by Annie West
That didn’t stop her lifting her head and planting a kiss on his jaw, then another, till he reared even further back, creating distance between them. Her head fell back onto the pillow, a discomfiting twist tightening her chest.
He disapproved of her kissing him uninvited?
Sayid shook his head as if clearing his thoughts. When he spoke his voice was harsh. ‘You asked if I’d have stopped last night if I knew you were a virgin.’ He hefted a breath that expanded his chest mightily. ‘It would be nice to say yes, I’d have stopped, but it’s not true.’ His gaze bored into her. ‘I’ve always tried to be an honourable man and deflowering virgins is something I’ve avoided. But with you...’ Again that quick shake of his head as if exasperated. ‘From the moment you appeared in the doorway last night you were destined for my bed, Lina. Nothing would have held me back.’
He didn’t look happy about it. In fact he looked positively grim. Whereas Lina glowed, hearing his words. It had been the same for her. She’d tried so long to argue herself out of wanting Sayid but nothing, neither logic nor pride had stopped her.
‘I’m glad,’ she whispered, lifting her hand to his jaw, fascinated by the way his eyelids flickered as she caressed the roughened skin there. ‘I didn’t want you to hold back. I want you to want me.’
* * *
Sayid’s bark of laughter was short and sharp. Even the gentle touch of her soft fingers across his chin weakened his resolve to take things slow and gentle this morning out of consideration for her untried body.
‘Oh, I want you all right, Lina. The problem is restraining myself.’
That luxurious mouth pouted, making his gut contract and his need spike. ‘I don’t want you restrained.’ He felt the hitch of her soft breasts teasing his chest, and realised he’d forgotten to keep his distance and had sunk down again, lying over her skin to skin. ‘I just want you.’
Her words painted a picture he tried to dismiss and couldn’t. Of giving himself up utterly to his need for her.
‘I’m glad you’re so eager after your first time.’ He’d feared she’d be wary this morning, possibly regretting her decision to come to him, or at least feeling sore and disinclined for sex. Still, she didn’t understand what she was saying. She had no idea what a demanding lover he could be.
Sleeping beside her all night, or more accurately lying awake fighting the urge to have her again, had been one of the most difficult things Sayid had done.
‘But why wait till now to lose your virginity?’ That had troubled him through the long, frustrating night. ‘I assumed you’d had lovers before, especially since you’re not interested in marriage. Yet you saved yourself, as if for marriage.’
Lina’s gaze slid from his, her eyelids dropping to veil her bright eyes. Instantly Sayid was alert. He’d touched a nerve and, judging by her reaction, she didn’t want to discuss it.
‘It’s no big deal, is it? Everyone has a first time.’
Sayid put his weight on one arm and with his other hand tipped her chin up till she couldn’t escape his scrutiny.
‘What are you hiding, Lina?’
Her eyes opened wide. He wanted to read her thoughts, her secrets, but he found himself drowning in that brilliant purple-blue gaze.
‘I’m not hiding anything.’ Yet he caught the thread of agitation in her voice and in her quickening heartbeat, hammering against him.
She must have read his scepticism for she snatched a quick breath. Sayid had to fight to ignore how her nipples scraped against him as her breasts lifted.
‘Look, I grew up in a traditional house, okay? My mother might have been a dancer once, and her reputation suffered with the old biddies in the town as a result, but if anything that made her even more determined to protect mine. The only men I saw growing up were relatives and close friends of the family, usually my father’s age. I had no chance or inclination to go to bed with a man. Especially when I saw the way some of them looked at my mother, despite the fact she was married.’
Sayid experienced a ripple of distaste. He guessed the young Lina hadn’t had a good opinion of the men she’d met. And then there were her cousins, trying to take advantage of her in her own home.
‘I was brought up to think the only man I’d sleep with would be my husband.’
‘Until your uncle sent you here.’ A sliver of guilt needled Sayid. He hadn’t taken advantage of her then, but now—
‘And you gave me an opportunity I could never have imagined.’ Her smile broke his train of thought. ‘For the first time you gave me power over my own life. You gave me my freedom, and the right to choose.’
‘But you didn’t exercise that choice while you were overseas. Why not?’ Increasingly he found it hard to concentrate. Partly because of that sunshine of a smile beaming up at him and partly because lying body to body was too arousing. He wanted to get to the bottom of Lina’s decision but his need to know was becoming obscured by the need for sex.
Her expression sobered, even as she lifted her hand to smooth her palm over the upper slope of his chest. Tingles of want spread through his body.
‘Why should I? It’s not something to rush into. Does it really matter since in the end I chose you?’
Sayid struggled to think, to process the meaning behind Lina’s words. On the face of it, no, it didn’t matter. He should be pleased she’d taken up his scandalous proposition and gave herself to him.
Yet there was something...cagey about her. He sensed an unwillingness to talk on this. A disinclination to discuss something so personal? Or maybe someone had broken her heart while she was away? If he discovered someone had hurt her...
Anger throbbed through him at the idea, but before it could take hold Lina linked her fingers around his neck and tugged, inviting his kiss.
