Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10
W ith the reassurance that Kadar was a totally different man to his father, the last of Sarah’s barriers slipped away. While she felt a shred of guilt over this, she believed her grandfather would have understood. He’d raised her to see the many shades of gray in a person. Nothing was black and white. And Kadar certainly wasn’t.
She only had a few days, maybe a few weeks at most, before her passport was sorted and she could travel independently in search of her family. And the thought of doing something just for herself with this gorgeous man was irresistible.
And when he took her hand in his—strong and commanding—any lingering doubts were swept away. She wanted his certainty; she wanted what he could give her.
They hurried through a series of elegant rooms before he opened a door and stepped back for her to enter.
“These are your rooms?” She looked around with surprise at the bland decor, the lack of personal touches or photos. Only a few computer screens and electronic gadgets indicated that anyone lived there, and that it was likely to be a man.
“Yes,” he said, drawing her into his arms. “I hope you haven’t come with me,” he said, his eyes roving over her face before settling on her lips, which he brushed with his finger, “simply to critique my rooms.”
She laughed. “No, but I guess I’m just surprised. They don’t reflect you at all. I wouldn’t have said you lived here, that it’s not your home.”
He shrugged. “It’s a place, a private place, and that,” he said, cupping her face in his hands, “is all I’m interested in right now.”
He pressed his lips to hers, and she promptly forgot her interest in why he didn’t seem to fit into his surroundings, consumed by the power of those persuasive lips.
The kiss deepened, and she reached around him and spread her fingers over his back, slipping lower and pulling him harder against him. He needed no more encouragement and thrust his hips against hers so she could feel the length of his hard erection pressed against her. She gasped under his mouth and he pulled away, pressing his forehead against hers, holding her head in his hands as if scared she would move away. But there was no way she was going anywhere.
“Sarah,” he said. “You are…”
“What?” she smiled.
Whatever he was about to say, it seemed he changed his mind. He shot her an answering smile. “You are wearing too many clothes.”
She laughed. “As are you.”
“Turn around,” he growled and her smile fell as her body reacted instinctively to his command. She did as he instructed, wanting to do exactly as he told her to do because she knew it would give her pleasure.
He moved aside the tendrils of hair which had escaped the clip and she gasped as she felt his lips press against the back of her neck. His warm breath sent shivers down her back, snaking into her gut, triggering flutters of sensation inside of her. Then he swept down the zip and slipped the dress off her shoulders. He unhooked her bra, and it fell to the floor on top of the dress.
He didn’t try to reach around and touch her. Instead, he released her and stepped away. The next move had to be hers.
She swallowed and turned around to face him. She should be blushing. She should be consumed by embarrassment, but any trace of coyness vanished as she saw the appreciation in his eyes. His gaze gave her the confidence to step forward and take what she wanted. Dressed only in a g-string and her heels, she walked up to him, rolled onto her tiptoes and cupped his cheeks as he’d done hers. This time it was her taking control of the kiss, caressing his tongue as she slid her hands beneath his shirt, melting into him as her fingers splayed over his muscles and sinew, exploring his body as he did hers.
At first he touched her gently, as if he couldn’t believe she was standing practically naked in front of him, but then, as his breathing quickened, so did his hands as they moved around her bottom, pulling it against him. Making it clear what he wanted.
“Your breasts,” he murmured, his mouth closing in on them, “I’ve missed them.”
She half-laughed, half-gasped as his tongue found its target. “In one day?”
“One day,” he said, his voice muffled, “twenty-four hours,” he laved her nipple as if she tasted delicious, “and a hell of a lot of minutes.” Then his mouth became too busy to talk. She raked her fingers through his hair and looked up at the ceiling, gulping as she tried to rein in the surging waves of sensation as he sucked first one nipple, then the other. But before the waves could come crashing down on her, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed.
She lay back, propped up on her elbows as he stepped back and quickly undressed. All thoughts had gone from her mind. She just wanted him inside her. But rather than coming directly to her, he walked away.
“Kadar,” she panted. “Please. I want you now.”
He smiled. “You must wait, a few seconds only. I must protect you.”
