by Leslie North
“Oh, right.” Aisha took a deep breath and shouted, “It was a gold lamp!”
Bahir laughed as Amy cringed. Excited Aisha was loud Aisha. “Very good,” she chuckled. “Now, without looking back down at the book, can you explain to me what you read?”
“Yeah. Mohammed was walking alone in the desert at night, which is not a good idea. His mother must not have told him that it was bad. He finds a gold lamp in the sand,” Aisha wrinkled her nose, “but that doesn’t make sense. Why would there be a lamp in the desert? We don’t even have electricity here!”
“Actually, it’s an oil lamp,” Bahir explained. “It doesn’t have a lightbulb. It holds oil and a wick, like a candle. Why are you reading a book about Mohammed?” Sorting through Aisha’s other books, he frowned. “None of these books features a female.”
“That’s because there aren’t very many of those available,” Amy muttered. “I guess you’ll have to write one for Aisha to read.”
The child immediately gasped. “Can you? Can you write one about me? Me and Kedar? Having our own adventure?”
“I’ll see if I can’t find someone to help out with that,” Bahir said, smiling.
Amy couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It was ridiculous to think he’d write it himself, but she didn’t want him to start delegating the tasks that would make his daughter happy.
“Quit using the Sheikh to avoid your lesson,” Amy chastised gently. “Finish your reading.”
Aisha grumbled but continued. She was a proficient reader and went quickly through the book. Bahir jumped in a few times to help out with different voices, while Amy made sure the child was paying attention to the punctuation and the content. They got through part of a writing lesson as well before Aisha yawned. It was obvious that while she was feeling much better, the illness had taken a lot out of her.
“How about some lunch and then a nap?” Amy suggested as she gathered the school things.
“Okay. Can we play Taq Taqieh afterward?”
“I’m not sure that we have enough people for that,” Amy pointed out gently.
“Nonsense. We’ll get some of the guards to play,” Bahir said immediately. Apparently reading Amy’s alarmed expression, he smiled. “It’s okay. The danger has passed.”
Still, Amy wasn’t sure that it was okay for a child to play with men who were trained to kill, and she suppressed a grin at the image of grown men sitting in a circle chanting taq taqieh. “We’ll talk about it afterward, okay?” she finally compromised.
While Bahir got some lunch together, Amy switched out Aisha’s bedding and made the bed up fresh. After feeding the child and tucking her back in, she quietly closed the door and turned, only to run smack into Bahir.
“She’s going to miss you,” he said quietly. “Maybe I could persuade you to come with us and act as her tutor?”
“I’m sure you have more qualified people to tutor her,” Amy said and forced a laugh. She was going to miss Aisha, but she was starting to realize that the girl was going to be very happy.
“A nanny, then?”
“You don’t have to be afraid of taking care of your daughter, Bahir. I’ve watched you with her. It’s obvious that you love her. Just make sure you play an active role in her life, and you’ll be fine.” Seeing the troubled look in his eyes, she sighed. “How about if I spend a week or two at the palace to help get her settled. You’ll need to tell her soon that you’re her father. It’ll give her time to adjust.”
“A week or two?” A strange look crossed his face. “I suppose if that’s all I can get out of you, I’ll have to take it.”
It was a strange sentiment, but Amy let it pass. She was doing this for Aisha, but deep down, if she really admitted it, she was also doing it so she could spend a little more time with Bahir.
11
Despite Amy’s obvious discomfort, Bahir rounded up a few guards he said had children of their own, which only made her feel marginally better, and played Aisha’s game until the little girl was good and tired. She had to admit that she wished for a video camera because the sight of grown men chasing each other around in a circle made her laugh far more than she’d expected. She doubted the people of Haamas would appreciate seeing how their sheikh spent his time, but then again, maybe they would.
After ordering one of the guards to draw more water from the well in town, Bahir asked Amy to give Aisha a bath before bed.
Amy eagerly agreed. She was dying for a bath herself.
