Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
“You’re sure you want to do this?” Chapal moved a palm frond, sneaking a peek at the beach where Dayita would soon be walking.
Kash sighed and tried not to step on anything the horse decided to leave behind. “It’s considered good luck.”
His cousin looked somewhat ridiculous wearing traditional clothes. His chest was on display and he wore a pair of lightweight pants that reached just below his knee. On his head rested a headdress made of shells and palm leaves.
On Chapal’s skinny, never-hit-a-gym-in-his-life, how-was-a-brown-man-so-damn-pale body, it looked a bit silly.
Kash rather thought it made him look dashing and romantic. Otherwise, he looked like an idiot douchebag about to reenact a bit of history almost no one gave a damn about.
Except for all those crazy people on the beach waiting to watch the ceremony. They lined the beach and the road that would take them back to the palace. Weston had the route guarded by a number of the new guard he had hired in the last week. He’d doubled the amount of palace guards and was working with the small police force and military to get them trained.
Even his old bodyguard Rai had agreed to come back for the royal wedding. He stood outside the staging area, his back to Kash and his eyes moving across the crowd.
“Do you really want good luck?” Chapal asked. “You want this marriage to work? I ask because I like Day. I’ve known her for the last few years and she’s a lovely woman. I would hate to see her get hurt.”
Days had passed and this was all he’d heard. It had been a solid week since he’d agreed to the arrangement and every moment he spent with Day made him think it wouldn’t be so bad. Every moment he spent away from her made him wonder if he was a monster.
“Why would she be hurt? Have you ever once known me to hurt a woman?”
Chapal turned, crossing his arms over his chest and then uncrossing them because he was wearing a horrible necklace made of the aforementioned itchy palm fronds. “You would never physically hurt a woman. I know that. I’m talking about her tender heart.”
He had to smile at that one. “Tender heart? Have you seen what she does to members of parliament who don’t get on board with her education plans? She can eviscerate a man with that sharp tongue of hers.”
Day had been keeping her appointments as the head of education despite the fact that the last week had been a whirlwind. He’d gone with her to an advisory meeting with the parliament’s committee on schools. He’d stayed in the background as she’d requested, watching from the back of the balcony seats. They’d given her a rough interrogation about her budget and why they should increase it. At two points in time he’d nearly stood up and gone after a few of the bastards for the way they’d spoken to her. Day had been cool and calm, explaining everything patiently and then threatening to go straight to the press with a story about how the Loa Mali parliament had spent three hundred thousand dollars on a party to celebrate their own anniversary, a party the public wasn’t invited to, but they refused to spend a paltry seventy-five thousand to update computer software for their children. They’d sputtered and cursed and Day had gotten her way.
And Kash had gotten a hard-on. A really massive, wouldn’t-go-away-for-a-long-time hard-on.
That had felt good. It had been a long time since he’d wanted more than sex, since he’d wanted one particular woman, and for more than to prove he could have her.
Maybe he was a bit of a monster, but he never lied to the women he took to his bed.
And he wasn’t going to lie to Day.
“She doesn’t date often,” Chapal continued. Why his cousin believed he had to also be his conscience, Kash had no idea. “The whole time I’ve known her she’s dated two men. One was a setup and she never saw him again. She spends all of her time on work. When she goes on vacation, she goes alone.”
That didn’t seem right. “Where does she go? And what happened with the other man?”
“She dated the minister of transportation for about six months. They seemed well suited, but then she broke things off with him and he was married to another woman within six weeks. She won’t talk about what happened. I think he asked her to marry him, but only if she gave up her job and came home. I think she comes up against this quite a bit. As for her vacations, she goes to Europe. Ben and I asked if she would like company once, but she said she was fine alone.”
He didn’t like the thought of her roaming around Europe by herself. Not because she couldn’t take care of herself, but rather because he didn’t like the thought of her being lonely. He could see her wandering about museums and soaking up all the history, perhaps meeting with friends she’d made, but she would be essentially alone. There would be no one holding her hand or ensuring she had everything she needed. No one would bring her coffee in the morning or cuddle with her at night.