“From what?”
“From the consequences,” he said, opening a bedside drawer and withdrawing a condom.
She was shocked that, yet again, she was taking such risks, and grateful that he was looking after them both. Because goodness knows, her brain seemed to have gone AWOL.
She took it from him, unsealed it and rolled it on, her hands lingering around his straining cock. “Ridiculous. I’ve never?—”
He stopped her talking with a kiss and they fell onto the bed, wrapped around each other. She hooked a leg over his hip and rolled around until she was sitting astride him. With one easy movement, she sank onto him.
Her hair fell around her shoulders, sweeping over his chest as she rose slowly, her eyelids fluttering as she focused on each exquisite movement of his flesh against hers. Only when she’d nearly lifted herself from him did she open her eyes and smile to see his eyes so dark with need. She lowered herself smoothly and felt the sexual tension between them tighten another notch.
With each sinking onto him, and tantalizing rise, the tension increased until she could hold on no longer and came with an overwhelming wave of bliss which stunned her into immobility as she sat on him, riding that wave which she never wanted to end.
As it faded away, Kadar rolled on top of her and thrust into her unrelentingly until he, too, gained his release.
They laid back on the crumpled coverlet, hand grasped in hand, looking at the ceiling. As if both were stunned by the intensity of what they’d both experienced. It was Kadar who recovered first. He rolled onto his side and stroked her cheek before kissing it tenderly.
“Sarah,” he said in the tone of voice which would see her breathless again.
She turned to him, and he kissed her.
“Sarah,” he said again, as if the word itself conjured up some feeling inside of him which he couldn’t express in any other way.
“What is it?” she smiled, rolling onto her side to face him.
He shook his head and traced a line around her face before coming to a halt at her lips. “You get to me,” he said. He took her hand and held it against his chest. “You get inside of me. Here.”
Her throat thickened with emotion. He’d hardly said the usual terms of endearment, but she knew what he meant, because she felt the same.
He stroked her back and shoulder, pushed her hair aside, and kissed her neck. “Sarah, you are so beautiful. You have given me something so rare. What can I give you?”
She smiled. “I don’t want anything from you, Kadar.”
He drew back with a frown. “You must do.”
The smile turned into laughter. “No, I don’t. Is that so hard to understand?”
“Honestly? Yes, it is. I’m not accustomed to people not wanting anything from me. Indulge me, Sarah. Tell me something you’d like because it would give me great pleasure to give you something. Something as rare and beautiful as you.”
She paused. She knew she’d fallen for this man, but was still worried whether she could trust him. And there was only one way she could do that.
“I’d like to know you better,” she said. “And I’d like to know your country better.”
“Ah, then, I can oblige. I will be happy to give you your own personal guided tour. During which, I will oblige with the other request—to get to know me better.” He kissed her shoulder blade and slid his hand down her body, and lower still. “I have a few days in which I can take you around Sirun and show you the sights. How does that sound?”
“ Nearly perfect,” she said with a smile as his caresses grew more intimate and her desire grew stronger.
He frowned, and watched her closely as his caresses grew more urgent and her orgasm became fast approaching. “ Nearly isn’t good enough for me. What would make it perfect?”
She took his fingers from where they were playing with her and grabbed his cock with both hands and guided him to the place where she wanted it.
“Ah, perfect it is then,” he said, before giving her exactly what she wanted.
Much later, as Kadar lay propped on the pillows, with Sarah asleep in his arms, the night breeze drifting in, cooling their naked skin, he realized that something strange had happened. Something which had never happened to him before. He wanted to protect her from himself. Despite what his vizier had told him to do, despite the sense he saw in the advice, he’d acted differently. Why? He had to face the truth of the answer. Because he didn’t want her to be pregnant—not yet anyway. He didn’t want her to be forced into a relationship with him. She needed to choose him, not be imprisoned by him.
He wanted her to be able to escape the trap that was being laid for her. Because only then, he rationalized, would she enter it and stay there. And if tonight had shown him nothing else, it was that he wanted her to be with him, night and day, for the rest of his life. It was no good to trap her. He had to make her fall in love with him.