Sheikh's Ex-Girlfriend (Khayyam Sheikh Series #1) (9 page)

“Heaven help me, but neither have I.”

With nothing more than that, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her through the tiny apartment to her bed. Though the apartment itself was rather Spartan, the bed was a monster, the sole indulgence she had splurged on when she came to Dalal. It was a king-size bed with tall posts at each corner. When he lay her down on the mattress, she sighed with pleasure.

“I love you,” Nasim said, looking down at her. There was a kind of awe in his eyes that she had never seen before, not in New York, and not after. This was the look of a man who finally understands what he wants and is given it.

“I love you,” she replied. Even now, reality tried to intrude. A part of her mind wanted to know what that meant, and how it could have any happy end. She pushed it aside. In this moment, she wanted nothing but pleasure and love.

 Nasim stripped to the skin in a matter of seconds, and for a moment, she simply looked at his body. He was powerful, terrifyingly so, but she knew that he would never hurt her. There was nothing but kindness in this man, and the more she knew him, the more that she wanted to know him. Even now, when he was visibly shaking with need for her, he touched her with a sweetness that brought tears to her eyes.

Kneeling down on the bed next to her, he reached for the small hooks that held the robe closed. Hook by hook, he opened her robe, kissing each bare patch of skin as it was revealed. He refused to be hurried, even when she arched up against his warm mouth.

“I want you,” she whispered longingly, and he laughed in reply.

“You're going to have to wait,” he teased. “I feel like I've been waiting for a hundred years. Surely you can wait a little longer.”

Her laugh turned into a gasp as he spread her robe open. Underneath, her underwear felt like little more than scraps adorning her body, accentuating far more than it hid. He passed a gentle hand from the rise of her breasts, down the leanness of her belly to her thighs, and up again. Wherever he touched, she felt goose bumps rising.

He removed her bra with a few deft movements, and then he slid her panties down her long legs, pausing to place a kiss on her inner thigh, the curve of her calf, and even the sole of her foot. She squirmed with pleasure at the touch of his body, but he seemed unwilling to touch her more intimately.

She started to ask for more, but then he was leaning over her, his mouth covering hers. He kissed her deeply, and when she twined her arms around his neck, he groaned a little.

“If you keep reaching for me, I won't be able to resist,” Nasim said warningly.

“Good, that's exactly what I want,” Ella retorted.

“Little minx …”

Deliberately, she tugged on his thick dark hair, drawing a moan from him. She thought that she had defeated his self-control then, but after a deeper kiss, he drew back, a slight smile on his face.

“I can tell that you are going to need a bit of sternness,” he said.

Ella started to ask what he meant, but then he was standing up and going to the rack on the wall, where her light summery scarves hung. He pulled off two of them, and before she could quite figure out what he was about, he had tied first one wrist and then the other to opposite posts of the bed. She was stretched out flat on her back, her arms spread like angel's wings, and she looked up at him wide-eyed.

“Nasim!”

“This is what happens to impertinent little minxes who can't keep their hands to themselves. Now I suppose I should make sure that you don't kick, either …”

 Bringing actions to his words, he took another two scarves and just as quickly bound her legs. Now she was spread flat on the bed, completely unable to cover herself, and more significantly, unable to touch him.

“Unfair,” Ella complained, but Nasim only smirked.

“It is eminently fair from my position,” he said sweetly.

“Wait until it is my turn,” she threatened. “Wait until it's you who's tied up and helpless on the bed.”

His eyes darkened at her words, but his grin was unrepentant.

“Those are some very bold words for someone who cannot move. Do you want to try and see if you can get away? Shall we see how far you get?”

She struggled experimentally, but she found that the knots held. She was stretched on the bed, completely open to Nasim and what he would or would not do. When she realized that she was truly trapped, she turned imploring eyes to her lover.

 Nasim seemed unmoved by her plight, instead choosing to kneel between her legs and simply look at her.

