He nodded. “You make a good point.”
“A highly educated work force also levels the playing field. Right now, there are so many people who need to know how to network more efficiently. That’s a skill that people don’t know how to utilize well. So only a select few network and gain the connections needed to truly succeed in the world.”
“So how will you achieve this nirvana?” he teased.
She took a bite, narrowing her eyes at him as she chewed. “You’re mocking me,” she pointed out. “But I also suspect that you know I’m right.”
He laughed softly. She was magnificent! “Yes, I’m teasing you, but you’re also correct that I agree with you. Not only will an educated society achieve more economically, but education also inhibits tyranny. Which is important in my occupation,” he winked at her. “When people know to question what is being told to them, not just to question but to validate the sources of their information, then the world is safer.”
“That’s where my father draws the line,” she agreed. “He doesn’t like anyone questioning his authority.”
“People question a leader’s authority no matter his or her preferences on the matter. In my opinion, it’s better if it is out in the open so I know what people are thinking and feeling. If they don’t like a law or initiative, then at least an open debate allows the issue to be discussed.” He paused and smiled, “And an educated society at least makes that debate more intelligent. Uneducated masses are led about like bulls with a ring in their nose. Anyone can tell them anything and they’ll believe it because they don’t have the skills to question matters intelligently.”
Back and forth, they debated about education, politics, leadership skills, necessary skills for teachers, the best time for children to start school, and how long each child should be required to stay in school.
After over an hour, Tamara looked around and realized that they were in a small sitting room with a glass of brandy. “Wait, how did we get here?”
He reached out, touching her hair. “You were telling me that pre-kindergarten has shown to be valuable in helping kids get a jump start in life.”
She blinked, startled by his touch. “And you don’t agree?”
He smiled, twirling the lock of hair around on his finger. “I started prekindergarten for all students two years ago.” He looked into her chocolate eyes. “You’re so damn beautiful,” he murmured, then he leaned down and kissed her.
It was just a brief touch of his lips against hers. Jurid only wanted to know what her soft, full lips would feel like against his. But the one touch wasn’t enough. When he pulled back, her eyes were cloudy with the same need that he felt.
So he kissed her again. And again. Over and over, he brushed his lips against hers. Teasing her mouth, he nibbled at her full, lower lip until she opened for him. Finally, he was able to taste her. The brandy they’d been enjoying was like fire on her lips and he put their glasses down on the small table, and pulled her into his arms for a deeper kiss. She didn’t hesitate, wrapping her arms around his neck as he leaned her back so that he could kiss her more thoroughly.
Tamara sighed with relief when he finally kissed her fully, absorbing his taste into her mouth and reveling in his touch. Over and over, he slanted his mouth against hers, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted more. And she wanted to know what it felt like to be touched by his big, strong hands. Over dinner, she’d watched his hands and wondered what it would feel like if he touched her, those strong fingers moving over her skin. It had been distracting, but nothing like what she felt now!
She was barely conscious of his hands sliding under her tee shirt because Jurid never stopped kissing her. But when she felt the heat of his hand against her bare skin, she gasped, froze for a long moment. He stopped as well, watching her. Slowly, as if he were giving her the opportunity to tell him to stop, his hand moved against her skin. Back and forth, over and over. At first, the feeling was wonderful, but too soon, the heat of his hand burned her. Grabbing his wrist, she started to pull his hand away, but her brain didn’t get the message to her hand.
A moment later, he was kissing her again and she lost herself in the magic of it. This man with all of his wonderful ideas was her man! He felt as if he might be her other half which, if she’d been thinking more clearly, she’d know was absolutely ridiculous! So when his hand moved higher, cupping her breast, it felt right. Arching into his hand, she silently begged him to touch her again. And again!
Higher, his fingers moved over her breast, testing and teasing, showing her the new sensations that her body could give. It was electrifying!
“Tell me if you want me to stop,” he whispered in her ear.