For a moment Sayid withstood the invitation. His gut warned she was holding something back and it bothered him that he had no idea what it was. He didn’t like mysteries, especially as he sensed this could be important.
‘Sayid? Don’t you want to kiss me?’ Her expression grew tentative and he heard the tiniest hint of a tremor in her voice. It was a reminder of her almost total lack of experience.
‘How can you doubt it?’ He moved, angling his body so his erection aligned perfectly between her legs.
Her eyelids fluttered as he tilted his hips, pressing so that, if he hadn’t put on loose trousers, he’d be entering her. His pulse jumped at the thought.
Seconds later he was skimming the trousers down his legs and kicking them off, reaching across to the bedside table for protection.
Postponing the discussion was a deliberate decision, he assured himself as he rolled on the condom. Lina’s reticence was natural modesty, that was all. He didn’t need to understand everything about her to enjoy sex with her.
In the past it had suited him perfectly not to delve too deep into the thoughts and motivations of his lovers. It was all part of keeping a suitable detachment.
Ruthlessly Sayid muted the voice protesting that he wanted to understand everything about Lina. Proclaiming too that his urgency now was proof that his vaunted self-restraint had cracked, if not shattered.
Sayid stilled, trying to summon that restraint.
Then Lina put her hand on his chest, right above his thudding heart. Her fingers slid slowly down, over ribs that tightened at her touch, skimming his belly that twitched and trembled at the caress. Lower.
Explosions detonated through his body as her small hand closed tentatively around him. Sayid’s breath stalled as her fist glided down his length then paused. The arm propping him up on the bed shook like a Bedouin tent in a sandstorm.
‘Harder.’ The word was gruff, almost indecipherable. Yet Lina understood. Her grip firmed as it slid, centimetre by torturously slow centimetre, back to the tip.
Sayid shut his eyes as they rolled back in his head. Her caress wa
sn’t practised or smooth but he’d never felt such raw delight at a woman’s touch.
Why? The word drummed an incessant staccato beat in his head.
But it was drowned by the rush of blood evacuating his brain and heading lower. He’d been stiff as a board but now he grew in her hand, pressing into that warm caress that slid down his shaft then up, more confident and devastating with each pass.
Dimly Sayid recalled the need for control, but it was swept away as he bucked into Lina’s hold, unable to stop himself.
He snapped his eyes open, falling into her violet gaze. The rich scent of roses and female arousal filled the air.
She squeezed him and he jolted. Any second now...
Gritting his teeth, Sayid plucked her hand away, shuddering at the slide of her fingers against his erection.
He saw a protest form on those plump lips but he wasn’t in the mood for conversation. His mouth crashed down on hers in a kiss that was barely short of brutal, devouring her with a hunger he was past restraining.
Sayid covered her mound with his hand, relishing the way she tilted up into his touch. That was it. He just needed to check... Yes. Triumph stirred. Lina was ready for him.
He’d learned how to make foreplay an art, priding himself on his patience, ensuring his lover’s satisfaction first. But now there was no time for subtlety or patience. He braced himself over her and with one purposeful thrust, pushed hard, harder, only to find himself sliding with incredible ease right to her core.
Stunned eyes, the colour of mountain irises, met his. For an instant the world held steady. Then, before he had time to expend the breath cramming his lungs, or even think about technique, the pressure hit like a runaway train, smashing into him.
Lina clenched around him again and again, a flush tinting her bare breasts, throat and cheeks, a look of astonishment on her face.
Then Sayid was incapable of noticing anything but the unholy tightness in his groin, the rush of volcanic pleasure pulsing through him, and the tug of muscles stretched to breaking point as instinct took over and he pumped frantically into oblivion.
Dimly he heard a guttural cry of triumph and a sob of what he hoped was feminine delight, as his strength gave way and he crashed down on Lina.
He had to move away. He had to get off her. But the strength had seeped from his body. Besides, there was a warm, rhythmic stroke over his back that urged him not to move. His head was in the curve of Lina’s shoulder, his chest crushing her.
Finally, gathering his wits, he lifted his weight onto his elbows. Instantly she murmured a protest, her arms wrapping around his back, pulling as if to tug him down. Sayid pressed a kiss to the slick, perfumed skin of her neck, then forced himself to roll away, onto his side. The slide of their exquisitely sensitive bodies separating made him shudder.
At last he lay on his back, trembling. Undone.
He’d thought last night a pinnacle of physical pleasure.
This was...miraculous. Appallingly, outrageously, infinitely better than he’d experienced before.
His befuddled brain tried to compute a reason for it. His longish stint of celibacy. Muddled perception after a sleepless night. Some secret thrill at bedding a virgin.
No. Nothing accounted for it.
Sayid huffed a laugh. Maybe, after years of practice, he’d just got it right for the first time. The way he felt, anything was possible.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘Me. My brain’s short-circuited.’ Eyes still closed, he reached out and groped for her hand. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m not sure.’ Lina hesitated and despite believing he’d never move again, Sayid found himself propped on one arm, looking down at her. Lina’s hair was spread behind her like a dark halo, her raspberry-tipped breasts trembled with each shaky breath she took and her skin was flushed.
‘Did I hurt you?’ His belly crawled at the idea.
