by Annie West
Something sizzled through him at her look—something more than the seductive friction of two bodies moving together in harmony and complete abandon.
A wave of pleasure hit him, rolling through him to circle tighter and tighter. Incredulous, he realised there was no time for more, that the climax was upon him.
Amir had opened his mouth to apologise when it took him, racking his body in pleasure so intense he almost blacked out. A galaxy of stars whirled around him, but none eclipsed her deep blue eyes. They held him as he gasped for breath, groaning his ecstasy, shuddering as his body pumped its climax and he held her as if he’d never let her go.
CHAPTER TEN
CASSIE clung on tight as Amir heaved and rocked beneath her. Her untutored body began to respond with tiny ripples of pleasure.
Fascinated, she watched him lose control, as if plucked up by a force of nature and set spinning on another plane.
Excitement had escalated after the initial shock. When he’d touched her breasts that lovely melting sensation had filled her again, like chocolate swirled with cream and her favourite liqueur, and her body had softened around him.
Now the delicious feel of them moving together abated, and with it the tiny thrills that had begun spreading through her. Amir lay unmoving but for the way his chest rose and fell like bellows pumping. He was lax except for the hands that gripped her.
Tentatively she moved. He groaned and clamped her hips into stillness. ‘Not yet,’ he gasped.
Seconds ticked by and Cassie began to feel the strain where her thighs stretched, feel the little flurries of chill night air around her naked body. Began to feel … exposed, sitting above Amir who, eyes closed, seemed lost in another world.
A world she’d been denied entry to.
With a sudden movement he rolled, tipped her gently onto her side. A moment later he withdrew, and Cassie clamped her lips on the protest that welled as sensitive nerve endings stirred anew. She wanted—
He didn’t even look at her, simply turned away, got up and strode to the bathroom.
Helplessly Cassie watched the play of light and shadow on his naked back, the lithe grace of his powerful body, and wished he didn’t still take her breath away.
She felt … cheated. After the gloriously intense pleasure of their coupling, surely she’d been right to expect more.
Cassie grimaced and rolled away, pulling the covers high as she slid to her own side of the bed. What had made her think Amir different? Of course he’d put his own pleasure first. If she hadn’t quite reached the pinnacle of ecstasy he had, then that, apparently, wasn’t his problem.
But he hadn’t even looked at her! Amir had avoided her eyes as he’d disengaged himself and hurried away. Almost as if he was ashamed of her.
Perhaps he was, now he ‘d taken what he wanted.
Sly dark shadows stirred, and Cassie felt the murky undercurrents of the past reaching out to her. She felt the tug of shame and anger, and a guilt she couldn’t do anything to assuage. Emotions she’d carried all her life.
No! She wasn’t her mother. Amir had no right to make her feel tainted.
Or was it Cassie herself making her feel that way?
She clutched a pillow close and set her jaw. At least there was a bright side. For all the disappointment, she’d managed to break through the frozen terror that had filled her earlier at the idea of intimacy. She’d learned it could be electrifying, exhilarating, wonderful! Surely by this act she’d managed to begin healing part of the unseen hurt she’d carried too long?
Next time she’d make sure she chose a man who wouldn’t turn his back on her the moment he had what he wanted.
‘Cassie?’ His breath hazed her neck, and heat surrounded her as he slid naked behind her.
She started, and her breath seized as his arm roped her waist, pulling her towards him so his hair-roughened thighs cradled her and his solid form pressed close.
Every nerve ending shuddered into awareness and the curl of excitement in her womb twisted into life. It wasn’t fair! She was angry and disappointed, yet her body betrayed her with its eagerness.
She stiffened and tried to pull away, but he held her. Temper rose at how easily he controlled her.
‘I’m sorry, Cassie.’ His breath on her ear made her shiver as tendrils of sensation unfurled and spread. ‘I couldn’t help it. I lost control.’
Dimly she wondered how often that was used by men as an excuse for selfishness.
‘You’re angry.’
