The Sheik's Rebellious Mistress (5 page)

Electra laughed softly and shook her head, unaware of the impact her laughter had on her companion. She didn"t glance back or she"d have caught the expression of intensity on his face. She might have run from the penthouse. But then again, she might have slipped the zipper down on her dress and enticed him to finish what he"d started at the doorway. Her body was so tense, so primed for more of his touch, his kisses, that she felt like a bow that was being pulled tighter and tighter.

“No, this isn"t a usual gardenia. I"ve seen them in other places and would recognize them. This is something special,” she said and moved toward the next flower, trying to distract herself from the man standing behind her. She had to do something with her hands besides reach up and loosen his tie. Good grief, she was considering all the different ways she could cut the man"s suit off of him. She had to get a grip on herself. “This is a pretty rose,” she said, her fingers caressing the petals gently, unknowingly sensuous as her fingers trailed down to the ends of the delicate flower.

“You like to garden?” he asked, following her as she moved from one plant to the next, his eyes watching her hands hungrily. Each time she touched another plant or flower, he thought of how he would make her do the same to him, to specific parts of his anatomy.

Her fingers were long, slender and delicate and for the first time since he"d been initiated into the world of sexuality, he had to grit his teeth as the desire stormed through his body, almost uncontrollable in its intensity.

Electra grimaced and moved on to the next lovely, delicate bloom. “No. I"m not very good at keeping things alive,” she said, her laughing gaze turning back to his as she spoke softly. “I prefer strolling through the botanical gardens or nurseries, pretending I have a green thumb.”

“Why the interest in plants?” he asked.

She turned and smiled brightly at him. “Just because I can"t grow them, doesn"t mean I don"t appreciate their beauty and scent. The complexity of the flowers never ceases to amaze me,” she said and turned back to walk further along the pathway. “I mean, have you ever really looked at a plant? The perfect shape of the petals that are designed to encourage and entice bees and other bugs to rest and take their nectar. Each bloom has a particular insect that it is trying to entice and all parts of the flower are specifically created for only that insect. It"s amazing,” she said, unknowingly enticing him further with her talk of the sexuality of the botanical world.

“What can I get you to drink?” he asked abruptly, walking ahead of her toward an open area that contained a table laid with white linen and candles along with a bar to one side.

Electra followed, a little surprised and hurt by his angry tone but tried to breeze through the moment. Perhaps he just wasn"t interested in flowers and she was boring him with her silly talk. Biting her lip in confusion, she leaned against the bar and looked around at the various bottles available. Unfortunately, she didn"t drink very often so she had no idea what sophisticated women would request.“I"ll have whatever you"re having,” she replied, hoping whatever he drank wouldn"t taste too awful.

Standing behind the bar, he thought he had his libido more under control. At her answer, he grinned at her wolfishly. “Will you always be so amenable to my preferences?” he teased.

Electra stared at him, not sure what happened but he was suddenly the same man he"d been when she"d walked through the door. What happened to the man who had almost stomped away from her only moments ago? Shaking her head slightly, she eased into one of the tall chairs and leaned onto the bar. “Depends on what you"re suggesting,” she replied. They were getting into dangerous territorybut she didn"t want to back down, her heart rate speeding up and her breath coming in quick, short gasps. She was afraid she might be promising him something unknowinglybut felt sure he"d never pressure her into anything she felt uncomfortable with.

“Ah, a woman with conditions,” he said, shaking his head as he poured several liquids into a shaker, then tossed ice cubes in. “All my hopes are dashed.”

Electra laughed. “You seem like the kind of man who needs to be disappointed every once in a while,” she countered. “I suspect you get your way too often.”

One eyebrow raised teasingly he said, “Are you going to be the one to take me down a peg?” he suggested.

Her mouth dried up with his suggestion but she couldn"t even go on teasing any longer. “No. I"m afraid I"m not going to be that woman,” she said.

