“I’m banking the fire!” she snapped at him, poking the fire with the steel rod. “We can’t sleep in here with the fire going. It’s a hazard.”
“Well, stop right now! I’ll do it!”
She stood up and glared at him. “What is wrong with you? Stop getting mad at me!”
Jabril knew that she was right, but that didn’t help him calm down. Not with her looking so incredibly alluring!
“Just give it to me,” he insisted in as reasonable a voice as he could muster. With that, he reached to take the poker, but she jerked back. Unfortunately, she jerked back right into him.
The moment their bodies touched, Jabril knew that he was in trouble. Silence. Thick, heavy silence pulled her head around and she looked up at him. He watched as her lips softened, her eyes moved over his features, stopping on his mouth.
“Ilara,” he groaned.
The heavy, steel fire poker fell heavily to the floor with a thud.
For the life of him, Jabril had no idea if he pulled her into his arms, or if she leapt into him on her own. Nor did he care. They were here, she was basically naked and her fingers slid smoothly down over his chest as his mouth devoured hers. Over and over, he slanted his mouth against hers, tasting, feeling, kissing her as if he needed her lips more than he needed air. And in fact, that might actually be the case.
He carried her over to the bed, but stopped short of laying her down. He impatiently tore at the material of the nightgown. The tattered scraps fell to the wooden floor and he stepped back, looking down at her. Shaking his head, he couldn’t hold back. Yes, he wanted to look at her curves, to see everything more clearly than what he’d been able to see moments ago. But he needed to touch her more. He needed to feel and touch and taste and get to know every inch of her body.
“Touch me!” he ordered roughly, her hands were already running up and down his arms, over his chest and higher as he kissed her. When he lifted her into his arms, Jabril absorbed the gasp of surprise into his mouth as he laid her down on the bed. It was more important that he touch her.
Every time she gasped, the sound fired his lust higher. All finesse was gone in his frantic need to know what made her squirm. Every time she made a sound, he needed to hear it again and he kissed and touched until he heard her gasp of surprise or sigh of pleasure.
There was no gentleness. It was just need and lust and pushing her higher. He felt her nails scrape down his shoulders and that turned him on even more.
When his mouth covered her nipple, tormenting the peak that had tormented him for the past…however long he’d been inside this room…he heard her groan and sucked, teased, and nibbled until he heard her make that sound again. And again! When she tugged at his hair, pulling his mouth away from one breast, he moved to the other, enjoying all of the sounds she made when he teased that one. But again, she could only take so much before that tugging happened.
Jabril didn’t mind. He simply moved lower, exploring her stomach and hips, parting her legs until…
“Yes!” he whispered, pressing her legs wider as he moved in for a taste. She smelled incredible! “You’re gorgeous!” he groaned as he slipped one finger inside her pink folds while his mouth covered that sensitive nub of nerves. Her body arched, pressing her core into his mouth and he used that action to his advantage, sucking and tasting until her fingers wove into his hair. Her nails digging into his scalp was hot! He loved it! He also loved the way her fingers guided his mouth, pushing or pulling, showing him what she wanted. Over and over, he nuzzled and sucked until…
When Ilara screamed with release, he wanted to roar with triumph! It was such a glorious sound, he wanted to hear it again! And he loved tasting her. Her body was delicious. But that taste was making his body ache to be inside of her, to feel her muscles wrap around him.
Standing up, he ripped off his cargo pants and boxers tossing them…somewhere. In the back of his mind, he thought about putting them in a more convenient place just in case something happened overnight. But Ilara shifted at that moment. When that happened next time, he wanted to be buried deep inside of her, taking her to another climax.
For a brief moment, he watched her stretch and sigh on the bed. Her lashes fluttered open and she smiled up at him. That was all the invitation he needed. Moving back to the bed, he moved between her legs and, taking her legs, he pulled her close, positioning himself right at the edge of her opening.
“Look at me, Ilana,” he ordered.
