Unexpectedly Expecting the Sheik's Baby (The Ladies of The Burling School Book 6)
Page 9
Nasir listened, disgusted and furious. “You didn’t.”
She shook her head, relieved and somewhat mollified by his fervent insistence. “No. I didn’t.” She turned away and shivered. “I focused on studying. I have two amazing friends and we got through those years together.”
He pushed away from the wall. “And this is why you think we shouldn’t have any sort of physical relationship?” He understood now and it made perfect sense. She’d been humiliated because of her pronounced figure so she’d decided to ignore any sort of physical connection.
“Yes. I would rather just focus on work issues.” Her eyes moved over his broad, muscular shoulders and chest, ignoring the way her heart stuttered slightly at the sight. “Thank you for understanding.”
Cassy started to move away, intending to go upstairs, finish the contract, and then get on a plane so that she could go home and forget that this day had ever happened.
“I understand.” He took her hand and led her out of the shooting range. There was a guard just outside of the room and Nasir called out an order to the man who immediately nodded, moving in to put the weapons and ammunition back in the locked case. Nasir pulled her along behind him up the first flight of stairs, then over to the elaborate stairs she’d descended so many hours ago. She suspected there were bedrooms up those stairs and she pulled away.
“Your Highness…” she began.
His foot was on the first stair as he paused and looked down at her. “No Cassandra. This is important. Come with me.”
She shook her head and tried to pull her hand away, but he didn’t release her hand. In fact, he didn’t even bring her back into the bedroom she’d woken up in this morning. Oh no, this room was much larger, much more elaborate. And the colors were darker. No lemony yellow color scheme or filmy curtains. The colors here were red and black with splashes of cream.
“Please, don’t do this!” she begged, although he didn’t drag her to the bed as she’d thought he would. If he had, she would have fought him with everything in her. But instead, he pulled her over to the full-length mirror. Standing behind her, he held her in front of him, his head watching her over her shoulder.
“Look at yourself, Cassandra.”
She glared at him through the mirror, refusing to look at her own reflection. “I don’t need to look at myself, Your Highness. I know what I look like.”
“I don’t think you do. I think you’ve created a monster in your head. A monster developed from too many years of negative thinking.” His hands shifted and he held her so that she had to face the mirror. “You’re beautiful, Cassandra. You don’t even realize how lovely you are because you have this image in your mind, an image that someone else put there.”
“Let me go!” she demanded as firmly as she could despite the tears forming in her eyes.
“Look, Cassandra,” he insisted, softly this time, holding her firmly. “You’re beautiful. You must own the image. Don’t let them win. Their taunts hurt when you were in school, but you’re not in school anymore. Don’t let them own you now.”
His words startled her. “They don’t own me. They didn’t…”
“They are winning. You are still letting their words haunt you. So, look at the beautiful woman in the mirror and create your own image. Take your power back!”
She still looked away so he sighed, the breath teasing the wisps of hair along her neck. “Fine. I’ll tell you what I see when I look at you.” His hands smoothed down her arms, taking her fingers and then lifting her arms out to the sides, like she was flying. “I see a woman who is incredibly intelligent. Despite a painful life, she’s still soft and caring.” He kissed the top of her head and Cassy felt the caress all the way down to her toes. “I see a woman who wears a hideous bra in order to hide her beautiful breasts.” He ignored the strangled sound she made and tightened his grasp on her wrists, knowing she wanted to wrap her arms around herself and hide her breasts from his view. “No, Cassandra. You’re not going to hide from me. Not anymore. You’re beautiful. You’re not promiscuous.” His nose nuzzled the hair away from her neck, then his lips moved against that skin. “In fact, I doubt you’ve had many lovers at all, have you?”
She didn’t respond, her whole body tense as if she could somehow keep herself from feeling the intense surge of need as his lips teased her neck, her ear, her shoulder. “Please, Your Highness, I can’t–”
“Call me Nasir.” He kissed her neck again, smiling slightly when she shivered. He didn’t think she was aware of it, but she was even now leaning back against his chest. He loved the way she was innately sensuous, unconsciously seeking out his touch. Now he just needed to get her to accept that aspect of her body and mind. It would be an enticing challenge, he thought.
