enforced silence with a kiss. And not just any kiss, but one that melted her from the inside out. She only had to taste him, feel him, scent him, touch him, and she was lost. He was everything missing from her life. His touch seared her senses. His kisses rocked her world. Being lost in his arms always blotted out the past. He offered oblivion, and that was exactly what she craved right now. If she thought any more about the past, she’d go mad.
The elevator slowed to a halt, but he sent it down again. He pressed another light on the panel and it stopped between floors. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked tensely.
‘Taming you,’ he said, shocking her to her core. ‘Helping you to forget...’
What did that mean? Her wrists were still captive in his one massive fist, and with his free hand he began to map her breasts. Stunned, excited, angry, eager; she was all of those things. Her knees actually shook when he kissed her this time. Her body felt as if it had been plugged into a power source. She gasped when he grazed her nipples with his thumbnail. And vocalised her need for more when he weighed her breasts appreciatively before stroking them with the most seductive touch. She was incapable of speech, not that it mattered. Khalid was so intuitive he didn’t need any instruction, and telling him to stop was the last thing she wanted to do. Pulses of pleasure streamed straight to her core, leaving her with only one possible destination.
‘Need is blazing in your eyes,’ he observed, sounding pleased. ‘But if you’d like me to stop—’
Her excited laugh gave him the only answer he needed. She was a willing prisoner in Khalid’s erotic net, and her reward was the brush of his sharp black stubble against her neck, and then the lightest brush of his lips as he kissed her. When he took possession of her mouth with his tongue, she found it too arousing, too tempting, and as he deepened the kiss she rubbed against him. She needed that big, hard body pressing into hers. Desperate for more contact, she writhed shamelessly against him. He tasted of everything good, and she was putty in his hands. Animal sounds of pleasure escaped her throat as his hand slid slowly up her leg.
Done with begging, she commanded, ‘I need you.’
‘Open your legs. Wider,’ he instructed.
* * *
He had never felt such an urge to pleasure a woman. Thrusting his thigh between hers, he spread her wide. Her excited cries greeted his first touch. The change in her was instantaneous. From being her avowed enemy, he was her lifeblood and she would do anything he asked. Sinking onto his palm, she ground her body against the heel of his hand.
‘Not so fast,’ he cautioned.
Releasing her wrists, he held her securely in place while he traced the hot swell of her sex. Removing her thong, he found the tip that craved his attention and circled it. Teasing Millie was torture for him, but it was also its own reward, and with so many days at sea ahead of them, he could afford to take his time.
‘Please!’ Millie begged in a voice that was trembling with need. Clinging to him, she worked her hips in a desperate hunt for more contact.
‘Do you expect me to obey you?’ he asked with amusement.
‘You can’t leave me like this.’
‘Can’t I?’
‘Please don’t.’
He smiled against her mouth as she threatened to make him pay for his cruel neglect.
‘I’m counting on it,’ he said as he began the slow and deliberate circling as she frantically worked her hips.
‘Don’t tease me,’ she begged in a strangled tone as she tried every which way to bring her body into contact with his hand.
Adjusting the position of his fingertip by millimetres was all it took for him to change the outcome. Increasing both pressure and speed by the smallest degree quickly brought Millie the release she so desperately needed. Her screams of relief were deafening and prolonged. She had waited a long time, he guessed, and would need a lot more before she was sated.
Holding her safe in his arms until she quietened, he kissed her and then murmured, ‘Bed?’
‘Just more of that,’ she said, resting against him as she dragged in air. ‘Wherever—’
Sending the car up to his deck, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to his suite.
HAVING LAID HER down on his bed, Khalid kicked off his shoes. Millie’s cheeks were burning as incredulity and excitement washed over her in turn, at what she’d done, and what she was about to do. All thoughts of leaving the Sapphire as soon as possible and flying home, forgetting any of this had ever happened, had vanished as surely as mist before the sun. Khalid had freed her. He’d seen her lose control completely and, having given him that, there was no reason now to hold back.
She turned to look around as his clothes hit the floor and felt the blood drain from her cheeks. What was she thinking? He was massive and tanned, hard muscles sculpted like a Michelangelo statue; there was so much of beautiful, perfect him, and all of it in formidable proportion.
‘Shy now?’ he asked with amusement.
‘No,’ she defended, but he heard the lie in her voice.
Coming to join her on the bed, Khalid stretched out his magnificent, naked length alongside her and, resting his chin on the heel of his hand, he viewed her steadily as if she were a new and fascinating exhibit on board his yacht. He knew how aroused that made her, and how aroused she still was after his skilful attention. ‘You want me,’ he said.
The faint smile on his mouth was all it took to make her want him even more. ‘Not as much as you want me,’ she countered, determined, even at this late stage, to fight her corner.
He shrugged and his lips pressed in response.
‘If you didn’t want me, why are we here?’ she asked with perfect logic, she thought. ‘Unless you invite all your female guests to share your bed?’
This made him laugh. ‘Millie, Millie, Millie. Do you think I make a habit of stopping my elevator between decks?’
‘I don’t know. I’d rather not think about it,’ she admitted. ‘I’m sure there are those who think there are advantages to be gained by sleeping with you, but I’m not one of them.’
‘No,’ he whispered, ‘You’re not.’
He’d been toying with a lock of her hair as she spoke, and now he drew her into his arms. A great hunger swept over him for more than sex: to be joined, to be close, to give pleasure. This would be a sensuous and lengthy seduction. Millie was young and inexperienced, and deserved nothing less. The reward would be extreme pleasure. The thought of sinking into her hot, eager body was—
‘Where are you going?’ she asked as he moved away. Reaching for his hand, she caught hold of his wrist. Her boldness made him smile. She was a tigress.
‘I’m twice your size.’
‘Good,’ she said, her grip firming. Her gaze was
