Amir’s deep voice startled me, “Good morning, princess. I see you found your way around?”
I squealed and crossed my arm across my breasts, “Amir—um, sorry! Do you have a robe? Or my clothes?”
“Nonsense, you shall remain as you are. I find your nakedness a masterpiece.”
I sighed, realizing I must have slept with him last night and not remembered. He wouldn’t be so confident, otherwise. I remained facing away from him and dashed a quick look over my shoulder. Yup, he was in just a robe. I sagged, but said nothing. He strode past me to the wall and pressed open a hidden panel, and when a digital screen lit up, he pushed the window icon. With an almost silent humming sound, the window panels disappeared into the wall. My breath caught, and I forgot about keeping myself covered.
Amir turned to me and admired my body, ravaging me with his eyes. I was torn between the view of the sprawling city below and his masculine beauty. He clenched his jaw and gritted his teeth. I took another sip of my water and my hand shook.
In a much too airy tone, I said, “I take it we aren’t in Kansas anymore?” His expression was slightly confused. “I mean, where did you take me, Amir?”
“You are in my home in the city.”
I winced, “Did we have sex?”
Then he winced. “You are unlike any female I’ve ever met.” He gave me an odd grin, one that hinted at things to come. “No, Julie, I did not make love to you. I would never take advantage of a female in such a way. Do you remember anything of last night?”
I rubbed my nose and sipped the water as he continued to admire my body with a hungry gaze. I wasn’t uncomfortable, well maybe just a little, but mostly I thought of myself as an exhibitionist and an extrovert, so I usually found the uncomfortable situations the most stimulating.
“Um, I remember dancing with you. I remember you’re a great dancer. The way you held me…” I met his eyes and didn’t waver. “I remember feeling your arousal.”
He lifted one eyebrow and without giving up the eye contact said, “Being with you creates a longing in me I’ve not ever felt.”
He took one step towards me, and I didn’t move or take my eyes from his.
“Julie, when I take you, you will remember.” His words were full of dominance and authority and spoken in a way that left not a miniscule amount of doubt in me. I knew he was right, and I knew I wanted to know what he felt like—I wanted to remember him.
He must have felt my agreement, or just known I was more than receptive. I thought about fending him off, but I seriously couldn’t move. My feet had grown roots, and he owned my eyes. I physically felt bound by him in a way I’d never felt before. He took another graceful step towards me and then another, and as my heart rocketed in my chest, the pulse behind my ears deafened me. He stalled, and I saw he was laboring with his breathing as well.
I dropped the water bottle when he entered my bubble of air. Neither of us cared, our eyes still locked as he slid in and enveloped me in his aura of power. A small gasp escaped my mouth, and he held my jaw in his massive hands. His pulse was pounding through his palms, and the heat of his silken flesh burned my skin. I parted my lips, and my eyelids sagged closed as he carefully pressed his lips to mine.
CHAPTER SEVEN
What started slowly and tenderly, quickly turned more passionate. Both of us equal in our need—feeding the lust we shared for the other. I’d rarely been this aroused and sober at the same time, but now, in this moment, I was craven for this substantial man I didn’t know. He tangled his fingers into the hair at the back of my head and held my face in a tight grasp as he took my mouth with his. Our tongues tangled and danced, and he drew on my bottom lip, sucking on it and then kissing me with a white hot fervor that told me he was a magnificent lover.
My center flooded obscenely for him, and I pressed my naked body closer to his front. I reached between us and untied his robe, letting it peel apart. My hands roamed, and I traced my way down his taut abs until I met with his manhood. He was hard and jutting, and when my palm met with his heat, he growled and kissed me harder.
His free hand cupped my breast, and he lifted it, massaging it as I palmed his shaft and danced my fingers around his thick base. He growled again and bucked into my hand. I tightened my grip and stroked up his impressive length, and then I reached between his legs and trailed a finger up across his seam.