She shook her head. “This is a pointless conversation.”
“It is a very relevant conversation, Cassandra, since I’m going to make love to you. But I want to make love to the woman you are and not the myth in your head. And I don’t want you regretting your decision afterward.”
Part of her melted at his words, desperately wanting them to be real. The other part of her cringed, hating to hear them. She couldn’t make love with him! She needed to prove herself, to be strong and not give in to the cravings that were clawing at her from the inside.
She would be strong! She could! It just took determination and resolve! “You can’t…”
She stopped when his lips brushed her neck. The words simply wouldn’t come out.
“Cassandra, you have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?” He nibbled her earlobe. “And I bet you’ve never experienced bliss in another man’s arms, have you?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Of course you haven’t. You wouldn’t let yourself.” He let his hands slide underneath her sweater, lifting it slightly so that her stomach showed. “Look at your stomach. Your skin is so pale and delicate.” He waited until her eyes opened. As he looked at her through the mirror, his tanned fingers explored the pale skin he’d just revealed. “See the contrast? Your pale skin against my darker hand?” His fingers spread out, spanning her stomach from one side to the other. “Your slight size against my larger body.” His fingers curled and skimmed along her muscles. His lips curled slightly as he absorbed her reaction. “Even now, you can’t hide from what you want, can you?”
She took in a deep, shuddering breath, but shook her head and shifted, intending to pull his arm away. But as soon as her fingers touched his skin, there was more contrast. Her fingers against his wrist were so pale and she was transfixed by the difference.
But it was irrelevant. “I…”
“You need to be quiet, Cassandra. You need to let me make love to you. I’ll show you,” he whispered into her ear. “I’ll prove to you that sex can be beautiful and extraordinary. Nothing to be ashamed of.”
Oh, his words were magic. It was as if he could read her mind. But that was impossible. And yet, he was saying the words that she so desperately wanted to hear. In the dark night, alone in her bed, she’d craved the touch of a strong man, a man who wasn’t afraid of her sexuality, or his own.
“Say my name, Cassy,” he commanded, his hand moving higher along her stomach.
She watched, fascinated as his hand moved her sweater out of the way, moving along the muscles of her stomach. Higher. Higher still.
When his fingers curled around the elastic covering her breasts, she gasped. The feeling was hot. Erotic. Almost painfully pleasurable. Then his thumb rubbed against her pebbled nipple and her knees almost gave out. If he hadn’t been standing behind her, giving her support, she might have hit the floor.
As it was, she unconsciously grabbed onto his thighs while her head leaned back onto his broad shoulder. She wasn’t aware of the way her bottom pressed against his groin. But Nasir was.
Turning her towards him, he kissed her, felt her mouth open as her body pressed against his. The triumph that surged through him with her capitulation was only superseded by his need to possess her, to put a
stamp of ownership on her. She was so sensuous as she shifted against him, so intensely passionate, but he didn’t want just one time with her. He suspected that he could never get enough of this woman. She was complex and simple, erotic and innocent. He was fascinated by the dichotomy.
He lifted the ruby red sweater over her head, tossing it carelessly onto the floor behind him. When he looked down, he was almost amused by the sport bra hiding her magnificent breasts. There was only one problem. He had never taken such a piece of clothing off a woman before. He wasn’t sure how to accomplish it. The thing didn’t seem to have any hooks.
So he did what any man under similar circumstances would do. He pulled a knife out of his boot and sliced the thing to shreds. The intense satisfaction that hit him as the pieces fell off her gorgeous body was powerful!
“Never again,” he muttered as he closed the knife and tucked it back in the sheath in his boot.
Cassy couldn’t believe what he’d just done. All of the amazing feelings that he’d created in her dissipated as she realized that her sports bra, the only one she had with her, was destroyed. “What have you done?” she demanded, looking at the floor in horror even as she covered her breasts. Her too large, too embarrassing breasts that no man had ever seen uncovered before.
