Desert Rogues Part 2

by Susan Mallery

  He kissed her shoulder, then her neck. She turned her head so their mouths could meet. His firm lips pressed against her own. She parted for him, wanting him to take her, to tempt her until she was willing to do anything.

  He swept inside and she tasted the wine and the man. As they kissed, she felt his hands on her back. They moved up and down stroking her from shoulder to hip. The rhythmic movement both lulled and aroused. When he tugged at her zipper, she knew he meant to undress her.

  Anticipation swept through her. She was eager for the next lesson, eager to discover everything. Rafiq drew back and looked into her eyes.

  “When you were with Eric,” he said quietly, “did he ever make you climax?”

  Talk about a mood breaker, Kiley thought as she blushed, then reached for the front of her dress to keep it from slipping. She cleared her throat, then murmured, “Not really.”

  Rafiq smiled. “I wanted to be sure.”

  “Yes, well, now you are.”

  He cupped her face in his hands. “I want to please you tonight. I want to show you the pleasure locked in your body. Will you allow me that?”

  The intensity of his gaze took her breath away. His words made her want to follow him to the ends of the earth. Speaking seemed impossible, so she nodded.

  He dropped his hands to hers and slowly drew them down to her sides. Gravity took over and her dress dropped to the floor.

  She stood there, practically naked and painfully exposed. Time passed, and he didn’t speak, didn’t react at all. Just when she was about to duck for cover, he groaned low in his throat, bent down and gathered her in his arms, holding her against him.

  “I want you,” he said in a low growl. “All of you. I want to touch you and taste you and claim you.” He stared at her, his expression possessive. “You will be mine.”

  The proclamation thrilled her, as much as his physically sweeping her off her feet. No one had ever been interested enough to want to claim her before. She wasn’t exactly sure what he meant, but she was willing to go along with whatever he had in mind.

  Rafiq made his way into her bedroom and gently placed her on the bed. Before she could worry about what to do next, he pulled her close and began to kiss her.

  Long, slow, deep kisses. Kisses that left her breathless and shaken and touched her soul. She clung to him, holding on to hard muscles, straining to get closer, even as he moved his hands over her bare back.

  She liked the feel of him touching her skin. He explored the length of her spine, then cupped her hip before moving to the top of her bare thigh. Goose bumps erupted.

  He shifted her so that she stretched out on her back, with him looming over her. His lips turned up slightly, as if he were about to smile. She brushed her thumb against his mouth.

  “You’re very beautiful,” he murmured. “Your skin is soft.” He rested his hand on her belly. “I want you to relax and enjoy what I do to you. Tonight is just for play, so you can get used to me being close to you.”

  She wasn’t exactly sure what he meant, although she was fairly certain he meant they weren’t going all the way. She had a moment of disappointment, then he began to unbutton his shirt and she found herself distracted by his broad chest.

  She put her hands on him and explored the contours, the way flesh molded muscle and how those muscles tensed when she lightly brushed over them. He bent down and kissed her. She parted for him, even as she slid her hands around to stroke his back.

  He explored her mouth with his tongue, then slipped away before she’d had all she wanted. But as his destination seemed just as interesting as kissing, she decided not to protest.

  Even as her eyes fluttered closed, she felt him move down her neck, then the hollow between her breasts. He licked her there, then nibbled on the sensitive skin by the edge of her bra. He moved his hand from her stomach around to her side. She shifted slightly so he could reach behind her and unfasten the hooks.

  Her breath caught in anticipation as he pulled away the bra. A puff of warm air was her only warning, then his mouth claimed her right breast in an openmouthed kiss that made her body clench and her hands reach for him.

  She touched his shoulders, his back, then buried her fingers in his dark hair.

  “Yes,” she breathed.

  He licked her nipple, then sucked it into his mouth. After circling the taut tip, he raised his head slightly and blew on it. The combination of damp and cold and heat made her want to beg. Need filled every cell in her body. She ached, she wanted and she had to make sure he understood he could never, ever stop.

  He moved to her other breast, and on the first, replaced his mouth with his hand. She arched her head and savored his caress. Between her legs, her panties grew damp as that most feminine place began to ache.

  When he left her breasts, she cried out in protest. “I’m not done,” she told him.

  She felt him laugh against her stomach.

  “Trust me on this.”

  He moved lower, pausing to lick her belly button. The sensation was both ticklish and erotic. A combination she’d never experienced before. Then he reached the edge of her panties.

  Eric had never bothered touching her there more than a couple of times and always through clothes. She remembered once when she’d straddled his knee and had rocked against him until he’d pushed her away. Now the aching intensified as she wondered what Rafiq would do there.

  But first he tugged on her panties, pulling them down her legs, then tossing them away. She had the sudden thought that she was actually naked before a man—not counting doctors—for the first time in her life. Eek!

  She opened her eyes and found him looking at her.

  “Lovely,” he said with a smile. “Every part of you. I like this spot.” He touched her ankle. “And this one.” He traced a circle around her knee. “And here.” He slid a single finger between her tightly closed thighs.