“I want to make this marriage work.” He was saying the words aloud for the first time and they felt right. “I do not intend to do anything that would break my bride’s heart. If I do this, I’m going to do my best to be a good and faithful husband.”
Chapal’s jaw dropped and he stared for the longest moment.
“You don’t have to look at me like I’ve grown two extra heads,” Kash complained. “I can say the word faithful. Listen to this one. Monogamy. See. It rolls off the tongue. Don’t you back up, you ridiculous ass. Lightning is not going to strike.”
“You have to admit you’ve never used those words unless they were accompanied by a vomiting sound.” Chapal stepped closer. “I think you could hurt her if you aren’t careful.”
No one cared if she hurt him, of course. “Leave that to Day and me. We’ve been talking things through. We’re going about this in an intellectual way, determining the best way to handle things. We’ve decided to make a contract between us and if and when we choose to have sex, we will be faithful to each other. If things seem to be difficult, we’ll be honest and revisit the contract to allow more freedom.”
He hadn’t liked that thought. She was surprisingly open to…well, to being open if things didn’t work. She said she would rather they had a healthy, happy friendship and partnership than put the country and whatever children they might have through a divorce. No married king and queen of Loa Mali had divorced before. He didn’t intend to be the first, but he didn’t like the thought of some passionless friendship between them.
“She’s a sensible woman and it appears she’s being realistic about this marriage, so I’m going to completely back off.” Chapal held his hands up as if they were proof he would interfere no more.
He should leave it there. He wasn’t some lovestruck idiot who needed to talk about his feelings. He didn’t have feelings. He had responsibilities that he tried his hardest to forget about. Of course, they were the same responsibilities that Day had been bearing some of the burden of. He didn’t need to talk this out before the evening came around.
It was simple. The tradition was that the groom and bride-to-be spent the evening together, getting to know one another. The groom attempted to seduce the bride.
That was one tradition he intended to keep up.
“Prince Chapal, it’s time to do your part. Ms. Samar is about to start her stroll along the beach.” Weston stepped out of the copse of trees, his three-piece suit completely pristine somehow, despite their walk in the forest.
Chapal shook his head. “I truly never thought I would have to do this. I’m so glad Ben and I eloped.”
His cousin sighed and proceeded to step out into the clearing. He would be the king’s “eyes,” the servant who first saw the long-ago queen and told his sovereign about the beauty on the beach.
Kash heard a loud shout go up, the royal watchers all cheering as the ceremony began.
“I want you to move quickly when you get to the road approaching the palace,” Weston said matter of factly. “The police are having some issues. I advised them that I believed the crowd would be quite a bit bigger than their estimates. They chose to disagree with me and now we’re understaffed there. Smile and wave and move through quickly. It’s the only place I worry about. I’ve got Michael and Boomer here, and Jesse and I will monitor the road.”
“All right.” He wanted to see her. He wanted to be done with all this pageantry. Which was odd, because usually the pageantry was what he craved.
“We’ve also had an issue with a woman claiming she needs to see you.”
He sighed. Yes, he’d gotten several phone calls from Tasha Reynolds. “She’s the only woman I dated for more than a few days in the last several years. She’s an actress and she’s very aggressive.” He’d found her aggression, her take-charge personality, attractive in the beginning. He’d enjoyed having a strong woman who was capable of making decisions. Until she’d proven that all her decisions were based on what was best for Tasha and only Tasha. She’d been mean to her staff and rather cruel to him as well. He’d walked away after a terrible fight and refused to take her calls even after she’d threatened to go to the press. “Ignore her. It’s best not to feed into her neuroses.”
It was after Tasha that he’d taken to finding his gentle “flowers.” Even the thought of how he’d called them that made him think of what Day would say. Likely she would roll her eyes and walk away, shaking her head and calling him a douchebag. She called him on his douchebaggery at every turn and yes, he liked that, too.
Day was take-charge, but without the hard aggression. Day made decisions based on what was best for the people who depended on her.
Day was the kind of woman he could depend on.
He wanted to see her. Why did Chapal get to see her first? Chapal couldn’t even appreciate her curves. Chapal didn’t want to let his hands skim her hips while he kissed her gently. He would have to be gentle with her. Like his cousin had said, she probably didn’t have a lot of experience. He would have to treat her with the respect she deserved, but in a way that let her know he could take care of her. Herd her gently toward their bed. Once she was there, he would keep convincing her to stay there.
