His Salome was a virgin.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A VIRGIN?
The woman who’d come to him dressed like a houri? Who had come to Baslaam as Asaad’s sexual toy?
There was no mistaking the fragile barrier that shielded her from Cam’s full penetration.
Sweat beaded his forehead. Every muscle in his body screamed with tension as he fought against sinking into her.
“Salome,” he said hoarsely, “why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried. Before. When you said you didn’t have a condom, but—”
“Ah, God, what a fool I’ve been.”
“Shh. It doesn’t matter. Just—just—” She moved. A delicate shift of her hips, but it was enough to make him close his eyes and groan.
“Don’t—don’t do that, sweetheart. Just—just hold still. I’ll pull back and you—” The breath hissed between his teeth. She’d shifted again, lifting toward him with such subtlety he might have imagined it.
But he hadn’t.
She wanted him.
The realization filled him with a joy so fierce it shocked him. His golden dancer had never lain in a man’s arms. Now, she lay in his.
And she wanted him.
But she was a virgin. A virgin. As rare a gift as a man could find in this upside-down, often brutal world.
How could he take her innocence? She wasn’t thinking straight. The danger. The adrenaline rush. No, she wasn’t thinking straight and besides…
Besides, he didn’t deserve her gift.
She was brave and strong and beautiful, his Salome, and her virginity belonged to someone else, not someone like him. Not a man who knew more of the world’s evil than he could ever forget.
If had did one right thing in his life, it would be this.
“Cam?”
Her whisper was filled with questions, but he had the only answer that made sense. Slowly, slowly, he began to withdraw from her.
“No,” she said, and her muscles tightened around him.
His heart thundered in his chest. Could a man die of pleasure? Of doing the right thing?
“Shh,” he murmured. “It’s all right, sweetheart.”
A shudder racked his body as he made the final separation from her. She whimpered in protest and he brushed his mouth lightly over hers.
“Salome,” he said softly. “Forgive me.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I should have listened to you, sweetheart, but I was too damned stubborn.”
“Then, listen to me now.” Her eyes met his. “I don’t want you to stop.” She framed his face with her hands. “I want you to make love to me, Cam. I want you inside me.”