After playing with Aisha in the tub and scrubbing her down, Amy administered more cough medicine and tucked her in the bed. The child was exhausted after her afternoon of games, and Amy knew that she would sleep through the night with no problem.
Her own muscles ached after leaning over the tub, and she was so ready for bed. Rolling her shoulders to ease some of the tension, she walked into the bedroom and froze at the sight that awaited her.
Apparently, Bahir hadn’t intended that only his daughter was to have a bath. Bare-chested, he leaned back in an oversized copper tub that hadn’t been there earlier and splashed the water invitingly.
Unable to look away, she gaped. “What are you doing?”
“Taking a bath,” he said with a lazy grin. “Care to join me? It’s a long drive back to the palace tomorrow.”
“I…” Her voice shook. “I would love a bath, but I can wait until you’re finished.” Suddenly remembering herself, she squeezed her eyes shut and turned her back to him. The temptation to join him was so great, she was actually shaking.
“The water will be cold if you wait for me to finish,” he pointed out. “There’s plenty of room in here.”
After a few seconds, she blew out her breath. What was the harm in joining him? Her time with him had an expiration date, and she already knew that there was no hope for a future together. Why not spend the night with him, enjoy his touch, and lose herself in passion and desire?
His voice seemed to wrap around her in a velvety caress. “You can walk away. Go to bed. Pretend you don’t want me. Or you can admit that I heat your blood and give in. I promise that you won’t regret a night with me, Amy,” he coaxed in a low and seductive voice.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, turned, and reached for the hem of her shirt. “Close your eyes,” she whispered. There was no way she was going to strip in front of him. “And don’t open them until I tell you to.”
A crooked smile slid across his handsome face, and for a moment, she thought he might refuse. Instead, he closed his eyes without a word. Hurriedly, she stripped off her clothes and walked closer to the tub.
Her heart jumped in her throat. No bubbles hid her view, and she could see that he was completely naked beneath the water.
Of course he was. What did she expect? That he’d packed a bathing suit?
Her eyes traveled over the lines of his well-muscled thighs to his erect and impressive cock. If she got in that water, there was no turning back.
Timidly, she eased her foot in and braced herself against the tub. The water was lukewarm, somehow refreshing against her flushed skin. Before she could change her mind, she stepped in and quickly sat down facing him. As she drew her knees up to her chest to hide her figure, water splashed against the side of the tub and out onto the floor. “Okay,” she whispered.
His eyes fluttered open, and his pupils dilated and darkened. Hunger was written all over his face. Lifting his hand, he held up the sponge and bar of soap. “Stretch out your legs, and I’ll wash you.”
Hypnotized, she slowly straightened her legs around him. The waterline stopped right below her nipples, and she was too modest to relax, so she wrapped her arms around her chest. His eyebrows rose at the gesture, but he didn’t chastise her.
“Tell me something you like about my kingdom.” Running his hand along the sole of her foot, he pressed his thumb against the ball and massaged. Under his expert touch, she slowly relaxed.
“I wasn’t looking for romance. I wanted to get as far away from romance as pos
sible, and I thought a small kingdom in the middle of the desert was a good choice. Haamas is progressive. As progressive as Dubai but without the draw of big-city crowds. I didn’t want crowds. I wanted peace of mind, and your kingdom has been great for that. It’s peaceful. Well, up until there was threat of a rebel uprising, and I was forced to hide in a safe house.”
Bahir chuckled. “I think you’re getting distracted.”
She was getting distracted. He had started washing her feet with the sponge. For some reason, it felt far more intimate than when his lips had been wrapped around her nipples. “Right. I was…um…talking about what I liked about your kingdom. Ah…” she moaned as he caressed her ankles.
“I believe you were about to say something about romance.”
She was? She wasn’t thinking about romance. She was all about pleasure. Bliss. Desire. “Amy?” he prompted.
