by Jaid Black
“He loves you, sweetheart. I hope you don’t hate me one day for what I’ve allowed to happen.”
“I could never hate you, daddy.” She squeezed his frail hand. “I love you so much. Don’t talk like that.”
“Just remember he loves you. He’ll always love you.”
The enormity of her father’s words made her breath hitch. If what she was thinking was true and her dad had in fact known Hani’s ultimate plan was to get married and stay married, then why hadn’t he told her about it when he was alive?
Because you weren’t ready to hear it.
The truth hit her hard like a punch to the stomach. During her father’s illness the only thing she could think about was making him better. Her mom had died when she was but three years old so all of her life it had been just the two of them. She hadn’t been ready to say goodbye to the only constant presence she’d ever known in her life until she’d at last realized she was forcing him to hang on for utterly selfish reasons. And by then there had been another constant, if quiet, presence in her life…
Shannon’s heart soared at the realization that father really does know best, or at least hers did. He couldn’t have picked a better mate for her than Hani bin Nasser. All these realizations would take some getting used to.
Her turquoise gaze flicked toward the bathroom floor and homed in on the black tent. Her husband wanted to keep her, did he? She grinned. Then a few things would have to change.
Chapter Ten
Shannon was more than a little nervous as she made her way from their apartments and back toward the outside lanai overlooking the pool and vast gardens. She wasn’t exactly certain that a trial by fire was the way to go with her husband, but she had to put the lingering doubts to rest, not to mention begin as she meant to go on.
Once frumpy in a black tent, she was now knock-out gorgeous in a red, skimpy dress that left little to the imagination. It hugged all her curves, showed off her ample cleavage and revealed her legs to mid-thigh. Red stiletto heels gave her an extra four inches, though Hani would still tower over her. A choker of white pearls graced her neck, a sexy contrast against the red of the dress and the tan of her skin. A matching pair of pearl set earrings completed her outfit.
She stopped to glimpse at herself in a mirror and felt confident that she looked as pretty as she was capable of looking. Her golden hair fell in perfect ringlets down her back and her light eyes glowed against her sun-kissed coloring. Her lips were red and full, her cheekbones high and lightly rouged.
She took a deep breath as she prepared for her husband’s reaction. She would know by his expression whether the tent she would never again wear was due to jealousy or embarrassment. If it was the former, she would acquiesce to cultural standards while they were in Saudi Arabia and wear the hijab with loose-fitting clothes, but the niqab was dead to her. If it was the latter, she would leave Jeddah and knew she was smart enough to do so if the situation required it.
She hoped that it wouldn’t.
“It’s now or never, Shan.” She smoothed out her dress with her hands. “Just get it over with so life can go on.” One way or another, she mentally added.
Her head held high and her shoulders back, Shannon opened the glass doors separating the house from the gardens and strolled back into the dinner party as though nothing had changed. “I’m sorry I took so long,” she apologized to their company. “Kelli’s right, it is quite hot today.”
Said Kelli was too busy laughing at the murderous look on Hani’s face to be bothered by the whistling sound Nizar made. Obviously Kelli wasn’t the jealous type which was a good thing if Shannon would be staying here and they were remaining friends. She worried her bottom lip, unsure if the tic in her husband’s jaw and the flare of his nostrils was due to jealousy or embarrassment. She forced the fear aside and stood there as if challenging him.
He wasted no time in picking up the gauntlet. Shooting to his feet, he jabbed a finger at her ominously. “Cover your hair! And your face! And your body! And…and…” He looked too pissed off to form coherent sentences. “Everything!” he roared. “Cover everything!”
“No.”
“No? NO? You are saying to me NO?!”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
At an apparent loss for words, he sputtered as his nostrils flared to wicked proportions. Hani, ever the gracious host, very ungraciously snagged Shannon’s arm and pulled her inside the mansion and back to their apartments without having said a word to a laughing Nizar and Kelli. Oh lord, she shouldn’t have done this in front of his guests. He would probably take it as a sign of disrespect when she just wanted some answers.
