The Sheikh's Hesitant Bride (Qazhar Sheikhs series Book 7) (18 page)

Then he pressed his body against her, his tongue becoming more ravenous, his fingers lighter and more delicate in their touch. Something shifted within Rachel, something elemental and she grasped at Zarif, raking her nails down the length of his naked back. The sharp sensation only seemed to drive him on harder.
 

Then the wave swept over her, crushing her, making every nerve in her body flame with a previously unknown sensation. Her entire being shook, and she cried out as she tumbled over the precipice to which he had been so relentlessly driving her.

For a moment she felt as she had lost all sense of who she was, all sense of where she was as she broke apart beneath him.

The wave sucked her beneath its welcoming force and then she was holding onto him, as he wrapped his arm around her middle, holding her tight, keeping her safe. She felt her breath fast and harsh as she tried to regain control of herself. It took a long while, what seemed like an eternity. But, eventually, she came back to him, returning to an awareness of him next to her.

Rachel leaned down and kissed him tenderly. His lips were moist and soft and tasted sweeter than anything she'd tasted in her life.

She felt his desire press against her and knew that his need was every bit as urgent as her own. She shifted, communicating to him that she wanted him, needed him close. That she was ready for him.

Zarif rose up and moved across her, his knees planted on either side of her. She saw the strength of his need and wondered suddenly if she would be able to accommodate the sheer masculine extent of it.
 

He was on all fours above her. He gazed down at her, and there was that look again, she told herself. A combination of love and concern. He knew what this meant to her, knew that it would change her forever. But she trusted him like she had never trusted anyone before.

Zarif dipped his head and kissed her belly, sending a flush of pleasure through her already warm core. It was an act of sheer tenderness. She ran her hand through his dark hair, feeling the moisture of his exertions in his hair.

Then he lifted his head and gazed into her eyes. She saw him lower himself onto her, and she felt the weight of his body settle upon her, even though he took most of it with his elbows placed at her side.

The feel of Zarif's entire body settled like this upon her was exquisite. She felt his heat, the sensation of his skin against hers, the touch of his manhood at her core.

"Zarif, please," she said to him. His eyes darkened with need, and he shifted his hips. His desire pressed against her core, seeking entry and she instinctively opened herself to him. It seemed like the most natural movement in the world.

"Rachel," he growled, his voice quivering with barely contained desire.

She knew what he really meant. That he would be gentle, as tender as he needed to be. She knew that.

His manhood pressed at her core and then he moved slightly, pressing upwards and part of him was inside her. She moaned, feeling the pressure there, sensing herself tightening around him. She felt his muscles quiver as if he could barely contain himself. He paused.

Then he moved again, easing into her, becoming a part of her at last. She felt a sudden sharpness and then it was replaced by an exquisite fullness, an ecstasy as she enclosed him. She heard him gasp and then he started to move slowly. She matched his movement, feeling that this was where he belonged. Where he had always belonged.

His pelvic bone pressed against her already awakened nerves, and she felt another rush of pleasure overtake her. This time was different than it had been with his touch. This time he was within her, completely in possession of her, utterly a part of her.
 

Zarif's movements were easy and sensitive to her every need. She could tell he was fighting to control the urge to ravish her. She could tell that at any other time he could be possessed of a ferocious desire, one that would drive her to unimaginable heights.

But this time was unique. This time would never be repeated.

But still, even though he fought to control himself, there came a point in their togetherness when wild desire took over, when Zarif's need became urgent. At that point, his strokes became faster and Rachel gave herself over to the delicious spasms coursing throughout her body.
 

They were one now. Maybe they always had been, and it was just that destiny had had to work its course and bring them to this moment.

Zarif raised himself up on his hands and gazed down at Rachel as he plunged deeper and deeper into her welcoming softness. His features were suddenly wild with fierce need. His eyes gazed into hers with absolute adoration mingled with a desperate need for completion.

Rachel began to feel herself climb up to a distant summit, one that she knew contained her ecstasy. Zarif's pace was faster now. He was almost at his peak. They would climb to that summit together. She felt the sensations sweep over her as he buried himself inside her.
 

And then he cried out, arching his back. She joined him in that moment, every sense in her body alive, every thought banished, every moment about only one thing.

The ecstasy which consumed them both as they tumbled over the precipice and into a world utterly and completely changed for both of them.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Rachel awoke with the morning sun shining in her eyes and Zarif's body wrapped around her, holding her tight.
 

The golden glow of morning was filtered by the thin curtains across the windows. She felt the heat of Zarif's body against her side; the weight of his arm that lay across her middle; heard the quiet, steady rhythm of his breathing.
 

Her heart quickened slightly at the memory of the night they had just shared together. She didn't want to move a muscle in case she woke him. The moment was too special, and she didn't want it to end, just as she hadn't wanted their lovemaking to end. She felt a mild, welcome ache in her middle, but it was a small price to pay for the ecstasy she and Zarif had shared.

Rachel's gaze drifted toward his face. He looked so peaceful right now, so content, as if he had finally found something for which he'd been searching all his life. His features were a picture of absolute peace and happiness, and she was sure her own matched his expression exactly.
 

Rachel had never felt such happiness before, such certainty. Everything had changed. She knew that now. Had known it all through the long night and Zarif's unstoppable lovemaking. He'd driven Rachel to heights of pleasure she'd never known existed. Until now, that was. She knew just what it felt like to be consumed and possessed by a powerful, untamed sheikh, a man skilled in every aspect of drawing out a woman's soul, causing her body to break into pieces with sheer, unadulterated pleasure.

Rachel held onto Zarif, once again determined to savor this moment.
 

He'd told her over and over that he loved her. Zarif's declaration had tumbled out of him in the midst of ecstasy. She wondered if he'd really meant it.