“Right.” She blinked. “Um, Haamas is full of wonder and romance. It’s probably a feeling that’s left over from my days of reading heady Arabian romances filled with mysticism. The artwork that comes out of your kingdom….” She sighed as his hands moved up to her knees. “Beautiful. Nothing else in the world is like it.”
“There is certainly beauty,” he murmured. He was staring at her, and she blushed and dipped a little deeper beneath the water, as if that would hide her away from him.
“You’re probably used to it. Growing up here. I get it. People would come from all over to vacation in Miami. To enjoy the Cuban-American culture. Sunbathe on the beach. See the attractions during the day and party at night, but it was all wasted on me. I stayed holed up in my apartment, too busy studying and finishing up my master’s degree. Everything people loved about Miami, I hated.”
“Then I suppose it is a good time for you to explore a place of romance,” he teased.
Unable to help herself, she chuckled. Here she was, naked in a large tub with what was easily the most gorgeous man she’d ever met, while his hands stroked her wet calves, and she found herself giggling like a teenager at his sweet words.
The more she thought about it, the more she laughed, until tears were rolling down her face and she was gasping for breath.
Bahir stopped and stared at her for a moment before he suddenly launched forward and grabbed her wrists. Before she knew what was happening, he’d pulled her up to straddle his lap. Waves of water flew over the lip of the tub, and more splashed on her face.
As his erection settled in the apex of her legs, her laughter died immediately. His hands gripped her waist, and she swallowed hard. “I wasn’t laughing at you. I promise.”
“You’re nervous.” His touch slid up her sides. “I find that strange since my fingers have already been inside you.”
“Yeah.” Amy cleared her throat. “About that. The only guy that I’ve ever been with is my ex-boyfriend, and…well…I’ve never actually…when we were together….”
“You never had an orgasm with him.” His eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”
Amy couldn’t help sighing as she answered with a shrug, “Yeah, I usually took care of myself during or after. You’ve been the first…to…get me there.” Her cheeks burned. “This is horribly embarrassing.”
Slowly, he leaned over and kissed her. As his tongue coaxed her lips open, she settled even further on his cock and rocked back and forth over it. Her clit moved over him, and pleasure shot through her. Gasping, she opened completely to him, and his tongue danced with hers in low strokes.
“The only thing embarrassing about that was that you stayed so long with a man who couldn’t please you,” he muttered huskily, and then his lips moved down her throat to her shoulders. “Stay with me, Amy. It would be my mission to make you cry out in pleasure all night long, to make you tremble on my fingers, my tongue, my cock, to fuck you slow and deep, and hard and rough, to fuck you until you were hoarse from moaning my name.”
She moved faster over him now. Gripping the ledge behind him for support, she let her own desire take over as she rubbed her sweet spot over his cock. He grunted with her, but his hands gripped her and pulled her away. “I’m so close,” she whimpered in protest.
“I know, sweetheart, but you’re going to like this. Scoot back to the other side of the tub.”
Bewildered, she slid off his lap and to the back of the tub.
“Good. Hoist yourself up using the side of the tub, and press your back against the wall.”
She did as he asked. Water rolled off her skin, and she watched as he reached over to the side of the tub and pulled out a board. Sliding it under her butt, he indicated for her to sit. Carefully, making sure that it would hold her weight, she lowered herself. “I’m pretty sure this is meant for a glass of wine, a book, and a candle,” she chuckled hoarsely.
Without a word, he grasped her ankles, pulled them out of the water, and eased her feet onto the edges of the tub. She’d never been so exposed in her life, and her pussy throbbed. She was open, right at his eye level. There was no hiding from him now.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured darkly. “Scoot to the edge. I won’t let you fall.”
It was obvious what he had in mind. Knocking her head back against the wall, she closed her eyes and moved to the edge of the wooden board. Her feet and hands were helping hold her weight, but she felt secure.