“Look at how beautiful you are,” he murmured. “I could simply look at you for hours.”

At her groan, he laughed.

“How fortunate for both of us, then, that even my stamina is not so great, hmm? But you are the picture of temptation, my love. I will not rush this.”

True to his word, he came down over her, his body stretched over hers, with the bulk of his weight resting on his arms. He pressed his mouth to her throat, nipping gently and making her groan. She was so exquisitely open to him. She couldn't cover herself, she couldn't even turn away, and that only excited her further.

His clever hands stroked down her body, running firmly from shoulder to hip but only glossing over her breasts. With just a few passes of his palms, her nipples stood up hard and erect. Only then did he drop his mouth to them, suckling on one while stroking the other gently.

Ella whined deep in her throat, trying to press herself closer to him. For a moment, she thought he was going to move away entirely, leaving her wanting, but then he shifted so that one heavily-muscled thigh rested between her legs. She blushed to feel her most private flesh pressed hard against his thigh.

“Does it feel good?” he whispered.

“Yes, yes, please …”

To her shock, he started moving his leg, pressing against her until she was pressing back, moaning deep in her throat. Perhaps it should have embarrassed her to be pressing herself along his body, but she was slowly growing so desperate that she couldn't bring herself to care. He just felt so good pressed against her body, all of him did. He was built so differently from her, and all of it only seemed to enhance her pleasure and how much she wanted him.

He kissed her again, and this time she could feel how much he wanted her. There was something desperate about this kiss, something that told her that he wouldn't be able to hold off for much longer. She drew his tongue between her lips, sucking on it desperately before he pulled away.

“I want you,” she gasped. “Please, I need you, don't deny us any longer …”

It was as if she had waved a red flag in front of a bull. He went from the picture of teasing control to a man on the verge of desperation. She thought then that he would untie her, but instead he only rose and crossed over to the nightstand, where she had left condoms plainly in view. After he sheathed himself, he came back to her, and the look on his face made her shudder with need.

“Are you ready?” he asked. “I need you so much, Ella …”

“I am, just please … now, please!”

He came over her like a storm over the desert, and for a moment, the past hung between them. He had done something like this before, she remembered this. Then his weight was pressing down on her and it mattered far less than how good he felt now. He reached between her legs, and he stroked her slit twice. She was wet, and his fingers opened her. She could feel the blunt head of his member poised at her entrance, and then he was pressing deep inside her with a single stroke.

 She cried out, and for a moment he paused.

“Are you all right?” he asked tersely.

She caught her breath, making herself nod before she could speak. “Yes, yes, you didn't hurt me, only please don't stop!”

She caught a glimpse of his wolfish grin before he dropped his lips to her ear. She whined as he traced the lobe with the tip of his tongue.

“Remember, you said that.”

He pulled back until he was almost out of her, and then he pressed himself back in to the hilt. She groaned from how full she was with him, and when he started moving, she began fighting her bonds in earnest. He had tied her well, and she could not grab at his broad shoulders, and she could not wrap her legs around his waist.

Instead, she was bound so tight that all that she could do was feel the things he was doing to her. She could feel the weight of his body on her, the way he filled her up, the way his body pressed against her clit, sending deep shock waves of sensation through her. If she had thought that she was desperate before, it was nothing compared to what she felt now.

In a matter of seconds, she could feel her orgasm rising up inside her. There was the pressure and the heat gathered low in her belly, there was the need for him that never seemed to go away.

“Come,” he growled hoarsely. “I want you to come. I want you to love this, to think that you can never be without it.”

Something about the need and the greed in his words struck a deep chord in her. She lifted her hips a little, and then he struck the perfect spot. With a single stroke of his body, she was sent flying over the edge, her eyes closing tight as her head tipped back in a wild shout. She felt him grasp her hair tight in his hands, thrusting into her one more time as he growled deep in his throat.