  She planned to be embarrassed and protest and squirm, but that wily finger slipped between her curls, the folds of skin and found an amazing, responsive bundle of nerves on the very first try.

  Her eyes closed, her legs fell open and she didn’t care if he looked at her all day, as long as he kept touching her.

  “You like that?” he asked.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Good.”

  He continued to rub and circle and explore. She found herself getting lost in the perfect sensations that radiated out from that one spot. Her body burned, her blood seemed to flow faster. She was tense and yet perfectly relaxed.

  He moved onto the bed, then nudged her thighs farther apart. She obliged him, even drawing back her knees. She felt his shoulder brush her leg and before she knew what was happening, he claimed her with a kiss.

  She knew what he was doing. She’d read about it, seen it in movies, even talked about it. But until that moment, until his tongue brushed over her most sensitive spot with the exact pressure and speed designed to drive her into madness, she hadn’t actually understood it.

  The sensations were too exquisite, too perfect. She moaned as he licked her, moving a little faster, as if urging her on. Her hips arched in a rhythm she couldn’t control. She dug her heels into the bed and pushed toward him, silently begging for more, for all.

  Muscles clenched, her body writhed, she tossed her head back and forth as she strained to reach for something she couldn’t quite grasp. For some…

  He slipped a finger inside and circled it around. The combination was too much, and she felt herself lifted up as her body shattered in a rush of pleasure she’d never experienced before. Hazily she recalled a friend saying that if she had to ask if she’d climaxed, then she hadn’t.

  Now her release swept through her with the subtlety of a thunderbolt. It was perfect, her muscles contracting and releasing as Rafiq continued to gently touch her. On and on it went until at last it slowly faded and she found herself back where she’d started, only much more satisfied.

  “So that’s what all the fuss is about,”
she sighed when he’d stretched out next to her and pulled her close. “I like it.”

  He chuckled. “Good.”

  She snuggled close, liking the feel of his arms around her. “We’re going to do that again, right?”

  “Yes. As often as you’d like. Although not tonight. I don’t want you to get sore.”

  She was kind of thinking she would endure a little soreness for an experience like that again.

  “Is it always that good?” she asked.

  “It can be.”

  “Huh.” She raised herself up on her elbow and looked down at him. “So how does anyone get any work done? Why don’t people just stay in bed and make love all the time?”

  “As pleasurable as that sounds, we have responsibilities.”

  “I guess. But given the choice…”

  He reached between her legs and rubbed her. “I suppose we should consider a second time, just so you have a point of comparison.”

  She collapsed back on the bed and gave herself over to the pleasure. “If you insist.”

  Fate conspired to keep them apart. Kiley was determined to be brave about the whole thing. After what had happened Friday night she knew she wasn’t in a position to complain that Rafiq had a previous engagement over the weekend and then late meetings the following week. Still, now that she understood the possibilities, she wanted to explore them all.

  Wednesday afternoon she sat in his office with a pad of paper, a pen and a list.

  “It’s your sister’s birthday in two weeks,” she said. “You need to send a present. I have a list here, if you’d like to choose one.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “I’m not qualified to decide. You may send what you like.”

  “You always say that. Don’t you want to know what they’re going to be thanking you for?”

  “I have little contact with my half sisters. I’m sure they’re delightful young women who know nothing of their half brother and do not consider themselves injured by the lack of contact.”

  “You’re being cynical.”

  “It is one of my best features.”

  “Want to take a vote?”

  “An impartial panel would agree with me,” he told her.

  “Not if it was made up of women.”

  He leaned back in his chair. “Is this your subtle way of issuing a complaint?”

  “Not at all. I think it would be nice if you picked out your sister’s present yourself.”

  “And yet I will not.” His dark eyes flickered with something she couldn’t read. “Anything else?”

  She squirmed in her seat. “I haven’t seen you all week.”

  “I know. My meetings have gone on later than I would like.” He smiled. “I have missed you.”

  Not as much as she’d missed him, she thought. It was like not knowing she’d been starving, then being offered a fabulous meal, only to be told the buffet was now closed.

  “Me, too.”

  “We will have more time this weekend.”

  Not as much as he thought. Her sister had just had a baby and Kiley wanted to go home for a couple of days. “Actually we—”

  The phone in her office rang, cutting her off. She rose to answer it just as his phone rang. Later, she thought. She would tell him that she would be leaving town for the weekend.

  “This is Kiley,” she said as she picked up the phone.

  “Hi, Kiley. My name is Marcy Dumont. We met at the fund-raiser last week. Do you remember?”

  Kiley really didn’t, but doubted that was the point. “Of course. How can I help you?”

  Marcy laughed. “Actually, and this may sound a bit strange, I need you to talk to Rafiq.”

  “He’s right here. You can speak with him yourself.”

  “I know I could but I think it would be better if you did. I work with a children’s charity here on the Westside. We would very much like Rafiq to sponsor one of our events. I’d like to send you the information to look over. If you like what we’re doing, you can talk to him about it.”

