Sheikh's Ex-Girlfriend (Khayyam Sheikh Series #1) (7 page)

Mystified, she followed him through the silent halls of the fortress. The centuries pressed down on her, and she wondered if this was what it was like for astronauts or for time travelers. She was in a place where she was completely out of her element, lost in the wreckage of history.

The hallways were dim, but then they rounded a corner and came to a circular chamber that was unexpectedly full of light. She could see that the windows were tall and open; once upon a time, they would have been filled with glass or perhaps with colored paper. The impression of the room was one of great light and airiness, and even now, long after the original inhabitants had gone on to something else, it made her smile to see.

“This doesn't look particularly defensible for a fortress,” she noted.

 Nasim smiled faintly. “It wasn't. If you look at the door we just came through, you will see that it is very heavily fortified. This was a peace-time room, a place for the ladies of the court to come out and see the desert pass them by.”

“The ladies of the court?”

“The women of the harem,” he said. “The women of Khayyam have never been quite as cloistered as women elsewhere in the Arabic world, but their lives were still circumscribed to a few locations. This chamber seems to have been one of them, a place where they could go to see the world that moved on without them.”

Now that he had told her, she could imagine it. She could think of being a woman draped in heavy wool and fluttering silk, allowed to walk through the halls of a dim fortress. The door would open, and suddenly her dark eyes would be dazzled with the turquoise of the sky and the gold of the desert sands. She would feel the wind on her face for the first time in who knows how long, and oh, she would laugh …

“I couldn't have taken it,” she said abruptly. “To be kept in a little dark cage, only allowed to see the light when I was permitted.”

“You couldn't,” Nasim agreed. “You are someone who needs to fly free, and keeping you captive would only cause you to break your wings on the bars of your cage.”

She leaned back into his arms, and after a moment, he wrapped his arms around her tightly.

Perhaps that was what made it bearable, she thought. This sense of security, this sense of safety. Love that bloomed only in the darkness of thick stone walls.

She turned in his arms, lifting her face up to his. “I think,” she said softly, “I want you to kiss me now.”

Nasim paused for a moment, shock on his features, but then he bent his head to hers. This kiss was different from the ones that they had shared before. It was slow, but there was a burning passion to it that had been banked for too long. They had to move carefully, they had to be slow and gentle with each other or they might go up in flames.

 She felt his large hand come up to cradle her face, a gesture of aching tenderness. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to turn to nuzzle it, flickering the pink tip of her tongue along the cup of his palm. She felt that familiar tremor go through his body, and deep inside herself, she could feel herself respond to it as well. There was a primal magic at work her. It wasn't the place, it was the two of them. It was a kind of magic that would be with them, within them no matter where they went or what they did. It didn't matter how much time or how much distance separated them. This would still be something that lived inside them.

“I don't want to use you,” he said, his voice thick with desire. “I didn't want to bring you here as if bringing you here would buy you. That was not my intent.”

“It's not my intention to be bought, either,” she murmured quietly, burying her face in his chest. “It's only that this thing between us, I don't want to ignore it. I think I can't ignore it.”

“Then let's not. Let me give you something, my darling. Let me give you something just for you, something that you will only remember with pleasure and joy.”

She started to ask him what he meant, but then he was guiding her to one of the walls of the room. From where she stood, she could look down at the desert, over the golden sands and the turquoise skies. He pressed her against the wall so that her shoulders rested against the stone, her legs spread, and her feet holding her steady.

“I want to give you something perfect,” Nasim murmured, and he knelt down on the stone.

Ella drew in her breath as he raised the hem of her tunic. He rolled it up neatly and pressed the rolled edge into her hands. Then he ran his finger along the waistband of her trousers, unzipping them and letting them fall gently to the floor. Underneath her slightly prim clothing, she wore only a scanty scrap of lace underwear, and to her shock, he tugged them down from her hips with his teeth. She felt the brush of his lips against the tender skin of her thighs, and behind them, she could feel how sharp his teeth were.

“Nasim …”

“Hush. If you wish me to stop, tell me so and I will, but please, otherwise let me give you this. Look out over the desert, empty your mind of everything except us, in this place, in this moment.”

 She took a deep breath, because whatever the noise going on in her mind, she did want this, and she wanted it with this man. She leaned her weight back against the ancient stone, and when he nuzzled at the blonde fluff of hair between her legs, she sighed with pleasure.

 She felt his fingers first, sliding along her slit, probing her gently and with the utmost care. Over and over again, he ran his fingertips along her slit until they were damp, and then he pressed a single finger into her depths. Her body was already trembling a little. It remembered him, and it remembered the pleasure that he had created in her before.

Still, even as his tongue followed the gentle stroking of his fingers, she knew that this was different. When they had been together before, there had been the passion that had consumed them both. They were lit on fire, and there was no room for anything except for their needs and their want. There had barely been enough room for them when the passion burned that hot.

This was different. This was tender. This was him giving her something for herself, taking nothing. She knew he wanted her. She could feel the way his body trembled, and when he pressed his lips to her most tender flesh, she could feel him moan. Still, he gave of himself, and he asked nothing in return.

Ella whimpered as he pressed her to the stone. She was afraid her legs might give out, but he was there, holding her up, and lashing her body with whips of fiery desire. He was remorseless, and his tongue dug deeper now, spreading her open and baring her with a savagery that was barely contained.

She knew that she couldn't take it for long, but she tried to resist the passion that was pulling at her. She threaded her fingers through his inky hair, pulling hard as she tried to stave off the inevitable. There was such need in her, such pleasure that she wanted it to go on forever, but she knew that it couldn't. She knew that she could only put it off.

Suddenly, her back was arching off the wall, her fingers dug even harder into his hair, and she shouted, her cry of fulfillment echoing through the ancient fortress. She would have been shocked at the loudness of her cry, but her body was racked with sensation, every muscle taut as if she had been run through with electricity.