Instantly that vibrant gaze meshed with his. Another tiny tremor, like an echo of rapture, wove through him.
‘Of course not. It was...’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t have words. But you didn’t hurt me. I just never knew anything could feel so good. I feel...changed.’ She chewed on her lip. ‘Is it always like this?’
Relief made him smile. ‘Rarely. Obviously we’re very attuned to each other.’
‘Oh. That explains it.’ She rolled onto her side, moving close. ‘Will you hold me please? I feel... I don’t want to be alone.’
Sayid stared down at the woman burrowing into his chest and told himself he didn’t do cuddles. Post-coital snuggling was to be avoided in case a lover began to get sentimental. It had been a problem in the past occasionally, despite his precautions.
But instead of moving away, Sayid slipped his left arm under her head, pulling her across so she was draped over him. His right arm wrapped automatically around her, drawing her snug against him.
‘Nice,’ she murmured in a blurred voice and despite himself Sayid grinned.
But as Lina fell into an untroubled sleep and the rising sun sent shafts of pink and apricot across the room, his smile died.
He’d lost control, spectacularly. And, if he was honest with himself, he’d do it again in an instant if there was a chance of experiencing something like that exaltation as he lost himself in Lina.
Lina. That was what was different.
He’d told himself sex with Lina was like sex with any other woman, but it wasn’t true.
She had some effect on him he didn’t understand. She’d decimated his command of himself. No, obliterated it.
Gut instinct warned of trouble. What sort he couldn’t fathom. But there was something about Lina that threatened more than his tight rein over his sensual nature.
He could walk away from this deal, tell her one night had been enough and a week wasn’t necessary.
Except, he realised as his hold on her tightened and his soul howled silently in protest, he didn’t want to. For the first time in his adult life Sayid found himself unable to master his desire.
He wanted her and he intended to keep her.
For a week. That was all.
What disruption could a single week cause?
CHAPTER TEN
DAY FIVE AND there was no lessening of his hunger for Lina.
Had he really expected there would be?
To be fair, he hadn’t had her solely to himself. Usually when he took a lover he was with them around the clock, often at some discreet luxury resort where he could sate his senses without distraction. On those vacations he’d manage the most urgent matters via email and phone for a few hours a day, since the business of ruling could never be avoided completely.
Now, however, he hadn’t had an opportunity to reorganise his schedule to accommodate a break. Sayid struggled to cram his normal workload and his time with Lina into too-short days. It drove him crazy, for he couldn’t get enough of her. He’d sit in meetings, distracted by the memory of her and the sex they’d had, or planning the sex they’d have when his interminable day of appointments was over.
He should have planned this better, so he could take her somewhere and devote himself to the passion searing just as white-hot now as it had been in the beginning. Each day it became more apparent that seven nights with her in his bed wouldn’t be enough.
The idea scraped like a rusty spike through his belly. He’d never needed more than a week with any woman, no matter how charming or beautiful.
For Lina’s sake, he maintained the illusion they weren’t lovers. He refused to risk her reputation even more by clearing his diary and whisking her off to a secluded love nest. Publicly they were ward and guardian. Sayid was conscious of the need to protect her from gossip that would make things difficult for her when they separated. He could only hope loyalty from the staff who knew her suite adjoined his would prevent gossip.
&nb
sp; Yet each day Sayid found himself altering his schedule to see her. Yesterday he’d suggested to Senhor Neves that his wife might like to join them on a site visit so she could see the countryside. As she and Lina had become friends, and the Portuguese interpreter was only slowly recovering from illness, Lina came too.
Sayid’s attention had strayed time and again. He spent far too much time noticing the way Lina got on, not just with the foreigners, but the locals who’d come to hear about the mine project.
There’d been concerns about environmental issues, which was why Sayid himself had attended. But the meat of the concerns hadn’t been raised straight away. Initially discussions were stilted and formal, to be expected between a ruler and his people, yet frustrating when Sayid wanted to hear the truth. Specific fears had only been raised after he’d lingered over mint tea with the local sheikh and his extended family, and the womenfolk had broken the ice, establishing a surprising level of rapport that eased the whole discussion.
Sayid understood his Minister for Education’s comments about Lina’s charm being worth a dozen professional consultants. For years Sayid had sought to establish a better relationship with his people and he’d made some progress, but being supreme ruler created an automatic distance. With Lina bridging that gap it was much easier. He’d learned more about local concerns in that one morning visit than he had in six official reports.
Now, today Sayid cancelled a late meeting in order to accept an invitation he’d usually politely decline. A wedding feast celebrated by the community he’d visited last week, when he’d seen the bride-to-be and Lina practising a bridal dance.
‘They will be thrilled at your attendance,’ his secretary, Makram, said as he frowned down at his diary. ‘It will be an unexpected honour.’ Valiantly he sought to suppress his curiosity.
Much as he valued Makram, Sayid had no intention of explaining his decision to attend. This time it had nothing to do with being more accessible to his people and everything to do with Lina. She’d be at the wedding which would run into the evening.
Sayid had bitten back a protest at the news. When his official duties were done each day he wanted her with him.
