She nodded.
Zafir let her go and Kat swam a couple of metres through the satin water before flipping onto her back, her wet breasts gleaming enticingly above the waterline in the silver light.
Zafir’s body was so hard it ached, and he swam towards her like a magnet drawn to true north. He couldn’t help smiling when he saw the grin on her face, and the way her hair was spread out around her like skeins of silk.
‘You like this?’
She flipped over again, treading water. ‘Swimming was my favourite part of rehab... For a moment I could almost forget what had happened, pretend I was whole again...’
Moved by something that scared him with its intensity, Zafir caught her under the arms and pulled her into him, so their bodies were touching. ‘You are whole, Kat.’
Her eyes were huge and unreadable in the darkness, but even though Zafir couldn’t analyse what was in their depths it didn’t make him feel any less exposed. He knew now that he’d crossed an emotional line that he’d never wanted to cross with anyone, and he was afraid there was no way back.
‘I feel whole when I’m with you.’
Kat immediately bit her lip, as if regretting what she’d just said.
The water lapped around them and Zafir gave in to the carnal dictates of his body with an eagerness that spoke of his desire not to think about emotions. He pulled her close, catching her thighs and wrapping them around his hips.
She reached down a hand and curled it around his erection, making him suck in a breath and see stars. Witch.
‘Make love to me, Zafir...’ she breathed.
He needed no further urging. He walked in the water until Kat could rest her back against the soft grassy bank. She arched towards him, offering herself. It was all Zafir could do not to tremble in the face of such sheer feminine power as he smoothed a hand down over her breasts and belly.
Catching her around her waist, he drew her closer so that his erection nudged against where she was slick and hot. He stroked himself against her body, teasing them both unmercifully until she was begging... Only then did he plant his legs wide and hold her steady as he thrust up into her body, making everything explode around them and finally, mercifully, dulling the tangled voices in his head and soothing the ache in his chest.
At least for now.
* * *
Early the following morning Kat tried not to be so aware of Zafir watching her from a slight distance as one of the senior nomads instructed her patiently on how to let the peregrine falcon fly from where it was perched on her arm, protected by a heavy glove.
Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she listened, and she tentatively stroked the belly of the majestic bird. She was terrified of this beautiful creature, with its huge talons, sharp beak and beady eyes, but trying not to show it.
She lifted her arm to let the bird go free, as she’d been instructed, and it flew up into the air before landing on a nearby stand. The old man with the turban on his head, the wrinkled face and kind eyes, put some food on Kat’s glove and the bird swooped back to land on her hand again.
She felt a ridiculous sense of triumph, even though she knew the bird had been trained for years to do exactly this. She couldn’t stop smiling, and looked at Zafir.
The smile slid from her face when she saw his expression. He looked as if someone had punched him in the gut. He was pale, and staring at her so intently that she instinctively moved towards him, forgetting about the bird until it moved.
She stopped. The nomad took the bird off her glove then, enticing it to hop back onto his own arm, and when Kat looked at Zafir again it was as if she’d
imagined it—now he looked completely fine... Well, except for the intense way he was looking at her.
Memories of their X-rated swim in the pool rushed back, and she was glad of the long traditional kaftan she wore that would hopefully hide the effect Zafir had on her body from these strangers who had appeared to pay homage to their King.
He came towards her, his expression inscrutable. ‘It’s time to leave. We have a busy day ahead of the function this evening.’
Kat forgot about his enigmatic look as she realised that this was the last function and then she’d be free to go. She nodded quickly and avoided Zafir’s eye as took off the glove, handing it back to the nomad with a smile that disguised her sorrow that she’d never see this place again.
* * *
Sitting in the back of Zafir’s car on their way to the palace, an hour later, Kat was trying not to feel needy. She had to keep reminding herself that their night at the oasis hadn’t really meant anything other than a lavish attempt on Zafir’s part to prove that he could still seduce her.
And he had.
It was all a game to him. A battle of wills. She had told him she wouldn’t sleep with him again, and naturally he had done his utmost to prove her wrong.