Now his lips went to her neck, his nose brushing along her jaw to that sweet spot behind her ear, and Lily’s head fell back.
Her world shrank to this: Khaled’s cheek against her hair, his deep voice murmuring hot, delicious demands—‘Yes, let go...show me...’—and the wicked rhythm of his fingers.
Her body answered his every demand, reacting in ways she’d never known it could, climbing higher and higher. Almost overwhelmed, Lily clamped an arm about his neck, hovering taut, suspended.
‘Please...’ she begged, mindless with need, not truly knowing what it was she pleaded for.
Until he pressed his thumb against her...just so.
‘Come for me,’ he ordered—and, oh, God, her body obeyed him, shattering in panting, moaning ecstasy. She sobbed into his shoulder, clinging to him, riding out an orgasm so intense only the anchor of his solid bulk kept her from flying into pieces.
Slowly she came to, her heart rate slowed and her breath steadied. Khaled traced soothing circles across her spine and murmured to her in Arabic. As though all his English had deserted him.
Lily lifted her head and warily met his gaze. The grey eyes glinted with a strange emotion that looked incredibly like wonder. She sighed as he pressed a kiss to her lips, so sweetly tender it reached into all the lonely, abandoned places in her soul.
Like the day all those years ago when, her mother gone, she’d hidden in that cloakroom so alone and lost. He’d spoken to her in Arabic then, too. Held her as she cried. Been there for her when she’d needed him.
What pleasure had he taken just now? None. It had all been about her.Herpleasure,herneeds.
Those empty spaces that craved love and belonging, that she’d thought permanently sealed up, had been filled with warmth and, more dangerous still, hope.
The world turned and Lily trembled, nearly believing...
On a whoosh of air, the car door opened. Out on the palace forecourt the servant looked astonished to find the Prince’s guest not in her own seat, but draped all over the Prince himself.
And with crashing hurt she remembered.
This wasn’t real.
That tender kiss, that dazzled look. They were lies. Like the rest of it. All done to gain the thing he wanted. Her compliance.
She unclenched her fingers, dismayed to find she’d crushed one side of his collar and torn two shirt buttons loose. There was even a small bite mark in the curve where his neck and shoulder met.
Khaled was speaking to her, stroking her, trying to reassure her, but she batted his hands away, scrambling from his lap to land in an undignified heap at the feet of the startled servant.
Before he could help her up she’d shot to her feet and raced up the steps into the palace, about to bolt for her rooms. But they’d arrived at an unfamiliar entrance and she had no idea which direction to take.
Those few seconds of indecision allowed Khaled to catch up. His arms went round her. She tried to squirm free.
‘Habiba, shh... It’s all right.’
But she felt too damn used to be calmed by him. ‘I don’t want you touching me.’
He flinched. ‘You were telling me something different in the car.’
‘And you took full advantage of that, didn’t you?’
Her cheeks burned in humiliation, but he was right. Even now her whole body hummed from being held by him. She shoved at him, trying to escape. She might as well have tried to move a mountain. He’d braced every muscle to hold her still.
‘Behave. You’re supposed to want me in public. Not just when we’re alone together. So you’re going to take my hand and trot along beside me like the adoring girlfriend I need you to be.’
She glared up at him, but read the warning in those grey eyes. She’d do as she was told if she wanted to help her stepbrother.
Nate, she thought, offering up her hand, hating the sizzle of energy as Khaled’s fingers closed around it,what’s happening to me?
The staff they met gaped at him as he strode by, hand in hand with a woman. With her flushed cheeks, swollen lips, she looked ravished, undone. Khaled gritted his teeth, hating that they could see her like this.
Mine, a possessive voice nagged him.Not for their appreciation.