Dressed in an Italian suit and tie rather than traditional Arabic clothing tonight, Hani looked equally imposing in either style, she quickly decided as he slammed their bedroom door shut and whirled her around to face him. She could feel the rage in him and couldn’t help but to be a little scared even though she knew he’d never physically hurt her.
“What are you doing?” Hani bellowed, slashing a hand through the air. “Why would you wish to show your hair and body to Nizar? Do you find him handsome, hmm? Would you rather he was your husband instead of me?”
And there it was. Her answer. She would have cried from relief if she wasn’t so thrilled.
“You’re jealous,” she breathed out.
Hani threw his hands up. “Of course!” he roared. “That should have been obvious when I told you to wear the niqab tonight!”
She smiled like a loon. He looked at her as if she was one.
He was jealous! Shannon had never been a big fan where male displays of jealousy were concerned, but nothing with her husband was proving to be as it had been with men in the past. His outraged manner made her heart thump pleasurably in her breast.
There was only one more thing she needed from him and that was his love.
As he stared down his wife, Hani felt as though his world was crumbling apart. His smart, sexy, witty Shannon belonged to him whether she wanted to or not, but wallah how he ached inside for her to want to. Keeping her against her will was fine in theory but painful in reality. Still, he was a liar if he said he’d let her go. He knew he wouldn’t. He couldn’t breathe without her.
She yelped as he backed her up against the nearest wall and frantically unzipped his suit pants. He didn’t want her frightened of him, but he couldn’t find the English words he wanted and felt too desperate to be inside her and joined to her to keep searching for them. “You cannot have another husband,” Hani gritted out. His dark eyes were without mercy as he snatched her dress up and her panties down. “You are mine!”
“I don’t want another husband,” he could have sworn he’d heard her gasp. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He growled against her ear as his stiff cock penetrated her pussy in a deep, primal thrust.
Hani was beyond words, beyond reasoning. He fucked her with all the possessiveness of an animal staking its territory, slamming into her tight, sticky cunt over and over, again and again. She groaned, unable to move or do anything to him in return but take the hard fucking.
She wrapped her legs around his waist. He held her tighter against the wall as he pulled her tits out and began vigorously sucking her nipples while he pumped in and out of her cunt. His cunt.
He wanted it to be like this always, buried deep inside his wife, sucking on her stiff nipples like lollipops. Never did he feel more content, more complete, than in these moments.
“Oh God,” Shannon moaned.
Hani fucked her impossibly harder, branding her as his with every stroke. He reveled in the sounds of pleasure she made while coming, her pussy contracting around his cock, clutching him there, keeping him deeply inside.
“I’m coming,” he said hoarsely around one taut nipple, thrusting in and out of her like a madman. She’d stolen his mind the same as she’d stolen his heart. He released her nipple with a popping sound. “Hayati—Shan.”
He came long and loud, fucking her until his
seemingly endless orgasm subsided. He wouldn’t let her go, couldn’t let her go. The need to be inside her was overwhelming. Hani held his wife against the wall and, buried to the hilt, resumed suckling. He found himself hoping Shannon was already pregnant.
As his eagle-sharp mind began to rethread from the tattered fray his wife had left it in, Hani recalled why they were in their bedroom to begin with. Memories of his Shannon showing off her beauty to Nizar pulled at his emotions and tore at his soul.
“Do you want him?” Hani asked quietly, gently withdrawing his cock from Shannon. “Nizar?”
She blinked as if not comprehending. Her legs were unsteady as he placed her back on her feet so he held her at the hips. “Huh?”
He hated repeating the words but had to know the truth. An American saying about cats and curiosity flickered through his brain, but he ignored it. He needed the truth. “Do you want Nizar?”
Shannon was still catching her breath, but managed a fierce, “No!”
