hers, his hold on her head implacably keeping her lips right where he wanted them. His aggressive passion might have frightened her but for the gentle way he continued to knead her breast and rasp her nipple.
Putting off a lifetime of restraint, she reached out to do some of her own sensual exploration. His skin was hot against her fingertips and smoother than she expected. The black curls of hair on his chest were also surprisingly silky, his small male nipples ridged.
There was nothing soft about the layers of muscle bunching under her touch, though.
Chest, biceps and abdomen cut with defined muscles.
His body was so different than hers.
Sure, there was the male/female thing. But it was so much more than that.
Wearing the egal, or not, Sayed exuded power. He would always be alpha, never the beta. His physical and mental strength was awe-inspiring and in this moment those traits inspired her arousal, as well.
So focused on experiencing his body, she didn’t notice his hands moving at first.
But when he unclipped her bra with a single efficient movement and peeled the lace-and-silky fabric away from her body, she couldn’t ignore that.
Her already-hard peaks pebbled tighter at the direct exposure to air. She’d felt that hundreds of times in her life, when she undressed for bed.
What she’d never felt was the corresponding throb between her legs she experienced now. Or this new need to be touched there.
A desire she could only express with wordless whimpers and the tilting of her pelvis in a wanton display that should have mortified her.
It didn’t.
His big hands slid around her sides and up her rib cage, leaving prickles of arousal in their wake until he cradled both her breasts.
“Lovely.” Approval laced his tone. “A truly sweet handful.”
“You have big hands. So hot,” she rambled.
It was only when his rich laughter washed over her that Liyah realized how her words could be taken.
“I didn’t mean to say I’m...that’s not...”
He brushed his lips over hers. “Shh. You are perfect. We will leave it at that.”
She had no chance to reply as his thumbs swiped over her electrified nipples. She’d thought the thin barrier of silk had made no difference in how these caresses felt, but she’d been wrong. Very, very wrong.
While the sensation of emptiness and need grew in her core, the rest of Liyah’s body grew increasingly sensitive. Heat washing over in wave after wave of unadulterated lust, her skin ached for his touch in a way she hadn’t even known was possible.
He seemed to understand, because his caresses moved on from her breasts to brush over her stomach, along her sides and right up to her underarms. Usually ticklish, the only response this unexpected touch elicited was gasping shivers and a hope he would not stop.
Inundated by sensations so intense she couldn’t hope to distinguish one from the other, she moaned long and low.
His hands tightened into a hold on her waist, his fingers squeezing and releasing in quick succession. “You are so responsive.”
“You make me feel.” Liyah had spent her entire life hiding behind a buttoned-down facade which allowed for almost no emotion.
Feelings were dangerous.
But she’d found an inexplicable, if temporary, safety in this man’s arms.
He kissed along the underside of her jaw, teasing her skin with the edge of his teeth and sending shivers cascading along her nerve endings. “You are far more intoxicating than the ouzo.”
“You, too.” She wished she could be more eloquent, but Liyah had no experience in this kind of talk and had no response but bare honesty.
He didn’t seem to mind her lack of dramatic articulation as he intensified the sensual onslaught of his hands and mouth on her body.
SAYED PULLED BACK, giving her a probing look with his dark brown gaze. “You are not drunk.”
It was a statement, but there was a question in the espresso eyes that demanded her undivided attention.
Even inebriated, Liyah realized that if she admitted to how inexperienced she was with alcohol, never mind sex, he would stop. The man had an overdeveloped sense of honor.
But regardless if she was a little tipsy, Liyah knew what she wanted. And it wasn’t for him to stop.
“No.” She turned her head, brushing his strong jaw with her lips, inhaling his spicy masculine scent. “If anyone is taking advantage, it’s me.”
There, she’d managed to sound both sober and in possession of her faculties. And honest. Because it was the truth. She’d never been all that and she knew it, but this amazing man wanted to make love with her.
No matter how much he’d claimed to want Liyah before, he wouldn’t have acted on that desire without this particular unbelievable set of circumstances. He’d said it himself.
Their worlds didn’t overlap. Not even a little.
“Then no one is taking advantage,” he stated very firmly as his hands moved to the fastening on her skirt. “I believe it is time to remove more layers of the lives we choose not to acknowledge tonight.”
“Yes.” She didn’t want any reminders of her job at the Chatsfield or why she’d taken it.
Shockingly, Liyah felt no hesitation about taking off the rest of her clothes. Especially as it appeared Sayed was intent on helping her.
Though she’d never been naked with a man before, wasn’t accustomed to exposing her body to anyone for that matter. Hena had raised Liyah to be extremely modest, even among her female peers at school.
A lifetime’s modesty melted under the heat of his desire and she did her best to help him undress, as well.
When they were both completely nude, no outward sign of their usual roles, he nodded with satisfaction. “Perfect.”
“You are.”
He smiled, the expression somehow rapacious. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She was barely aware of what she was saying.
Her mind so preoccupied with the sight of acres of muscular bronzed flesh, she relied on rote response.
He moved toward her with the grace of a predator. “I hope you are ready for this.”
She did, too.
He stopped in front
