Alix still felt raw from the mind-blowing sex and what he’d just revealed about his brother. But he hadn’t been able to bear the thought that Leila really believed he’d felt nothing for their baby. And she deserved to know the truth. That he wasn’t prepared to go through that emotional wasteland again. Having lost everything.
His hand was out to touch her, but she’d stepped back out of his reach. His first instinct was to move closer...but something stopped him. If he touched her again who knew what else he might feel compelled to reveal?
His hand dropped. He’d never wanted a woman so badly that he wanted her again as soon as he’d had her, but right now he really could see no end in sight to this constant craving.
The lush surroundings of the old harem didn’t help. And the fact that she’d been the one to step away made something prickle inside him. She had control when he was in danger of losing it.
He was terse. ‘Okay, let’s go.’
Alix put on the rest of his clothes and watched Leila step into her panties, sliding them up her slim thighs. Thighs that had been wrapped around him only a short time before, her inner muscles clasping his shaft with spasms so strong he’d almost climaxed twice in quick succession.
Damn.
She picked up her shoes on the way out and Alix was forced to feel a measure of shame. They were like teenagers, sneaking off to the nearest private space to have sex. He was a king, for God’s sake. Not a randy schoolboy.
‘What are you going to do with this place?’ Leila asked as she walked out through the main door.
He watched as she went past him, his eyes tracking down her body and up to her tangled hair. Lust was sinking its teeth into him all over again.
‘I had thought of getting rid of it, but now I’m not so sure.’
She looked at him, and before she could say anything he stepped up to her, so that there were just centimetres between their bodies. ‘It won’t be for more wives, Leila, it’ll be for us alone,’ he said.
Her cheeks coloured at that. ‘But that’s...outrageous. A whole hammam and harem, just for two people?’
Alix quirked a smile at the mix of expressions on her face: slightly scandalised, and yet interested at the same time.
‘It’ll be purely for your pleasure and mine, Leila. You’re to be my Queen, and I will want to make sure that you are satisfied.’
The colour faded from her cheeks and she said, ‘I’ll be satisfied when you don’t shut our child out, Alix. Sex is just sex.’
Alix felt her words like a physical blow to his chest. He watched as she stepped out from where he had her all but caged against the wall and started to walk down the corridor. Sex is just sex.
‘Leila,’ he called out curtly.
She stopped and turned around with clear reluctance.
‘It’s this way.’ He pointed in the opposite direction and watched as she came back down the corridor and past him, head held high. He had to stop himself from hauling her back into the harem to show her that he knew exactly that sex was just sex.
The irritating thing was he didn’t need Leila to tell him sex was just sex. So why did he suddenly feel a need to prove that to her—and himself?
* * *
Leila wasn’t sure how she made it back to her rooms with Alix behind her, boring holes in her back with the intensity of his gaze. She thought of that harem, existing just for carnal pleasure... She’d almost melted on the spot when he’d said that it would be solely for their use.
Sex is just sex—ha! Who was she kidding when she felt upside down and wrung out?
It had brought up all the emotions she’d been feeling the morning after they’d returned from Venice, when she’d felt so perilously close to believing she’d fallen for him.
There was no ‘falling’.
The truth hit her like a slap in the face. She was in love with Alix and had been for some time, if she was honest with herself. And that last bout of just sex had left her nowhere to hide.
She almost sobbed with relief when she saw their door appear and the guard standing outside.
When they reached her room she was about to escape inside when Alix said, ‘Wait.’
Leila turned around, schooling her features. No way would Alix know that what had just happened had been cataclysmic for her.