The shift was being peeled down over the womanly curve of her hips and she could hardly breathe for anticipation, never mind carry on a sensible conversation. The pulse of desire throbbed an insistent beat between her thighs and her face was hot. ‘I w-wasn’t expecting it,’ she stammered, shocked at the strength of what she was feeling.
‘You deserve it—and more.’ His rich drawl shimmied down her taut spine. ‘You have gone through so much since I came into your life, aziz.’
‘It wasn’t all bad,’ she confided unevenly.
‘None of it should have been,’ Shahir intoned, shedding his shirt.
Kirsten could not concentrate. Drawing her down on to the bed, he was caressing her lush little breasts with uninhibited masculine appreciation and skill. Her breath rasped back and forth in her throat as she struggled to stay in control. He lowered his proud dark head over the tormentingly tender tips that adorned the small ripe mounds and circled the stiff straining buds with the tip of his tongue. The onslaught of sensation was too much for her: her hips rose and she whimpered his name.
‘Tonight…everything must be for your pleasure.’ He straightened in one lithe movement and removed the remainder of his clothes.
Liquid heat danced over the delicate flesh at the heart of her. Even though she was taut with self-consciousness, and flushed with the shyness that even desire could not drive out, she couldn’t drag her eyes from him.
‘Why?’ she whispered.
‘The first time the pleasure was all mine.’
He had a stunning dark male beauty that mesmerised her. When she looked at him her heart pounded and she got butterflies in her tummy. His features were hard, sculpted and strong, brought to vibrant life by the dazzling dangerous gold of his eyes. He had the superb physique of an athlete. Lean muscle rippled below his bronzed skin, ebony curls delineating his powerful chest while a silky furrow of dark hair ran down in an intriguing line over his hard flat stomach. The bold thrust of his arousal ensnared her attention and filled her with sinful heat.
She was weak with longing when he came back to her, tasting her reddened mouth with hungry, marauding fervour. He worked his skilful passage down over her twisting, turning body, leaving a trail of fire wherever he lingered and parting her slender thighs. What he did next shocked her senseless, but before she could protest a wicked flood of unbearable sensation seized her and suddenly she had all the self-will of a remote controlled toy. Nothing could have prepared her for the sensual intensity of an experience that threatened to drive her out of her mind with an enjoyment so strong it came close to pain.
‘Now…’ Shahir framed with ragged force, pulling her beneath him when she could no longer stand the fierce need he had induced in her weak and unresisting body. With sure hands he tipped her up and plunged into the damp heated core of her with a harsh groan of wondering pleasure. ‘It has never, ever been like this for me before…’
The raw passion of his possession sent such a shock wave of delight pulsing through her that she reached an instantaneous peak of ecstasy. The sweet violence of release gripped her in quivering spasms of joy until she was heavy and limp with satiation.
‘Oh, Shahir…’ she mumbled shakily.
In response he withdrew from her and turned her over, rearranging her on her knees.
‘Shahir…?’ she gasped in disconcertion.
He sank into her again, hard and fast, and she heard herself cry out with the intolerable pleasure of his entrance into her newly tender flesh. She had no thought after that. In fact wild excitement knocked every single thought out of her head. She abandoned herself to delight and more delight. Once more he drove her to the heights of an explosive climax, and with a cry of rapture she surrendered to the voluptuous waves of sweet pleasure that engulfed her.
When she recovered from that incredibly intense bout of passion Shahir was cradling her close. He had both arms wrapped round her while he scanned her delicate features with slumberous dark golden eyes full of appreciation. ‘I will never let you out of my sight again, aziz. What a blessing it is that we found each other.’
Blissfully contented, and awash with love and security as Kirsten felt at that moment, she had, however, been disconcerted by one aspect of their lovemaking. She rested her cheek against a smooth brown muscular shoulder and murmured, ‘You took precautions…’
‘Of course…I won’t run the risk of getting you pregnant again.’
Astonishment opened her green eyes to their fullest extent. ‘But don’t you want more children? I thought it sort of went with the territory,’ she confided.
‘Tazeem will have to be enough. Never again will I put you through birth…I could not do that to you,’ Shahir admitted, a shudder of recollection rippling through the long lean body entwined with her softer curves. ‘I found it very difficult to stand by while you were going through all that.’
A smile crept over Kirsten’s full mouth. She snuggled closer to him. For weeks on end she had tormented herself with the belief that Shahir valued her mainly for her capacity to give him children. But he had just shown her how wrong she had been in that assumption. ‘Is that because of what happened to your mother?’ she whispered softly. ‘Jahan mentioned how she had died.’
‘It is true that my father has often spoken of that day to me. Why not? It was the worst day of his life. But I wouldn’t have discussed that tragedy while you were carrying our child,’ Shahir countered. ‘It would have disturbed you.’
He had been really worried about her, and yet he had kept his fears to himself rather than take the risk of frightening her with the story of his mother’s sad demise. She was touched by his admission, and not for worlds would she have confided that she was just finding out that she had to be the most contrary woman alive on the planet. No sooner had Shahir assured her that Tazeem was to be their one and only child than she had decided that she wanted at least two more children. Once she’d realised that he valued her health more than her ability to have babies, her misgivings and sensitivity on that score had been vanquished for ever.
Shahir rolled her over and gazed down at her, inky black lashes low and sexy over striking dark golden eyes ‘This is our wedding night…the talk is too serious.’
‘But you’re always serious.’
‘Over the next few weeks you will learn that I have another side to my nature.’
‘Weeks? How long have I got you for?’ The instant that revealing question leapt off her tongue she wanted to cringe.
A wickedly attractive smile slashed his darkly handsome features. ‘You have got me for at least six weeks…’