Of course, he had, she chided herself. He wouldn't have said it otherwise.

For her part, she had cast aside the barriers she had erected between herself and the world of men. At the highest moment of her ecstasy she had cried out her love for him, and she had immediately seen how it had affected him. Her words had driven him on, spurred him on to even greater efforts to make her disintegrate with pleasure.

She glanced at his handsome, even features, seeing the dark stubble across his chin, the deep brows, the even slash of his nose. She wanted to reach out a hand and run the back of her fingers across that stubble, feel the roughness of it, savor the reality of the man who she knew now loved her, prized above all else in the world.

She turned away feeling a sudden surge of emotion, something all too familiar. It was the sharp cut of the same doubt that had caused her to build the wall between herself and everything else.
 

This was too good to be true. Wasn't it?

Rachel drew in a deep breath, and the movement of her chest caused Zarif to stir. He opened his eyes.
 

His sleepy, dark pools settled upon her and immediately brightened. He smiled. "Good morning," he murmured.

Zarif lifted himself and planted a delicious morning kiss on her lips.

Rachel let his lips linger on hers for a while and then pulled her head away from him. "Good morning," she said. She glanced over toward the balcony windows. "And it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day."

Zarif gazed into her eyes. She felt warmth blossom in her middle.
 

"Every day is going to be like this, from now on," Zarif said.

Rachel smiled tentatively at him.
 

Zarif's brows furrowed slightly, and he raised himself up on his elbows. "You know that, don't you?"

Rachel peered at Zarif. There was no doubt. She could see the same sincerity in his eyes that she had seen last night. In fact, that look had been in his eyes for days now, ever since things had changed for them back in London. Now, though, it just looked even more intense, even more real.

Rachel nodded. Zarif leaned in and kissed her, this time his lips lingering even longer, even more firmly. Sensation that was now all too familiar fired up inside her, and she felt his hard body press against her, sensed a sudden growing need. She wondered if she was ready for him again, and immediately cast aside that doubt. Of course she was ready for him. She would always be ready for him, would always need him, would always want to give him everything he wanted.

Rachel leaned back and let Zarif ease himself across her. She felt his firmness press against her, registered the tension in his muscles. As his kisses lifted her to the beginnings of delight, she heard his breathing become harsher, quickening with impending desire.

Rachel felt her body soften and wondered if she could take any more pleasure than the sheer ecstasy he'd given her. The tiredness in her muscles, the exhaustion she felt was like nothing she had ever felt before. She knew that if she submitted to his obvious need, she would be filled with renewed energy as well as his firmness.

Zarif's head moved downward along the length of her neck and across to that spot he'd found behind her ear. Nerves tingled, and her core flamed as he drove her wild with his tongue. She felt his fingers tease her pebbled nipples, intensifying the already wild sensations.

He felt so large against her, bigger than she'd realized. But then she remembered how he had felt inside her, how it had seemed so right, so perfect. He'd swept away all her uncertainties, banished her doubts. Now there was no doubt remaining.
 

She was his, and she always would be.

****

Later, after they had made love they lay together awhile, content just to be with each other, happy to start the day the way they would always begin each day in the times to come.

Rachel knew that now. Even though he hadn't suggested as much, she knew that at some point the conversation would take place about what all of this really meant for their futures.

They showered together, which was an even more intense level of fresh pleasures for Rachel. Seeing him like that, naked and wet in the shower, with Rachel feeling like a cornered prey in the shower, watching his, enjoying seeing him wash his incredible body.
 

Rachel thought about that shower the entire time she was dressing herself, the whole time she was putting on her makeup and looking at herself in the mirror.

After a while, they headed downstairs and had breakfast at the same table on the same terrace which faced onto the garden where they had opened up to one another, where the had revealed their secrets.

Rachel had to admit that Zarif scrubbed up pretty well. She watched him across the table as he ate his breakfast. He ate his food, looking like a sated animal that needed to rebuild its strength after a particularly tiring hunt.

And Rachel had felt almost like his prey. He'd found her, hunted her, had cornered her and now he had claimed her in the only way that truly mattered. With love.

As she ate, she wondered what the day would hold. What would they talk about? There was so much to think about, so much to figure out. She knew her world had been turned upside down. His had been, too. She realized there were things that needed to be said, decisions that had to be made.
 

A flurry of uncertainty drifted across her mind. Again.

"What are we going to do, today?" she asked quickly.

Zarif put down his coffee cup and looked at Rachel. "I've got plenty arranged," he replied.

"Really?"

Zarif nodded. "That's what I was up to yesterday after you came back here. I've arranged for you to meet with some people."

"More?" she said with a grin.

"You're going to be here for a while, aren't you?" he asked.

Rachel paused. "You think so?" she said after a while.

Zarif leaned on his elbows and gazed at her. "What do you think?" He said it almost as if it was a challenge.

Rachel lowered her gaze. She didn't know what to say, didn't know what the right words could be to respond to that.

She heard the sound of Zarif's chair slide against the marble floor and looked up. He lifted his chair and settled it down by her side. He sat down and took her hand in his.
 

His brows were furrowed, and his eyes were filled with sudden concern. "What's wrong, Rachel?" he murmured.

She shook her head and gazed into his eyes. "Nothing," she replied hearing the treacherous uncertainty in her voice. He noticed that tone and frowned. "What's worrying you?"

Rachel sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "I don't know, Zarif. It's just that everything's moving so fast. It's all so sudden. I don't know what to think. What to feel." Her voice cracked with emotion, and she felt his grasp tighten on her hand.

"But, last night," he growled. "That felt real, didn't it?" She looked into his eyes, seeing a sudden urgency there. "It did to me," he added.