Sheikh's Marriage of Convenience

by Ella Brooke

  “And that? How was that?” he asked with a grin, and she gave him a look that she was sure was just short of wild.

  “You know what I want,” she said, and the words came out half-desperate, half-demanding. “Please…”

  This time, Faris moved so quickly that she could barely catch her breath. Suddenly, he was pressed between her knees, pushing her back against the chair. His mouth on hers was hot and demanding, and now she could feel the need that lived in him as well. He was teasing her, but it was coming at a cost to him. She could feel it in the stress of his body, the thrust of his tongue into her mouth, the sheer need for her in his touch. She was trembling, but so was he, and in that moment, Danielle decide that good sense could wait until morning. Right now, all she cared about was getting more of this man.

  Faris broke the kiss long enough to look at her.

  “Are you truly all right?” he rumbled. “If you tell me you are, I’m not sure that anything in the world could stop me right now…”

  “I’m fine,” she said, her voice soft. “Only I want you so much…”

  It was like throwing gasoline onto the fire. She could see the look of fierce desire come over his face, and he stood and scooped her up again. He carried her to the bed, where his hands went to her dress, but she held up her hand.

  “I need you naked too,” she explained with difficulty. “I… the last time we did this… I just want it.”

  She wasn’t sure if he understood her skin’s hunger for his, but he smiled faintly, nodding. Danielle thought that he would reach for his buttons, tearing his clothes off. Instead he straightened and started to strip his clothes off with a slow deliberation that made her eyes widen. She sat up in bed to better see as he stripped his jacket off, followed by his tie. There was absolutely no self-consciousness to him, absolutely no shame at all.

  With a slight smile on his face, he stripped to his skin, and Danielle devoured him with her eyes. He was tanned everywhere, his skin an impossible warm gold. Faris looked like a fit man with his clothes on. With them off, his body would have put a god to shame. When her eyes dropped below his waist, she could see his member rearing up, hard and eager, and instead of being embarrassed, she licked her lips without thinking about it.

  Her inadvertent gesture drew a laughing moan from him, and shaking his head, Faris came to join her on the bed. He kissed her cheek, and then his warm lips moved to her ear, nibbling on the lobe before tracing the delicate whorl with his tongue.

  “You are delicious,” he whispered. “Every part of you. Now will you return the favor?”

  “I don’t see why I should,” she teased. “After all, the last time we did this, I was entirely bare and you were clothed…”

  She yelped when he nipped the crook of her neck with just a little bit of strength. The sting gave way to a rush of warm pleasure as he lapped at it with his tongue.

  “I suppose I should rephrase that,” Faris said with a chuckle. “Are you going to take off that damned dress before I tear it from you?”

  She froze for a moment, but the heat that sunk into her body could not be denied.

  “I think I want to see you try it,” she said defiantly, and she gasped as she was pushed down to the bed. God, he was fast and strong, and she thought if someone had told her about this, she might have been frightened, but right now, all she could think about was how much she wanted him.

  Faris worked fast and ruthlessly. He tore her clothes off with a kind of single-minded determination that was intensely arousing, stopping only when he got to her underthings. The remnants of her dress were scattered on the bed, and Danielle was breathing harder from the arousal of the simple act.

  “Well, I did warn you,” he said. “Now take the rest off for me.”

  There was a tone of iron command in his voice, and though it occurred to Danielle to defy him just to see what would happen, she wanted to do what he said more. She knelt up on the bed, and though she thought that the blush might kill her, she slowly started unhooking her bra.

  She had always been nervous about her slight curves, about how slender she was and how men seemed to find her more unwomanly because of it. However, glancing at Faris’s avid expression, it was plain to see how utterly fascinated he was, how much he wanted her.

  The need on his face only intensified as she stripped her panties off as well. She could see his hands twitching as he stopped himself from reaching for her.

  Instead, he only watched her, taking such clear pleasure in her form that she felt a kind of heat swell up inside of her just from his gaze.

  “Will you touch me now?” she whispered, and he thought for a moment.

  “I want you to take down your hair,” he said. “I was remiss when we were last together, and I have not seen it.”

  A dozen excuses came to mind, that it was too long and unfashionable, that they would roll over it and tangle it, and abruptly, Danielle realized where that came from. It was the voice of every man who had ever teased her, ever called her long hair quaint and unattractive. That was not Faris—it would never be Faris—and she took a deep breath.

  First came the pins, a round half dozen of them, leaving two long braids to fall down her back. She could feel Faris’s eyes on her braids, noted the surprise at their length, and then taking another breath, she removed the elastics that secured the ends and started working the braids loose.

  Danielle didn’t look up at him again until her black hair fell in loose waves down her back. When she did, however, she was startled to see the awe on his face.

  “Faris?”