His eyes caught hers and held her with their intensity. “Good,” he finally said. He then broke the connection and handed her a martini. Raising his glass to hers, he said, “To a lack of disappointment,” he said and touched her glass gently.

After taking a sip of the dry martini, he said, “So what did you do today besides try and fix your missed appointment?” Instead of standing behind the bar as she"d expected, he came around to the front of the bar and sat down beside her.

Electra hid her disappointment when he didn"t immediately take her into his arms and carry her off to his bed. Good grief, she"d be happy if he"d take her right here on the soft grass beneath the chair, she thought, shivering in anticipation at the thought.

Trying to think of what she"d done, she shook her head when she came up blank. “I shopped for this dress,” she said and held out her arms to show him the dress.

His eyes flared instantly as he looked down at her voluptuous breasts contained in the glittering green material. “Very nice,” he said. “And what else?” he asked.

Electra shook her head and laughed. “I"m not sure you understand how difficult it is to find a dress for an evening with a man like you. Shopping took up all my afternoon, except for the portion in which I was getting into the dress,” she explained, her eyes twinkling at his curious expression.

He smiled back at her. “That is an occupation I hope to encourage,” he said and took a sip of his own martini. “Were you able to fix your meeting?” he asked.

“No. The odious man wouldn"t even return my phone calls. One of his aides was screening all his callsalthough I"m pretty sure I have the man"s personal cell phone.” “Perhaps I could help with your mission if you"d care to explain it to me. I have many connections. Maybe I could reach this person for you.”

Electra shook her head sadly. “Thank you ve ry much for the offer but this is something I have to do on my own,” she said, not willing to go into the reasons for that. “What did you do this afternoon?”

“Met with boring, pompous men who tried to sell me things,” he replied.

“What kinds of things?” she asked.

“Buildings,” he answered.

Electra almost chocked on her martini. She had to cough and take a deep breath before she could reply. “Did you say building?” she asked.

He pulled his hand away that had been patting her back and smiled down into her stunned face. He wasn"t bragging but this was a normal part of his life and hadn"t thought anything of it before he"d opened up about his afternoon meetings. He hesitated for only a second with the realization that he"d never discussed his life with any other woman before. In his mind, women were a pleasant diversion but nothing more and certainly not part of his business world. Why had he said something like that to this one? And why was he going to continue to give her insight into his world? “Plural actually. A conglomerate is hoping to entice me into buying a packet of land and, in addition, they want me to build several sky scrapers on it.”

Electra nodded sagely, as if she understood. But the idea of someone building sky scrapers, much less buying the land and more than one building, simply boggled her mind. “Well, of course,” she replied. “Why not go for the volume discounts,” she teased, still gasping slightly from the alcohol going down the wrong way. She fanned her face in the hopes that her embarrassment wouldn"t show.

“Why not?” he laughed with her.

“So, what exactly do you do? Are you some sort of property developer?” she asked, afraid that whatever he might reply would put him way out of her league. She didn"t want him to be that wealthy although this penthouse certainly screamed immense wealth.

“I do many things,” he said ambiguously. He didn"t want to reveal his identity to this woman for some reason. Too many times, he"d been desired for his wealth or his title. He wanted to be desired for himself. Why he cared in this instance was beyond him but he did and he wasn"t going to question it at this point. Once he"d worked her out of his system and moved on to the next woman, he didn"t care if she found out about him. But he"d do all he could to keep her from learning of his real identity until that point arrived.

“Such as?” she encouraged. “Think of ways to get you here tonight,” he replied.

Electra blushed. She suspected that he"d meant to say “into my bed” but he"d held back at the last moment. If he"d said those words, she"d probably have stood up and started stripping right there and then, needing him so much she thought she might burst into flames at any moment. But she held back, sipping her martini in the hope that it might cool down her desire somehow.

Something off to the side caught his attention and he nodded. “Are you ready for dinner?” he asked and stood up.

