Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
H e drove up to the shrubby lower slopes, where the road narrowed to a track and rose steeply upward. He changed gears and the car noisily ascended the hill. He drove her around what appeared to be a vertical mountain wall and flicked a remote. Walls slid aside like something out of James Bond, and they entered a cave. But it was no longer a cave. It had been transformed into a modern garage, complete with automatic lights and sensors.
“What on earth?” she asked as he cut the engine and she jumped out and looked around.
“My father’s secret hideaway. I hated it for a long time for the money which it consumed but it’s here now and there’s nothing that can be done, so I have started to use it as a retreat. I thought you’d be interested in seeing something a little different.”
He flicked a button and the lift doors opened. “After you,” he said.
The glass and steel elevator passed through solid rock for long minutes before emerging to be greeted by more security doors. After passing through them, they entered a vast open space, more modern than anything she’d seen in Sirun, or anywhere else come to that. Wide, expansive views of the surrounding country greeted them. She looked around at the minimal, expensive furnishings, leather, some Bedouin rugs, paintings whose artists she could immediately identify, but was drawn to the window.
“This place is completely hidden,” said Kadar. “No one knows it’s here, or that we’re here.”
A shiver tracked down her spine. To cover it, she turned her focus to the furniture and fittings. “This is so unusual in your country. It looks…”
“Italian?” he asked. “It should because it was designed by an Italian. My mother’s influence.”
“You don’t sound as if you like your mother much.”
“I don’t. She had no love for my father or her children. Her only genuine love was money, and she tried to swindle us out of as much of that as possible. She’s no longer welcome in this country.”
“That’s sad.”
“It is. But it’s fact.” He looked around. “This place was my father’s folly, which my mother spent too much money on, trying to pretend she wasn’t in Sirun. I can only assume she’s happy now that she truly is in a foreign country.”
Sarah walked around, sweeping her hand over the fine furnishings. “It all looks pristine. And yet you say no one comes here?”
He shrugged. “Staff. Occasionally, I presume. But, otherwise, no. I thought you would be interested. And it suits my needs at the moment.”
She grinned and looked at him. “And they are?”
“To be alone. With you.”
She swallowed. Knowing what she wanted and what he wanted and yet, after all the talk of her grandfather, she felt more cautious than before.
“Will you show me around?”
He tilted his head to one side. “Sure. Ancient spa baths are part of the complex. One thing that my mother didn’t get her hands on, thank goodness. Let’s go there first.” He opened the door. “After you.”
They walked through winding passageways until they reached a surprisingly modest staircase carved out of rock. At the bottom of this she found herself in a cavern, enclosed on three sides, in which baths had been carved. Steam rose in lazy swirls above them. The smell of thermal activity was unmistakable.
“Wow. I hadn’t imagined this.”
“No. Few know about it. No one knows for sure when they were created. We believe they were here pre-Roman, but, of course, the Romans knew how to create luxury and beauty and adorned it accordingly.”
He pointed to the frescoes of men and women enjoying sex in a variety of poses.
“Oh, goodness,” she said.
“I don’t think ‘goodness’ was something which went on here,” he said wryly. “Enjoyment, pleasure and indulgence maybe.”
Obviously sensing her discomfort, Kadar looked around. “There are fresh-water pools fed by springs higher up the mountain and the hot pools warmed by thermal heat, far under the ground. I’m sure my ancestors would have used them for the same purpose, with or without the decorations.”
She sat on the edge of the main pool, which overlooked the open view out into the evening sky, and dabbled her feet into the water.
“Um, this feels sublime.” With her arms outstretched behind her, she rested on the palms of her hands and looked up at the sky, its colors streaked with remnants of sunset and the spreading indigo of night. Stars were beginning to appear. “No moon to eclipse the light of the stars,” she murmured. “So high up here in the mountains, and so far from anyone, I feel I’m a part of the universe.”
“You look as if you are.”
She tilted her face to his. “Do I?”
“Yes, you look heavenly,” he said, bending down and kissing her. “Do you wish to swim?”
She looked around. “You’re sure we’re alone?”
“Quite sure. My staff is housed elsewhere. You feel shy about swimming?”
She shook her head. “No, I feel shy about living out my fantasies. As you said earlier. This is a fantasy place.” She shrugged. “So it’s only natural that I should want…” She licked her lips, running out of words as his eyes clearly told her what he wanted to do to her.
“That you should want… what?” he asked.
“Want to live out my fantasies.”
“Why don’t you come here and tell me all about them,” he said, tugging her toward him, his hands slipping around her bottom, holding her tight against him.
The kiss was like coming home, like giving in to a treat she’d been promising herself all afternoon. And she relished every persuasive movement of his lips on hers, every sweep of his tongue against hers, and the feel of his body, ready for her, pressed against hers. Eventually, he pulled away, his hands still exploring her curves.
“Um,” she said, wrapping her hands around his neck and rolling onto her tiptoes to kiss him again. She couldn’t get enough. “That was nice.”
“So, tell me about those fantasies again?”
“Well, they do involve water.”
“Is that so?”
“Uh-huh,” she said, right before he began undressing her.
“Tell me about them,” he instructed in a gravelly voice.
“Well, growing up, my life was… confined. So I grabbed any opportunity to be… less confined.”
‘Go on,” he said, his hands under her clothes now.
“I went to a local open air swimming pool with a friend once. She went behind the changing rooms and made out with the hot boy I’d spent far too much time imagining kissing. It was the beginning of my fantasy about sex, water and hot boys.” She grinned.
“Hot boys?”
Sarah’s grin widened at his sudden flare of jealousy.
“Who are these hot boys?” he asked.
“They don’t exist. Well, only in my imagination,” she said, kissing him. “And you are far hotter than he ever was—in reality, or my imagination.”
