikha.”
“I don’t know about that.” Mila reveled in the hug. “But I’m the one who needs to apologize to you. I should have listened and not just jumped to conclusions. In fact, I only came tonight to apologize. I had no idea that this was going to be a whole family affair!”
Amira narrowed her eyes. “My brother’s an ass. Of course he would make a spectacle of you.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Mila said as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, but she couldn’t think of a better explanation.
“With the scandal at the sports arena, he probably just has a lot on his plate,” Liyah said as she patted Mila’s hand comfortingly.
Mila frowned. “What scandal?”
“The police think that there’s an illegal gambling ring associated with Rashid’s complex. He’s been upset about it for days. You didn’t know?”
Mila felt even more despair wash over her. “No. But we were so busy talking about my problems last night—It didn’t even occur to me to ask him how his day went.”
“That’s still no excuse for tonight,” Amira said with a frown. “I have his credit card, if you want to do some real damage.”
Mila and Liyah burst out laughing. “Amira, I have no idea what you do with all the clothes that you buy. I don’t even see how they would fit in your suite, let alone your closet.”
“I frequently donate them. You don’t expect me to wear the same outfit more than four or five times, do you?”
“The entire female population of Dubai thanks you for your contribution,” Liyah said dryly.
The three women were laughing again when the doors opened. Asad and Rashid stormed out into the main dining salon, and they both looked angry.
“Liyah,” Amira whispered. “You’re going to have your work cut out for you tonight if you want to soothe your husband’s temper.”
“I’m already on it.” Liyah squeezed Mila’s hand and kissed the top of her head as she stood up from the table. “Welcome to the family, Mila.”
As Amira nodded her head encouragingly, Mila also rose and went to Rashid.
“We’re leaving,” he snapped. “Let’s go.”
Mila blinked. Did he just growl at her? “Rashid,” she muttered. “Are you going to say goodnight to your sister?”
“No.” He grabbed her arm and practically dragged her out of the dining hall. Mila stumbled behind him, and he had to turn and grab at her to keep from falling. Swearing, he steadied her. “Asad has me all riled up. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”
Mila gently tugged her arm out of his grasp and looked around. They needed to have a conversation, and she didn’t want to do it out here in the open. “Come on. You can tell me about it once we get back to your suite.”
“Our suite.”
She didn’t correct him. As they silently walked along the ornately decorated halls, complete with huge golden-framed portraits of Rashid’s ancestors, the space between them seemed to grow. Wrapping her arms around herself, Mila glanced uneasily from side to side. It felt almost like the portraits were staring at her, judging her.
Liyah was right. Mila almost felt she was suffocating under the weight of the palace, and she wasn’t even living here yet.
Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this after all.
As soon as they were in the suite and the door had slammed shut, he was reaching for her.
“Rashid,” she protested. “We need to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk,” he growled as he pushed her against the wall. “I want to touch you. I’ve been thinking of nothing else for days now. Do you have any idea how insane you drive me?”
“We just told your family that we were engaged, and I don’t think they took it very well.”
“Speaking of that.” He roughly jerked on the chain around her neck. It bit briefly into her skin before it broke. Freeing the ring, he slid it back on her finger. “You don’t ever take that off again, do you understand me? I want everyone to know that you belong to me.”
She was about to point out that she didn’t belong to anyone, but he started kissing her, and the words flew right out of her head. Just as it had been the first time he’d touched her, she lost all common sense. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned into his hard body and rubbed up against him.
She’d ached for him, and now she was going to have him.
His tongue plundered her mouth until he suddenly ended the kiss. Grabbing her waist, he turned her and pushed her face-first up against the wall.
He swept her hair aside and kissed the back of her neck. Her pussy tingled in anticipation as he found the zipper on her dress and slowly lowered it. The fabric loosened around her, and when she dropped her arms, the dress slithered down her body. She wore no bra underneath, just the small scrap of black fabric that made up her panties.
“Hands here,” he muttered as he placed the palms of her hands flat against the wall. “Don’t move them until I say. Widen your legs.”
She wanted to snap at him to stop ordering her around, but her legs widened almost of their own volition, and his fingers skimmed the length of her spine. The feeling was incredible. She moaned and shivered.
“So perfect,” he grunted as his fingers moved lower until he could tease at the elastic at her hips.
She pushed away from the wall and let her hands fall, wanting more contact with his body, but he grabbed her arms and slapped her hands against the wall again.