  It took Kiley a minute to figure out what was going on. “You think there’s a better chance he’ll say yes if I ask him?”

  Marcy laughed again. “Are you kidding? We all saw the way he looked at you. He wouldn’t refuse you anything. And it’s for sick kids, Kiley. I wouldn’t ask otherwise. I’m going to pop the information into the mail. My business card will be there. Check it out, then give me a call.”

  “But I—”

  “Talk to you soon.” Marcy hung up.

  Kiley did the same, then stared at her phone. It wasn’t that she minded helping sick children, she thought grimly. It was that she didn’t like being manipulated. Her relationship with Rafiq was private. No one had the right to use that to influence either of them. She felt uncomfortable and unsure of what to do. If the cause had been anything else, she would have simply ignored the material. But sick children? She couldn’t just turn her back.

  “I need the quarterly reports,” Rafiq said from the doorway between their offices.

  “I’ll get them right away.”

  He waited until she’d returned with the files, then took her hand. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  He stared at her. “Was that Eric on the phone?”

  “What? No. He hasn’t called.”

  Rafiq continued to study her. “We have an agreement of fidelity.”

  She smiled. “Trust me, I’m not about to forget it. Eric didn’t call, hasn’t called, isn’t going to call. If he did, I wouldn’t be interested. I swear.”

  He nodded once, as if satisfied, then returned to his office.

  Chapter Seven

  “I’m glad we’re finally spending the evening together,” Rafiq said Thursday night as he and Kiley were shown to a corner table in the small Italian restaurant in Santa Monica. He’d chosen to give up the view of the ocean in favor of privacy.

  “Me, too,” she answered. “You’ve been busy.”

  “Unexpected meetings and out-of-town associates. Fortunately, they are over now. There shouldn’t be any more interruptions.”

  She smiled at him and put her napkin in her lap. She was beautiful in her low-cut blue dress. She would have been more beautiful without it, but he was not about to share her charms with the other patrons.

  The waiter hovered until Rafiq requested the wine list, then sent him away. But instead of glancing at the pages of available bottles, he stared at Kiley.

  “You have something on your mind,” he said.

  She blinked. “Not really.”

  “I have felt it for the past day or so.”

  She shook her head, denying the charge, but he doubted her. Kiley had been forthcoming in the past, but she wasn’t now. Did she worry that the topic would distress him? There was only one reason for that—she missed Eric.

  He shouldn’t be surprised. A few short weeks ago, she’d wanted to marry the man. She had told him she wanted revenge and he had believed her. Perhaps that had been a mistake. Was a woman’s heart truly capable of revenge?

  “The food here is excellent,” he told her, knowing he would come back to the subject of her distraction later. “The chef is very popular. Would you like wine with dinner?”

  “Yes, thank you. I’m going to let you pick because what I know about wine wouldn’t impress anyone.”

  “Do you have a preference?”

  “Not yucky.”

  He smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  She opened her menu and studied the options. He did the same, then picked a wine. When they’d ordered, she leaned forward.

  “My sister just had a baby. My mom called the night before last to tell me all about it. This is Heather’s first. She’s my baby sister. She’d always said she wanted complete natural childbirth. She’s into organic everything. So when the time came, she refused to let them give her anything for the pain.”

  Kiley’s mouth twitched slightly. “But Heather isn’t very accommodating when she doesn�
��t feel well. Apparently she was screaming so much, the other women in labor came into her room and begged her to take something. She was distracting them. My mom said it was pretty funny. Heather agreed and quieted down, and the baby was born. She had a girl.”

  Her expression turned wistful.

  “You had planned to have children with Eric,” he said.

  “Three or four. He wanted to wait, but I was willing to get started right away. I always thought a big family like mine would be great. Sure it was messy and loud being one of three, but there was so much love.”

  “All girls?”

  She grinned. “Does that horrify you? No possibility of heirs?”

  “It isn’t a concern for everyone.”

  “That’s true. I think my dad likes being the only guy in the house. We all treat him very well.”

  “I think you will be a good mother.”

  She sighed. “Thank you. I know I’ll try. I feel as if I could easily love a couple of dozen kids, but there is the reality of keeping track of everyone.” She offered him the bread basket, then took a roll for herself.

  “I keep thinking about how it’s going to be,” she said. “I want to have the house where all the neighborhood kids comes to play. I want to make Halloween costumes and bake and decorate for the holidays. I want a Christmas tree filled with ornaments made out of Popsicle sticks and a couple of dogs making trouble. A suburban fantasy.”

  “It sounds very nice.”

  “Oh, right. So speaks the prince.”

  “Do you think I’m not interested in a domestic situation?”

  “I don’t know. Are you?”

  “I will marry and have children.”

  “That’s right,” she said. “We’ve discussed your need to find the proper woman at the princess store. How’s that working out?”

  Before he could tease her back, the waiter appeared with the wine. He opened the bottle, then poured them each a glass. When they were alone, Kiley leaned toward him.