“Don’t stop!” she gasped, her fingers tightening on his wrist in case he thought about pulling away. “Please don’t stop!”
He lowered his head again, teasing her throat, behind her ear, and along her collarbone. With each touch, Tamara was more lost in the sensual haze of desire.
“We need to move,” he growled and lifted her into his arms, his hands on her bottom and her legs wrapped around his waist. With his erection pressing against her core, Tamara moaned quietly when he stood up.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked, as he started towards the door.
“Bed,” he told her. “If you have any objections, tell me now, Tamara. Because I want you, but I want all of you.”
She might have formed some sort of objection if he hadn’t been walking. But with every step, that hard part of him pressed against her body, the friction drove her wild! Shifting her hips just slightly increased the pleasure and she didn’t care if he ran a marathon while holding her like this, as long as he kept moving like that.
“Jurid,” she moaned, her fingernails digging into his shoulders.
He realized what was happening and stopped in the hallway, pressing her up against the wall as he kissed her. “Don’t you dare climax yet,” he warned her when he lifted his head, his eyes hot with desire as he glared down at her.
“No,” she replied, her lips soft, her body aching for something she couldn’t quite define. She bit down hard on her lower lip, trying to stop her body’s response. But it was difficult!
“Tamara!” he growled in her ear, nipping again at her earlobe. “Damn it, we need a bed!” and he carried her the rest of the way, kicking the door closed when they finally reached the master bedroom.
“Now we finish this!” he pulled her tee shirt over her head and tossed it away. “You’re beautiful!” His hands moved up her slender ribcage, then higher, his fingers cupping her breasts. “I want you naked, Tamara!” His fingers deftly moved to her leggings, sliding them down her legs. “I like this,” he said tracing the edge of lavender lace with a finger. “If I’d known that you were wearing something like this all day today, we probably would have been here hours ago.”
Tamara stared up at him, not sure what to do. She wanted to cry that he wasn’t being very fair, but her lips couldn’t form the words. Her tongue felt thick and heavy, her body tense and burning for his touch.
He caressed her breasts, tweaking her nipples through the lace of her bra and she closed her eyes, gasping at the shocking intensity. “I can’t…!” she gasped, her hips rolling against the bed. “I need…something!” she cried. “Harder! Please!” she sobbed, lifting her hands to cover his as his thumb rubbed against her nipples. Completely unconcerned with inhibitions now, she grabbed his other hand, placing it over her other breast. When his fingers teased that sensitized nipple as well, she arched against him, her hips pulsing against nothingness. It wasn’t working!
“Make it stop!” she yelled. “Make it go away!”
“I’ll get you there,” he promised, then stood up and stripped off his clothes. It took him moments and he might have ripped his shirt, but Jurid didn’t care. Not even a little. The woman on his bed looked like a goddess and all of his attention was focused on her, on making her feel good. She didn’t understand and her innocence, combined with
er innate sensuality, was driving him wild. Never had he felt this level of urgency. Never had he needed to fulfill a woman’s needs like this. He’d always taken care of the women in his bed, but none had ever made that need more imperative than Tamara.
He grabbed a condom and rolled it down over his erection, even more turned on when she watched him, licking her lips, her eyes wide and her nipples hard and pointed. He hadn’t even tasted those nipples, but he suspected that if he touched them again, she would splinter apart. He wanted to be buried deep inside of her when that happened.
“Lift your legs, Tamara,” he ordered with a guttural voice that he didn’t recognize. But at this point, he just needed to have her, to feel her tighten around his shaft. With one hand, he let his fingers drift down over the skin of her stomach. When he reached the lace of her panties, he tried to be gentle, but the torment of her gasps at his touch plus the feel of her satiny skin was too much. The material tore and he vaguely promised to take her shopping for more lingerie tomorrow. Then there would be more bits of lace that he could tear off her gorgeous body.
