“No!” she sobbed!
He growled, then turned away from her. He grabbed a condom from his bedside drawer and rolled it down over his erection. They were frantic now and she didn’t care that she was basically clawing at him. Stripes of reddened skin lined his back.
Amit pulled her legs up so that they wrapped around his waist, grinning when she arched her back as he entered her. It wasn’t the hard thrust she was expecting. Instead, he slid into her heat with a slow, gentle glide, making her smile as he filled her up, making her feel whole and wonderful.
Amit watched, shaking his head to try and clear some of the lust that was driving him. But Harper’s body felt so tight and wet and perfect. The sensations of her heat tightening around him blurred his vision. Trying to control their mating was pointless, he realized. Their combined desire was too strong, too powerful. So he thrust deeply into her, feeling the climax coming faster. Unwilling to leave her unsatisfied, he pulled back, using his thumb to help her and…just the lightest touch spilled her over the edge.
Amit wanted to hold back, to enjoy her climax, but the sight of her writhing like that was too damned erotic. Plus, he felt her inner muscles grip him tightly and the sensation took him over the edge. Several more thrusts and he was right there with her, pounding into her and praying that he didn’t hurt her.
When it was all over, he collapsed, his face buried against her neck as they fought to get their breath back. Rolling over, he pulled her with him, still intimately connected as he stared up at the ceiling. Cursing himself! Never before had he been so out of control with a lover! He was always in control, always the one giving the pleasure with ease. But tonight, with Harper, there had been no control. It had been intense and amazing, but they’d been so frantic. And in the end, it hadn’t mattered.
Sort of. Looking down at her, he saw the same stunned look in her eyes.
Kissing the top of her head, he shifted slightly. “I’ll be right back,” he told her, then headed into the bathroom to clean up. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he cursed himself for his lack of control. Harper deserved better! She didn’t need a man mauling her, a ravenous beast with no finesse.
“Next time,” he vowed, then turned, grim determination in his eyes as he went back to the bed.
He found her lying amid the sheets like a goddess. A sensuous, beautiful goddess with her blond hair streaming out behind her, curled up on her side but with those big, blue eyes watching him. With wariness? Or hunger? He wasn’t sure, but Amit was determined to ensure that it became hunger in the next few minutes.
Even as he slid onto the bed behind her, pulling her back into his arms, his body’s need proved that one time would not be enough.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, seeing the surprise in her eyes.
“No. Not at all. It was…” she blushed and he bent to kiss her again. But gently this time since her lips were already swollen from their last interlude.
“Let’s do it again,” he growled, pulling her underneath him. “But slower this time.” He would control his lust this time, he vowed. He’d bring her to pleasure over and over again!
Then she slid her hands along his shoulders, her touch soft and light and…he lost control. This lust that he’d been fighting since that first moment when she’d walked into his office was too powerful and had been denied for too long.
Muttering a curse in his native language, to spare her feelings, he tried to slow down. But every time she touched him, and especially when her soft lips brushed against his chest, he knew that this was going to be just as wild as the last time.
He was able to hold back until he felt her mouth brush his nipple. That was it. That was all it took! Amit rolled her over, his mouth covering hers as he cupped her breasts, teasing her taut nipples and…!
He barely got the condom on before he was thrusting into her again. Thrusting faster and faster, he pressed against that swollen nub and…when he heard her cries of release this time, he almost smiled. Almost! By the time she arched into him, her body shuddering with her climax, he was too far gone into his own orgasm to admire the picture she made.
Groaning, he thrust once more, holding her as gently as he could as he released himself into her lovely body.
A long time later, Amit pulled her into his arms as she sighed. He reached to turn off the light, his body still throbbing with need. Control, he thought. This time, he’d control it. He’d let her sleep for a few hours, then he’d wake her up and make love to her, slowly! If it killed him, he would make love to her slowly and give her so much pleasure, she would beg him to stop.
Chapter 16
Harper hurried down the hallway, eager to avoid Amit. Actually, she was hoping to avoid everyone! She didn’t want to run into Talia or Amit’s brothers either, and Harper winced at the possibility. But mostly, she just wanted to get away from Amit as quickly as possible.
Last night in his arms had been…mind blowing! Every time he’d touched her, she’d felt as if her body was on fire. And their coming together had been almost…animalistic! She’d never been this way in the past. What was it about Amit that drove her so…wild?
As she moved down the hallway, her navy heels in her hands, her wrinkled dress, and messy hair, obvious proof of what had happened, Harper wondered what had come over her. She’d never been particularly sexual before. Her two previous lovers had been…fine. But nothing exciting. And yet, every time Amit touched her, she felt….crazed. Desperate. Almost insane with the need to touch and feel and…find that pleasure that made her head spin.
After slipping out of his bed earlier, she wasn’t sure if he would be angry that she’d left or relieved that she’d vacated his room without any morning-after awkwardness. Either way, she wasn’t eager to find out. If he was angry…okay so she wasn’t sure why he would be angry other than him maybe wanting a morning quickie. That possibility, especially after the devastating way he’d made love to her last night, made her sick to her stomach.