Ilana looked up at him, her smile widening as she shifted her hips, trying to take him into her body. “This is it,” she sighed, her fingers curling onto his shoulders.
“Hold on to me, love,” he whispered, holding her hips as he pressed deeper into her heat, then pulled out, watching to make sure he didn’t hurt her. He might have grinned when her sexy lips formed an O of surprise, but he wasn’t sure.
Damn, she was tight! Tight and soft and so wet, he threw back his head, trying to hold back, to control his release. Never had he struggled to hold back before, but Ilara’s sweet body was making him crazy!
“Hold on tighter,” he said and pressed even deeper. When he was fully sheathed in her heat, he took a deep breath, trying to think of something other than climaxing and roaring with pleasure. But then she shifted her hips and…he lost it. Moving back and forth, he plunged into her heat. Again and again, he pressed into her, thrusting and shifting until….
When he felt her body shiver with the first signs of her climax, he tried to look down at her, to watch her and know what she looked like as the pleasure ripped through her. But her orgasm took him right over the edge with her and he couldn’t hold back, he couldn’t think, he might have even shouted at the sheer beauty of what she felt like at this moment, what he felt like. Unfortunately, Jabril was completely unware of anything other than this woman and protecting her as they both tumbled over and over again in sheer bliss.
When it was all over, he collapsed against her, burying his face against the warmth of her neck.
Ilara trembled, overwhelmed by what she’d just experienced. She’d had sex before. Once. And it had been such a horrible experience that she’d had absolutely no desire to try it again. But she hadn’t had sex with Jabril before. She wanted to weep with the beauty of it. And she wanted to roll over and do it all again. Ilara wanted to curl up against him, rub against his warm body and purr like a cat. She felt so…good.
No, good wasn’t the right word for what she felt right now. Incredible! Amazing! She felt like laughing and crying at the same time.
Silly, she told herself, trying to get a grip. It was just sex, she reminded herself. Just sex and she was married and…
“Oh my!” she gasped, something occurring to her suddenly.
Jabril lifted his head from her neck and she wanted to press his face back. Her neck felt cold. Abandoned.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Ilara turned to look at him, trying to figure out why he might think anything was wrong. Wrong? How could the world be wrong after something like that?
“Nothing.”
He shifted again and, since he was still intimately connected to her, she gasped and shifted right along with him.
“You said ‘oh my’. What was that about?” he asked, lifting his weight off of her with his arms.
She shifted again and he pulled out of her body. Feeling bereft, she curled up, making room for him next to her on the bed. Immediately, he shifted so that his chest was against her back, his heavy arm wrapping around her waist, pulling her in close.
“Are you going to share?” he teased, his fingers curling around her stomach.
Ilara laughed and stretched, smiling when she felt him against her. “I just was thinking about the last time I’d had sex,” she told him honestly.
Immediately, Jabril growled, bending low to nip at her earlobe. “Not something any man wants to hear after making love to his woman.
Ilara smiled, warmed by his use of the term ‘making love’ inste
ad of ‘having sex’, which was far less…intimate.
But his nip caused her to laugh again and she wiggled, inadvertently grinding against him. Immediately, that heat started up again, filling her with renewed desire. Ignoring that, having heard that men need more time in between bouts of sexual encounters, she focused on his question.
“You don’t need to worry. The one time I…” he nipped her ear again in warning and she laughed. “Sorry. This was completely different. I don’t think the two experiences could even be compared.”
“Better,” he growled, but he still nipped her ear again.
“Not good enough?” she teased. “How about…I saw stars! It was amazing! I couldn’t…”
He growled at her mocking tone and shifted so that he was on top, pressing his legs between hers. “Think you’re funny?” he demanded, taking her hands and holding them over her head. “You forget that I’m stronger and meaner than you are. Teasing me after sex isn’t wise, my dear wife.”
She laughed, pretending to struggle. But she kind of liked being pinned down like this. “I’m not afraid of you,” she told him.