Something inside him lightened. Something near his heart.
“I told you I don’t want another husband,” she said, sounding exasperated. He grinned, showing her the dimples he knew she loved. She grinned back. “I love you and only you, you big, dumb idiot.”
“You shouldn’t call me such names,” Hani said, smiling. He felt on top of the world. “But I will forgive you this sin one time.”
Shannon snorted at that. “Great, but the next time you act like a big, dumb idiot I’m sure I’ll commit that particular sin again.”
Somehow he didn’t mind. “Do you really love me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you promise?”
“Yes.”
“Pinky swear?”
“Pinky swear?” She chuckled. “Where on earth did you learn that?”
“From TV. Now do it. Give me your pinky swear, hayati.”
She shook her head and giggled. “Okay, I surrender. I feel like we’re in sixth grade, but I pinky swear.” She gave him her pinky and he gave her his back.
“I love you too, habibti,” Hani murmured, his expression growing serious. “With all that I am and all that I have, I love you.”
She threaded her fingers through his. “I’m sorry I purposely made you jealous. I just needed to know the truth as much as you did,” Shannon said. “I needed to know why you kidnapped me.”
His cheeks went up in flames as it slowly dawned on him that she was aware of what he’d done. She laughed, forcing a smile from his embarrassed self.
“If you were any man but you I would be furious,” Shannon declared. Her gaze searched his. “But you are you—the only man I have ever loved and will ever love.”
Hani pulled her into his arms and all but crushed her with his thankful, possessive embrace. “We will stay this way always,” he commanded, his tone broaching no argument to the contrary. “Always we will love each other and no other.”
“Always,” Shannon promised. “But there’s one more thing,” she added, pulling away so she could look up into his face.
He stiffened, uncertain what she was going to say.
“The black tent?” She grinned. “Say goodbye to it, habibti.”
Hani laughed. He wasn’t certain if it was from the lighthearted feeling he possessed now that he knew she was his, heart, body and soul, or from the cute way she’d mistakenly called him by an endearment used only for females. He had the rest of forever to explain that a man you love is called habibi and a woman habibti.
“Okay,” he readily agreed, not exactly happy that unrelated males would be seeing her sexy face, but willing to compromise. He wanted her to be as content as he was after all. “No more tent or niqab.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
She grinned. “Pinky swear?”
He grinned back, but held out his pinky. “I pinky swear.”
Epilogue
Three Years Later
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
“You will be the death of me,” Hani grumbled. Shannon grinned as she watched her husband scoop up their two-year-old daughter, Noor, and set her in his lap. “Do not go into the water without me or mommy. Okay, my love?”
Noor giggled but promised nothing, her blonde ponytails bouncing up and down as she played horsey on her daddy’s knee. Hani grinned as she let out exuberant squeals of delight, the love for his daughter written all over his face. He was a sucker for her and their daughter already knew it.
Not wanting left out of the game, their one-year-old son, Nizar, held up his hands until he too was lifted up and enjoying the horsey ride. Shannon stood in the sand and smiled, the sight of her three favorite people in the world so happy together making her feel a little weepy. Of course, being well into her third trimester of pregnancy number three, burned toast made her weepy these days.
“Your father is no fun,” Hani’s dad bellowed to Noor and Nizar, striding over to pick up his grandchildren. “Let’s swim.” Shannon laughed as she watched him wade out into the Gulf of Iran where grandma waited for her two bundles of joy with open arms.
The weather in Dubai was perfect today. She wished their vacation wasn’t nearing its end, but conceded there was a lot of work to do back in Jeddah. Hani’s father had fully retired six months ago so her husband was in charge of running the family businesses solo. As their chief legal counsel, Shannon was never at a loss for deadlines either. Getting her law degree legalized for use within the kingdom had taken only six months of intensive studying and was more than worth it. Learning Arabic hadn’t been nearly as daunting as she’d thought it would be either. She spoke it almost as clearly as any native.