He found himself looking forward to the chase. He never chased any woman. They came after him. He winked their way and they fell into his arms.
And he wasn’t so unaware that this behavior was far more about the type of woman he spent time with and how interested each of them was in his money and his fame. It was rarely about him.
Somehow he thought Day was different. Perhaps he was being foolish, but he couldn’t help himself. Dayita was going to be his bride. His. No one else’s. Dayita was going to be at his side when he needed her. She was the type of woman who would take an interest in his job, beyond smiling for the press and spending money on shoes.
He tried to peek through the palms but all he could see was Chapal’s backside.
“I like your bride,” Weston said. “So does my wife. She thinks Dayita is perfect for you.”
He wasn’t sure about perfect. He didn’t believe in perfection. Even in his happiest moments there was always a sense that something was missing, but that wouldn’t be her fault. It was because he was a fraud. Because he wasn’t Shray. “I think we’ve got a good beginning. Now I have to convince her to actually give this thing a try.”
“I thought she was doing that.”
He sent the Brit a grin. “I’m talking about sex. I don’t want a sexless marriage.”
“Somehow I think you’ll find a way, Your Majesty. But you should talk about it with her,” Weston said.
He pulled back a frond and there she was. Dayita was dressed in all white, no shoes on her feet, and her glorious hair wild and free. He felt the tug of arousal in his groin. Yes, there was the unruly beast he’d known when he was younger. His cock didn’t need any foreplay when it came to this one. All he needed to do was look at her. “I would rather show her how I feel.”
A shadow fell over him and Rai was suddenly standing in the small clearing Kash would soon ride out of. “I hope you’ve taken all the tests, Your Majesty. Otherwise our fair queen-to-be might not last long.”
“Excuse me?” Weston’s whole body had tensed.
Kash put a hand up. He knew damn well what Rai was talking about and why they’d had the fight that had ended their friendship. “Don’t, Mr. Weston. Rai has a long lead when it comes to me. He’s more friend than bodyguard.” He turned to the man who’d been at his side most of his life. Right up until the moment he’d realized Kash had slept with his wife. Oh, they hadn’t been married at the time, hadn’t even been dating, but Rai had taken deep offense. “And yes, I’ve had blood work done, but you know I’m careful.”
“Careful? You’re the single most reckless ass I’ve ever met.” Rai turned his back. “It’s almost time to move, you piece-of-shit player.”
“You can’t allow him to talk to you like that,” Weston said.
Kash waved him off. “He’s only doing it because we’re alone and he knows you and I are friends.” There was something he needed to know, something that had his gut in knots when he thought about it. “I need to know that you’re not taking this out on Lia.”
Rai turned, his face red. “Don’t you mention her name, and no. She’s innocent. You’re the vile animal who seduced her. I would never harm my wife. She’s been through enough.”
She’d been excellent at fellatio. Not that being good at fellatio was a bad thing. It was a serious plus in Kash’s mind, but apparently Rai needed a bloody virgin as his bride. Years before, Lia had come to Kash. He’d been having one of his blow-out parties. She’d wanted to spend time on the boat, and Kash had suspected she wanted a way out of her parents’ house. He’d spent a single evening with the girl years before.
Six months before, she’d shown up on Rai’s arm and they were engaged.
He’d barely recognized the girl when they’d been introduced. She’d been terribly embarrassed and had made him promise to never tell. God, if he’d ruined Rai’s marriage, he would never forgive himself. “I’m glad you’re happy with Lia. She loves you very much. She was young and a little wild, a bit like we used to be.”
“Used to be? Perhaps I’ve matured, but I’ve seen none of that from you.”
No, his actions of late weren’t those of a mature man, but he was trying. “I’m so sorry for that night, Rai. I know I can’t make it up to you, but I miss you, my friend. And I thank you for helping out today. Are you enjoying the new job?”
Rai simply turned away and moved back to his post.
“We can’t use him again. I’ll make sure he’s never on your service.” Weston had his phone out. “I have no confidence that man will take a bullet for you.”
