A Sheikh for Christmas (All I want for Christmas is... 1)

His lips—soft, warm, tender—brushed gently across hers and her knees wobbled.

This was not how she’d pictured her evening going, but man, oh man, it was so much better than she could ever have imagined.

* * *

If asked, Daveed couldn’t have said exactly why he’d kissed her. Maybe it was because of the impending holidays and the fact she’d been thoughtful enough to get him a tree and decorate it when he’d expected to spend another Christmas alone. Maybe it was in celebration of the fact that finally all his investigative work this afternoon had turned up a lead on the missing Aileen. Seemed a friend who worked at the same newspaper as Murphy’s sister knew she’d been onto a big story and Aileen had told them she was planning on going undercover to get the truth.

Or maybe it was because Melody Hascall-Ebons—the last woman on Earth he should possibly consider sleeping with—was in his arms, all warm and soft and sweet. Her velvety skin filled him with a yearning so strong he nearly lifted her into his arms and carried her to his bed right then and there. Her lips parted for him and he dipped his tongue inside her mouth to taste mint and a hint of licorice from the tea she’d been drinking. Her curves felt so right pressed against his hardness and he couldn’t help rocking his hips against her. It had been so long, too long since he’d been with a woman. And damn, but he wanted Melody something fierce.

Using every last ounce of will-power he possessed, Daveed forced himself to pull away. He had to be sure that this was what she wanted. After all, they’d only known each other a few days. She’d just been through a nasty break-up. This time of year always made him miss his family, regardless of the fact he’d not seen them in years. It was the holidays. They made him homesick. His family had been Christian since the fifth century, AD, and the Rafik family always did Christmas up right. He cupped Melody’s flushed cheeks and stroked her cheekbones with his thumbs until she blinked open her passion-dazed eyes.

Her pink lips were wet and swollen from his kisses and an unaccountable burst of masculine pride raced through him. He’d made her look that way—all wanted and ready for his lovemaking. His cock twitched eagerly in response.

“Melody, habibaty,” he said, his words emerging rougher than he’d intended from his lust-tightened throat. “Are you sure this is what you want? I don’t want to rush into anything with you. You’ve been through a lot these past few days. Perhaps we should…”

Before he could say anything more, she slid her hands up his chest to place her finger over his lips. “I need this. I need you, Daveed. Please. Let’s share this tonight. Just you and I, and no one else. You want me as much as I want you.” To prove her point, she slid her other hand down to stroke his stiff erection through the fly of his jeans. He couldn’t stop a low groan from escaping any more than he could stop himself from thrusting gently against her palm. “Please,” she said again, her tone quiet and plaintive. “Please don’t turn me away.”

In the end, he gave up fighting against what he wanted, what he’d wanted since the moment she’d walked into the condo that first night—wet and freezing and completely, frustratingly adorable. “Yes.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her up against him, her chest pressed tight to his as he started toward the bedroom.

“Wait!” she said, gripping his shoulders tight and tearing her mouth away from his. “Let’s stay here.”

Daveed frowned. He glanced around the living room but saw only the sofa—which wasn’t wide enough or long enough to be comfortable for what he had in mind—and the chairs—which had their advantages and which he might try with her later, but for their first time together, he wanted it to be special. “Here?”

“Yes.” She wriggled out of his arms and walked over to the sofa, pulling down the thick fake fur throw decorating the back of it and tossing it under the tree. She pointed toward the gas fireplace in the far wall while she headed toward the light switch by the front door. “Start the fire while I dim the lights.”

He did as she asked, his blood still slamming through his veins and his cock so hard he was surprised he could walk. But when he saw the effects afterward, he knew she’d been right. With the flames dancing in the fireplace and casting the entire room in a soft, warm glow, and the twinkling lights of the snowy cityscape outside rivaling the magical lights on their own small tree, Daveed was enchanted. Both with the scene and with Melody.

She came to him again and this time when he picked her up, he vowed never to let her go again. Not until they’d finished what they started here. He lowered her to the floor atop the fluffy throw, then knelt beside her to slowly peel away her clothes and his. For every inch of her lovely, creamy skin he uncovered he gave it a lick or a kiss or a stroke. She was moaning and clutching at his arms, as if desperate to

feel him against her, skin to skin at last.