  “I am a fool,” he declared. “I cannot believe that I had such beauty in my bed before, and I never thought to see it…”

  Danielle started to say that it wasn’t really beauty—it was just her hair; she had been growing it out since she was a teenager—and then he reached for it. Twice, he ran his fingers from her ears down to the tips, and the caress made her purr. When he worked his fingers against her scalp, massaging firmly, she felt as if she wanted to go boneless with pleasure. She could feel her eyes drift shut, and then he was stretching her out on the bed onto her belly.

  “Tell me if you grow uncomfortable in this position,” he murmured. “Otherwise, I have plans for you.”

  There was a hint of sensual menace in his words, but she only smiled at him over her shoulder, pillowing her head in her arms. Danielle wasn’t sure what she was supposed to expect, but then he was carding his fingers through her hair again, spreading it over her shoulders like a dark and gleaming cloak. It was so thick and heavy that it stretched halfway down her buttocks, and when she felt his fingers brushing against that sensitive area, she whimpered encouragingly.

  Despite the hunger that growled and snapped in both of them, however, Faris seemed content to take his time that night. When she felt his warm hand slide from her shoulders to her waist, she couldn’t help arching into him, moaning with pleasure at his light touch. His hands felt good, but then they brushed her hair aside and were replaced with his lips. Suddenly Danielle couldn’t stop shivering as he laid kiss after kiss down her spine, working his way up and down her back as she shivered. There was something so slow and patient about the way he moved that it made her whimper with need, and after that, she couldn’t help but buck up against him.

  “I want to touch you,” she whimpered, and he laughed a little.

  “Ah, but what if I am not done touching you yet?”

  She started to respond, but then he ran his hands down her firm thighs, caressing and massaging her calves and then her feet. She had never been touched like this before, and she couldn’t do anything but sink into the mattress. She was nothing but need in his hands, and she gave herself up to his mastery.

  “You are truly a puzzle,” he murmured. “I want to tear you apart with need, but I want to touch you like this until you simply beg me for the pleasure that we have between us. There’s nothing I want more than to explore every part of you, to truly bring you to the climax that I
know you are capable of…”

  She whimpered when he pressed firmly on her instep, tracing his fingers up the inside of her leg. She couldn’t stop herself from shaking for him even as he aroused her. It felt as if he had awakened her from the inside out; every part of her skin was on fire for him, needing and wanting.

  “I can’t wait any longer,” she murmured. “Please, I want you to kiss me…”

  His laugh was throaty and deep, and in it, she could hear the end of his control as well.

  “I don’t think I could deny you anything when you ask me like that,” he murmured, and with that same surprising strength, he turned her over. For several long moments, he was content to kiss her mouth, her arms looped tenderly around his neck, but then the fire of their need overwhelmed the both of them.

  To her surprise, instead of coming over her as he had before, he lay back and lifted her over him. The sudden change in position made her squeak with surprise, but then she was straddling his thighs, his body warm underneath her own and her hands lightly resting on his chest for balance.

  “What…”

  “Show me how much you want me,” he urged her. “Ride me…”

  The breath caught in her throat as she gazed down at his member. It was fully erect now, dark and pulsing with need for her. Biting her lip, she stroked her palm down his shaft, awed by how silky his skin was there, how the blood made it as hard as iron. There was a shining bead of liquid at the tip, and without thinking of what she was doing, she swirled her thumb around it, spreading the liquid around and making Faris groan.

  “Please,” he said, a hint of desperation in his voice. “Unless you want to see me disgrace myself like an untried stud…”

  She laughed a little at that, but she could feel the trembling that ran through his frame. Danielle found that she couldn’t wait much longer either. She took a deep breath and shifted forward until his cock was resting between them, the shaft lined up with her damp slit. She rode him delicately for a moment, and at the way he groaned through his clenched teeth, she knew she couldn’t deny him much longer.

  She reached down, and with movements that were only slightly clumsy, she pulled him into her. When she settled down on him fully, they both gasped at the sudden pleasure it gave them. For a moment, Danielle simply looked down at Faris, wild-eyed and with her lips slightly parted. She had never been this close to another person. She had never felt his heart beating as if it were her own before.

  When she shifted tentatively, she felt nearly faint from the pleasure it gave her, and then she started to move with a great deal more assurance. She rocked on his hips, feeling him complete her with every thrust, and when his hands came up to latch on her hips, she whimpered at the strength in his grip.

  “Another time, I will allow you to move as you like,” he promised fervently. “Another time, I swear, but this time, I simply need you too much…”

  She gasped with surprise when he started raising her and lowering her on his hips, drawing her almost off his body before pushing back in. The pleasure that she was able to elicit paled in comparison to what he was doing now, and as he moved her, she could feel the great rush of pleasure start to begin inside her. She had felt this completion with him only once before, but she already knew she craved it.

  Danielle dug her fingernails into his chest, whimpering with need as the pleasure tore through her. It lifted her higher and higher, made her breathing rough as the waters that flowed down cliffsides. The tension built and built, but she couldn’t topple over the edge until finally Faris drove into her with one final motion, driving deep inside and spilling his own pleasure.