I smiled against his kisses and wordlessly continued to pull and stroke and handle his thick, hot, long length. His hips rolled against my hand as he thrust into the pressure. I moaned his name, and then I took his hand from my tit and placed it between my legs. He hesitated only momentarily and then found my wetness. He made an orgasmic sound and cupped my entire sex in his huge hand. I whispered at his mouth, “Look what we’ve done to each other.”
He startled me by swinging me up into his arms and striding to the bed. He tossed me up into the middle and dropped his robe to the ground before stalking up the bed like a big cat. His body was magnificent and hardened. His skin was like the finest milk chocolate mixed with pure gold and he moved like an athlete. His cock was as impressive as the rest of him and all of me salivated. When my mouth watered at the sight of his jutting erection, it shocked me. I wasn’t that into oral, at least I hadn’t been, but now all I wanted to do was taste him.
“Tell me I may enter your body and take you. Tell me. Give me permission.”
I gave him an amused expression, and he stopped his advance, hovering between my legs. His hand went to his shaft, and he stroked himself as he stared at me.
“I’m surprised you’re asking. Of course, Amir. Yes. I want you in a way that is baffling to me.” I swallowed roughly and gripped his wrist, the only thing I could reach, my fingers not even meeting. “Please, Amir, I need you inside me.”
That was all he needed, and he resumed his stalk up my body, stopping long enough to suckle in one and then the other nipple, tracing his tongue around my breast and sucking in as much of it into his mouth as he was able.
He took my hands and held them over my head with one of his hands securely locked around both my wrists. He laid over me and took my mouth, owning all of me with just his lips. The broad crown of his shaft pressed into my thigh, and he skidded along the skin of my inner leg. I spread for him, rolling my hips and sliding my silk against his groin. He reached between us and guided himself to my entrance.
He didn’t enter me, though, and I began to ache for his penetration.
“Amir, please, oh God, please,” I begged around his continued kisses. I ached and hurt, and all I wanted was him as deeply inside me as he could go. He pushed just the heated head of his hardness into me, and we both gasped as our bodies united.
We both shook, and I was unable to form words. I bucked my hips enough to seat him deeper. He ceased kissing me, and his body shuddered. I was trembling too and was baffled at my reactions.
“Say my name, female—say it,” he commanded as he slid farther into me.
“Amir—oh God! Amir—Amir—Amir…” I began wailing his name as he buried himself inside my swollen, wetness. He hit my ceiling, and the crisp hairs of his groin brushed against my bare folds.
I lifted my hips and arched my back as I struggled with how he was holding my hands. I needed to touch him, to hold on and dig in my nails. He had other ideas and held me fast, taking his time, even though I could feel he was barely holding off his own orgasm. He kissed me again, and then he began to take long, languid strokes in and out of my silken flesh.
On each liquid glide in and out of my core, I became more lost in the moment. He’d replaced my blood with fire, and the impending orgasm felt unlike any I’d had previously. His pace increased, and I held myself up so he had the perfect angle. I cried out, “Amir—I’m going to—Amir—Please—HARDER.”
He obeyed and furiously began to pound himself into me. Holding me in place with his vice grip and his weight pinning me, he made love to me like a man about to die. His breath caught in his throat just
as my lungs collapsed, and I climaxed in a writhing, seizing fit of mind-numbing bliss. I felt how my body contracted and closed in around his throbbing hardness, and we both smiled in pleasure.
He made an anguished sound, and then he climaxed in a moment of perfect joining. I was still drifting in the remains of the biggest orgasm I’d ever had as he finished and smothered my body with his. It was perfect. He was perfect. I’d never felt anything close to this union. He released my hands, and his head sagged on the pillow next to mine. I wrapped my limbs around him and held him. I mumbled to his ear, “Stay on me—in me. Please.”
He said something in his language. I didn’t understand the words, but I fully comprehended the meaning as he wrapped himself around me. For the briefest of moments, we were one soul and one body and it was unimaginable—blissful—harmony.