‘I—’ She shrugged. Maybe her anger was out of proportion with the situation. This was her first experience of sex, and she had a horrible suspicion she was letting the past colour her judgement. ‘I didn’t like it when you turned away from me like that.’
It had made her feel cheap.
His hand on her shoulder pulled her round till she lay on her back. His face loomed above her like that of a reverently carved idol: beautiful yet remote. His eyes were dark as night and equally impenetrable.
He trailed his fingertips over her collarbone, up her throat to clasp her jaw. The air left Cassie’s lungs in a whoosh at the implicit intimacy of his touch.
‘I apologise, Cassie. It’s a long time since I’ve had so little control.’ Was that the hint of a blush colouring the high angles of his cheekbones?
Cassie frowned, trying to read his precise meaning. ‘You were embarrassed?’
His mouth firmed, and if anything his sculpted face grew tauter. ‘Only raw youths and selfish lovers take without giving. A certain amount of control is necessary.’
Her eyes widened. Had Amir stepped from a world completely different from the one she’d known? She’d misread him. Instead of casual thoughtlessness, he’d been too ashamed to meet her eyes.
The novel idea stunned her.
‘You have a real problem with losing control.’
Amir’s eyes glinted and his hand slid tantalisingly low over her breast. ‘That makes two of us. I’ve never met a more fiercely independent woman in my life.’
Cassie gasped as trailing fingers circled her nipple. Dormant pleasure burgeoned. She wanted to savour his words, but instead it was his cheeky caress, now plucking at one rosy tip, that filled her thoughts.
‘I—’
‘Yes, Cassandra?’ This time when he drawled all three syllables of her name in that deep, knowing voice it sounded perfect.
His hand moved lower and she opened her mouth to protest—till she felt his fingers tickle the soft hair between her legs.
‘You wanted to say something?’
He didn’t smile, but the glint in his eyes told her he knew what effect he had on her.
Sensation hummed through her, coalescing in a single powerful shock of pleasure when he touched her just so.
Amir watched her closely, as if able to gauge what she felt by the blush searing her cheeks and throat. Now it was her turn to feel embarrassed. She wasn’t the subject of some scientific study!
Desperately she reached up and hauled his head down, kissing him open-mouthed as he touched her again. This time the bolt of power ignited ecstasy and sent it reverberating through her body. All she knew was his mouth, tender on hers, his touch, and the shock of delight as her whole body turned into a conflagration of scintillating sparks and fiery explosions.
Her hands shook as she held him. She gasped for air but refused to break the kiss that plastered him to her. She wanted to cradle him closer, hold this magic for as long as she could. Hold him till she came back to earth.
But Amir had other ideas. Already he was pulling back, easing out of her grasp.
‘That hardly touched the surface, did it, habibti? You’re wound far too tight.’ His mouth lifted at one corner in that sexy, wry smile of his, and Cassie’s heart shimmied. ‘And I still have to make up for my clumsiness before.’
Cassie swiped her tongue across her lips, ready to tell him that, far from being wound tight, she felt totally unravelled.
She didn’t even get the firs
t syllable out. Amir dipped his head and took her mouth in a slow kiss that drew deep, demanding a response. It came from a part of her she’d never known existed. A part of her that responded to every nuance of his caress, to each sure stroke of his hand over her throat, her shoulder, breast and hip.
Time and her thoughts blurred as Amir made love to her with his hands, his mouth, his whole body. He evoked slow, lush pleasure. He led her into another intense climax that shattered her soul into thousands of shards. Then he put her back together again with tender caresses and murmured endearments.
She never known such gentleness. She felt … different. Born anew.
Cassie lay spent, gasping in air, her mind awhirl. This felt like something more than physical. But how could that be?
Through the haze of jumbled thoughts and sensations she felt him move. Heard a tiny sound and opened her eyes to find him tearing open a small square package with his teeth.