  They shook together, their cries echoing each other’s, and it took several long moments before his hands let go of her hips, allowing her to slide down on top of him. Still connected in the most intimate of ways, Danielle slumped down on his chest. Panting, covered in sweat and exhausted by their own pleasure, for a long time, the only sound was their breathing.

  It was Danielle who had to move first, her body aching at the position they were in. With a disgruntled sigh, she slid away, making Faris grunt with displeasure. He wouldn’t let her go far, however. He rolled them both over on their sides, his chest to her back and his arm over her hip.

  “How are you?” she whispered, and he chuckled a little.

  “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” he teased. “I am fine. That was… well, much like the last time, that was amazing.”

  “It was,” she agreed. “I… I have never felt anything like it.”

  It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that she had been a virgin the first time they lay together. She wanted to. Then he started talking again, and the moment was over.

  “This is a strange thing between us,” he said musingly. “Not just the pleasure, though that is certainly a rare thing in and of itself.”

  Danielle felt strangely alarmed by this statement without quite knowing why.

  “What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.

  She could tell that he could hear the worry in her voice because his large hand came down to brush her hair back.

  “Nothing bad,” Faris said reassuringly. “I can promise you that. But Danielle… you must tell me if you are not feeling this as well. What we have is special. A cynic might say that we are only feeling this way because of the pleasure we have just given each other, but I think it is more than that…”

  “I know it is more than that for me,” Danielle murmured, and to her relief, she could feel him nod.”

  “What we have in bed is… amazing, but I think there is more to it than this. When I look at you… when I thought you were with Seif…”

  He shook his head, and to her shock, she realized that he was confused. It seemed impossible that a man as self-confident and assured as Faris was unsure of anything, but she realized it was true.

  Danielle twisted around to look at him. The expression on his face, even in the dim light of her bedroom, was serious.

  “I am trying to say that there is something special between us,” he murmured, stroking her face gently. “I don’t want this to go away until we have properly figured out what it is.”

  The part of her heart that she realized had loved him for weeks jumped. The rest of her felt a certain unease flow through her.

  “We barely know each other at all,” she said hesitantly. “We… we didn’t meet under the best of circumstances… I’m a translator, and you are the sheikh of Aswar. What could… how could…”

  “What do a girl from the south of London and a man of desert and battle have to do with each other?” he countered. “My grandfather fought in World War II at the head of his own battalion, and after, he went to London to see what it was he had saved. As it turned out, he cared very little for London’s sights, but it was still all worth it for the woman with bright blue eyes who sold him some irises.”

  Despite the situation, Danielle found herself enthralled with his tale.

  “That was your grandmother and grandfather?” she asked, and he nodded.

  “They met in July, and they were married in October. Family legend says that they were married within three weeks of meeting each other, and the public wedding was just for decency’s sake and the press.”

  She was not sure she had ever seen his eyes look as bright or as intent before. He reached to touch her chin with his hand, making sure that she looked at him.

  “I am not a man who is afraid to take risks,” he said. “I want to see where this takes us. I can make you no promises, except that I will swear that I want to treat you as well as I can. I want to make you laugh, and I want to destroy everything that might threaten you.”

  He paused.

  “That is where I am right now. If you feel otherwise, I will understand and we can return to what we had before. If there is even a chance that you feel the same way about me, however…”

  “I want to try,” she said softly. “I… I don’t know what to think about this. In many ways, I am new t
o this game. I do not necessarily know what is at stake or what you might want, but… I know I want you.”

  The moment she said those words, something inside her opened up. It was as if she was able to feel an enormous degree of love in herself that she had locked away before. It was like stepping into a pond, looking up, and seeing it was the whole ocean.

  Faris broke into a smile that warmed her from her toes to the roots of her hair. When he came to kiss her, there was a warmth to it that she was not sure had ever been there before.

  “Good,” he said softly, and then he lifted her from the bed, carrying her toward the bathroom.

  “What are you doing now?” she yelped in surprise.

  “Well, we’ve been working up quite a sweat. Before we went back to it, I thought that a bath might be exactly what we need…”

  For a moment, she was shocked and intrigued by the idea of touching him again, of giving in to the need that existed between them. Then she thought of being able to touch his skin in the warm water of a bath, and she started to laugh.

  *

  That night, after Danielle had dropped off to sleep, Faris wondered what he was doing. There were feelings moving inside him that he had never experienced before, not with with the quick assignations of his youth or the longer affairs of recent years.

  The moment he laid eyes on Danielle, he knew she was attractive, if not the type of woman that he usually went for. Once he heard her speak and saw her move, however, he realized she was beautiful, with a kind of grace that could leave a man speechless.

  It was odd, he thought, that she didn’t seem aware of how attractive she was. Seif’s advances, as stupid and over-hasty as they were, seemed to leave her baffled, as if it was something that had simply happened because of bad luck, and not because she was beautiful.

  Faris wondered how inexperienced she was, suddenly. She was twenty-four, and when he looked down at her sleeping next to him, there was something curiously innocent about her.