by Mel Teshco
She didn’t want him to think she needed pretty lies. She might be sexually inexperienced but she wasn’t entirely naïve. The last thing she wanted was for him to imagine she expected more from tonight than he was willing to give.
“Tonight will be enough.” She hoped he couldn’t tell she was lying. That one night with Andre would never be enough. But that was a secret she would lock in her heart. Tonight was a memory she would treasure for the rest of her life.
He stroked her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. It was a gesture of possession and she shivered beneath his touch.
“Tonight is only the beginning.” There wasn’t a trace of amusement in his voice. Only a supreme certainty that what he said was the absolute truth. “Never forget that.”
Of course she would never forget it. If only she could believe he meant what he said. But even if he did, how could they be together? He was a friend of Khalid. And her best friend was May.
It was impossible. But she would dream of the impossible, until morning banished the stars from her eyes.
He dipped his head and she loosened her grip on his shirt. His silky black hair brushed against her jaw as he trailed languid kisses along her throat. Even though he still cradled her head, she clutched his powerful biceps for support. His muscles were rock hard and the leashed power beneath her fingers caused her breast to constrict.
His breath was uneven as he gently nipped her sensitized flesh. The unexpected spark of pain intensified her pleasure and she shuddered in his arms. It was only when his hand slipped beneath her dress and caressed her stocking clad thigh that a sliver of sanity surfaced.
Gasping she pulled back as far as she could, considering his fingers were still tangled in her hair. His eyes were dark with passion and for a moment he looked nothing like the suave businessman she assumed he must be.
He looked wild and untamed, as though the charming philanderer was merely a flimsy façade for the real man.
Instead of shocking her back to her senses, the crazy thought heightened the lust thundering through her blood. She almost forgot what she needed to say.
“Andre.”
“Don’t tell me to stop.” His voice was deep and rich, like dark chocolate and smoky whiskey. His fingers inched higher and toyed with her lacy suspender. “I must have you tonight, Sanura.”
“Yes.” It was a breathy submission. She struggled to recall why she needed him to slow down. “But what about protection?” Her face burned when he appeared to not instantly understand her question. If only she’d had more time earlier to pop to the supermarket and buy a couple of packs of condoms. She’d die if he wasn’t prepared. “Do… do you have any condoms?”
*
Her whisper penetrated the frenzied pounding echoing through his mind and for a second Khalid stared into her flushed face with incomprehension.
He had never had unprotected sex in his life. It was unthinkable. But Sanura was his intended bride. He had never envisaged using condoms on his wedding night. The reason for his wedding was to conceive heirs.
But she wasn’t his bride yet. And he no longer considered his impending marriage purely as a political alliance to strengthen borders and for the continuance of his name.
He didn’t want the barrier of a condom between them the first time they made love. But he didn’t want to launch into an explanation of who he was right now, either. Using protection was a small price to pay to ensure Sanura embraced her destiny.
“Of course.” He reined in his lust and dragged his hand from her silken thigh. He couldn’t wait to peel the dress from her and feast on the sight of her naked body. He took a deep breath and untangled his fingers from her hair. “In my bedroom.”
Thank God he kept a ready supply in his bedroom in case of emergency. Not that he’d ever brought a woman back here for a night of pleasure.
But he was nothing if not prepared for every possible eventuality.
He stood, and before Sanura could move he scooped her into his arms. Her eyes widened in disbelief, but she didn’t protest. She wound her arms around his neck and relaxed into him, as though she knew they belonged together.
“I can walk, you know.” Her husky voice did nothing to help the state of his arousal and he gave her a pained grin as he strode toward the master bedroom.
“Why would I want to deprive myself of holding you in my arms like this?” He kicked open his bedroom door and carried his virgin bride across the threshold. The thought appealed to his sense of tradition. What did it matter if they had yet to perform the official ceremony?
With infinite care he laid her on the bed. Her hair spread across his pillows like a dark river, an irresistible contrast to the vibrancy of her dress.
The need to possess her and make her his consumed him. He fought the primitive urge to rip off his pants and join her on the bed. He was not a barbarian and tonight was all about Sanura. To show her he was nothing like her father and would never treat her the way her mother had been treated.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice and her fingers curled into the ornately embroidered bedspread.
He straddled her hips and planted his fists beside her shoulders. So much for taking this slow so he didn’t alarm her. At least he’d kept his clothes on.
“I’m drinking in this moment so it remains in my mind for all time.”
The hesitant look in her eyes vanished and another becoming blush stained her cheeks. Her shy smile heated his blood like nothing he had imagined, and his cock throbbed for release.
Mentally he gritted his teeth. He would resist temptation until she was mindless with desire and begged him to take her. He intended she, too, would remember this night with nothing but delight. And tomorrow she would have no hesitation in accepting her destiny as his bride.
Chapter Six
Khalid slid the straps of her dress over her shoulders and stifled the primal urge to simply rip the fabric from her tempting body. Especially when his progress was hampered by the row of tiny buttons over her breasts.
