A Diamond for the Sheikh's Mistress

Kat shook her head, finding it hard to focus. ‘What are you talking about?’

Zafir’s jaw clenched. ‘I’m talking about making you jealous, Kat. I wanted to make you jealous. I wanted to provoke you into showing me something...anything...so that I don’t feel as if I’m the only one going crazy here.’

Kat swallowed, all her turmoil dissolving and being replaced by a dangerous tenderness. She whispered unevenly, ‘You’re not going crazy...’

‘The problem is,’ he said, as if she hadn’t spoken, his voice rough, ‘that I do care who I sleep with, and unfortunately there’s only one woman I want to sleep with. She’s haunted me for months and I can’t get her out of my head...not till I’ve tasted every inch of her again.’

Kat felt a dangerous languor steal over her. She was oblivious to the fact that they were in a stalled elevator. ‘Who...?’ she managed to croak out. ‘Who is this woman?’

Zafir lowered his hands from beside her head and expertly wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her into him. His other hand found and started plucking the pins from her hair as he said throatily, ‘You know it’s you, Kat...it’s always been you.’

It’s always been you...

Kat could feel tendrils of her hair falling down around her shoulders. She didn’t have the strength to resist Zafir any more. She wanted him with an ache that was painful. And when his mouth touched hers she couldn’t stop a helpless whimper of need escaping. Her hands were already unfurling and climbing up to wrap around his neck.

The kiss quickly became carnal and explicit. This was no gentle exploration. This was months of hunger and frustration. Months of X-rated dreams. Zafir demanded Kat’s response and she gave it, arching her whole body into his as if they could just fuse there and then.

She was dizzy, ravenous for the taste of Zafir’s mouth, sucking his tongue deep, nipping with her teeth. He was hot and hard against her belly, and she longed to wrap her hand around him and squeeze his flesh, remembering the way his breath would hiss between his teeth.

His hands roved over her back, slipping over her dress, feeling her curves. She felt constricted, her breasts pushing against the heavy fabric, nipples tingling with need.

Zafir’s hands went lower, covering her buttocks, squeezing with his big hands, pulling her dress up. It was the sensati

on of air on her bare leg that finally managed to cut through the heated haze in Kat’s brain, and with a stark feeling of sheer panic and dread she realised that Zafir was about to expose her in more ways than one.

She broke away from his kiss and opened her eyes. It took a second for her to focus, and her breathing was as jagged as her heart rate. The fact that Zafir looked similarly dishevelled was no consolation.

She’d almost forgotten...

She stepped to the side, her dress falling down around her legs. Covering her again. Her mouth felt swollen. Other parts of her felt sensitive. Slick. God. He’d been moments away from lifting her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist.

‘What is it, Kat?’

She couldn’t look at him. Her hair was half up, half down, and she raised trembling hands, trying to repair the damage. ‘Please...just take me back to my room.’

For a long moment there was only the sound of harsh breathing in the small space, and then Zafir turned away and pressed a button. The elevator started moving again, and this time Kat put a hand on the wall to steady herself. She saw her clutch bag on the floor, where she must have dropped it, and bent down to pick it up with nerveless fingers.

Zafir’s back was impossibly broad and remote in front of her. She longed to say something. Anything. But her tongue was frozen.

When the elevator doors opened Zafir stepped out. Kat followed him down the corridor to her room. She opened her clutch to get her key, but her hand was shaking too much to put it in the door. Any hope of disguising his effect on her was well and truly gone.

Her key was plucked out of her hand by a much bigger one and Zafir opened the door efficiently, waiting for her to go in. Kat wanted to sag down into a chair and take the weight off her quivering legs, but Zafir followed her in, closing the door behind him.

She faced him, heart thumping. ‘Zafir, I didn’t mean for you to—’

‘Continue what we just started?’ he inserted harshly.

He folded his arms. He’d never looked more formidable or gorgeous.

‘Well, tough,’ he said. ‘Because I have every intention of finishing what we started.’

Kat shook her head and forced herself to speak as calmly as possible. ‘I’m sorry, Zafir, if I gave you the impression...’

But the words dried up in her throat under his quelling look. She knew Zafir was more sophisticated than that. Just because they’d kissed, he wouldn’t expect more now. But it wasn’t about that. She’d felt the conflagration between them. It was unique. Unprecedented. Undeniable.

He unlocked his arms and shed his jacket, tossing it on a nearby chair. Then he reached for his bow tie and undid it with jerky moves, yanking open his top button.

He looked around. ‘Do you have anything to drink in here?’