His finger moved lower, his eyes trailing along the same path and he pressed her legs wider, looking down at her glistening pink folds. When he slid one finger into her heat, she moaned and Jurid looked up, watching her pretty white teeth bite down on her lip again. He’d seen her do that earlier today but the gesture was so much more now. More intense, more erotic, more telling of where she was.
When her hips rocked against his hand and her inner muscles tightened around his finger, that was the end of his control. Pulling away, she sobbed at the lack of his touch, but he quickly moved into place, pressing his hips against her knees and spreading her legs to make room for him.
As he pressed slowly into her heat, he had to close his eyes against the temptation to thrust into her more quickly. She was so tight, so close to the edge, and he wanted to feel all of her, every reaction to his presence here.
“Relax, love,” he groaned when he felt her body around him. “Just relax and…” he came to the barrier and almost lost control. She was a virgin?! How was that possible?
At this moment, he didn’t have the capacity to figure this out. But he pressed in deeper, taking her inch by inch to ensure that he didn’t hurt her. When he was fully embedded inside of her, he stilled, cherishing the moment as he looked down at her.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to savor the moment for very long. She was so damn tight and she kept doing that rocking thing with her hips, pressing herself against him. Slowly, watching her face for signs that he was hurting her, he pulled out, then pressed into her heat. Again and again, he thrust into her, trying to be slow and gentle. But the way she cried out with each thrust, he couldn’t slow down. When he felt her body shudder with her first release, he couldn’t hold back. His movements were hard and fast and he pulled her into his arms in a last ditch effort not to hurt her.
Over and over, he thrust into her, feeling her climax again and then it was over for him. He couldn’t hold back and he relished the white-hot release as his body emptied into hers.
For a long time, he simply stayed like that, enjoying the heat of her body so close. Their breathing slowed, but he still didn’t move. Finally, he lifted his head and looked down into her eyes. Then, because she looked so perfectly sated, he lowered his head and kissed her lips softly, gently. Over and over until she responded.
With a sigh, her arms fell from around his neck and she smiled as he pulled away from her. Jurid went into the bathroom and cleaned up, but hurried back to the bed, pulling her into his arms. When she snuggled up against him, Jurid knew that Princess Tamara was the woman he wanted in his life forever.
Chapter 3
The room was hot!
Tamara woke up in stages, her mind slowly sifting through the issues. First of all, the room was incredibly hot. There was more light in the room than there should be because she always closed the curtains to her bedroom. The mattress was more comfortable for some reason and…why did she ache in odd places?
But since she was still struggling to open her eyes, her mind wasn’t really in top form. Muddled messages were starting to filter into her mind, but they didn’t make sense.
And she was really hot! Her feet were cold, but her back was too warm. Shifting, she tried to cool off but…!
The heavy arm around her waist did the trick! Tamara gasped as her eyes whipped open and she looked around, not moving her head in any way for fear that…!
Arm. Heat. Wrong bedroom. Open curtains.
Oh, this was bad!
“Stop thinking,” Jurid’s deep voice grumbled from behind her, then his hand slid higher along her stomach, heading towards her breasts. Quickly, she grabbed his wrist, holding his hand away from her nakedness. If there was one thing she’d learned last night, it was that Jurid’s hand moving towards her breast meant that the whole whirlwind would start all over again.
“What time is it?” she asked, trembling, although she wasn’t sure if it was because of her desire for him to continue, or her fear that he would. Both, probably.
The bed sheets rustled slightly and she felt him shift, but couldn’t see what he was looking at. She supposed it was his cell phone, but since that strong, muscled arm was now in her line of sight, she was more focused on…well, the muscles…than on what he looked at. Priorities, she thought.
And then her thoughts shifted. No, her priorities shouldn’t be admiring those muscles. She’d done enough of that last night. Time to…she had something she needed to do today. Didn’t she? A memory jangled in her mind, just out of reach.
