CHAPTER NINE
TORISAWTHOSEmesmerising eyes glitter and knew a moment of sharp, shocking anticipation.
Not dismay. Not even a second of doubt. Just anticipation.
It thrilled through her like an electric current, making all the fine hairs on her body lift and her breath seize. Then Ashraf’s mouth was on hers, hard and demanding rather than coaxing.
She didn’t need coaxing. Tori was primed and ready for his kiss. Had been from the moment he’d walked back into her life and some primitive part of her had hummed with excitement and want.
She wanted him so badly.
Relief was profound as she finally gave in to what she’d secretly craved. In this moment she didn’t need to reason, or argue, or try to unknot the tangle of her mixed emotions. All she needed to do was feel.
She loved the taste of him, the heat and extraordinarymalenessof him, hard and unrelenting. From that first instant there’d been no coercion. Just a demand that she was eager to meet. It had always been like this with him.
Her lips softened beneath his, inviting him in, all but begging him for more. He took up her offer and a shudder racked her as his tongue plunged deep, swirling against hers, exploring with a thoroughness that mixed determination and expertise. It was like tumbling through bright starlight, ceding control to this man whom she knew would never let her fall.
Ashraf scooped her closer, his hard frame solid muscle against her wet body. Tori clung tight, one hand clutching his robe, the other slipping from his grasp to slide up the back of his neck.
She heard a muffled grunt of approval as her fingers channelled through thick hair to splay possessively over the back of his head.
Her tongue danced with his, hunger cresting as she went up on her toes, trying to meld herself to him. His taste, his scent, his mouth were achingly familiar, as if it was just a few days since they’d made love.
Had they kissed like this in the desert? Surely not. Then they’d been strangers. Ashraf didn’t feel like a stranger now. Remarkable to think they’d been together such a short time, for it seemed they knew each other at some deep level beyond words. He was the man who filled her thoughts and dreams. Who had done so since that night together. He was the one man who’d woken her dormant libido after the rigours and exhaustion of pregnancy and motherhood.
The one man she needed as she’d never before needed anyone.
The realisation made her freeze in his embrace.
Instantly he lifted his head, eyes glinting like black gems as they searched her face.
Tori heard the stertorous rasp of heavy breathing, felt her lungs heave and the push of his chest against her breasts as he too hauled in oxygen. Reaction juddered down her backbone and quivered across her skin. Being so close to him, touching him, undid her carefully cultivated caution. It allowed something wild inside her to take hold.
The air was smoky with desire, thick and scented with arousal. Yet the unspoken question was clear in Ashraf’s expression. Did she want to stop?
She was bent back over his arm, plastered to him, so she felt the uneven catch of his breathing and his waiting stillness. They were on the brink of far more than a kiss. It was there in the taut awareness singing between them. But even now Ashraf would release her if she wanted.
Emotion swelled. As strong as the desire emblazoned in her bones. Tenderness for this man who put her needs before his own. It struck her how remarkable that was, given that Ashraf literally had all the power in this kingdom of his.
Now her earlier doubts about him seemed absurd. She’d never met anyone with such innate integrity.
Tori shivered at the enormity of her feelings. Yet still she shied away from investigating them too closely.
Ashraf straightened and pulled away. He’d misread her.
‘No!’ She fastened both hands on his shoulders, fingers digging into fine cotton, pads of muscle and beneath that implacable bone. ‘Don’t.’
‘Don’t kiss you or—?’
‘Don’t stop.’
Yet instead of closing the gap Ashraf surveyed her as if he felt none of her urgency. Only the flare of his nostrils betrayed that he’d been affected too.
‘So there’s at least one thing about me you approve of.’
He wanted totalk? Frustration surged—and suspicion. ‘Are you fishing for compliments?’
She spied a flicker of movement at the corner of his mouth and a tingle of delight teased her.