Ella realized that she had slightly collapsed, curling over Nasim's bent form as if she were in a faint. He pulled away from her, but only for a moment as he sat down on the ground. Tenderly, he pulled her into his lap, cuddling her close as she got her breath back.

She leaned against him, taking his strength as she regained hers.

“Do you think the people who built this place would have been shocked by what we just did?” she wondered.

Nasim laughed a little, and she could feel it through his entire frame. “I don't know, but I think—maybe not. They lived and they died, and I know that some of them must have loved.”

“Is that what we did here?” she asked, holding her breath a little.

Nasim nodded. “That was an act of love for me. It was something I wanted to give to you.”

Now that she was more aware, she could feel his erection underneath her, between them. It brought a fresh blush to her cheeks, but it was more than just embarrassment. It was also pleasure. It thrilled her to realize that she had this effect on him. There was something about it that made her feel as if she was claiming him as well, as if she were leaving her mark on him.

 “I don't have any condoms on me,” she whispered regretfully, and Nasim chuckled, pulling her closer.

“I didn't do what I did for repayment,” he said. “I know that you cannot be bought.”

He climbed to his feet, visibly calming himself before helping her up as well.

“Come. There is more of the fortress to explore, and after this, I will take you to a splendid place to eat.”

It was hard for Ella to push back the pleasure that had suffused her body, but with a sigh, she got back on her feet. After she had risen, however, he didn't let go of her hand, and they walked through the rest of the fortress that way, hand in hand and surrounded by the remnants of history.

***

Nasim had grand plans for taking her to an exclusive restaurant in the heart of Dalal's downtown, but by the time they got back to the city, she was far too tired and far too grubby to go anywhere but home.

For a moment, she thought that would be the end of their night, but Nasim rallied. They went back up to her apartment, and while she showered, he made a call. By the time she was out and ready to hand the shower over to him, there was a flat cardboard box and a few other smaller boxes on it sitting on her dining room table.

“You ordered me pizza?” she asked in amusement.

“It's not quite the restaurant experience I was hoping for, but will it do?”

“Of course it will, you know I love pizza. Go on and get showered, I don't want to start without you.”

He slid past her, and for a moment, it seemed as if it must be the most natural thing in the world to reach up and kiss him as he went by. The impulse, familiar and sweet as the scent of waffles in the morning, shocked her, made her stand back.

Nasim shot her a puzzled look, but he didn't comment on it as he went by. She could hear him start the water running in the bathroom, and she went to sit down at the table. She took a deep breath.

I'm afraid that I am making a huge mistake.

She texted the message to her sister and put her phone on the shelf. She didn't expect a response from Emmaline, but she needed to speak about her feelings with someone. Earlier in the day, in the fortress in the middle of the desert, everything had felt so right. There was nothing between them. There was only the sky, the stone, the desert, and their bodies.

Now they were back in Dalal, with the city singing at her doorstep. They weren't just Ella and Nasim anymore. Now there were words between them, like American, sheikh, and family.

Before she could drive herself to distraction thinking about it, he came back, looking delightfully wet and scrubbed from the shower.

“Ready to eat?” he asked, and she nodded eagerly, because one thing that wasn't feigned or imagined was her hunger.

The pizza was a little strange, the sauce far tarter than she expected, and made with goat cheese rather than mozzarella, but it was hot and filling, and there was no beating the barbecued chicken wings that came with it.

Finally, she pushed her food away, unable to eat another bite. “This was amazing,” she said, grinning at Nasim.

“You're very easily impressed for a day grubbing in the sand and a late lunch of pizza and wings,” he teased.

Ella shrugged, a little self-conscious. “Well, I mean, we didn't just grub around in the ruins. We did … other things.”

Nasim's smile got a little darker, and she shivered as she felt the air between them heat up.

“Yes, other things. Now that we are back at your home, Ella, we can decide whether we might like to do those other things again.”

Her instinct was to tell him yes immediately, to tell him right away, that they should start in on those other things with no time for delay. Instead, a small grain of common sense prevailed and she shook her head.

“I want to,” she said honestly, “but I'm not sure it's wise.”

When he raised his eyebrows, she rushed to explain.

“What we did … what you did to me was amazing. When I think about it, I feel this deep heat inside me. You wake me up like no one has ever done, Nasim. It's just … where you're concerned, I'm spun around. I don't know up from down, left from right. I don't trust myself, and that's terrifying for me.”

Instead of arguing with her, Nasim reached across the table to take her hand. “I understand. I think I do at least, and what I want, dearest, is for you to be sure. Whether you tell me yes, or no, or not right now, I simply want you to be sure.”

His words stayed with her after he left that evening. They rang in her head. He wanted her to be sure. He didn't want her to make any decisions that might hurt her.

It wasn't a secret that she loved Nasim. It never had been. Now, however, that love was taking a central place in her life. It was rising up like some kind of leviathan out of the depths, and soon, nothing would be the same.

Still, when she got into her pajamas and climbed into bed, she could remember the way he had felt touching her. She could remember the words he whispered in her ear, and when she fell asleep, she had a smile on her face.

Chapter 6

Nasim sent Ella a text, telling her he would be busy for the next few days, and he set it down with a sigh. He had known that he was going to be in Arana for at least an overnight stay, but their Asian business contacts had required more wrangling than either had accepted.

Now he was seated in Marid's airy penthouse living room, the remnants of a truly impressive lunch on the table, and all he could think about was not being able to see Ella that evening.

“You look like a troubled man,” Marid observed, picking up a stray olive and popping it into his mouth. “If you feel that this deal is not worth the headache, we can almost certainly find others who are willing to be more amenable.”