Furious, she pushed back against him and whirled around. “Don’t manhandle me!” she snapped.
Quickly, he captured her wrists and held them above her head with one hand. With the other, he brushed his knuckles over her pussy, and despite herself,
she moaned as pleasured cascaded through her.
“It looks to me like you like being manhandled,” he muttered as he captured her mouth for a quick, open kiss.
It wasn’t fair that he could control her body with just one touch. She wanted to drive him just as wild, but she could barely think, let alone act, when she was so bound to him.
He trailed his lips down her neck and over her chest until he could roll his tongue across her taut nipple. Sensitive there, she arched her back and cried out. He finally released her wrists—but only so he could move lower. As he knelt in front of her, all she could think about was her aching need. If he didn’t give her the release she so desperately craved, she feared that she might lose her mind.
“Rashid,” she moaned. “Please.”
“Tell me that you want this,” he growled as he slowly tugged her panties down her legs.
She glared at him. “You are so going to pay for this.”
With a small chuckle, he kissed her inner thigh. “So is that a no?”
The sight of his lips on her bare skin was almost too erotic for her to handle. She thought she might explode, so she shut her eyes and bit her bottom lip.
He continued to torment her until she finally lost it. “I want it. Please. Lick me, Rashid. Make me come.”
Her voice was so breathy that she almost didn’t recognize herself as the woman begging for him.
Something must have snapped in him as well. He attacked her with his tongue and lapped at her most sensitive part until she was whimpering and squirming against him. Pleasure shot through her, and when she finally broke, it was with a guttural moan. She lost control of her entire body as she shook and sagged against the wall. Had he not stood upright and caught her, she would have fallen straight to the floor.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered in her ear as he lifted her. He pressed his lips to hers, and she could taste herself on his tongue. It was dirty and sexy, and it warmed her body all over again.
God help her, she was going to die before the night was over.
He carried her to the bedroom and laid her on the bed. In the darkness, she could hear him undressing, and her heart quickened.
Now that she’d gotten that first orgasm out of the way, she could focus. She was going to take control of the situation.
When he returned to the bed, she was ready for him. This time, she was the aggressor, kissing him and licking at his skin as she pushed him down and straddled him.
“Insatiable,” he chuckled. The word was followed by a little gasp as she bit into his shoulder. “Watch the teeth,” he warned.
“Then be quiet,” she said in a sultry voice. He reached up to grab her arms, but she shoved him away. “No touching.”
“Are you trying to tell me what to do in my own bed?”
“Behave yourself so I can have a little taste,” she teased as she reached down and wrapped her fist around him.
He pulsed and throbbed in the palm of her hand, and his hips jumped. When he had no witty retort, her confidence grew, and she slithered down his body.
She suspected that he’d be a walking wet-dream, and she was right. He was all muscle and glorious dark skin beneath his expensive suits. She could spend hours exploring him, but she knew that they didn’t have that kind of time.
Not tonight, at least. He was already straining against her, and she wanted to feel him inside her, stretching her.
Wrapping her lips around him, she slid down his cock, leaving a teasing trail with her tongue. He groaned and fisted her hair in his hands. She almost released him, to remind him of her no-touching rule, but he wasn’t pushing or controlling. She stroked him a few more times until he suddenly bolted upright and lifted her up.
Twisting her, he pushed her down on the bed and followed her with his own body.
“Need you now,” he murmured urgently as he widened her legs and moved between them. Knowing exactly how he felt, she just buried her head in the crook of his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. He nudged and then slowly entered her.
Fuck. It had been so very long since she’d been with someone, and he was almost more than she could take.
He sensed the resistance and moaned as his hips stilled. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered.
That sentence meant the whole world to her, and for a moment, she forgot that it was a competition. For a moment, she was nothing more than a woman lying under the man she so desperately wanted.
“I can take it,” she urged him and moved her hips under him.
He grunted and rested his forehead on hers. “Careful, Mila. I can only hold back so much.”
“I don’t want you to hold back at all.”
Suddenly, in one powerful thrust, he was completely sheathed. He roared as she cried out, but there was no stopping him now.
Now that she had him, she didn’t want him to stop. Digging her nails into his back, she met each intense thrust with equal fervor until the bed shook and creaked under them. There was nothing but their heavy moans and sighs as he brought them both higher and higher.