“Not afraid of me, hmmm? Well, see, that’s the problem. You’re not adequately briefed on how horrible I can be. Especially to women who mock me after sex.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, so this is a recurring issue for you?” she replied, then yelped, laughing as she tried to wiggle away from his nuzzling mouth as he nibbled along her neck.
“Take it back, woman.”
She giggled and squirmed, but he was stronger and she couldn’t get away. “No! You said it, not me!”
He rolled slightly, freeing his hands so he could tickle her and Ilara burst out laughing, trying to avoid his fingers but he was too strong and too fast. Plus, the laughter was making her weak.
“Mercy!” she gasped, still laughing. He stopped and she took a deep breath. Looking up at him, she smiled, this time the smile was shy and hesitant as her fingers lightly rested on his shoulders. “Here’s the truth, Jabril. I was blown away. Truly, I didn’t know that anything could be so beautiful,” she admitted.
Jabril was startled by her admission. Honesty wasn’t something he heard or experienced a great deal in his world. Everyone tried to out-do the competition to get close to the source of power. In his world, he was the ultimate source of power.
So, her shy admission went right to his heart. He was startled by how much her words affected him. But instead of pulling away as he would have with the mistresses of his past, he slowly lowered his head, gently kissing her full lips. And with that touch, the flames surged back to life.
The brief kiss changed to a lingering one. And then that lingering caress shifted to more. Angling his head, he deepened the kiss even as he felt her legs shift higher, her inner thighs sliding against his hip, her hands fluttering against his shoulders, his back, his arms. That was all the invitation he needed to show her once again how things would be between them.
As Jabril explored her body more thoroughly, moving from her lips to her neck, then to her breasts, kissing the tips, teasing them to hard points before moving lower once again, he was determined to make this better than the last time.
So when his tongue fluttered over that sensitive nub this time, the frantic need to be inside of her wasn’t driving him. This time, it was the determination to make her scream his name again, to show her that slow and easy was just as good, even better, than frantic and urgent. When he heard that happen, his body was already primed and ready to make love to her all over again.
As he entered her this time, he moved slower, increasing the pace more evenly and deliberately. This round was more experimental. Jabril wanted to know how her body worked, what she liked, how she wanted to be caressed. Slowly, gently, he took her higher and higher. When he knew she was struggling to reach that goal, he shifted and used his thumb to push her over the edge, holding her as she trembled in his arms before finding his own release.
And afterwards, he moved to the small bathroom and found a rough towel, cleaning both of them before banking the fire and climbing into the small bed. Pulling her close, he listened to her breathing, smiling when she shifted, settling her head more comfortably against his shoulder…into the exact same position she’d been in last night.
Only when he heard her soft, even breathing, did he allow himself to fall asleep as well.
Chapter 6
Two days later, they stood next to the dry, cracked riverbed. “Okay, so we’ve found why the river isn’t flowing,” Ilara said as the whole team stared at the dammed up river. “How do we fix it?”
All eight of them were stumped.
“We can’t blast it and let the water flow. We’d create a tsunami of water,” Jabril said. “We don’t want to flood the villages.
“Agree,” Ilara nodded. “They’ve been through enough. Blowing up the dam would release too much water too quickly. Besides, releasing that amount of water might change the course of the river.”
Silence. They stared at the small lake created by the dammed up river. It wasn’t even a hydroelectric dam that would help the people by providing energy, just a diverted river that sent the water flowing from the mountains to the ocean. No one benefited from this dam. The only reason it could be here was out of vengeance. Which meant that the only way to help the people downstream to recover their livelihoods and allow them to rebuild their farms was to release the water, so they could irrigate their crops.
Ilara stood next to Jabril, her body tingling with awareness. She’d discovered this sensation the morning after their wedding, surprised at how strong the urge was to ask him to stay in bed for the rest of that day.