He dredged up patience he didn’t even know he possessed and painstakingly slid every pearly button free. Sanura’s erratic breathing stretched his self-restraint to his limits, as her luscious breasts pressed against his knuckles. This was a form of exquisite torture he had never before imagined.
“Do you need help?” Her fingers drifted over his in a feather light caress. Her simple touch was nearly his undoing.
With a rough tug the final button popped free and disappeared across the bed. He let out a relieved sigh and eased her dress down her arms, exposing her black lacy bra.
“Not tonight.” He had the feeling if she tried to help, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. And it was of paramount importance that tonight was all about control. To show her that, as his wife, her needs would always be met. What better way to start than by satisfying her untried carnal desires?
He inched down the bed, dragging her dress with him. She shifted restlessly and when he reached her calves he lifted first one leg and then the other to pull her dress free. Her stilettos followed her dress onto the floor.
She folded her arms across her breasts and blinked at him as he knelt at her feet. The muted light from the wall lamps bathed her in a golden glow and for a moment he stared at her, transfixed by her ethereal air.
A wisp of black lace covered her pussy, and her crimson suspenders highlighted the perfection of her shapely thighs. He curled his hands around her ankles and slowly molded the firm contours of her calves and the back of her knees. The silk of her stockings and the way her legs trembled beneath his touch stoked his lust and he swallowed a groan of impending defeat.
He didn’t know how much longer he could hold on.
He kneed her legs apart and trailed his fingers over her naked thighs. Her flesh was as smooth as her stockings. He bent his head and pressed his lips against the soft skin of her inner thigh, and the musky scent of her arousal fired his blood.
>
Her fingers clutched his head and tangled in his hair. He closed his eyes and breathed in deep, savoring her heady perfume of woman and the subtle fragrance of Sanura.
Tonight was going to kill him.
With supreme effort he dragged open his eyes and lifted her legs onto his shoulders. The sound of her shocked, indrawn breath echoed through his mind and he nibbled kisses along the succulent flesh of her thigh. She squirmed beneath him in rising need, and her little gasps of pleasure were the sexiest sounds he’d ever heard.
He braced his weight on one hand and gently trailed a finger over her lacy thong. She was hot and wet and quivered at his touch. Her grip on his hair was brutal and he relished the way she tugged on him, as though she wasn’t even aware of what she was doing.
“I’m going to taste you.” He sounded feral. He couldn’t help himself. This woman drove him to the edge of his reason. She went rigid beneath him and he looked up, to see her gazing down at him, her eyes wide with apprehension.
“I’m not sure…” Her voice trailed away but her fingers tightened in his hair.
He let out a measured breath and attempted to batten down the lust thundering through his reason.
“I know you’ve never done this before.” There was more he intended to say, but a look of such horror flashed over her face the words escaped him.
“Yes I have.” She sounded appalled. Anyone would think he had just insulted her. “Why would you think I haven’t?”
There were several reasons, and not one of them included the promises from her father as to her chastity. He half wished he’d never said anything. Now was hardly the time for a conversation regarding her innocence that he was so close to claiming.
But he clearly needed to say something.
“Have you?”
As far as he was concerned the fact she was still a virgin was merely a bonus. And she was untouched. He knew it as surely as he knew they were right for each other.
She opened her mouth as though to refute his claim, but no words emerged. Instead she snatched her hands from his hair and covered her face.
“This is so embarrassing.” Her mortified whisper sank into his soul and he abandoned her pussy and crawled up the bed to cradle her hot face between his hands.
He wasn’t entirely sure why she was so mortified. She may have lived in the West for several years and possess an Australian mother, but whether she embraced her heritage or not it was still a part of her. She had known of her betrothal all her life, and the expectations attached to it. Considering how far she was willing to go in order to escape her arranged marriage he was amazed she hadn’t discarded her virginity at the first possible opportunity.
Of course he could say none of that to her without revealing he knew who she was. Now was not the right time.
“Look at me.” His voice was gentle but it was nevertheless a command. After a couple of moments she peeked at him between her fingers. He stifled the urge to laugh and instead clasped her wrists and pulled her hands from her face. “Am I the first man who’s ever kissed you?”
“Of course not.” Her voice was breathy. He pressed her imprisoned hands into the pillows and loomed over her.
“The first to see you undressed?” He had damn well better be.
She licked her lips. “Not exactly.”
A bolt of possessiveness shot through him. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’ve worn bikinis on the beach.”
He stared at her. That wasn’t what he had meant, and she knew it. But what he found so intriguing was the fact she was no longer practically cringing with embarrassment. She looked as though she wanted to giggle.
He loosened his grip on her wrists and threaded his fingers through hers, their palms pressed together in an oddly intimate caress. He leaned toward her, until her uneven breath feathered his jaw and their lips all but met.
“Will I be the first man to see you naked?”
The tip of her tongue peeked between her lips. He knew she had no idea how provocative she looked but that did nothing to ease the state of his confined cock. God, he was in agony. It had been a bad idea not stripping his clothes off first before joining her on the bed.