“Rashid,” she moaned. “Please, don’t stop. Please. I’m going to . . . I’m going to . . .”
Her first orgasm had been nothing like the second that now swept her away. She thought her whole body might lift off the bed as she arched into him, and a sob ripped from her throat. He rode her through the storm until his own panting reached a fever pitch, and he spilled himself inside her.
Her heart was still pounding so hard she thought it might break out of her chest and escape. He rolled off her and collapsed next to her.
They weren’t touching, but as reality hit, she was more than aware of him.
What they had just done hadn’t felt like making love.
It was sex. Physical, hot, mind-blowing sex—but the space between them was only getting bigger, even though they were in the same bed. “Okay. I’m going to go.”
“Mila, wait.” He reached out and snagged her hand. “It’s the middle of the night. Why are you going?”
“I hadn’t planned on spending the night, and I have a lunch shift tomorrow at the lounge.”
“Work?” His voice dropped low. “I was told that you were done with that place.”
“I switched shifts with a co-worker so I could come tonight, but I still have to cover her lunch shift.” Her head snapped up, and she stared at him. “What do you mean, you were told . . . Who told you?”
His silence spoke volumes, and she ripped her hand away. “You called my boss,” she growled and shook her head. “Are you kidding me? You didn’t trust that I was going to take care of this on my own?”
“My wife is not going to work as a waitress.”
“I’m not your wife yet,” she hissed. “And I’m going to damn well work whatever job I please. You need to learn to handle that right now.”
“Okay,” he said finally.
She hadn’t expected him to back down. “Really?”
“I understand your need to do something. I’m sure we can compromise on something that makes us both happy. Now, will you please stay tonight?”
“Why?” she asked cautiously.
“I would like to be near you.”
The tension melted just a little, and she walked back over to the bed. He scooted back to the side to give her more room, and she crawled under the sheets. He kissed her temple and rubbed her arms before pulling her closer to him. “Thank you. Good night, Mila.”
“Good night, Rashid.”
She thought that the adrenaline from the sex and the doubts swirling in her head would keep her up half the night, but she felt warm and safe in his embrace. Soon, she relaxed and fell into a deep sleep.
10
She was still asleep when Rashid awoke. He took a moment to watch the rise and fall of her chest beneath the sheets. She looked so peaceful and happy. He liked watching her like this. It seemed that more often than not, she had a frown and a furrowed brow, and it was always because of him. He had a sudden
desire to see her smile more.
His phone lit up and vibrated on the nightstand. Grabbing it, he eased out of bed and hurried from the room so he wouldn’t wake her. From the tablet in his kitchen, he texted instructions to have breakfast brought to his room, and he moved out of his suite to deal with his morning callers.
Arvio and Karam.
“Rashid!” They were both laughing drunkenly on the other end of the line when he called the number back. “We just heard the horrible news! You just bring your wife-to-be over to us, and we’ll make sure she never wants to go back to you.”
Rashid gritted his teeth. The thought of either one of them touching Mila made him want to put his fist through the wall. “Get a hold of yourself,” he snapped.
“Don’t be mad, bro. We’re here to support you,” Karam hiccupped.
“Yes, I know all about your support. In case you’ve forgotten, you’re the reason that I had to take a wife to begin with. Lose this number. Don’t call. Don’t text. Don’t even speak to me when we’re in the same room, do you understand me? I’m done.”
That sobered them up. “Rashid?” Arvio slurred. “Are you angry about something?”
“Furious doesn’t even begin to describe what I am. You two need to grow the hell up and quit embarrassing yourselves and your families. It was funny when we were twenty, but now I cringe whenever I see either of your numbers on the caller ID. Get your shit together, and leave me the hell alone.”
Hanging up, he sagged against the wall. Arvio and Karam were—had been—his two best friends. It made him angry to think that things had finally come to this, but if he were being honest, it was something that he should have done a long time ago.
Before he’d gotten saddled with a wife.
He’d turned Mila’s head, wooed her, and convinced her to wear his ring. He’d seduced her into his bed, but now that he had her, he realized that his little act of rebellion was going to follow him around for the rest of his life.
Mila was going to be his wife. His lover. The mother of his children.
And she was nothing short of a wildfire blazing a path through the palace. He feared that nothing would contain her. How was he going to keep her in the palace? She was born to roam and be free. How long until she realized that all of this had been nothing more than a middle finger to his parents?