Her throat dried as he stretched out beside her, propped on one arm. He looked utterly relaxed, like some long, lithe predator, resting in the heat of the day. Only the rapid rise and fall of his powerful chest gave him away. And his jutting erection.
Her eyes rounded as she took in the glory of Tahir, fully aroused. How could she have forgotten his sheer magnificence? Or had she been so overwhelmed by her first experience of lovemaking that she hadn’t looked? This time she felt no nerves, no anxiety. Just love and a soul-deep need.
His erection throbbed as she watched. ‘See what you do to me?’ His voice sounded curiously tight, as if he were in pain.
Her eyes roved him and hunger grew. She reached for him, curling fingers tentatively around his surprisingly soft skin. Warm silk over iron, over pure potent masculinity.
Something plunged deep inside her and she moved nearer.
His hand closed around hers, prying her fingers loose and then dragging her hand wide, to his other side, as he rolled onto his back. He held her like that, poised over him, holding her more with the searing intensity of his eyes than with his touch on her hand.
‘Take what you want,’ he repeated. This time the words were so slurred she wouldn’t have understood if she hadn’t been watching his face.
Did he mean…?
She looked down to where their bodies touched. A frisson of erotic awareness raced through her. She sank against him a fraction and his mouth tightened in a grimace that she understood too well. The pulse throbbing between her legs was a driving force, urging her to take as well as give.
Carefully Annalisa pushed herself onto her knees so she could straddle his supine form. His heavy weight between her legs, pushing against her thigh, sent a shudder of anticipation through her. As did the gleam in Tahir’s eyes.
When his hands closed around her waist, adjusting her position above him, she let him, eager to ease the burgeoning ache inside.
A second later she felt pressure where she most needed it as Tahir rose beneath her. He drew her inexorably down, meanwhile pushing higher and higher, till surely any more was impossible.
One final sharp thrust of his hips and he lodged deep within her, part of her. The magic of it stunned her. She felt full, but not just physically. Her heart welled with the intensity of her emotions. With love for Tahir.
‘All right?’
She nodded, bereft of speech as he massaged her breasts and sent delight coiling. He shifted beneath her, slowly at first, then to an increasing tempo that made the most of the friction between their shifting, sliding bodies.
Annalisa leaned forward, her hands on his shoulders, falling into the depths of his welcoming eyes. Long fingers clamped her hips, holding her firm against him as he thrust higher, harder.
Then with a hoarse cry she was flying, soaring above the world in exquisite delight as fire shimmered in her veins and pleasure exploded. An instant later Tahir shuddered beneath her, within her, as he gasped her name.
Greedily he hauled her close and they rode the last rocketing paroxysms together, his musky, hot skin fragrant against her, his heart pounding in tempo with hers, his body enfolding her.
Annalisa breathed deep of pleasure and peace and knew this was where she belonged. With Tahir. Always.
The white heat of cataclysmic orgasm burned Tahir’s retinas. Scorched his flesh. Seared his soul.
He wrapped Annalisa closer, tangling his hand in her long hair, catching her slim leg with his knee, locking them together as if to prevent her moving.
He couldn’t let her go.
He’d been right last night. He needed Annalisa.
Sex had never been so good. But he knew now this was more than physical satisfaction.
Tahir couldn’t put a name to it. Couldn’t get his mind to grapple with definitions and meanings.
But she was his. By right of conquest. By her own choice. By dint of the simple fact he’d never release her.
He’d never needed a woman as he needed Annalisa.
He’d never needed any woman.
He nuzzled her neck, breathing deep of her sweetness. Instantly tendrils of desire coiled within him, tightening sinews and hardening flesh.
Blood roared in his ears and rushed south. He stroked her collarbone, let his fingers trail to her breast and felt her shiver.
It was too soon. It shouldn’t even be possible, not yet. But there was no mistaking the stirring in his loins.
Tentatively he moved, still lodged inside her.
He felt her grip on his shoulders tighten, reminding him how she’d scored his flesh in the throes of ecstasy. The idea of her marking him was strangely pleasing.
‘Tahir?’
He shifted so he could see her, read the surprise and confusion in her flushed face. He stroked a strand of hair from her face. ‘Too soon?’
Wide eyes held his for a moment, then a tiny dimple appeared in her cheek as she smiled and shook her head.