She could feel the pleasure flowing between them, both of them feeling it more intensely because of the other. She was nothing but sensation held to earth by four scarves, four posts, and the weight of the man that she loved on top of her. She wanted to keep on flying like that forever, but slowly, the sensations ebbed, leaving her spent and panting in her bonds.

Somehow, Nasim was still supporting his weight on his elbows, but otherwise, he was shaking with his own release. It took several long moments before he pulled away gently, dropping a tender kiss on the crown of her head.

“Stay still, darling, I'll only be a moment …”

He untied the scarves from her wrists, letting her stretch a little. The bonds had left her a little sore, but she quickly improved once they were off. She heard him in the bathroom, dealing with the condom, and then he returned with a warm damp cloth.

“You don't need to do that,” she murmured, but then she purred with pleasure as he started bathing her with the fabric.

She wasn't sure that she had ever felt so relaxed. The morning sunlight was streaming into the room, and every part of her felt whole and healthy. At some point, Nasim put away the cloth and came to lie next to her, bringing her close so that his chest was pushed against her back, and their legs tangled together.

Ella was almost drifting off to sleep when he spoke.

“Why today?”

She stirred. “What do you mean?”

 “It seems the height of impudence to ask you why we did that. It makes perfect sense to me why we did that. What I need to know, darling, is why today. What happened that made you greet me in the doorway like that? After all the time we've spent together, what has changed?”

Ella squirmed so that she was facing him. There was a hint of humor in his smile, and he looked almost heartbreakingly handsome in the gentle light, but she could also see that he demanded an answer. She sighed.

“Let me tell you a story …”

He listened intently as she described the manuscript she had received. She spoke of a man who was shaped by the desert, and a woman who had nothing to lose. She spoke of a world where people had to live by a draconian law, but despite it, there was always a kind of light that shone through.

She knew that her voice was shaking a little, but she forced herself to tell him how it had affected her.

“Life is short, and we never know how long we have,” she said finally. “I realized that every moment I wasn't with you, every moment that I wasn't showing you or telling you how much I love you, I was living a kind of lie. I never want to lie to myself. I never want to lie to you.

“Today was me showing you my truth in the best way that I know how.”

He kissed her, soft and lingering, and then he pulled back.

“And what happens to these lovers?” he asked. “What happens after they have spoken a deep truth to one another?”

“That I don't know—I don't. I stopped reading because there seemed to be no way that they could end happily.”

Ella lowered her eyes, pressing her forehead against Nasim's chest. She had always been someone who was deeply affected by the things that she read, and now she could feel the grip of that story on her again.

“You haven't finished it yet?”

“No. I know that I have to. I know that whatever happens will happen. However, even knowing that, I do believe that the ending will be beautiful.”

As I think we might be,
she thought, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.

“Ella, there is a future for us—” he started, but he stopped when she pressed her soft fingers against his lips.

“Not today,” she said firmly. “We can talk about it tomorrow. Today, I have set aside for us. We are going to live in the moment. There is no past. There is no future. There is nothing but us. Tomorrow will come, because it always does, but let today be today.”

Nasim frowned, but when she pressed herself against him, he nodded. “As you say.”

This time, the kiss he gave her was slow and tender, sweet as honey. This time, her arms were free, so she could bring him close, and she draped one leg over his hip.

“I love you,” he said between kisses, and she never doubted it.

They would have their day. Whatever came after, they would always have their day.

Chapter 7

They finally emerged from her bedroom sometime in the early afternoon, when their hunger refused to be ignored. They snacked on the pastries Nasim had brought that morning, and after that, he took her to an exquisite little restaurant downtown, a quiet place where she was served dozens of tiny morsels that would finally add up to a fine meal.

“Where to now?” she asked, once they had finished, and the heated look Nasim gave her made a blush rise up on her cheeks.

“Well, I certainly do like that idea,” she began, but he squeezed her hand.