But now—oh, now her ears felt pressurized, uncomfortable.
A sneeze snuck up on her. It was a near thing, lunging for the box of tissues, but she made it just in time.
“Gross,” she said to no one, and then the door to their suite opened, and Rami breezed back in. He was surprisingly graceful for a man of his height, Catelyn thought, though she didn’t have anyone to compare him to. Not really. But she couldn’t imagine being that tall and moving through the world with such precise movements.
Rami scanned the room. “Who are you talking to?”
“Nobody,” she said, then sneezed again.
His eyes locked on her, and Catelyn felt the urge to turn away, to hide the fact that she was sick. “You’re not well,” Rami said. Cover blown.
“It’s nothing.” Her voice sounded wrong, even to her. “It’s just a little cold.”
In an instant, Rami had crossed the room and was bending over her desk. “That won’t do,” he said, pressing the laptop shut. Catelyn’s head pounded. “To bed with you.” He scooped her up in his arms and took her to the bedroom, where she curled into the pure white sheets. Then he bustled around the room, taking off his jacket. Catelyn propped herself up on two pillows.
“No jacket?” Now that she was away from the computer and lying down, the headache was subsiding.
“No shirt, either,” Rami said wickedly. He pulled off his dress shirt and undid the buckle on his pants. “I’m canceling all my meetings.”
Catelyn pushed herself fully upright and immediately regretted the decision. “What? You don’t need to do that.”
“I do,” Rami said. “My wife is ill and needs my full attention.” As if to really drive the point home, Rami took his phone out of his pocket and turned it off. He tossed it onto an overstuffed chair near the floor-to-ceiling windows. He finished stripping down, leaving only his boxers and a white undershirt.
To hell with the cold. “I would feel so much better—” Catelyn cleared her throat. “If you’d come to bed with me.”
Rami grinned. He didn’t hesitate, bounding across the room in two long strides. But he was careful as he climbed in next to Catelyn.
“I feel a little bad,” Catelyn said. “You should be preparing for the trip. The meetings—”
“They can wait.” Rami leaned down and tugged the collar of her T-shirt away from her collarbone. Then he pressed his lips to the ridge there. “Besides, I am preparing for the trip.”
Catelyn’s core heated at the kisses he was lavishing her with, and she let herself sink back into the pillows. “How so?”
“I’m taking care of my wife. I need you to be healthy, otherwise it’ll be a lost cause.”
Rami took the hem of her shirt and tugg
ed it up so he could keep kissing her, slowly, deliciously, all the way down her rib cage and toward her belly button. Catelyn closed her eyes. She could swim in that sensation forever. Why not? It was so good, so good…
When Rami reached her panties, he hooked his thumbs in the waistband and tugged them off.
“Are you sure you shouldn’t be—”
“Shhh.”
Catelyn gave herself over to him, eyes closed, pillows supporting her back. Rami kissed down the front of her leg and then turned his attention to the inside of her thigh. It made her wet, to feel him swirl his tongue against that delicate skin. He kissed closer and closer, up the line of her leg until—
He pulled away.
“Rami, no—”
“Shh.” Rami stroked his fingers between her legs, his touch feather-light, and Catelyn groaned, arching her back. “Greedy,” Rami commented. Another stroke, and she wanted more. But he teased and tempted, those fingers playing over her slick folds.
“Rami, please.”
“Only because you asked so nicely.” He drove two fingers inside of her, twisted them, finding a hidden spot that made her clench around them. Catelyn curled toward him and he caught her easily in his arm. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and spread her legs wide for him. She didn’t care how it looked. She only cared how it felt, and it was filthy and delicious all at once.
He withdrew his hand again, only this time the bed shifted. Before she could protest, he was there, the warm thickness of him nudging at her entrance. More kisses fell like rain along the side of her neck.