Once he would have. Once Rai had been his closest friend. It was probably fitting that a woman came between them. What he hadn’t expected was how much he would miss his friend, how much he wanted to talk to Rai about Day. Still, Weston had a point. “You can move him around, but don’t fire him and you can’t move him to a lower position. No cut in salary. He has a wife and mother to take care of.”
Weston nodded, but it was easy to see he was still suspicious. “You should get ready. It’s almost time.”
A great cheer went up and Chapal made his way back to the staging area. He was shaking his head. “I can’t believe how many people are out there. I hope you don’t fall off that horse. Good god, man, don’t step back.”
Because the horse seemed to have an active bowel. This could all go horribly south.
And then it did. He heard the crack of gunfire and the screams of people and Kash took off, running with one thought. He had to get to her. He had to get to Day.
A hard arm went around him and he was being pulled back. Kash fought like hell, right up to the moment another arm went around his neck and the world went black.
Kash paced the floor in front of her, still garbed in his traditional clothes. He would have made a stunning Horse King if the ceremony hadn’t gone so poorly.
“I’ll have him killed. I’ll use the horse that shits constantly. I’ll find three more exactly like him. Terribly gassy horses. I’ll tie that motherfucker to each of them and quarter him and then I’ll allow the horses to shit on his corpse. His suit won’t look so perfect then, will it?”
Day couldn’t help but smile because Kashmir looked adorable when he was angry. Also very masculine and threatening, but adorable. She particularly liked the reason for his anger.
“They thought someone was trying to set off a bomb,” she pointed out. “They didn’t know it was merely fireworks. You know your guard was only doing his job.”
“Rai would never have choked me until I passed out.” Kash was off, his words spitting out in a rapid-fire volley of rage.
Day simply poured him a glass of Scotch. The poor man had had a long day. Kash had heard the chaos and tried to reach her. When Simon Weston had rightly attempted to get the king out of the line of fire, Kash apparently fought like hell to get to her. He was angry he hadn’t been the one to protect her.
The instincts to love and protect and cherish were still there. He wasn’t even fighting them. He cared about her, and that was a good thing, since the afternoon had brought on a revelation of her own.
She’d realized when she’d heard that sharp, shocking sound that she’d never gotten over him. Not really. She’d heard that explosion and her first thought had been to get to Kash. The idea that he could be hurt or even dead had chilled her to the bone. She’d known in that moment that she would hate herself forever if she didn’t try with him. She’d started running toward where she’d known Kash was waiting.
The intensely large Mr. Boomer had simply scooped her up and run. She’d known she didn’t have a chance against him and she hadn’t thought to offer him a pizza to let her go. She’d found herself shoved in what was basically a tank masquerading as an SUV, and she’d been at the palace before she could breathe. Kash had come in a second SUV along with Chapal, who’d been forced to explain why her bridegroom was unconscious.
It was now hours later and they’d made an appearance on the balcony of the palace so everyone could see they were alive and unharmed. Her first balcony. She’d stood at Kash’s side and waved, her free arm around him. She’d been the one to convince him to calm down and show his people that all was well. She’d also been the one to convince him not to kill the Brit who’d merely been doing his duty.
Now she had to calm him down again, and she thought she knew how she would like to try.
There was nothing holding her back. She wanted him. She needed to see if she could make this work between them. If what Chelsea and Phoebe had said could actually be true.
“Have a drink and let’s talk about this.”
His eyes narrowed, but he took the drink. “I don’t want to talk. I want to punch Weston in the face. Rai would never have overreacted in such a manner.”
“Rai was running toward me full tilt when Mr. Boomer tossed me over his shoulder. He reacted to that terrible sound in exactly the same manner as the other bodyguards,” she explained. “I think we should have a talk with him about why he didn’t stay with you.”
Kash took a long sip. “To tell you the truth, I’m glad he went after you. He’s unhappy with me right now. At least he thinks enough of his job to try to save you. I wish the ceremony hadn’t been ruined. You know now a lot of people will say we’re cursed as a couple.”