At least, until she felt his exhalation right at her molten center. Her heart hammered against her chest, and she white-knuckled the tub in anticipation. It seemed like forever before his mouth settled over her, and she cried out and bucked against him. There was no time for teasing. No time for slow, gentle licks. He suckled and scraped his teeth over her, and in a few minutes, her feet fell into the water, and she was coming against his mouth.
His strong hands never left her. Pulling her from the board, he straddled her once again in his lap, his erection probing her entrance. Whimpering, she froze, but he didn’t push her down or force her. Instead, he let her rest against his chest while he kissed her shoulder. His fingers stroked up and down her spine as the tension mounted inside her again, and this time, she gently eased down onto his cock as he stretched and filled her.
“Bahir,” she whispered, moving over him. “I can’t stop. I can’t.”
“That’s good,” he groaned. “I don’t want you to stop. You feel…ah, Amy, I’ve never felt anything like you, sweetheart.”
Framing his handsome face with her hands, she leaned over and kissed him. She wanted his lips on hers. She needed that kiss, not only to muffle her moans, but to feel that connection with him. Whatever she’d felt for James didn’t even come close to how she felt for Bahir. It wasn’t only the sex. It was the promise of his arms wrapped around her. It was the intensity in his eyes when he spoke to her. It was the honesty in his voice.
God help her, she was in so far over her head, but all she could do right now was hold on. Hold on and hope that as she finally shattered around him, her world would still be there when she came back up to breathe.
12
Though the ride to the palace was long, Bahir had no chance to speak to Amy. His guards surrounded them, and his daughter chattered nonstop all the way. He listened indulgently and tried to answer her questions, but he couldn’t help noticing that the closer they got to the palace, the smaller Amy shrank.
He’d spent half the night buried inside her, worshipping her body, reveling in her warmth, and he’d spent the other half of the night holding her and wishing he could make the night last forever. Despite the revelations and intimacies of their night together, he’d had a feeling it would all be over when the sun rose.
This was insane. He’d never felt so intensely about a person before, and he had no idea what to do about it.
“Amy, Bahir says that I’m going to have my own room! Can Kedar have his own room, too?”
He watched Amy’s gaze fix on the stuffed octopus, though she’d been avoiding eye contact with anyone but the child for the last hour. “I think Kedar might be scared if he was
on his own. He’d better stay with you,” she said softly.
Aisha hugged Kedar fiercely. “Kedar is not scared of anything,” she informed everyone. “But he should stay with me. He might get in trouble if I leave him alone too long. The sheikh also says that I’m going to have a friend named Iris. Do you think she’ll like me?”
“I think she’s going to love you,” Bahir interrupted. He knew for a fact that most of the servants were going to love the fact that Iris had a friend. That child, along with her terror of a dog, Beetle, was exhausting. Now they could let Aisha and Iris tire each other out.
Parenting 101.
“Are you going to have your own room, or are you going to sleep with Bahir?” Aisha asked innocently.
The car grew uncomfortably silent, and Amy turned beet red. “I’m sure I’ll have my own room,” she said hastily.
That wasn’t true, but he didn’t correct her. If he was to have only a couple weeks with her, then they were going to spend every night together.
“You’ll also have your own tutors,” Amy reminded, quickly changing the subject. “So don’t think it’ll all be play.”
Aisha immediately screwed up her face in distaste. Bahir could tell that as smart as Aisha was, she clearly didn’t like her schooling.
After a few moments, Aisha suddenly looked at him. “How come I get to live in the palace and no one else?”
Bahir’s stomach immediately knotted. He couldn’t keep putting the truth off forever, but he was a little concerned about Aisha’s reaction. “That is because you’re not like anyone else,” he said softly. “You’re the daughter of a sheikh.”
The child didn’t ask a bunch of questions. She connected the dots all on her own. As her gorgeous eyes studied him, she pursed her lips and took a few minutes to work through it all. Finally, she cocked her head. “Are you my daddy?” she asked softly.
“I am. How do you feel about that?”
“How come you didn’t live with Mommy?” Her eyes filled with tears. “How come you didn’t come get me sooner?”