She was exhausted, too spent to move, her limbs weighted in the aftershock of bliss. She couldn’t possibly want him now in this exhausted state, but she did want to hold him close, feel his heart beat next to hers.
Through slitted eyes she watched him roll on protection with dextrous movements. This was a man with lots of experience. In that moment, sated and revelling in the results of his loving, Cassie was glad. At least one of them knew what they were doing.
Nevertheless a tingle of anxiety tripped through her as he knelt between her legs.
She couldn’t imagine giving or receiving any more pleasure. But the gleam in his eyes was unmistakable, as was the taut energy in his muscled frame and the erection straining towards her.
‘I’m not sure I can.’ Even speaking seemed too much effort.
Amir leaned close, his mouth whisper-soft on hers. ‘You don’t need to do anything. Trust me.’
Dazed, she watched him rise above her, his imposing shoulders blotting out the room. Yet it wasn’t trepidation Cassie felt this time, only a sense of rightness.
He moved and her arms came around him, hugging him close as he surged with one easy thrust deep inside.
Home.
That was the word that spun in her brain as he lifted her knee a little, easing his way, then gathered her close.
She was enfolded, blanketed and at peace.
Amir tilted his hips and began a rhythm that was easy, gentle. The give and take lulled Cassie and a smile played about her lips.
‘You feel good.’
‘So do you.’ He kissed her fluttering eyelids and cheeks, then her mouth. He stroked his tongue along the seam of her lips and a tremor of awareness passed through her.
Cassie’s eyes popped open.
He cupped her breast, stroked her nipple in a slow arc and something tightened in her belly.
‘You know what you’re doing.’ Her voice was husky.
He dipped his head and favoured her with a long kiss that left her pulse racing. Out of nowhere adrenalin charged through her lax body.
‘And you’re still in control,’ she added.
‘Do you mind?’ One black eyebrow arched devilishly as he pushed higher, cupped her breast a fraction tighter.
Cassie caught her lip between her teeth in a gasp of surprise and delight.
Somehow she found enough energy to speak. ‘No.’ Her hands slid to his buttocks, tight and gloriously rounded, and pulled him higher. The resulting sensation almost knocked the breath from her lungs. She lifted her knees, feeling each measured thrust more deeply. ‘You won’t be for much longer.’
Then she gave in to the desire to taste him. Following instinct, she bit gently on the curve of straining flesh where his neck joined his shoulder.
A shudder ripped through Amir and his movements grew sharper. Suddenly Cassie was no longer teasing. Her body echoed his movements, maximising their impact as he took them both to unbearable heights.
What had started as a lazy game became a headlong rush towards completion. It overwhelmed them both. So sudden, so intense. It was fierce and fulfilling and indescribably wonderful for being shared.
Amir. His name was a shout of ecstasy. An exultation and a plea. Whether she called his name out loud Cassie didn’t know, but his name was in every pounding beat of her blood, in each spasm of pleasure and every gasped breath. It was as if she’d absorbed him into herself, become one with him not just bodily but at some deeper level.
The last thing she remembered was Amir holding her tight, rolling onto his back so she sprawled across him.
His breath was hot on her face. His arms held her safe against the cataclysmic force that buffeted them. The sure rhythm of his heart was beneath her ear. It lulled her till exhaustion claimed her.
Dawn. From outside came the sound of the camp stirring: a shout, a jingle of harness. Amir surfaced from the soundest sleep he could recall. Sound and satisfying.
Almost as satisfying as the woman in his arms. She was a bundle of delight. Lushly curved instead of emaciated-chic. Warm, responsive and surprisingly addictive.
Cassie approached sex with wholehearted enthusiasm, as if it were a wondrous new world to explore. Not a battlefield where favours were traded for gifts or prestige or for more of Amir than he chose to give.
She met him as an equal. Asked for nothing save shared pleasure. There was something innately honest about her. Something that snagged his interest in ways other than the physical.
Right now it was the physical that interested him. With her body pressed close she was one hundred percent temptation. He stroked a possessive hand over her.