“Only the superstitious ones.” She knew there were already rumors spreading, but they didn’t matter and he needed to see that they didn’t. “We show them how uncursed we are by presenting ourselves as a happy couple.”
He was suddenly still, his eyes on her. “Are we a happy couple?”
“I don’t think we’ve had time enough to be sure of that yet, but I know we were once.” She’d thought it through in a way she never had before. She had a much different view of those months with Kash in England. “You were courting me back then, weren’t you? You wanted me to be your girlfriend.”
He sat down in the plush chair that dominated the sitting area portion of his bedroom. Normally they stayed in the living room, but he’d wanted more privacy. This was the only place in his suite that wasn’t covered by CCTV, the only place where they could truly be alone. Everything about the space was masculine and decadent, including the man himself. With his hair disheveled and his chest on display, it wasn’t hard at all to see him as a primal male.
One she’d dearly enjoy taming.
“I don’t think you realized it at the time.”
She was willing to admit her faults. “I didn’t. I had my nose in a book most of the time back then and I had little experience with men. No, I had no idea you were interested in me beyond copying my notes from class when you slept in.”
“It would surprise you to know that I often thought about sleeping in with you.” His voice had gone low and gentle. “I was crazy about you back then, Day. I find myself in the same position today, but I don’t want to scare you. I know you think we should take this slow and I will honor your wishes, but I want this marriage to work. You see me as a playboy, but I don’t want to be some forty-plus player who trades on his money to keep young girls around him. I think it might be time for me to find out if I can be the king my father would have wanted me to be.”
It was all she needed to hear. If he wanted to try, she was ready. Despite his reputation, she’d fallen right back into a peaceful friendship with him. He’d been the old Kash, supporting her when she needed it. He’d asked her questions about her work with the education department and then gave her ideas on how to handle the parliament. He hadn’t told her what she should do. He’d suggested, debated.
“I think you’ll find me less averse to giving this marriage a real try than you think. I was planning on talking to you about using the Palm Ceremony to begin to explore what we could be as a couple.”
He frowned. “I’m not sure what that means. You want to talk? Or have counseling? Because that sounds terrible.”
“I was talking about sex, Kashmir. I thought we could use this time to see if we’re sexually compatible.”
He popped up out of his chair like an eager puppy. “Yes. I think that is a brilliant idea. We should start now. Don’t worry. I intend to be gentle with you.”
She didn’t move at all. “Like you are with your lovely flowers?”
“Women deserve a man’s care,” he said quietly. “Day, I can’t erase my past.”
“I don’t want you to.” He misunderstood her problems with his statement. “But I do need you to understand that I’m not one of those flowers. I’m not here to sit at your side and bat my eyelashes in the hopes that you’ll buy something for me. I don’t work like that. I don’t care about your money.”
“That is easy for you to say. You’re about to have access to all of it, aren’t you?”
He had a point. “Even if I wasn’t, that wouldn’t be why I would want you, Kash. Sit down. We have some things to talk about before we get started.” This was the point where she would normally introduce the idea of a sexual contract, but she had to ease him into this. Show him how good it could be to hand the reins over to her in this one part of their relationship. “Come here close to me.”
He moved to the chaise she was sitting on, lowering himself down with a sullen frown. “I knew there would be talking.”
She was fairly certain his lovely flowers did very little talking, but he would get used to it. “Why did you want me back then?”
“I liked you. I liked talking to you. I liked being around you. I rather liked who I was when I was around you.” His expression softened. “I don’t think you knew how alluring you were to someone like me. You didn’t understand how beautiful you were, so you didn’t use it against me. Most women do.”
“Well, that happens when you surround yourself with women who are mostly valued for their looks. I don’t blame them. They’ve been told their beauty is the only thing worthy about them. If you want to meet women who don’t feel that way, you should probably expand out of models and actresses.”
“Well, you would be surprised how many gorgeous, sexy physicists turn me down because I’m not smart enough for them.”
Oh, she loved this part. She loved the flirtation, the push and pull of verbal foreplay, and Kash was a master. “Somehow, I doubt that. You’re one of the smartest men I’ve ever met. You could talk about anything. It makes me wonder why you don’t still study.”