“I’ve destroyed a crutch that you will no longer be allowed to use, Cassy,” he said and put his hands back on her waist, sliding them along her bare skin.
She looked down at the shredded sports bra, then at his hands. Looking up at him, she shook her head. “Your…Nasir,” she corrected when she saw the warning in his eyes, “I can’t do this. I thought I could, but…”
“Look at me, Cassy,” he commanded, his hands still on her waist even though he wanted to pull her hands away from those glorious breasts and feast his eyes on their bounty. He could tell that she needed reassurance more than he needed to explore her breasts.
When her soft, brown eyes looked up into his, he saw the fear. No, the terror. His chest constricted with her look and he relented. Slightly.
“Cassy, what is it that you suspect I might think about you? That you’re weak or easy? That you’re a hussy for enjoying some time in my bed?”
“Yes!” she gasped, glancing at the bed, then back to him, but she could only look at his chest.
“Then you’re wrong.”
Irritated…no, furious, she glared at him. “You can have any woman you want, Nasir. Why are you wasting your time on me?”
“Because I want you. Yes, women throw themselves at me often. That doesn’t mean they want me, Cassy.” He pulled her into his arms. “It only means they want the power I hold. They are seduced by my title, not me, the person.” His fingers dove into her hair and he kissed her gently on the forehead. “You want me, Cassy. You don’t give a damn about my title or my wealth. You would rather that I didn’t have any.”
She peered up at him and he laughed, seeing the truth in her lovely eyes. “I thought as much,” he replied, the amusement evident in his tone. “I want you, Cassy. I want your body and your mind, I want your intelligence and your warm heart that you try so desperately hard to hide from the world so that they will see you as a hard core, tough litigator. But I see the soft, gentle woman underneath the veneer.” He felt her shoulders relax ever so slightly. “I want to show you the amazing woman, the sensuous beauty you are underneath all of the temporary accouterments you put on each morning. Like the sports bra. But I have news for you, Cassy,” he waited until she looked up at him. “Men can see through all of it. We can see the vulnerable woman underneath the stiff suits and flattened chests. I’m called to that woman, drawn to you in ways you can’t even imagine.”
She laughed nervously, her anger dissipating slightly. Still, she shook her head. “That woman doesn’t exist.”
He felt something loosen in his chest with her laughter. It sounded so pretty, so lively and he wanted to hear it again.
“Who are you trying to convince? Me? Or yourself?”
She shrugged.
“Let me make love to you. No one outside of this room will know about what happens behind those doors,” he told her. “Not a soul. You can go back to your boardrooms and your law office, knowing that you have a secret, a secret that only you and I know about.” He kissed her forehead. “Except there will be a smile in your eyes. You’ll know something about yourself, something amazing.” He kissed her cheeks. “You’ll hold your head up high, Cassy, and know that you’ve experienced something not many people get to enjoy. You’re far more passionate than you are giving yourself permission to be, but that’s not going to last.”
“I’m not passionate.”
He laughed as he softly kissed her lips. “Prove it,” he challenged as he pulled her against him.
Automatically, she reached to balance herself, releasing her breasts, and she was shocked at how wonderful it felt to have them pressed against his hard chest. The feeling of her breasts against him, free from the constraints of an unforgiving sports bra, was incredible!
When he pulled his mouth away, she whimpered. “More,” she begged even as she unconsciously rubbed her nipples against his rough sweater. Closing her eyes, she did it again and again.
Nasir knew exactly what she was doing and pulled his sweater off. Dumping it on top of hers on the floor. When it was gone, he pulled her right back into her arms, encouraging her to continue.
She was like a kitten, leaning in for more affection, more petting. Nasir was more than willing to give it to her. Damn, she was incredible!