Still she slept. Could she really be so deeply asleep? There was a clatter outside but she didn’t twitch. Did she feign sleep to tempt him to rouse her?
He was tempted. He grabbed the covers to slide them off her shoulders, then stopped.
A smear of blood stained the sheet.
Amir frowned. Where was it from? Neither he nor Cassie was injured.
He could have sworn this top sheet had been pushed way down the bed. Hadn’t it been under their hips? It couldn’t have been. There was only one explanation. Cassie had scored him with her nails.
He smiled. There was an untamed element to Cassie when roused. He couldn’t wait to experience it again.
Last night had been intense. Witness the way Cassie had clawed at him, and those mind-numbingly powerful climaxes. She was dead to the world—unlike earlier nights when she’d slept restlessly, disturbed by dreams.
His hand slipped from the covers and away from the heat of her body.
Only with Cassie did Amir refrain from initiating sex when he wanted it. In the past, to desire had been to act. To act had been to satisfy.
After what they’d shared he knew she’d welcome his touch. Yet he restrained himself. There was a strange satisfaction in putting Cassie’s needs before his own. He stroked a lock of hair from her face. Watching her curled trustingly close, an unfamiliar peace filled him.
For the first time since boyhood he almost regretted that life had made him a loner. That he’d never had an intimate relationship except on the physical level. For a fleeting moment he experienced something like that old boyhood yearning to belong to someone, to be special to someone and have someone special to care for.
As a child it had been a secret craving, hidden deep in the belief that such emotion made him weak when he had to be strong to survive. As a man such sentimentality had no place in his world.
Now he wondered if there could be more in his life.
He shook his head, clearing it of half-formed imaginings.
Yes, he’d marry. Arrangements were already in progress. But, while his bride would provide comfort and pleasure, this would be no love match. No partnership based on attraction or volatile emotions. As a kid he’d learnt what an unstable foundation that was.
He’d marry to ensure a line of inheritance. For the stability of his nation. To shore up the prestige and reputation of his dynasty after so much notoriety and disharmony. His bride had been chosen for
her impeccable breeding, her connection to one of the wealthiest, most powerful families in Tarakhar, as well as for her beauty and docility.
Not for him a wife who, like his mother, was a magnet for scandal. His children wouldn’t know the disgrace of living in the shadow of outrageous parents. They’d bask in the care of a beautiful, calm, respectable mother. They’d have their father’s unflinching support and protection.
Never would they suffer because of their parents’ behaviour. There’d be no sidelong looks of distrust as a nation waited for them to go the same way as their parents.
A wedding was necessary. But that didn’t stop his desire for Cassie.
He stroked her hair. There was something about this foreign woman, something utterly missing from the paragon of female virtue he planned to wed. He needed time to explore it, savour and enjoy it.
Amir smiled and drew Cassie closer.
He’d refrain from sex this morning, but he had no intention of denying himself in the longer term. Cassie would return with him to Tarakhar as his guest, his lover, till their passion was spent.
One last affair before the business of marriage began.
Arranging the betrothal and then the wedding would take time. Time to sate himself with Cassie’s unique brand of sexual allure. A mutually enjoyable interlude beckoned.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘NO, NO more!’ Cassie stared at the clothes spread across the embroidered coverlet and shook her head. ‘Thank you, but I can’t accept these.’ The garments had been reverently laid out for her approval in a kaleidoscope of sumptuous fabrics, a shopaholic’s dream come true.
The palace maid frowned. ‘Are you sure, ma’am? There is more to come.’
‘Absolutely sure.’ Registering her concern, Cassie softened her words with a smile. She didn’t want Amir’s staff thinking she was ungrateful. ‘It’s all lovely, but there’s more than I need. Far more.’
And more beautiful than the hard-wearing cotton and denim she’d carried in her backpack when she came to Tarakhar. Who ever heard of a volunteer teacher wearing gauzy rainbow hues spangled with semi-precious stones or edged in silver?