CHAPTER EIGHT
We fell asleep tangled together, and it wasn’t until hours later—well past dark—that either of us stirred. I couldn’t remember ever sleeping that long without interruption, and I found it difficult to fully wake. I was rummy and unable to access much of my brain. My body was another story, and it was still humming along—almost as if I could purr—in perfect contentment.
Amir had wrapped me in his arms, and we’d fallen asleep spooned together on our sides. He cupped one breast, and my cheek rested on his bicep. His breath tickled at my neck, and often he would kiss my nape or just squeeze me closer. I rarely actually slept with someone—like never! And although it felt kind of odd, it was also oddly perfect.
“Did you sleep well, princess?”
I stretched and giggled, “Oh yes! Like a drunk baby.”
“A drunk baby?” he questioned.
“Like the dead!” I rejoined.
“Ahhh, this is most excellent for a girl who never sleeps. Tell me, it is because you feel safe with me?”
I found his question strange, but after thinking on it, I had to agree. “Yeah, I do feel safe with you, Amir. I shouldn’t. But I do.”
“This is excellent. I would only seek to protect you and cherish you for the prize you are. You are my princess of the sunlit hair and ocean blue eyes.”
I rolled to face him, and he reached out and twined his fingers in mine. It was curious how he needed to touch me as much as possible, but I didn’t mind, and I found it reassuring in return. “Um, Amir, can I ask you a question?”
“Anything! I will endeavor to answer as thoroughly as I am capable.”
I bit my lip, picking my words. “I’m leaving in only a few days. Back to the US. This thing with you was just a—a—thing? Right?”
“Please explain—a thing?” he asked.
“A one night stand? I mean, a man like you would never invest in someone like me. Right?”
His expression turned pained, “You are a crown jewel. I would seek to make you mine, Julie—permanently—mine forever. No! This is not a—thing. I…”
His words trailed off and he rolled onto his back, releasing my hand and scrubbing at his forehead. I felt oddly weightless in the absence of his touch. He must have as well because within a moment he’d gathered up my hand again. We both took simultaneous inhales the moment we were once again connected. He rolled his head on the pillow, and his eyes once again bound me, “Julie, I feel something with you I’ve not felt before. I have lived thirty-three years on this planet, and I’ve never experienced the rapturous joy I felt—I feel now—when I am with you. There is more to this—to us. No! This is not a thing!” He kind of hissed the last word. “I want more!”
I blinked at him and thought. I couldn’t give him more. I just couldn’t. I had a future to think about and getting the best paying job I could find so I could take care of my grandmother. I let a thin layer of hard steel slide up inside my heart, and I pulled my hand from his. I spoke to the ceiling and even to my own ears my tone was aloof.
“Amir I’m sorry, but I can’t give you more. I have a life in the States, and I sincerely want to return to it. I can’t run off with you like Anna has done with Omar. I just can’t.”
I thought he might argue the point, but instead I felt him nod. “Very well, you live as you have planned. I will find a way. I always get what I want.”
He crawled from the bed and walked around to my side. I still refused to look at him. He used just one finger and tilted my head until our eyes locked.
“Julie, you are mine now, and someday you will know that fact without doubt or hesitation.”
He left me then, and I took a shower and dressed in my bridesmaid dress. A driver returned me to the high rise Omar and Anna lived in. I wandered in, not expecting to see anyone and was surprised when Anna met me at the foot of the stairs. She saw the look in my eyes and said nothing. She wrapped her arms around me, and we hugged it out. I started crying within moments and suddenly couldn’t stop the deluge.
I excused myself and fled to my room. I sat on my bed and scolded myself for all of it. For dancing with him in the first place, for drinking too much so my mind was too foggy to function correctly, and for sleeping with him. Not the sex, the damn sleep! The intimacy and that freaky connection we had found. I still couldn’t shake my longing to see him again and feel him again. Then I really scolded myself for allowing him to climax inside me. That was a huge no-no and wondered what had possessed me so fully that I hadn’t even thought of protection. I was the queen of condoms and even ran an on-campus sexual awareness group that handed out condoms on a regular basis. I sat there and shook my head from side to side, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world.