His sensuous lips curved into a smile. “That is good. So, what did you fantasize about doing with your hot boy?”
“It’s rather what I imagined him doing to me.”
“And?”
“First, I imagined him taking my clothes off. Slowly. And kissing my skin until I shivered.” She raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. “A little like this actually.”
She turned around and pushed her hair aside so he could access the clasp at her neck and the zip below it. He unhooked it and pulled the zip down tantalisingly slowly. She could feel the rasp against her sensitive skin like his fingernail. She shivered.
“Are you cold?” he asked, as he turned her around.
She shook her head.
“Good, then you will not mind if I do this.”
She held her breath as he pushed her dress from her shoulders and it slithered to the floor. She couldn’t breathe as his eyes raked her body, taking in the sheer bra through which her peaked nipples were clearly visible, lingering on her brief knickers. Then he met her gaze once more. His dark eyes were hooded, their thoughts hidden except for one thing—he wanted her.
“ Then what did you imagine?”
She licked her lips. “Him touching me.”
“How? Show me.”
So that was how it was going to be.
She reached down and touched first one breast and then another. “Here, and then here.” She added in a hoarse whisper. “With his mouth.”
He reached around and unclipped her bra. Then he lifted her onto a ledge to one side of the pool, pushed her legs open and stepped between them. He dipped his head and suckled her breast.
She closed her eyes and her head fell back as she luxuriated in the intense sensations which flowed from his clever tongue and lips through her nipple, to every part of her body. She ran her fingers through his hair, stopping short of gripping his head, wanting to hold him in place as she felt herself edging closer to a climax. But he paused.
“You taste as good as you look,” he said.
She blushed and laughed softly against his chest.
“So, how did that match up to your fantasies?” he asked.
“Better. These baths definitely exceed the attractions of the local municipal baths in a small English town. And you,” she kissed him again, “are a far hotter boy than any I’ve ever imagined.”
He laughed. “Good. Then perhaps you won’t leave.”
Her smile faded and, to hide her confusion, she jumped naked into the pool. The warmth was welcome after the cool mountain air and she swam over to the far side where there was a sheer drop which looked out over the desert and beyond to the faint glimmer of light on the horizon which showed where the sun had set.
She heard a splash, and she turned around in time to feel his arms slide around her waist and his body bump against hers. He was naked. Just as she was.
The rock was warm and rough behind her back as he pressed against her, his kisses becoming more passionate.
“Just a moment.”
She placed her palm to her chest, trying to catch her breath, as he produced a condom in his hand, which he unwrapped. She helped him roll on it on, grateful once more for his consideration, when she seemed to have left any thought of self-care on the other side of the world.
Immediately it was on, she jumped into his arms, angled her sex and slid on to him. She gasped as he kissed her neck and she pulled away and then on to him again. The water surged around them with each thrust. She felt as if she were melting into the combined heat of the water and Kadar. It was as if she was at one with Kadar and the world. There was nothing but pleasure and she was at its heart. She could no more imagine herself existing outside of this moment than flying to the moon. It was here she was meant to be. Of that, she was sure. Even if nothing else made sense.
Slowly, the rhythm of their lovemaking increased until he was holding her, looking directly in her eyes as he came in small pumping actions inside of her. She gasped as her sex massaged him. She fell against him, and he carried her across to a shallow shelf, covered with cushions, where they lay, his arms encircling her, his chest a pillow for her head.
She kissed his chest and thought she’d never felt so content or so in… She pondered on the right word and knew that it was ‘love’. Whether he’d said it or not. She knew he loved her heart and soul. Just as she did him. Trouble was, she still hadn’t quite got her head around that he was the son of her family’s enemy. But she knew he was nothing like his father. She just hoped that her grandfather would have understood. She felt he would. He’d been a peace-loving man, just as Kadar was. Her grandfather had trusted few people and had warned her about giving her trust too easily. But she trusted Kadar. Hadn’t he always made sure they had protected sex, when she’d barely given the matter a thought? She smiled.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked.
“How can you see me?” she murmured, her mouth pressed to his chest.
“I can’t. But I can feel your lips move and your breath against my skin.”
She slid her hand against his chest and propped her chin against it, and looked up at him with a laugh. “I was thinking that I appreciate you making sure we have protection. Not every man would, and I forget about everything when we’re together.”
“I don’t want you to find yourself pregnant when our relationship isn’t settled. There’s a time for children and it’s within marriage. Otherwise, there’s no protection for the woman or the child.”
She linked her hands around his neck and gently kissed his lips. “You, Kadar, are a good man.”
But he didn’t react as she’d imagined. There was no smile. Only a slight lowering of his brow.
A quiver of fear went through her. “Kadar? What is it?”
He gave her a quick, tight smile and then looked away. “Nothing.”
She inclined her head to his, so she could see his expression. It didn’t comfort her. “It doesn’t look like nothing. Is something wrong?”
He turned to look at her and brushed away a lock of her hair from her face. “Your comment made me uncomfortable. I’m just a man. Sometimes good. Sometimes not so good.”
She relaxed again. “You’re also sometimes modest.” She grinned. “But only sometimes. Other times, your arrogance is breathtaking. And,” she said, sitting up and caressing his cock into an erection again. She straddled him, “you are also a challenge.” He fell back on the ledge with a groan. “A challenge to see if I can turn that arrogance around and make you cede power to me.”
“Never,” he groaned.
She raised her eyebrow and pulled off him until she was just off him. He groaned. “Sarah,” he said, pleading in his voice. “Please,”
“Please? Who has the power now?”
With a growl, he turned her over until she was beneath him and thrust inside of her. All thoughts of power or control disappeared. She was his. And they both knew it.