Diamond in the Desert

Distracted, he brushed a kiss against her lips. ‘I like them a lot. I’d like to know more. I’d like to know more about you—’

The look of surprise on her face almost broke the erotic spell for him, and then she said with touching honesty, ‘I’d like to know more about you and your country.’

‘Maybe you will.’

Closing his eyes, he inhaled her wildflower scent, and realised then that the thought of never smelling it again was unthinkable. He was still on guard, of course. There was still a business deal to do and it would be unwise to underestimate Britt Skavanga. She was everything he had been warned to expect...and so much more.

* * *

When Emir kissed her she was glad of his arms supporting her, because he didn’t just kiss her breath away, he kissed her thoughts away too. It felt so good to drop her guard and lose herself in sensation, shut out the business robot she had become. It was good to feel sensation spreading in tiny rivers of fire through her veins, and even better to feel Emir’s erection resting heavily against her thigh, because that said he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She groaned with anticipation when he nudged her thighs apart. Moving between them, he started teasing her with delicate touches until she thought she would go mad for him.

‘Wrap your legs around me,’ he instructed, staring deep into her eyes.

‘Don’t make me wait,’ she warned, but in a way she was glad when he soothed her with kisses and caresses first. She cried out and urged him on. There were no certainties other than the fact that she was being drawn deeper into a dangerous liaison with him.

As if sensing her unease, he took her face in his big, warm hands and drugged her with kisses. Gentle to begin with, they grew deeper and firmer as the embers inside her sparked and flared. She loved it when he took possession of her mouth, and loved it even more when he took possession of her body. She loved being held so firmly. She loved the powerful emotions inside her.

‘Have you changed your mind?’ he said as she tried to rein them in.

She denied this, and then he did something so amazing she couldn’t have stopped him if she had tried. A shaking cry escaped her throat as he sank slowly deep inside her. She could never be fully prepared for Emir. The sheer size of him stole the breath from her lungs. He was such an intuitive lover. He understood every part of her and how she responded. He knew her limits and never stepped over them, while his hands and mouth worked magic. Today he was using the seductive language of Kareshi—soft and guttural, husky and persuasive—to both encourage and excite her. It must have succeeded because she found herself pressing her legs wide for him with the heel of her palms against her thighs.

‘Good,’ he approved, thrusting even deeper.

She cried out his name repeatedly as he moved rhythmically and reliably towards the inevitable conclusion. But suddenly some madness overcame them, and control was no longer possible as they fought their way to release.

She was still shuddering with aftershocks minutes later. Her internal muscles closed around him gratefully, to an indescribably delicious beat.

Neither of them spoke for quite a while. They had both experienced the same thing—something out of the ordinary, she thought as Emir stared down at her. At last his eyes were full of everything she had longed to see.

‘I take it you enjoyed that?’ he murmured, and, withdrawing gently, he helped her to sit up.

‘And you?’ she said, resting her cheek against his chest.

‘I have one suggestion—’

She glanced up.

‘Next time we try a bed.’

His grin infected her. ‘Now there’s a novel thought,’ she agreed, but after she had rested on him for a moment or two harsh reality intruded and she remembered who she was, who he was, and the parts they played in this drama.

Lifting her chin, she put on the old confident face. ‘Don’t get ahead of yourself, mister. I sleep alone.’

‘Who mentioned sleeping?’ Emir argued.

‘Do you always have to show such perfect good sense?’

‘With you, I think I do,’ he said, smiling, unrepentant.

* * *

Emir was probably the one man she was prepared to take instruction from, Britt concluded as she showered down later in her en-suite bathroom at the cabin, if only because the pay-off was so great. And she wasn’t just thinking about the sexual pay-off, but the pay-off that was making her sing and waltz around the bathroom like a fruit-loop—the pay-off that made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside—and optimistic about the future—about everything. She felt suddenly as if anything could happen—as if the boundaries of Skavanga and her job had fallen away, leaving a world full of possibility. And the desert kingdom of Kareshi was definitely the stand out country in that world waiting to be discovered.