“Well, I have a busy schedule of smiling at the public and waving. Then there’s all the ministry meetings I take. I note that you never once asked for a meeting with me.”
There had been a reason for that. “You didn’t seem interested. Honestly, you haven’t been interested in much of anything for the last five years or so. Is it because your secret project was taken down?”
He seemed to freeze for a moment. “It was more than a secret project. It was a passion project. I suppose you know about it from Chelsea. She was there at the time, though I only met her briefly. I lost an entire generation of our most brilliant minds that day. Ten of the smartest engineers and scientists in Loa Mali. I did that. Is it any wonder I haven’t gone back? You know if I’d reconnected with you, you could have been on that rig that day. I would have asked you to help me with the project.”
So guilt had sent him on a half-a-decade bender. “Kash, it wasn’t your fault. You weren’t trying to hurt anyone.”
“I would have hurt the oil companies.”
“Including your own,” she pointed out. “You weren’t doing anything but attempting to push our country forward. Would you have kept the technology for yourself?”
“Of course not. It would have belonged to Loa Mali. I was doing it because someone will. I want to be the first. Our oil reserves won’t last forever. Our country is in the unique position to move in a direction others can’t. That’s why I did it. To put my country on the cutting edge and honestly, so that I could patent the process and make money for us, money to keep our standard of living high.”
She reached over and put a hand on his. “A noble cause and one only a man of your intelligence would even understand to pursue. Do you know why I was attracted to you?”
His lips curled up. “I do not have the same false impressions of my own beauty that you do.”
Such arrogance and yet she found herself laughing. “Your masculine beauty was the least of your attractions. I liked how smart you were, how passionate you were about making a place for yourself in the world. I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to support you and yes, I wanted to advise you. I loved how you never seemed intimidated by me.”
“I wasn’t intimidated. I wanted you. I wanted to get my hands on you and show you how hot you could get.”
She was already heating up, but this wasn’t going to go the way she feared his other encounters went. “You do know I’m not a virgin, Kash.”
His gorgeous eyes rolled to the back of his head in a pure expression of disgust. “Of course you’re not. You’re thirty-five years old. I would worry if you were.” He reached out, putting a hand on her knee. “But you don’t have my experience, either. I have to remember that.”
“And what kind of experience is that?”
“You know what I mean. I’ve slept with many women.”
“But you haven’t slept with me. You don’t know what I want or what I need to get hot.” She wasn’t about to tell him that simply being near him was getting her hot. “I want you to forget about all those other women. I’m unlike any from before. Learn how to please me. Let me teach you how to make love to me.”
She saw him still, his eyes heating. “All right. How do I start?”
“Show me what you have to offer me.”
His lips curled up in a decadent grin. “Are we going to play games?”
Only the most important one of her life. “It’s for pleasure, Kash. I enjoy some games. I find them relaxing, and they help us get to know each other better. If you would rather we simply went to bed, I can do that, too. You should know that I was going to run from you today.”
“At the ceremony? Of course. It’s part of the ritual. The beautiful bride is unsure of the king. She tries to flee, but he catches her.”
She shook her head. “I was going to run. I was going to make you chase me. I was going to make you work for me, and in front of all those people. I would have struggled in your arms until you let me go, fearing you’d hurt me. And then and only then would I have placed my hands on either side of your face and brought my lips to yours. I would have touched you and found you worthy and allowed you to take us both away.”
“You would have run from me?” He asked the question in an icy tone, but she couldn’t miss the fact that his cock was already hard and straining against his pants.
She didn’t move from her chaise. Already, her heart and soul were moving into top space, a place where she was in control, where she could relax and have her way. He would accept her or not. “I cannot be that queen from long ago who allowed herself to be kidnapped and taken away. The choice will be mine. The choice to be queen. The choice to have you. I will make these choices not because I’m about to be royal, but because I am a woman and that is what I do. I will not play that game with you, love. I won’t give over and then protest that I had the choice taken from me. I will choose and accept the consequences. I wanted to show them who they are getting as their queen, not some gentle flower who will stand by her man and wave, but a woman who will fight for them as I fight for myself. As I would fight for you.”