She hadn’t, knowing that they needed to get to the palace. So they’d left early the following morning, traveling from village to village. But they were all abandoned and now they knew why. Without fresh water, people couldn’t survive. Plants couldn’t grow so the farmers who had lived on the land for generations had moved on, trying to find another way to make a living and provide food for their families.
“I know of an engineer,” she announced. “I met him in college. I should….”
Jabril turned to face her, his face tight with…something. In a different world, she’d think that Jabril was jealous of her friend. But that was ridiculous. Why would he be jealous of someone who might be able to help them restore Ditra’s farmland?
“I’ll call my general and have him send an explosives team. They should be able to set small detonations that would gently break the wall down so the water will flow slowly and in a way that won’t flood the entire countryside.
She looked up into his eyes, thinking his comments and expression were strange. “Okay. That might be better anyway since your military resources are closer.”
Ilara could literally see his shoulders relax and she looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
He remembered the way her silky, blond hair had caressed his chest while she slept, the way it had fanned out on the sheets that night. Damn it, he wanted another night with her!
And that sort of pissed him off, because he’d never been obsessed about a woman before. The ladies in his past had been nice, but there was something special about Ilara. Something unexpected. He couldn’t quite figure her out.
“Nothing,” he replied, trying to sound less…grumpy. Sexual frustration, he realized. That was all it was. Just frustration because she looked so enticing.
He turned away, pretending to survey the river dam but he could feel her eyes. He knew that she wanted to interrogate him further, but wouldn’t. Not in front of his men.
“I’ll call my general and get him to send his men out here. It should be safe enough to fly helicopters here. It’s far enough away from the capital, which is where I suspect most of your uncle’s men have been stationed, since we haven’t seen any of them this far out.”
“That sounds like a good plan. Thank you for sending help. Looks like this might be an easy fix, if your general can get
someone out here to release the water slowly,” she replied.
“Let’s keep moving. General Saltstov will send out the people needed to release the water safely. Until that happens, there’s nothing we can do here.”
Ilara watched him move away, irritated with him and ready to…punch him! He was so cranky today! What in the world was wrong with him?
Okay, so she was pretty irritated about the whole “Bad Uncle” situation. But they were in this together. They were trying to figure out a solution and she’d thought they were working together on the problem.
Refusing to walk alongside him when he was like this, she raced ahead, spinning around when she was several feet in front. The other guards were also walking towards the vehicles, surrounding them in a loose perimeter. But Ilara didn’t want to be stuck in the Jeep with him for the next several hours with him snapping at her like this. Jumping in his path, she stopped, putting her hands on her hips as she glared up at him. “What’s wrong?” she demanded again.
He scanned the nearby terrain. “Nothing. We have to keep moving.”
When he tried to walk around her, she put a hand to his chest. It wasn’t a firm hand but he stopped, his own hand slapping over hers so she couldn’t pull it away.
Turning, she looked at the guards briefly. “We’ll be right with you gentlemen.”
The guards nodded and continued toward the vehicles.
“Do you regret the wedding?” she asked softly. “Because if that’s the case, you don’t have to worry. Once I get my uncle out of power, and possibly imprisoned, we can live separate lives. You can live in Piara and I will stay here to help my people get back on track. You don’t have to worry about…”
“You think I’m irritated because of our wedding, so you’re offering a quiet divorce?” He moved closer to her, pulling her against him so she could feel the state of his body. “I don’t want a damn divorce, Ilara. I want you. And you seem to be perfectly fine with only the one night together while I’m struggling every moment of every day to keep my hands off you! That’s what has me in a grumpy mood! I can handle idiot despots! That’s not the issue! The issue is wanting you! Constantly. Needing to touch you, kiss you, and feel your body clenching my shaft so tightly that neither of us can see straight!” He paused and Ilara’s mouth fell open in both shock and…desire. “I’m grumpy because I want you and you don’t seem to want me any more. And that pisses me off!”
Resisting the Sheik's Commands (The Diamond Club Book 1) Page 8