She’d just been breathing a sigh of relief when she’d received a text from Zafir while still in the car.
Next time, we leave together, Kat. Get some rest for tomorrow. Rahul will escort you to the royal plane in the morning and I’ll meet you there.
Kat hadn’t appreciated being made to feel like an admonished child, and yet now her mind drifted back to how Zafir had looked amongst the crowd earlier, how effortlessly he’d stood out with his height and dark good looks.
She couldn’t stop a pulse fluttering between her legs as she recalled how she’d caught him looking at her with something raw in his eyes. Raw, and hungry. It had leapt across the space from him to her, and she’d felt it as strongly as if he’d physically reached out and touched her.
The pulse between Kat’s legs intensified and she shifted in the bath, putting her hand down there, almost as if she could try to stop it. But once her fingers came into contact with her sensitised skin and she felt how slippery she was she sucked in a pained breath.
She’d been on a knife-edge of desire all evening, as much as she’d tried to ignore it. But she couldn’t any more, and her fingers moved tentatively but far too easily against herself, helped by the water and her own slick arousal.
She’d never touched herself like this...not until Zafir had shown her how and had instructed her to do it for him. She thought of that now—how he’d sat naked in a chair and told her to get on the bed and spread her legs, to show herself to him, and then to touch herself. He’d held himself in his hand as she’d done his bidding, his fist moving up and down the stiff column of flesh in a slow, relentless rhythm.
It had been the singularly most indecent and erotic thing she’d ever experienced, and just as she’d exploded into pieces around her own fingers Zafir had surged up, taken her hand away, seated himself between her legs and thrust into her, deep and hard, and had kept her falling over the edge again and again until she’d screamed herself hoarse.
Kat could feel herself quickening now, tightening, as her movements became more feverish and desperate...and yet in the same moment she realised that Zafir wasn’t watching her this time. She was alone in a bath...dreaming of the past and a scenario that would never be repeated.
Disgusted with herself, she took her hand away and opened her eyes, breathing harshly, ignoring the ache between her legs and the way her nipples were so tight they hurt. The truth was that she knew she would find no real satisfaction like this, and it killed her to admit it.
Kat pushed herself upright from the water and balanced on one leg. She sat on the edge of the bath, swinging herself over before drying herself roughly and reaching for the crutches she had nearby. Then she manoeuvred herself to standing, excess water dripping onto the towels she’d placed on the floor to stop herself from slipping and sliding when she got out.
Getting out of a bath was a process that was second nature now, but it had taken many months to perfect. It never ceased to amaze and humble her how much she’d taken for granted before.
She deliberately avoided her reflection in the countless bathroom mirrors, feeling like a coward. But right now she didn’t need a reminder of exactly why Zafir would n
ever look at her with that same hungry raw need again.
And the sooner she shut down these inappropriate fantasies, the better. Or she wouldn’t survive another day, never mind another couple of weeks.
* * *
The following day Zafir was still stewing over the fact that Kat had left the function without him last night.
They’d departed from New York early in the morning, nearly six hours ago, so their landing in London was imminent.
Rahul had brought her to the plane and Kat had looked pale and tight-lipped, answering any questions Zafir had posed with monosyllabic answers. And then, when he’d suggested that she take advantage of the bedroom to rest, she’d disappeared for the rest of the flight.
Zafir sighed moodily and took in the sea of endless clouds outside his window. He really wasn’t used to being thwarted like this. Especially not when the sexual tension between them was off the charts. He’d seen the way her gaze had roved over him hungrily when she’d first stepped into the plane, as if she wasn’t even aware of her impulse. Which was the same as his. To devour her with his eyes at every opportunity.
He heard a noise from the back and that ever-present desire spiked as Kat’s evocative scent reached him just before she did. She sat down in her seat again, asking huskily, ‘We’re nearly there?’
Zafir did his best to clamp down on the need to reach over and pluck her bodily from her seat and into his lap. ‘Yes,’ he gritted out. ‘Within the next half hour. We’ve started our descent.’
Rahul’s staff were at the front of the plane—out of sight and earshot—and his greedy gaze took in Kat’s soft jeans and the loose, unstructured top that somehow still managed to mould itself to her curves. Her hair was down, and Zafir wanted to wrap it around his hand and force her to look at him.
‘You won’t turn to stone if you look at me, Kat.’
He couldn’t disguise the irritation lacing his words. He saw how she tensed, but then eventually she turned her head and those glorious golden, amber and green eyes settled on him. Cool. Unreadable. Why was she so reluctant to take what he was offering? A no-strings-attached, very adult exorcism of this palpable connection between them.
He turned in his seat more fully, to face her. ‘You must be hungry. You haven’t eaten because you were sleeping.’
Before she could say anything he’d called for a steward, who materialised immediately. Zafir looked at Kat expressively. For a moment a mutinous expression crossed her face, but then she seemed to give in and said to the staff member, ‘I’ll just have something light...like an omelette, if you have it?’
Zafir added an order for coffee for both of them and the steward left.
Looking disgruntled, Kat said, ‘You’re still too bossy. And arrogant.’
Zafir shrugged, unperturbed. ‘I’m a King now. I have a licence to be as bossy and arrogant as I want.’