‘Despite the instinctive warning that I should keep away from you.’
‘Maybe you should heed the warning. Think of the gossip.’
‘There will always be interest in what the King of Ja’ahr does and who he does it with. Will such attention bother you?’
Her tongue darted out to lick her lower lip. It took a considerable amount of willpower not to lower his head and taste her right then and there.
‘Why are we talking about this?’ she asked, her own gaze dropping to his mouth.
Lust and impatience prowled through him. ‘You really need to ask? When you can hardly breathe for all the hunger threatening to consume us right now?’
Her breath audibly caught. The predator in him enjoyed that sound immensely. ‘Zaid, I thought we agreed that there would be nothing—’
‘Tell me you don’t want me and I will leave,’ he cut her off, unwilling to be reminded of what he’d so readily accepted earlier tonight.
‘I...’ She stopped, shook her head. ‘This is a bad idea.’
He cupped her shoulders, felt her soft warm skin beneath the thin cotton of her dress. Hunger pounded harder. ‘It’s not the confirmation I requested. Admit how you feel and tell me you want me, Esmeralda. Or do you imagine a lie would be easier?’
A vein of hurt passed through her eyes. Despite her fixed stare, her mouth trembled for a telling second before she curbed the weakness. ‘I don’t lie.’
He brushed the hurt and the response aside, as he did with the reminder that even if she didn’t lie, she still hadn’t told him the complete truth about her past during their conversation earlier. ‘Then tell me what I want to know.’
She looked cornered, defeated for a wild second. Then that defiant little chin rose. ‘Fine! I want you. But I still think this is a bad—’
He slanted his mouth over hers, kissing the words that held undeniable truth in them from her delectable mouth. And just like that, the fuse of desire leapt high and became all-consuming. Zaid clasped her tighter to him, moulded her lissom body to his until her softness was pressed against his hardness. And still he wanted her closer. As if she felt the same, her hands rose to slide around his waist. Soft, velvety lips opened beneath his. He delved with an eagerness that bordered on the uncouth. But he didn’t care. Her responsiveness, the little moans she gave at the back of her throat each time their tongues met, triggered the headiest sensation he’d ever experienced. But even as he deepened the kiss, Zaid knew there was more in store. He knew and he hungered for it.
It was what drew his fingers to tunnel through her hair, disposing of the handful of pins that secured the loose knot. Honey-gold strands tumbled over his fingers in a fall of glorious silk. Suffused in her wild feminine scent, he caressed her scalp, tightened his hold on her and pulled her even closer. The unmistakeable feeling of her belly cradling his erection was a thousand highs distilled into one glorious sensation.
The hands wrapped around his waist splayed over his back, her fingers exploring, digging, sending him wild as she strained and whimpered against him. Mouths devouring each other, Zaid walked them backwards until the arm of the nearest sofa halted their progress. Expertly manoeuvring them, he sank down and pulled her into his lap without breaking the kiss. Still keeping her prisoner against him, he tasted her, deeper, longer, until their frantic breathing echoed lustily through the room. Zaid was aware he was getting carried away, that the servants he’d so cavalierly dismissed were hovering right outside the double doors.
But still he slid his hand from her hip and up her side to rest beneath the sweet curve of one full breast.
Her breath caught. He broke the kiss long enough to voice what he couldn’t keep silent. ‘You’re like a lush oasis after a long exile in the desert, jamila,’ before he sealed his lips to hers once more. Her long, helpless moan drove his hand up.
Firm, gorgeous, magnificent, he gloried in the weight of her full breast before sliding his thumb over the engorged peak. The beautiful little jerk she gave powered his arousal higher. Then, unable to resist the clarion call, he pulled down the elastic neckline of her dress. Zaid kissed her for a moment longer before the other temptation grew too much to resist. The straining pink tip of her nipple was visible through the delicate white lace covering her. With fingers that trembled with the force of his desire he tugged the material out of the way. The strangled sound she made in her throat drew his gaze up. Flushed. Breathless. Beautiful.
He deliberately kept their gazes locked as he lowered his head and drew her nipple into his mouth. Watched her lovely eyes darken with drowning desire before her eyelids began to flutter. Gripped with the need to witness even more of her pleasure, he flicked his tongue over her peak, again and again, then repeated it with the twin. Only when the heat coursing through his body threatened to rage completely out of control did he finally lift his head.
‘Ambrosia, habiba,’ he muttered roughly. ‘You taste like pure, heavenly ambrosia.’
Her answer was to slide her hand over his nape and tug his head back down to her. With a ragged chuckle that spoke of his own unstoppable desire, he tossed himself headlong back into the drugging power of her body.
He was well and truly lost in it when she started to murmur something. With the scent of her arousal joining the maelstrom of powerful elixirs surrounding them, he didn’t realise she was calling to him urgently until she began to push frantically at his shoulders.
‘Zaid, stop!’
‘Not yet,’ he responded thickly. His other hand had left her hair a long time ago, and both hands now cupped the glorious globes of her breasts. He was nowhere near ready to relinquish his prize.
‘Please!’
The frantic plea finally impinged on his senses. A deep but highly unsatisfying breath later, he drew back. And finally heard the sound of cautious knocking. He was glad she didn’t understand his language as he issued a crude, pithy curse and reluctantly let her go.
She got the gist, though. Her face flamed as she hurriedly straightened her clothes and tumbled off his lap. She swayed slightly as she regained her feet. Zaid caught her hips and steadied her as he attempted to pin down his own runaway control.
Her shoes had come off at some point during their torrid interlude. In her bare feet, her face flushed and her hair in disarray, she was a deliciously petite morsel, one he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist devouring in the very near future.
He couldn’t stem the growl of anticipation that rose in his throat at the thought. She shifted beneath his hold, her agitated gaze darting to the door.