He carried her over to the bed and laid her down. He didn’t waste time. His fingers moved to the snap on her jeans and tugged them off. He did the same with his own clothes, and climbed onto the bed next to her. Automatically, she reached for him, but he could feel her nervous trembling.
“Don’t be afraid, Cassandra,” he soothed as his hands moved along her body. He was lying next to her, but when he noticed her fingers forming small fists, he shifted so that he was on top of her. Both other times, she’d relaxed when she could feel him.
Cassy gasped when she felt his body press against hers. But as the warmth, the heat, seeped into her body, she relaxed into him, needing more, needing all of him.
Nasir knew what she needed because he needed it too. So when her hands moved up to his shoulders again, his knee pressed between her own. When she shifted, giving way, he pressed closer, pulling her against him and showing her how to move, how to get the most sensation.
Lowering his head, he kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth until she started to reciprocate. For long moments, he only kissed her, enjoying the way her body shifted against his. When her arms wrapped around his neck, he moved his mouth to her neck, seeking out the places that caused her to moan, to move against him. Exploring her neck, her ears, and her shoulders, he found several spots that caused her to gasp, to whimper and try to pull away from him.
But he didn’t allow that. In fact, when he found those places, he gave them extra attention before finally moving on. His hands curled around her breasts carefully. Knowing she was self-conscious of their size, their weight, he teased and licked, nibbled at her nipples, showing her that her breasts were a thing of beauty and not something to be ashamed of. “You’re so beautiful, Cassy,” he groaned when she arched into him, her legs already wrapped around his body.
“Don’t stop!” she sighed, her fingers weaving into his hair. “Please don’t stop!”
He laughed softly as he moved to the other breast, lavishing it with equal attention. He loved it when she moaned as he teased those sensitive peaks, and he could smell her arousal, his body throbbing to taste her.
As he moved down her body, her back arching when he accidentally tickled a spot on her stomach, he savored each moment, enjoying her immensely. He’d never been with a woman who was so erotically sensitive. Just about everywhere he kissed her, touched her, she gasped or whimpered. The sounds were amazingly erotic and he wanted more of them.
M
aybe if he…his hand moved lower, one finger sliding into her heat. She gasped and damn, if her legs didn’t widen, silently begging for more. He knew she would be like this, he thought with amazement. He knew she would be sensuous and adventurous despite her initial reservations. She was so beautiful, he couldn’t believe what a treasure she was.
When his tongue touched her heat, he almost laughed at the way her body jack-knifed up. She started to shake her head, but he stopped her with a kiss. He didn’t care if she tasted her juices on his mouth. She was delicious and he wasn’t going to stop. “Enjoy this, Cassy,” he commanded.
Cassy watched as he lowered his head, she couldn’t believe how hot it looked to see him doing…that! Then he pushed one finger inside of her and she gasped, her body burning with desperate need. Something inside of her…needed…craved…she wasn’t sure what to do. So instead of trying to figure it out, she flopped back onto the mattress, her hands moving to his hair as if she could somehow direct his movements.
When he shifted his hands around, moving those long fingers in and out of her body, she just about screamed. “Nasir, I can’t…” she started to say, her head shaking back and forth against the bed, but he moved his mouth, his tongue teasing that nub and she gasped again, pulling back as she tried to get away.
Nasir only laughed and pulled her right back to him. “Not that way, Cassy,” he explained. He adjusted their positions so that he was more in control. This time, he didn’t give her any warning. His mouth moved and shifted, sucking that bundle of nerves until she screamed her release.
Only then, when her body’s throbbing slowed slightly, did he relent and move over her. The look of bliss was possibly the most beautiful expression he’d ever seen. He’d been with a lot of women over the years, but for some reason, seeing that look in Cassy’s eyes was more powerful, more incredible, than any of the others.
Sliding into her heat, he groaned at how tight she was, how perfectly she fit him. Her body gave way, her inner muscles contracting around him, tightening, clenching his erection. When she stiffened, he knew that he was hurting her. “Relax, love,” he coaxed, stroking her hair as he pulled out slightly. “Just relax and enjoy this.”