all this glorious male body waited for her? She stood there in indecision, until Zafir cupped his hands and splattered her with water from halfway across the pool.
Genie began to unbutton her shirt. “You’re going to pay for that,” she said.
Zafir swam toward her, his eyes glittering with heat and desire. “I look forward to it.”
She stripped, and would have glided into the pool quietly had he not shot up and grabbed her. He threw her over his head and she went under.
When she came up, sputtering, he was laughing. “A little slow, aren’t you?”
Genie dove under and went for his feet. She jerked them out from under him and he splashed down while she powered away to the other side of the pool. But before she made it strong arms encircled her and hauled her back against his body.
The length of his erection pressed against her buttocks. Her insides liquefied.
“You give as good as you get, don’t you, habiba?” he growled in her ear. But it was a sensual growl, not an angry one.
“I try,” she replied, her pulse zipping into light speed. My God, it took nothing at all for this desire to spiral out of control. She should have known it would.
“Mmm, and I can think of so many ways to test your ability to get even with me.” He turned her in his arms, his slick skin hot against hers. Part of it was the natural heat of the spring, and part was the desire between them.
Genie wrapped her arms and legs around him, feeling suddenly reckless and full of joy.
“You are welcome to try, King Zafir. I relish the opportunity.”
“Do you indeed?”
In answer, she kissed him, urgently tangling her tongue with his. Zafir responded as she’d hoped, groaning and squeezing her to him. His hands wandered, his fingers sliding around her bottom, down to the vee of her legs. He stroked her center lightly and she rocked against him, trying to make him go faster.
He only laughed low in his throat, however. Genie reached for him, wrapped her hand around his hard length and squeezed. His laugh turned to a moan.
She broke the kiss, trailed her tongue down his throat, his chest—and then she sank beneath the water and took him in her mouth. His thigh muscles tightened and she could feel the sharp intake of his breath where one of her hands rested against his abdomen.
The other stroked him while she swirled her tongue around his length. Soon, however, he grabbed her and hauled her up.
“I could have held my breath for another minute,” she grumbled.
“But I’m not sure I could have held mine,” he said. “I declare you the winner of this round, because I am now unwilling to wait.”
He took her by the waist and lifted her from the pool. Then he leapt out beside her and hauled her over to one of the cushioned divans that lined the sides of the chamber. “This is much more comfortable,” he murmured, following her down.
There were no preliminaries. There was no need. Genie wrapped her legs around him as he sank into her. Her head tilted back, her eyes closing tight as the bliss of his possession threatened to overwhelm her. “Zafir,” she gasped.
His lips were on her throat, her jaw, her breasts.
“I cannot get enough of you, Genie,” he said, almost brokenly. “The more I have, the more I want.”
And then he was thrusting into her, hard and fast, hurtling her toward the abyss. She welcomed it, wanted it, craved it—
Suddenly she was there, crying out his name and wondering how it was possible to feel this way with only one person in the whole world. To feel as if you needed this to live, as if you would die if you didn’t have it.
It was beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. She was in love with a man she could never have. Even if she gave up everything and moved to Bah’shar to be with him she would only have stolen moments of bliss like this one.
And that wasn’t nearly enough.
Chapter Eight
ZAFIR’S brain had dissolved along with his sense. He rolled from her body, belatedly remembering as he came back to earth that he’d forgotten to use a condom. Icy cold fear dripped down his spine in spite of the heat in the room. How could he be so stupid?
How could he risk such a thing?
Because this was Genie, and she excited him, made him forget everything but the urge to join himself with her. She always had, though she’d been on the pill when they were at university. He prayed that was still the case.
“Are you on birth control?” he asked, his tone sharper than he’d intended.
She blinked at him, her expression confused. And then it cleared. Horror was not the emotion he’d hoped to see. She sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees, her skin still flushed from sex and dripping with water from the pool.
“I am, but I haven’t had a pill in two days now. All my things were in the camp…”
Zafir swore.
“It’s the wrong time of the month, though. I’m sure of it.”
“If there is a baby, I want to know,” he ordered. “I will provide for him, never fear, so there is no need to terminate the pregnancy.”
Her lovely face clouded. When it cleared, anger was the dominant emotion. “Of course I would tell you, Zafir. What kind of person do you think I am?”
He thought of Layla, of her deception, and his jaw tightened. “You are a professional woman. Perhaps you would decide that a baby was too much of a burden for you.”
“It wouldn’t be easy, I grant you. But if there were a child, it would be ours. And I would want it.”
She looked so fierce that he believed her. The relief winding through him was stronger than he would have believed possible. And he felt a sudden need to explain, to share with her what he’d never told anyone else.
“My second wife aborted our child. She did not tell me she was pregnant.”
Genie’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry, Zafir. You must have been very upset.”
“I was. Layla felt she was too young to start a family, though she failed to share this belief with me.”
She had also been worried about her figure, her shopping trips abroad, and her social events, where she was determined to be the most elegant hostess anyone in Bah’shar had ever seen. When she’d gone to Europe for the abortion he’d thought she was going on another shopping trip. He’d only found out because she’d been stupid enough to use a credit card and he’d opened the bill before she could intercept it. The moment when he’d realized what the charge was for had been like a sucker punch to the gut.
Genie put her arms around him and squeezed. He fell back on the cushions with her, his heart hammering with fear, and turned his head