But the opposite was equally misery-inducing. If Amit was relieved that she’d left, that meant that their time together last night had simply been another liaison in a long line of other women traipsing through his bed.
Harper really didn’t want to know if that was the case. She hated the idea of being part of a herd, so to speak. It cheapened what they’d shared. Or at least, what she’d thought they’d shared.
Unfortunately, there had been no discussion last night about their relationship. About what their sexual encounter might mean…to each other. Yes, he’d been amazingly attentive over the past few days, but was that just part of his seduction technique? Or was it…more?
Harper shook her head as she continued walking. It wasn’t “more”, she admonished, unaware of the lush courtyards or the beautiful mosaics that covered the walls as she hurried down the palace hallway. “More” was what she wanted, and what was impossible.
Besides, it was better this way. She’d left his bed early enough that no one in the palace would know what they’d done. She was here to help his nieces and finish up a study to design a best practices report. Not to have an affair with the leader of this over-heated but beautiful country.
Still, as she turned the corner, heading towards the family suites, she shivered at the images behind her eyes from last night. The way Amit touched her was…Harper blushed and shook her head, trying to banish the memories. “Stop it,” she muttered.
She rushed to her suite and, after carefully hanging the navy dress in the closet and putting the heels back on the shelf, Harper showered, then changed into her regular clothes. Once she’d donned a pair of black slacks and a sensible, button down shirt, Harper felt better. It took her only moments to pull her hair back and add a touch of makeup, then she felt more in control.
“Better!” she repeated to her reflection in the mirror. “Much better!” Her hand slid over her stomach, ignoring the flutters of butterflies that danced inside of her. “This is better!”
She left her
suite feeling much more like her former self. Last night had been an aberration. She’d never been that wild in bed before. Yesterday had just been one success after another. “Just a celebration,” she whispered, trying to explain her response to Amit’s lovemaking.
She stopped just in front of the doors to the girls’ suite, closing her eyes and trying to get her head straightened out. “This will work,” she told herself. “The girls will love it, I’ll get to spend time with them, and there’s no way that Amit will find us in the kitchen!” With a grin of triumph, she nodded. “This is a good plan!”
Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the doors and beamed. The twins immediately looked up, their faces glowing with delight and their expressions warmed her heart.
“Good morning ladies,” she said.
The girls abandoned their coloring and threw themselves at her. Harper wrapped her arms around them and closed her eyes, absorbing their energy and youthful exuberance.
“Good morning,” the girls replied softly.
It was such a wonderful thing, hearing them speak. “Did you both sleep okay?” she asked, bending down, but keeping a hand on each pair of shoulders as she looked into their identical hazel eyes.
“Better,” Ellora whispered.
“I did,” Elsa announced proudly.
“No more nightmares?” she asked, glancing from one earnest little face to the other.
“Ellora started to cry,” Elsa inserted before her sister could deny it. “But I snuck out of bed and got in with her. She didn’t cry after that.”
Harper nodded, mimicking Elsa’s serious tone. “That was very kind of you.” Turning to the other twin, she looked at her carefully. “Do you remember the nightmare?”
Ellora shook her head. “Not really. I might have been crying for my momma.”
“That’s definitely a possibility,” she agreed solemnly. “Dreams are our way of working out our concerns when our brains are more relaxed. Sometimes, they are scary and sometimes, they are wonderful.” Harper squished up her nose. “Sometimes, mine are pretty weird.”
The girls giggled and it was such a beautiful sound after their silence.
Harper shifted. “You ladies don’t have lessons today, right?” she asked.
Both girls shrugged. “I don’t think so,” Elsa finally replied.
“Perfect,” exclaimed Harper with a twinkle in her eyes. “I was hoping you ladies might help me make a cake.”
The girls straightened, their faces brightening with excitement. “A cake?” Elsa whispered. “We don’t know how to make a cake! What if…?”
“I do,” she replied as if conveying a mystery and nodding her head for emphasis. “I’m not very good at it, but I’ll tell you a secret.”
“What?”
“A cake doesn’t have to look pretty to taste good!”
The girls didn’t understand and simply stared at Harper for a moment until she continued. “Want to try it?”
“Yes!” both girls yelped.
Harper stood up. “Okay, then let’s do it! I went to the grocery store recently and bought a box mix and lots of chocolate icing.” She took their hands and they headed for the kitchen.
If her cake-baking plan also helped her to hide from Amit for a few hours, then that was a bonus, right? It wasn’t like she was actually hiding, she told herself. She was, but that wasn’t her intention. She was here to help the twins, so making a cake with the twins was a good thing. A good idea! She wasn’t being a coward, she was being a good…therapist!
Okay, so her excuse was weak, but if anyone asked, her plans might sound legitimate, she told herself. In reality, she genuinely enjoyed spending time with these two young girls.
The three chatted as they walked down the long hallways, turning right, then left. But after several minutes, Harper realized she had no clue where the kitchen was.
“Okay, I think we’re lost,” Harper said to the girls. She turned to the bodyguards that had trailed them from the nursery. “Do either of you have a clue where the kitchen is?” she asked.