There were times when the formality and constrictions woven into the fabric of Saudi society were overwhelming, so short breaks like this one in neighboring Dubai were welcomed when longer holidays to the States and Europe weren’t possible. Here women could drive, wear what they wished and weren’t bound to harsh rules of conduct. She could see small but important changes happening in Jeddah, but they would be years in coming to fruition. As she watched a cute blonde with a g-string up her butt sashay past Hani, she frowned and wondered if she wanted the damn changes.
Grinning, and reading her mind like always, Hani stood up from the beach chair and walked over to where Shannon stood. She was jealous and he knew it.
“I have bigger, nicer tits,” she sniffed, folding her arms under them.
He chuckled and pulled her into his side. “Yes, habibti, you do.”
“My ass is nicer too.”
He kissed her forehead. They went through this with every pregnancy. She needed reassured and he was happy to oblige her. “Yes, habibti, it is.”
She harrumphed. His grin widened.
“Ready to go home, I take it?” Hani teased.
“Very,” Shannon grumbled, meaning it. At least in Jeddah the worst peepshow he’d be getting was a wanton pair of ankles. “In fact, I wouldn’t mind going home early.”
He chuckled again as he took the scrunchie off her wrist and used it to pull her hair up into a ponytail. Her hair was one of the areas Hani would not relent in. Nobody could touch it, save him and their babies. She didn’t mind.
“I love you,” Hani murmured, a sensual lilt in his voice. She knew they’d be making love tonight. Of course, rarely a night went by that they didn’t. There was a lot to be said for a younger husband, especially when it meant that both spouses were at their sexual peaks together.
“I love you too.” Shannon smiled up at him as his hand found hers.
“You promise?” Hani asked, leading her toward the water to play with their children and parents.
“Yes.”
“Pinky swear?”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “You can bet a black tent on it.”
Author’s Notes
I know it’s been a long time since I’ve written a story so I hope you enjoyed reading Shannon and Hani’s journey to HEA (Happily Ever After) as much as I enjoyed writing it. I
also want to assure my readers that your letters are read and appreciated more than you will ever know even though I can’t reply to them all. And, yes, I am working on the next in the Trek series as well as the next book in my Underground Viking series! :-) I’ve got a lot of stories left to tell in those worlds so expect new releases soon.
Okay, now for the technicalities.
Although Shannon took Hani’s last name bin Nasser (meaning “son of Nasser”), it is rare in Arabic countries for a bride to assume her husband’s last name. This is done to prevent unintended inbreeding by keeping lineages distinct. Although uncommon, some brides do choose to take their husband’s surname. In this instance, Shannon’s last name should have become bint Nasser (meaning “daughter of Nasser”), but doing so would have required an explanation that didn’t flow with the story. Gratuitous explanations mid-book are more jarring than gratuitous sex, don’t ya think? ;-)
And finally, I’ll end by saying I hope to meet as many of my readers as possible at RomantiCon 2010. I rarely do signings—they make me a nervous wreck!—but I wouldn’t miss the celebration of Ellora’s Cave’s 10th anniversary in business for anything.
Raise a glass and make a toast! Here’s to ten years of women refusing to behave, ten years of Romantica® making erotic romance a worldwide phenomenon and, most importantly, ten years of women refusing to allow publishers to draw a line in the literary sand on their sexuality and sensuality.
Cheers to reading freedom!
Jaid
About the Author
Jaid Black is the pseudonym for Ellora’s Cave’s owner and founder Tina M. Engler. She has been featured in every available news outlet, from the Washington Post and L.A. Times to Forbes magazine, Fox News and the Montel Show. Ms. Engler was officially recognized by Romantic Times Magazine with their first ever Trail Blazer award as the mastermind of erotic romance as you know and love it today. Writing as Jaid Black, her books have received numerous distinctions, including a nomination for the Henry Miller award for the best literary sex scene written in the English language.
