Desert Orchid: The Desert Princes: Book 1 (29 page)

He read desire, demands, in those eyes as she stood before him, her breasts swollen, her nipples tight.

Charisse had taken control, again. And the feeling aroused as well as leaving his legs strangely weak.

Khalid buried his hands in her wet hair as he bent his head to whisper in her ear,

"Don’t start something you can’t finish, baby."

"There’s nothing you can do to me I can’t finish, Rock Star."

And her mouth aggressively bruised his as he dragged her to the floor.

His hands were everywhere - hard, brutal, and demanding as they took and her body frantically responded.

Her hands searched and found him with a hot, hungry fury as she tore the shirt from his back and put her teeth to his burning flesh.

With a curse, Khalid crushed her soft mouth with his.

He ripped the bikini from her, fast, his hands racing to possess that soft, silky, wet skin. A brutal arousal was obliterating him, agonising, making his hands too hard, too careless, when he should have been taking great care with her.

At last he had her naked beneath him and his breath hitched in his throat as his hands skimmed over her breasts, hips, thighs and calves.

He could smell her, taste her, feel her. Dear heaven, she was so beautiful and Charisse lay there suddenly still, open and ready for him.

Then he gripped her hips and took her with a force that had her scream out his name.

He drove into her hard and fast until there was a blinding fire and Khalid knew he was taking her, himself, to the brink of human endurance and that he wanted, needed, nothing less. And Charisse was with him with every groan, every heartbeat, every thrust until the storm that surrounded them reached a maelstrom, a summit where nothing but oblivion followed and they lay tangled together.

Annihilated.

Exhausted.

Whole.

But he couldn’t move. He could barely breathe as he buried his face in her damp hair. He was trembling, again, he realised with a feeling of utter terror. No woman had ever made him feel like this. Weak. Wanting. Willing. What the hell was she doing to him, he wondered as he tried to inhale.

And then he realised she was trembling, too.

Dear God, had he hurt her?

Khalid lifted his head to look down at her. Her soft skin was marked red and raw where he’d touched her, sucked her. The little bites his teeth had made worried him until he saw the flush of passion over her fabulous face as her eyes, watching him through her lids, were almost closed. And, amazingly, he felt fresh arousal stir. Dropping his face back into her fragrant hair, he took a shuddering breath. He needed a minute to settle himself or he’d ravish her again.

Breathing his name, Charisse ran her fingertips over his strong back, down over his tight ass.

There was something in his eyes she’d never expected to see. Surrender. And she didn’t feel all-powerful, but amazed and drowning in love. A deep, abiding love that made her want to soothe, to care, to nurture this wonderful man.

She burrowed closer. Right into his wide chest and felt his heart beat begin to settle. His short breaths whispering over her cheek levelled off.

When Khalid lifted his head, those grey eyes told her nothing.

"You’re trying to kill me, baby." He kissed her but kept his lips gentle. "You want me out of control, even violent. Why is that?"

She gave a deep, happy sigh of sheer feminine triumph.

"I did kill you. You lost control."

"You want me to lose control?"

"Mmm hmm, Rock Star. I want you to lose control when you make love to me every single time."

Khalid lifted his hand and watched his fingers comb through that silver waterfall of hair, and decided to take her down a peg, or three.

"You’re an amazing woman." He pressed a gentle kiss to her shoulder, then lifted his head. "But perhaps a little... skinny."

That contented, cat-got-the-cream look vanished from her face to be replaced by something that looked like shock.

"Skinny?"

She wriggled under him, trying to escape, but he simply pressed his hips into the cradle of her thighs and held her still.

"Yeah, skinny. You’re not exactly ugly, either. In some tribes you would be regarded as scrawny and bony and not worth the price of a camel."

Blink blink.

"Are you saying I’m not attractive?" she demanded in a voice that would melt solid steel.

The woman had absolutely no guile and Khalid couldn’t keep his face straight as he howled with laughter.

Trying to catch his breath, he kissed her, hot and hard then lifted his head to stare into those big hurt eyes.

"Seriously, you scare me at times, you really do. Ah, baby, you’re drop dead fucking gorgeous and you know it."

Baffled, she shook her head.

"No one’s ever spoken to me like that or told me that I’m beautiful."

Now it was his turn to blink and he read the truth in her eyes. What had started out as having a little fun and teasing her had turned into something quite different. Yet again she humbled him.

"Then I’ll make it my mission in life to tell you every single day that I love you. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen."

Her eyes immediately twinkled up into his.

"Well, considering the number of women you've had that’s saying something. And you’re an incredible lover, Rock Star. I can’t say I’m surprised since you’ve had plenty of practice."

Again, she’d turned the tables on him and his libido flared which made Charisse’s eyes go wide.

"Ah, well," she said as she tilted her pelvis and opened her legs wide to let him slide inside her with a little gasp. "I suppose I need to do my wifely duty."

His laugh turned into a groan as her core gripped him in a burning hot fist.

"Baby, you kill me."

Later, as she walked through the palace to Arabella’s quarters, Charisse mulled over the scene with Khalid.

Her husband was a wonderful lover and how lucky was she? But she still hadn’t reached the heart of what had happened to him after the accident. He’d come a long way today and she didn’t want to push it. He'd broken down and admitted his feelings of a soul deep guilt and she instinctively felt he was on the right path to wholeness, but the beginning of the journey needed to be completed.