One of the men smirked, but the other pointed down another hallway. “That way, ma’am.”
Harper smiled her appreciation. “Lead the way,” she told him.
A few minutes later, the guard pushed open a door that revealed a huge kitchen. Since it was the middle of the morning, the kitchen was fairly quiet. She approached one of the workers. “Excuse me, but we’d like to make a cake. Is there a place we could do that where we would be out of the way?”
Another man approached, this one obviously having more authority than the others. “How can I help you, ma’am and ladies?” he asked, then winked at the girls, both of whom smiled, and shyly leaned against Harper’s legs.
“We’d like to make a cake,” she explained, pointing to Elsa who held the box of cake mix. Ellora shifted her arms, balancing the two plastic containers of frosting.
“Ah! A cake!” The man rubbed his hands together. “I am Chef Abril. What kind of cake would you like? I will make anything your heart desires!”
Harper cringed, worried she might insult the baker, but needing this time with the twins. “Well, you see, we’d like to make this cake…ourselves,” she explained.
The man was confused for a moment, then his eyes filled with horror. “But…the princesses, they can’t…”
Before the chef could finish, Harper knelt down and looked at the girls. “Ladies, would you mind going over to that counter and seeing if you can find a big bowl?” she asked.
The girls nodded, but glanced warily up at the chef as they set off. Harper waited until the girls were out of earshot before she explained her idea to the chef.
“Thank you for offering to make us a cake,” she told the man, who looked confused. “The thing is, we don’t really need a cake. We need an activity where the girls can do something with their hands while I talk to them. It’s a sort of play therapy. The brain concentrates more on what the hands need to do and less on controlling what the girls say. It helps them talk about their fears and concerns.” She smiled to the man who nodded with understanding. “The cake won’t be anywhere near as stunning as the delicacies that you create, but the point of making the cake is more about helping those sweet girls, than making a masterpiece.”
The chef nodded. “Yes, this is a wonderful idea. Many people use cooking and baking as a therapy and I fully approve. There’s nothing better than mixing and stirring to soothe one’s soul,” he smiled.
“So is that okay?”
“Absolutely!” he replied enthusiastically. “Anything you need!” He started pulling out measuring cups, bowls, and other tools, many of which Harper suspected might be used by professionals to decorate a cake, but she had no clue how to use them. She usually just used a butter knife to spread the frosting, which worked well enough.
“Thank you,” she said to the chef. “This is very helpful.”
He nodded eagerly. “If you need anything, just ask!” and he walked away. He didn’t go far though. He and his team were working on something over at another table.
“Okay!” Harper exclaimed. One of the other servants had brought over stools, so the twins were higher than normal. “Let’s get this thing going! We need eggs and oil. Ladies, why don’t we investigate that fridge over there and see if we can find some eggs?”
“Okay!” they jumped down from the stools eagerly.
One of the servants heard that they were looking for eggs and hurried over to try and help, but Harper held up a hand. “We’ve got it covered,” she told him with a smile.
The eggs and oil were easy enough to find since they were the main ingredients in a lot of recipes. The only confusion came when they had to decide which kind of oil to use. “Goodness!” Harper exclaimed as they surveyed the various types of oil available. “We have olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil,” she listed. Then looked at the two girls with a silly face. “Grapeseed oil? I didn’t know that grapes had seeds!”
The girls
giggled, exactly as she’d intended.
“Canola oil is best for cakes,” a deep voice said behind them.
All three of them swung around, the girls yelping their excitement when they spotted Amit standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall.
“Uncle Amit!” They rushed towards him. “We’re baking a cake!” the girls announced, bouncing up and down with excitement.
“So I see!” he replied, but he didn’t return their smiles. As usual. “What kind of cake is it?”
The girls looked at him, confused. “Cake!” Ellora repeated, as if that were obvious.
“Yes, but what flavor?” he encouraged, bending down so that he was at their eye level. “My favorite is chocolate. Are you making a chocolate cake for me?”
Harper felt a soft, throbbing ache in her chest as she watched him interact with the little girls. He was such a good man! Amit was nothing like she’d originally thought. Gone was the heartless, irritating jerk she’d met weeks ago. Now she knew that he was a sweet, kind, and gentle man.
Oh, she knew that he was ridiculously tough when it came to protecting his country and his people, but that was his public persona. His personal interactions were…amazing. She’d watched him with his two brothers and Talia, knew that he cared deeply for them and protected them fiercely. He’d do the same for these two little girls.
“Vanilla cake,” she announced, pulling herself out of her thoughts before they caused her to become too melancholy. “I prefer vanilla cake.”
He stood up, and took both girls hands in his. “Vanilla? That’s so…boring.”
She grinned and grabbed a bottle of canola oil. “Vanilla is delicious,” she countered, not meeting his gaze, although her cheeks heated under the weight of his gaze. She still couldn’t reconcile her frantic, desperate actions last night with her normal life. Harper just…she wasn’t that kind of a sexual being!
Seduced by the Sheik (The Raminar Family Book 1) Page 11