“You might be.”
Satisfaction licked through him at her guarded response. He kissed her lips and when she opened to him he slid inside, possessing her mouth the way he soon intended to possess her body.
His breathing was ragged when he finally broke their kiss. Sanura hitched in a shaky breath and her body shifted restlessly beneath his. Still pinning her hands to the pillows he trailed kisses over her breasts.
He pulled one hand free and traced the tip of his finger along the low cut edge of her bra and then dipped into her tantalizing cleavage. Kneeling above her he released her other hand and cupped her breasts, pushing her delectable flesh together until she all be spilled from her lacy confines.
She clutched at his biceps and dragged her nails along his arms until she gripped his wrists. Her eyes were glazed and lips parted and beneath his hands her heart pounded in time with his own.
For a second he closed his eyes. But it didn’t help. The need to take her, right now, was all his frenzied mind could think of.
Brutally he called upon the three years of military training his father had insisted all his sons undertake. Discipline. Control. He dragged in a pained breath. He would not allow his desires to rule.
With rigid restraint he kissed a sensual path over her taut stomach. Her legs trembled as she released her grip on him, and he kneed her further open as he reached the flimsy barrier of her thong. With great economy he ripped the material and tossed it aside.
A narrow ribbon of dark curls trailed over her swollen pussy lips. He sucked in a ragged breath and gently spread her slick folds with his thumbs. She jerked beneath him and her body tensed at his unfamiliar touch, but she didn’t try to push him back.
He finally managed to drag his mesmerized gaze from her wet slit to focus on her face. “Has any other man seen you like this?” His voice was raw with lust.
For a moment he didn’t think she was going to answer. And then she let out a breathy sigh. “No.”
Satisfaction speared through him, heightening the overpowering need to take her and show her how thoroughly she belonged with him.
Soon.
He slid the tip of his tongue over her clitoris and she bucked in obvious shock. He smothered a groan. Her scent and her taste combined was an aphrodisiac such as he had never before imagined. He splayed his hands at the top of her thighs, his thumbs grazing her silky smooth mons. Her delicate suspenders and sheer black stockings enhanced her nakedness, giving her the irresistible allure of both siren and virgin.
He dipped his tongue into her sweet cleft. Beyond the pounding of his heart he heard her stifled gasps and once again she gripped his hair. He pushed into her, using his tongue to caress her velvety channel and glided his finger around her sensitive clit.
She shuddered, her thighs clamping against his head. She was so responsive to his slightest touch and the knowledge he was her first intensified every sensation.
He licked and stroked, swirling around her clit. She trembled beneath him and he slid his hand over the curve of her hip and dip of her waist until her tantalizing breast filled his palm. His thumb circled her erect nipple and her juices spilled onto his tongue.
She tasted divine. A forbidden fruit he would never get enough of. Her musky scent entrapped him and he tweaked her nipple, not sure how much longer he could hold on.
Her back arched as she cried out and her orgasm rocked through her. He pressed his tongue against her clit and milked every last shudder from her body before he finally lifted his head to look at her.
Sanura lay before him gasping for breath, as her body trembled from the aftershocks of her orgasm. Her face was flushed, her eyes half closed, and he had never seen a woman look so tempting.
With a speed he’d never before thought possible he tore off his pants
and rolled on a condom. To hell with his shirt.
He had to go slow. He knew it, but he was poised on the edge. He braced his weight on one fist and speared his other hand through her hair, forcing her to look at him.
“Are you ready for me?” With all his experience, he had never had a virgin before. He didn’t want to hurt her. Until now, the women he slept with were well versed in matters of the boudoir. But by God, he could wait no longer.
“Yes.” There was no hint of uncertainty in her throaty whisper.
It was all the encouragement he needed. With a stifled groan he penetrated her wet heat. Instantly she went rigid and her nails dug into his biceps. He froze, poised above her, his cock barely inside her, and stared into her shocked face.
“Sanura?” He beat back the frenzied demand to thrust into her and satisfy the primal need ravaging his reason. “Relax. Let me in, my princess.”
For an agonized heartbeat he thought she was going to change her mind. But she couldn’t change her mind. She was his princess whether she knew it yet or not, and he would never let her go.
They would stay in this bed all week if it took that long for him to make her his.
She let out a ragged breath and some of her tension diminished. She still clung onto him as though he was her lifeline, and he would have it no other way.
“I’m ready.”
His fingers tangled in her hair at the look of absolute trust in her eyes. Heart thundering, he claimed her lips in a possessive kiss as he pushed further into her untouched body.
For an eternal moment she tensed. He tried not to move, so she could get used to him, but God. He swallowed a groan and closed his eyes. She was so tight around his cock. He could feel her pussy expanding to accommodate his size, and the urge to thrust deep inside and possess her utterly hammered through his senses.
“How does it feel?” The words rasped along his throat. His muscles screamed in protest as he held himself above her, refusing to give into his base urges.
