Shrugging off his jacket and yanking off his tie, he let them fall to join her discarded dress. ‘Unbutton my shirt,’ he growled.
Tamsyn’s fingers were trembling as she lifted them to Xan’s chest, because for all her bravado she’d never seen a man naked and she’d certainly never undressed anyone before. Yet her instinctive fear was banished by that first sweet touch of the skin which sheathed his hard muscle and she heard him groan as the buttons flew open. Now what, she wondered, as she gazed at his bare chest—too daunted to think about attacking the zip of his trousers.
Did he sense her sudden nervousness? Was that why he gave another slow smile and unclipped her front-fastening bra so that her breasts spilled into his waiting palms and suddenly her nerves were all but forgotten? She writhed as his thumbs circled her nipples and her excitement grew as he moved his hand down between her thighs. Pushing aside the damp, stretched panel at her crotch, he found her slick heat, sliding his finger against the engorged bud with practised ease. And this was heaven. Her hips were circling of their own accord and she was moaning now and the part of her brain which was urging her to be careful, was abruptly silenced by the most powerful desire s
he could ever have imagined.
‘Xan...’ she breathed, looking up to meet the smoky lust which had narrowed his eyes.
‘You are just as hot as I thought you’d be,’ he declared unevenly.
She should have said something then, but she couldn’t even think of the words—let alone form a sentence with them—not when he was laying her down on the bed and pulling off the rest of his clothes with unsteady hands. And then he was naked—his body warm and strong as he lay down beside her. His hungry kiss was fuelling this wild new hunger which was spiralling up inside her and suddenly Tamsyn was on fire. His lips were on her breasts and her belly—tantalising her until she thought she would go out of her mind. And when he guided her hand to his groin, there was no shyness as she encountered the hard ridge of his erection. Instead, she felt nothing but joy as she began to whisper her fingertips against it. But he shook his head as he reached for something on the nightstand and she heard the little tear of foil and realised he must be sheathing himself.
This was it. The moment she’d never thought she’d reach because she had always been unresponsive and afraid. But she wasn’t afraid now as he moved over her and spread her legs apart. Not even when she felt that brief burst of pain and momentarily, he stilled. Instinct told her to angle her hips and to propel them forward so that he slid inside her completely—and once her body had grown accustomed to his width—those incredible sensations of pleasure were back. And how. She cried out with it so that he stilled once again and his words came out clipped, like bullets.
‘I am hurting you?’
‘No. No. Not at all. It’s...oh! Oh, Xan. It’s heaven.’
‘Is it now? Then I had just better.... Do. It. Some. More.’
With each emphasised word, he thrust deeper and deeper, until her nails were digging into his back. Tamsyn could feel the build-up of something. Something so delicious she didn’t believe it could get any better, except that it did. And then better still. It was like being whizzed to the top of a high tower block and being told to jump off, and willingly she did, gasping out his name in an expression of disbelief as she went flying over some sunlight ledge.
As he heard the helpless sound of her cries, Xan knew he couldn’t hold back. Not a second longer. And when his orgasm came it left him shaken. His head fell back and it took several breathless minutes before he could distance himself by rolling away from her. Because he needed to do that. He needed to make sense of what had just happened—even though all he could think about was the folly of what he’d just done.
He had seduced the Sheikh’s sister-in-law!
And against all the odds, she had been a virgin.
He stared down at her, at where her magnificent hair tumbled like fire against the muddled pile of pillows. Her eyes were closed though experience told him she was not asleep, though he suspected she wanted him to think she was. But she was in his room and he wanted answers.
Now.
‘That was some...surprise,’ he drawled.
She opened her eyes and he steeled himself against their beauty, but somehow they had lost their luminous quality. They looked as flat as pieces of jade as she returned his stare and he could see her dreamy expression being replaced with her more usual look of rebellion.
‘What, that the woman you’d clearly slotted into the category of “she’ll be up for anything”, turned out to be less experienced than you imagined?’ she challenged.
He made a growling little sound at the back of his throat. ‘Didn’t you think it was a big enough deal to tell me I was your first lover?’ he demanded. ‘Or that it might be the polite thing to have done?’
At this, Tamsyn nearly burst out laughing. ‘Polite? We haven’t exactly been polite to each other up until now, have we?’ she retorted. ‘At what point exactly was I supposed to tell you? You’ll forgive me if I don’t know the protocol for this kind occasion.’
‘Well, neither do I!’
‘Are you saying that I’m the first virgin you’ve ever had sex with?’
‘Neh... Yes,’ he translated.
There was a moment of silence. ‘Why?’
‘Why do you think?’ he questioned sarcastically. ‘If someone your age has waited all this time to have sex, it’s usually an indication of her having unrealistic expectations.’
‘Such as?’
He shrugged. ‘Holding out for a wedding ring is the first thing which springs to mind.’
‘You really are the most arrogant man I’ve ever met.’