“It’s about seven thirty,” he told her, his voice still deep and husky from sleep. Or was that desire? Tamara wasn’t sure but the hard thing pressing against her bottom warned her that it was probably desire.
Then the memory came back to her. “Willow!” she gasped and sat up…or tried to sit up. Jurid’s strong arm stopped her.
“She’s not here,” he teased, and Tamara felt his lips caress her spine, moving higher along that sensitive skin and she shivered, groaning as she closed her eyes.
“I know she’s not here,” Tamara moaned. “I’m supposed to meet her for breakfast. I have to go.”
“Cancel,” he ordered, ignoring her grip on his wrist as his fingers moved higher, cupping her breasts as his thumb slid over her nipple.
“No!” Tamara gasped, her body tightening. With need? Shaking her head, she pulled away from him and slipped out of the bed. She figured the only reason she was successful in her escape was because he still wasn’t fully awake combined with his surprise that she would leave the bed during what promised to be another delightful interlude.
Tamara stared down at him, shocked at the expanse of his chest revealed by the sheet. It barely covered the man and it definitely didn’t hide the shockingly large erection. Well, she couldn’t actually see it because of the sheet draped over the lower half of his body, but it was very obvious what was going on underneath there.
“Sorry,” she told him when he looked up at her with a strange light in his eyes. Tamara realized that she didn’t know him well enough to determine if his look was anger or amusement. Or something else completely. He was a mysterious man – and that wasn’t a good thing in her mind.
“What’s going on, Tamara?”
“I’m supposed to meet my friend for breakfast. I need to go,” she said and grabbed his shirt, pulling it over her nakedness. “I need to hurry and get ready.”
Without looking back at him, Tamara rushed out of the bedroom, padding barefoot down the hallway to the other bedroom where her suitcase had been stored. She certainly hoped that none of the hotel staff had been in the room and noticed that she hadn’t slept in the bed. Just to cover herself, not wanting any news of her night’s transgressions to reach her father, she mussed the bed. If any of the cleaning staff came in now, they’d think she slept here. At least, Tamara hoped that they’d make that assumption. Glancing at the clock, she
realized that she didn’t have much time to worry about the cleaning crew’s assumptions. She had to shower and get downstairs to meet Willow.
Jumping into the shower, she washed hurriedly, ignoring the need to pause under the warm spray of water to let her muscles relax. Strange parts of her felt tight and sore. And darn it, she was alone in her shower but her mind drifted back to the things that she’d done with Jurid last night. He was a very demanding lover, and a very thorough one!
She’d never thought that touching him, or the way he’d touched her last night, could be so…shockingly amazing! In her mind, sex had always seemed a bit routine. She’d thought that sex would be more obligatory than enjoyable.
Not so with Jurid! He was a sensualist in the truest sense of the word.
Pulling on a pair of jeans and another well-worn tee shirt, she pulled her hair back in a ponytail and secured it with a band. Perhaps her appearance now was a bit of a rebellion against Jurid’s sense of formality, but Tamara was in the mood to be rebellious.
Or more specifically, she was in the mood to get away from Jurid. After last night, she was fairly certain that he would demand that they set a wedding date.
Not something she was willing to concede just yet!
Looking around, she stuffed her clothes into her suitcase. Tamara wasn’t sure where the lavender dress was, but a glance at her cell phone told her she had to hurry. She was already a few minutes late meeting Willow.
Grabbing the handle of her suitcase, she rolled it out of the room with one hand while typing a message to Willow that she was on her way with her other hand. When she slipped her cell phone back into her purse, Tamara nervously glanced around, worried that Jurid or one of his guards would see her rolling her suitcase out of the penthouse suite and stop her.
That wasn’t going to happen, she thought attempting not to look as if she were trying to be stealthy. But she was definitely trying to be stealthy. Avoiding the main rooms where she heard voices, and keeping to the back hallways, she made her way to the elevators.
Awakened by the Passionate Sheik (The Ladies of The Burling School Book 2) Page 4