More than willing to oblige, Daveed finally conceded and stretched out beside her on the large throw, naked and fully aroused. She seemed to fit him perfectly, her small but perfectly formed breasts just the right size to fill his palms and her berry-pink nipples all but begged for his mouth to lick and suck them. Again, he didn’t disappoint. After kissing her deeply, Daveed trailed his mouth down her throat to her collarbone, then bent and took one straining peak between his lips, gazing up at her as she arched beneath him, her fingers threading through his hair to tickle his scalp. He shivered at the touch, inwardly praising the heavens for gifting him with this glorious woman tonight. At the same time, he couldn’t help thinking Heath was such a fool for ever letting such a treasure get away.

After lavish attention on one breast, he moved to do the same to its twin, his fingers stroking down her flat belly to the small tidy patch of blond curls between her thighs. She parted her quivering legs for him and he rested his palm over her wet heat, claiming ownership of her, at least for their one evening together. This might be wrong, might be temporary, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be special too.

As he traced his fingers over her slick folds to find her sensitive clit hidden within them, she cried out, her breath panting and her eyes closed as she lost herself in sensation. Daveed couldn’t ever remember seeing a more beautiful sight in his life. Since joining the military and later, after his discharge, he’d had many encounters like this one, many short-term flings. But try as he might to keep his emotions detached from what he and Melody were sharing tonight, he found he couldn’t. She charged past the well-defined, organized boxes he tried to keep her within and forced him to feel more. A storm of new emotions raged inside him—desire, possessiveness, need, tenderness—and threatened to overwhelm him if he didn’t maintain control. And the only way he was going to do that was by making Melody lose hers first.

“Oh, God!” Melody said, digging her nails into his hair as he left her breasts to kiss his way down her abdomen to the treasure between her legs. “What are you doing?”

“I want to taste you, habibaty.” He leaned in and dropped a quick kiss between her legs and she bucked hard beneath him. Bracing his arms around her thighs to keep her open and available to him, he then traced his tongue slowly up her slick folds to the top where her stiff clit was peeking out at him. She cried out and melted against him, her hands no longer trying to pull him away but instead gently guiding him, showing him what she liked most. Soon, he had his fingers joining in, along with his tongue, with first one, then two fingers thrusting within her, preparing her for him while bringing her closer and closer to the edge.

“Oh, oh, Daveed, I’m… I’m…”

“Are you getting close, habibaty?” he asked, loving the spicy taste of her arousal and the heady scent of her need for him. “Let go for me. Let me see you cum for me.”

He continued circling her clit with his tongue and soon she bowed beneath him, her loud groans of satisfaction echoing around the room as her inner channel convulsed around his fingers. “Yes, that’s it, sweetheart. That’s it, habibaty. Give it all to me. Show me how much you want me,” he murmured against her sensitive flesh, milking every drop of pleasure from her orgasm and prolonging the feeling for her as long as possible. When she finally relaxed back against the floor, her body slack and sated, he slowly nuzzled his way up her body to her mouth, kissing her deeply. “You are so beautiful.”

She stroked his sweat dampened hair away from his forehead and smiled, so lovely it made his chest ache. “No, you are.”

Grinning, he pumped his hard cock against her thigh. “Men are not beautiful. Men are handsome.”

“You’re beautiful, and handsome.” Melody slid her hand between them to grip his length and slowly stroke him. He wanted her so badly that if she kept it up, he wouldn’t last. Then she traced her thumb over the blunt head of his cock, spreading the bead of moisture there in to his skin and he had to grab her wrist. Had to pull her hand away before he embarrassed himself. At her disappointed look, he bent and kissed her quickly again before moving away to get the condom he always kept in his wallet. As he opened the tiny foil packet and put it on, she watched him, eyes half-lidded and her smile soft in the glow of the Christmas tree and the fire behind them. “God, you are so gorgeous,” she said, giving him a head-to-toe appraisal as he stood naked and fully hard before her. Melody crooked her finger at him in blatant invitation. “Come here.”

He didn’t need to be asked twice. As he covered her body with his once more, the fur from the throw tickled his bare skin and made him even more aware of her firm, warm curves beneath him.

She raised her knees and he knelt between her thighs, positioning her as he wanted her before allowing just the tip of his hard cock to penetrate her wet entrance. Melody bit her lower lip and closed her eyes, pressing her hips against him, her voice throaty as she sighed, “More.”