“You want to see what I have to offer you?” The chill was gone from his voice. His hands were on the medallion around his neck. He took it off and placed it on the table to the side of her chair. “I wonder what will please you. I don’t think you’re impressed by the palace I’m offering you.”
She gestured to the room around her. “That’s not yours. It belongs to the people. In essence, they’re offering me this magnificent space.”
“A hard woman to please,” Kash mused. “How about wealth? By marrying me, you’ll never worry about money again.”
“All your money comes from oil,” she replied, enjoying the fact that he was playing along. “Again, that belongs to the people. I should thank them with my service to them.”
“Service you can only offer because of me.”
“Is it you or your mother? Because you had no idea I still existed. So I have to ask you, Kashmir, what exactly are you offering me?”
He stopped and for a moment she thought he would laugh and give up the game. Instead, his hands went to the drawstring of his pants. His chest was already on display, each and every muscle beautifully defined. The man was sheer perfection physically. He shoved his pants down and he wore no boxers. No, when he shoved those pants aside, he was standing in front of her, proudly naked. “I can offer you my body.”
She sat up because he was getting closer. “I have a body of my own.”
His jaw tightened, but she saw the light of competition in his eyes. He might be frustrated, but he was also intrigued. He put his hands on his hips, perfectly comfortable with his nudity. “All right, my future queen. Let me tell you what I can offer you. I can offer you the touch of my hands on your flesh, skimming every inch of your body. I can offer the heat of my mouth, my lips and tongue exploring you, tasting your essence. I won’t stop quickly because you’re complex. I’ll have to taste you everywhere, nipping and licking and sucking until I know you by heart.” His hand went to his magnificent cock. “And I can offer the pleasure of my cock. I can offer you everything I have, every trick I’ve learned to bring you joy in bed.”
She stood and closed the space between them, her eyes on him. She took in every gorgeous inch of his body. Like those delicate flowers he’d spent so much time with, so much of Kash’s self-worth was wrapped up in his handsome face and perfect body. He was celebrated the world over for being beautiful. How many magazine covers had he graced? Likely more than she could count. She needed him to believe in more than his own looks. “Hold still and let me look at you. Don’t move. And let go of that cock if you’re offering it to me. How can I touch it if you’ve got it in those big hands of yours?”
He immediately let go, his cock bouncing slightly. He stared forward as she took him in, as though he knew instinctively that this was a moment for him to submit.
“You offer me a lot, Kashmir. Certainly you come in the most beautiful package I’ve ever been offered. You’re the single most stunning man I’ve ever seen, but I need more.” She ran a hand over his chest, letting her skin enjoy the warmth of his, the smooth touch of flesh against flesh. “I need that brilliant mind. I need your intellect. But I also need you to need me.”
“I need you, Day,” he said with a laugh.
She continued her slow exploration. She couldn’t punish him, though later on such sarcasm would be dealt with if they signed a contract. He would probably enjoy the discipline. “Not yet. Right now you think I’m nothing more than another pretty female body, but you’ll learn I’m going to be more.”
He finally looked down at her. “Fine. What do you offer me, my almost queen? I’ve laid it all out for you. Tell me what I get.”
She sighed as she moved around to his back, enjoying the play of his muscles as she continued to stroke him. He was a massive panther and she wanted to see if he could purr for her. She also liked that he’d asked the question. It made her more certain than ever that he was right for her. She didn’t want a man who followed her blindly, even inside the bedroom. Certainly not outside of it.
Now she had to discover if she was right for him, if she could give him what he needed. What he might not even know he needed.
She ran her hands over his broad shoulders, enjoying the shiver that went through him. “I offer you the warmth of my hands on your body, the feel of my skin against yours, promising companionship and comfort. My hand in yours when you need to know you are not alone. I offer you the joys of my mouth. My lips and tongue tasting you, but more than this, my words will lift you up, will always be kind. I offer you my body for your pleasure, so that we can be one with nothing between us, no space, no lies, no heartache, only joy. I offer you my body to grow whatever children we’re blessed with. It will be yours while I’m young and vital, and yours when I’m too old do to anything but hold you in my arms. This is what I offer.”
“I need you, Dayita.” His voice was hoarse.
This time, she believed him.
“Then we can begin.”