“Good.” He dipped and kissed her before rolling her over onto her stomach. She went easily. He got the feeling he could do anything to her at that point and she’d enjoy it.
He played with her breasts for a moment, before lifting her hips into position, then he thrust into her from behind. She cried out his name in a breathless rush, just as he’d dreamed her doing so many times. It seemed a dream didn’t hold a candle to the real thing.
She was everything he needed, everything that obliterated the past and made him only want to move from the present because he knew the future would be twice as good.
She cried out not once, but twice in orgasm as he thrust repeatedly into her, before he pulsed his seed deep inside of her, claiming her for his own. She might be in doubt as to his response, but he would never have had unprotected sex with someone who he wasn’t going to marry. He’d tell her, in time. No rush, he told himself.
Elaheh lay on her back,waiting for her heart to calm down, and for her breathing to settle enough to talk. She pressed her palm against her thudding chest and wondered, again, how it was possible for Xander to create such exquisite pleasure in her body. She had no idea, she just wanted to make sure that he never stopped.
She rolled her head around to face him. She opened her mouth to speak but his face took her breath away. He was so handsome, so strong. She traced his cheekbone, highlighted in the light which streamed through the open window, and then slowly pushed her fingers through his hair and rolled on top of him and kissed him. Eventually she pulled away from the kiss, even as her hips wriggled lightly against his.
“We need to talk, Xander,” she said.
He grunted, a very sexual grunt which made her wonder if talking wasn’t over-rated. “We won’t be doing much talking if you keep lying on top of me like that.”
As much as she desired him, she desired to ensure her future with him more. So she rolled off him and rose from the bed. She adjusted her dress and stood at the foot of the bed, looking down on him. He really was magnificent in every way. Now all she had to do was make sure he was hers.
“I’d like—”
“No, Ela. You’re not getting your way on this occasion.”
Suddenly, he jumped out of bed and walked into the adjoining dressing room.
She stood, speechless and aghast. “Xander!” She stumbled after him, filled with a desperate fear that she’d gone too far, and frightened him off. She stood by the door, gripping it for all it was worth to stop herself from flinging herself onto him and begging him to stay. He had his back to her and was rummaging through his desk, tossing things aside.
“Xander!” she repeated. “I’m sorry!”
He frowned at her briefly before continuing to search.
“Xander!” She had no idea what he was looking for but whatever it was, it was obviously something more important than her. Panic filled her. What if she’d overstepped the mark? What if by being her true self, he didn’t like what he saw? What if… She couldn’t bear to imagine what if… Because if he left her now, she didn’t know what she would do without him. Tears sprung into her eyes, teetered on their surface and then rolled in thick drops down her cheek. “Xander,” she croaked, her voice full of emotion, leaning heavily against the wall.
He turned around. “Ela! What the hell?” He came and lifted her chin to his. He was distorted through her tears, everything was, her whole world would shatter without him.
“Please, Xander, I need you, I want you, please don’t tell me to go.”
He brought her hard against his body, his arms wrapped around her, and kissed her face. “Ela, what the hell made you think I wanted you to go?”
She pulled away, her hair mussed, the tears still distorting her vision. “Because you said I wouldn’t be getting my way. And what I wanted was for you to marry me. If you don’t want that, then we have no future. And”—another onslaught of tears made her sob—“and, I don’t think I could bear that.”
“Just as well,” he said.
She shook her head in confusion as he pulled away from her, and was suddenly on his knees before her.
“What are you doing?”
“Elaheh, what I am doing is getting on my knees to ask you to marry me.”
She choked a laugh through her tears as she suddenly saw what her obscured vision had failed to see earlier. He held in his hands a small velvet box, which he flipped open to reveal the largest diamond ring she’d ever seen in her life—and she’d seen a lot.
Still laughing, she fingered the diamond and looked into his eyes, which suddenly looked unsure.
“Why are you laughing?” he asked. “Don’t you think I’m serious?”
“I’m laughing,” said Ela, “because I’m so relieved. I thought you were going to tell me to go.”
“After what we’ve done here today? After all that we’ve gone through these past months?”
She nodded, all laughter vanished now. “What we’ve been through has changed me. But not all of me. You’ve helped me get rid of my fears around men, and you’ve helped break down the barrier of pride I put before me and everyone else. I’ve surrendered those things, but some things I can’t change and won’t surrender to anyone, not even you.”