Electra stood herself and turned in the direction of his nod, gasping when she caught three men in white chef uniforms with trays walking onto the terrace. They placed a plate in front of each chair at the table, then another in the center. One whipped out a lighter and lit the candles then, just as quickly as they"d appeared, all three of them disappeared into the forest of trees and shrubs.

“Who was that?” she asked, her mouth hanging open in shock and her eyes wide.

“Who was what?” he asked, walking over to the table to hold out a chair for her.

“Those men,” she replied, w alking carefully over to the table, not sure her legs would carry her. The martini was more than half gone by now and she suspected that it was too potent for her. She didn"t usually drink so she was feeling the effects of the alcohol quickly. She reached for the glass of ice water, drinking the liquid thirstily.

“The chefs?” he asked, sitting down on the opposite side of her and picking up a bottle of wine, pouring the rich, red liquid into their two glasses.

“You have more than one?” she asked.

Dharr shrugged. “I don"t know what their official titles are. I suspect that one of them is a lead chef and the other two sous chefs,” he theorized. “Do they bother you?” he asked.

Electra shook her head and drank more water then pulled her napkin down onto her lap. Anything to keep her hands busy.

Dharr understood that something had happened to make her feel uncomfortable so for the next hour, he worked on putting her at ease again. He told her silly stories from his childhood, asked her about her own, about her education, her dreams for the future and basically pulling out as much information as he could from her. The whole time though, he was watching her animated face, noting that every emotion played out in her eyes and in her expressions. She spoke with her hands and he had a hard time keeping his eyes on her face since, each time she moved her hands, the low cut of her dress brought his attention to her breasts, their softness enticing him, entrancing him.
When the dessert was over, she laid her fork down on the side of her plate, her nervousness intensifying. The meal was over and she had nothing else to talk about. All she wanted to do was make love with this man and experience the magic she was sure he could give her with his touch. But he looked relaxed and not about to initiate anything more than conversation.

At some point, music had started playing and had grown louder as the meal progressed. Between the wine, the candles, the soft music and Dharr"s magnetic personality, she could actually feel the sexual vibrations bouncing between them.

Taking her glass of wine and standing up, she walked over to the side of the terrace, looking out over the horizon and wondering how she could get him to put his arms around her. She was so nervous but still determined to be with him tonight. She wanted this man and she had the relative freedom to be with him although she was sure that Micha was sitting downstairs in the lobby of the building waiting for her.

When she felt his arms come around her waist, his chin nuzzle the nape of her neck, she sighed with pleasure and relief.She hadn"t come up with a way to entice him so him taking the lead was a relief.

The kisses that trailed down her neck and across her shoulder felt splendid but when his fingers slid across the back of her dress, she shivered in delight, her back arching and her mouth opening slightly.

“You have a beautiful back, Ellie.” He ran his tongue along the shell of her ear, then nibbled on the lobe. “But you should have real diamonds here instead of these,” he said and wrapped his hand around her waist, pulling her back against his front.

Electra gasped at the sensations and wanted to turn around, face him and kiss him but he held her firmly with one hand, while the other reached up and let his fingers skim across the top of the dress, just as his fingers had done to the back only moments ago.“Your skin is like satin,” he whispered. “But your hair should never be tied up like this,” he said, releasing her body so his fingers could slid into the long tresses, sending the pins flying in every direction. She didn"t care where they went, as long as his hands continued to caress her scalp. When his hands tangled in her long, black hair, she wanted to melt against him. She pushed her back more firmly against him, feeling his erection against her back. Her hands reached out behind her, coming into contact with his hard, muscular thighs, amazed at the strength she found there.

“Dharr,” she whispered, unable to con tinue with her words although she would have begged him to hurry, to carry her away and ease this aching, almost painful burning that had taken over every cell in her body.

“What do you want?” he asked. “You. I want you,” she said firmly, her fingers skimming along his slacks. She wanted to go higher, to turn around and wrap her fingers around the length of his erection and explore the manbut she didn"t have the courage.