The next day, I hung out with Anna around their indoor pool, and we played another game of chess. We didn’t talk too much, and I was grateful she hadn’t pried into what happened with me and Amir. She did ask me, “You okay? You seem off.”
I shrugged and remained silent through three more moves. Then I blurted, “I think I felt what you were talking about.”
She instantly knew what I meant, that was the incredible thing about her—and our friendship. She always knew me better than I knew myself. “The love? You felt that with Amir? No way!”
I held up a hand to block her enthusiasm, “No, I’m not sure—I just think—it was just weird—different from any other one-nighter I’ve ever had. It can’t be love though, right? I mean it was only one night.”
She grinned like a kid in a candy store with an unlimited budget. “You felt love—you felt it! Finally!” She lifted her hands skyward as if she were praising God.
I threw cold water all over her joy with my next statement. “I’m not seeing him again. I’ll get over it. It’ll pass. I’m flying home as planned—day after tomorrow. End of subject.”
Her sweet face fell. “But I was going to ask you to stay and live here with us. I need help with the new charity and with the baby coming, I can’t do it all on my own.”
I knew she was pregnant, as she had disclosed that little bit to me just before the ceremony. And I was happy for her and Omar, but I wouldn’t have been if the tables were turned. I didn’t want kids, nor did I want anything to do with someone else’s screaming, pooping baby.
I shook my head, “Generous offer, Anna, but no. I want to go home. I am not beholden to this nation like you are. They aren’t my people, and I want to start my real life. I’ve spent all of it, up to now—preparing for now. I finally get to start, and I’m not going to let anything stop me. Certainly not some odd chemical reaction I had to a one-night stand, and sorry girlfriend—you know you’re my best friend in the whole world, right?” She pouted, but did nod. “Not even for you. Sorry.”
Omar interrupted us when he strode in and announced, “Amir is joining us for a dinner at your favorite bistro, my love.” He turned to me with a sly grin, “And he has requested you join us.”
My knee-jerk reaction was to immediately decline, but he leveled this look at me that breeched no arguments. And, since he was the king and all, and since he’d just paid for my entire vacation, I could not say no. I sighed and put
on a fake smile, “Oh of course, Omar. I’d adore joining you.”
He rubbed his hands together, “Excellent. Be beautiful at six sharp. Not that you aren’t always.”
He went to Anna and petted a finger up her glowing cheek, “And you, my fertile bride, need only appear. Your radiance will overwhelm the entire room.”
I watched them like a train wreck, unable to tear my eyes away from their passionate display of love, and Omar’s incredibly affectionate intimacy with me sitting just a table away. I was jealous, and it was killing me. I wanted to be adored that way by a powerful man—I wanted to be the one who brought the King of an entire nation to his knees in that kind of reverent worship.
CHAPTER NINE
I dressed in a skin-tight royal blue strapless dress with a corset and push up bra underneath. My chest rippled and jiggled like I was Mae West. I also wore a pair of stilettos that Omar had paid for. These uber-expensive pumps were four inches of pure hell, but man did they make my body look great. I was popping out all over the place, and I felt sexy as hell.
When we arrived at the restaurant, I immediately spotted Amir and his men at the entrance. I supposed they were waiting for us, which made no sense to me. When I exited the limo and looked up, I saw Amir’s face masked with such intense admiration, I was blown over. It was as if I could feel his emotions—they hit me that hard! He strode to us and offered me his hand, which I took. Under my breath I said, “Amir, nice to see you again.”
“Likewise, princess. You are stunning.”
I nodded my acceptance of his compliment, and then we all went in and were seated in a plush booth sectioned off from the main restaurant. I was surprised Amir didn’t request I sit next to him, instead he put me on the other side, facing him. We were so far apart, I couldn’t even reach him with my foot under the table. His demeanor changed, and he suddenly seemed as cool and aloof as I’d been feeling up until seeing his face through the tinted glass of the limo.
The Sheikh's Surprise Mistress (Jatar Sheikh Series Book 5) Page 3