Who had told him he’d been drinking and who had told him his family would never, ever forgive him for it? Perhaps she should to speak to Sarif? If anyone knew what had happened in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy it would be Khalid’s older brother.

Approaching the door to Arabella’s suite of rooms and still deep in thought, initially she didn’t register a woman’s quiet sobs. The sound had her forget protocol, and forget a human being’s basic right to privacy.

Charisse pushed open the door.

Her good friend was curled up in a tight ball on a couch with her face buried in a silk cushion, her shoulders were shaking as she desperately tried to muffle the sound of her distress.

Seriously alarmed, Charisse closed the door and flew to her side to pull Arabella into her arms.

"What on earth is the matter?"

As Charisse rubbed her back, Arabella went stiff. Then she heaved a shaky breath and sat up unable to look her in the face.

"I’m sorry. I'm just indulging in a pathetic pity party. I’ll be fine in a minute."

It was the first time Charisse had ever seen Arabella Faulkner anything less than in total control of her emotions, which told her something monumental had happened to her friend.

"It feels as if I haven’t seen you for months rather than weeks. Please talk to me, Arabella, you know I’ll do everything I can to help you."

Arabella let out a cleansing sigh and shook her head. "No one can help me."

Charisse wasn’t having that and she wasn’t having the defeatist attitude either.

She took a shot in the dark.

"If you don’t tell me, I’ll ask Sarif. I bet he’s at the bottom of it."

Arabella looked up and finally met her eyes. And Charisse was shocked to the core by the utter misery she saw there.

"It’s all my own fault. I’ve been so... stupid," the last word was sobbed out of her throat, but her friend held it together, just.

"Okay. I must admit I was stunned by Sarif’s announcement of your marriage. Where, when and how did this happen?"

Arabella rose and moved to the tiny kitchen area. She set two glasses on the counter and opened a bottle of white wine. Charisse had never seen her drink alcohol and nodded when her friend poured a glass and handed it to her before pouring her own.

Arabella took a deep sip and looked her straight in the eye.

"In the beginning I didn't like Sarif. In fact, I loathed him, and I was certain the feeling was mutual. He treated me like an imbecile. It took me a while to realise that the reason we were so uncomfortable together was because the tension between us was not animosity but sexual."

She shook her head and ran her hands through her short hair, clutching it tight in her fists.

"I can’t
believe
how unprofessional I’ve been. How
stupid!
The day after you were shot we were in the middle of a heated discussion about the best way to tackle the issues happening on a daily basis. He’s so damn stubborn and always believes he’s
right!
He grabbed me and kissed me as if he wanted to murder me...

"I don’t know what the hell happened. But that kiss fried my brain. And the next thing I know I’m kissing him back and it’s violent and it’s hard and... I bit him on the mouth and made him bleed and... the next thing we’re on the floor and... he’s ripped my shirt and I’ve ripped his and we’re naked and... oh, God..."

She leaned on the counter and buried her head in her arms.

The picture her friend had painted made Charisse hum a little tune in her throat that brought Arabella’s head up. "Don’t you look at me like that!"

Charisse let her get away with the tone since it was obvious the girl was not only in distress but also in lust with her Prince, and struggling with it.

She cleared her throat. "Hmm, so you’ve connected in a way that’s made you scared. I get that."

Arabella shook her head, her shoulders slumped as annoyance gave way once again to despair.

"No, you’ll never understand."

The tone was so broken with too much pain that Charisse frowned as she realised this was not just about lust and sexual attraction.

"Arabella, you know you can trust me,’ she said softly.

Eyes filled with something like agonised regret held hers. "I was a virgin."

Whoa.

Now that was a shock since her body guard was three years older and so self-contained, strong, and so comfortable in her own skin that Charisse found it too hard to believe.

"You’ve never had sex?"

"Yes, I’ve had sex!"

Okay. Charisse knew her knowledge on the subject was weak, but she didn’t get it.

She stared hard at her friend.

"You’ve lost me."

Arabella gave a groan that sounded like a whine.

"I enjoy sex."

Charisse gave her a nod of encouragement.

"But not with men," Arabella said as her eyes met hers.

For a stunned moment, Charisse didn’t know what to say but could see that Arabella was shaking like a leaf. In the West, the admission might have caused a surprise but not many people would be bothered or be judgemental. However, in the culture the women lived in this was not good news.

"Christ, Jesus," Charisse said, borrowing a phrase from Khalid.

Her bodyguard nodded and peered at the liquid in her wine glass. "Couldn’t have put it better myself."

Charisse took a deep sip of wine and gathered her scattered wits.

"Okay. So how could you have sex with Sarif if he doesn’t float your boat?"

Arabella spun on her.

"How the hell do I know? It’s not as if it’s a switch I can just turn on and off at will. I was born like this. It is not a lifestyle choice," she almost screamed the words.

And Charisse saw the confusion and the sheer panic in those desperate eyes. She had no term of reference and had the scary sensation of being the blind leading the blind.

"Is it possible to be attracted to both sexes?" Charisse asked carefully.

"God, I'm so sorry to shout at you. It is. I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it. It is what it is."

"Then unless you love him, you need to tell him you can’t marry him and why."

Again the whine came in Arabella’s throat.

She went to drink her wine, then poured it down the sink and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Opening it with a furious twist of her hand, she drank water straight out of the bottle before she looked Charisse dead in the eye.