He shook his head, a single jerky movement. ‘You need to tell me.’ His voice was raw and uneven, as if he held on to control by a thread. ‘You want me to touch you like this?’ His palm circled and pressed and her knees gave way.
Abruptly his hands closed on her arms, tight enough to hold her steady.
‘Annalisa.’ Just the sound of him saying her name was too much pleasure to bear. ‘We should stop now.’
‘No!’ She wrenched herself from his hold and plastered herself against his tall frame, no thought now of shyness or distance.
‘I don’t want to stop. I want…everything, Tahir.’ She drew a shuddering breath and forced herself to think of the words, not just the sensations. ‘I need you. Please.’
CHAPTER FIVE
THE words were barely out when strong arms brought her down on the bed. Tahir’s lips met hers as he peeled her clothes away.
The heat of his body against hers and the fervour of his kisses incited a heady recklessness that didn’t allow second thoughts.
Annalisa wanted him so urgently; her need was overwhelming. She shuddered with the force of it as she helped him with clumsy fingers.
Then cool air caressed her skin. Tahir sat back on his heels. His eyes glowed, devouring her in a way that sent flickers of fire racing through her body. He was so intent. Utterly absorbed. Like a hungry man sighting a banquet laid out just for him. Her heart leapt against her ribs.
Annalisa reached for his shirt, needing him close. That scorching scrutiny made her feel vulnerable as never before. She was excited yet nervous, desperate for Tahir but not wanting time to examine what was happening.
For once she wanted to feel, not think.
‘No.’ He clamped his fingers around her hand. ‘Not yet. Let me look at you first.’
His trawling gaze moved across her naked breasts, her waist and thighs. It should have made her ashamed or indignant. Qusani women were modest and demure. Annalisa had always thought in that at least she was like her peers.
Now she discovered potent proof that she was different. Instead of feeling disgust she was excited by the flare of lust in Tahir’s gaze. She revelled in his unsteady breathing, the pulse throbbing in his neck, and wondered at the reckless woman she’d become.
‘Take your hair down.’ His whisper grated over her nerves.
Obediently, not taking her eyes from his, she raised her hands to the pins securing her hair. She fumbled, all thumbs, and his gaze dipped to her breasts.
Annalisa barely had time to register the tumble of long tresses on bare skin before Tahir was over her, pushing her into the narrow bed with his body. Solid thighs tangled with hers, the fine weave of his suit slid against her bare flesh and she’d never felt anything so wonderful.
She trembled in delight tinged with anxiety, realising she was utterly in his power.
Then his hands cupped her breasts and he lowered his head. Every nerve in her body centred on that exquisite point of contact.
He touched her nipple with his tongue and she froze. He opened his lips over her areola and she sank into indescribable pleasure, clasping him to her. He settled closer, the unfamiliar weight of his body, his potent masculinity, anchoring her to the mattress.
He suckled, gently at first, then more strongly, and Annalisa cried out in shocked delight, arching convulsively. Her body zinged and sparked with sensations she’d never felt.
How had she lived so long without this? Without him?
‘Tahir,’ she gasped, ‘don’t stop.’
With the words Tahir’s restraint shattered. His hands roved ceaselessly. He skimmed, stroked and teased till her cries of pleasure grew hoarse. He touched her everywhere, nuzzled the back of her knees, kissed her inner elbow, even sucked her fingers, till it seemed there wasn’t one part of her body that didn’t sing out with need for him.
She’d never realised physical love could be so consuming. Maybe, if she had time to think, she’d be scared by this intensity. But Tahir didn’t permit her time to question.
Restlessly Annalisa shifted, barely noticing the way her thighs opened wider, letting him sink the full weight of his lower body against her.
What she felt there, the long, solid proof of his virility, made her blood pump faster even as shock filled her. This was real, unfamiliar yet compelling.
Gently he bit her ear and her body softened, her breath sighing out.
She responded to Tahir’s touch with an eagerness that left her light-headed. Her fingers dug into the soft fabric of his clothes with growing desperation.
She wanted…more.
Whether he sensed it or whether she’d cried it aloud Annalisa didn’t know, but finally Tahir let her undo his shirt. Or begin to. Halfway down her hands clenched uselessly against the fine cotton, when his hand arrowed between them, touching her intimately.