Whatever she was suppressing, the moment her hand connected with the naked flesh of Rahim’s torso, a deep, visceral emotion moved through her that made her soul sigh in relief and surrender.
Warm and alive and vitally intoxicating, she could no more stop touching him, exploring him, than she could stop breathing.
Sleek muscle clenched beneath her touch, followed by a sharp intake of breath.
When she managed to pull her gaze from the expanse of skin heating her fingers, she glanced up to see eyes lit with a voracious fire that threatened to consume her. Knowing he wanted her as much as she wanted him lent Allegra the strength to make the next, completely insane, but almost inevitable, move.
Because in that moment, she couldn’t not kiss the sensual lips that were parted hungrily. Nor could she not wrap her hand around his thick neck and draw herself up. Up to taste the exotic decadence of his mouth. Up to lose herself in the fever infusing her blood.
His lips were warm, drug-like in their complete intoxication of her senses and firm in their demand. They clung to hers, allowed her to explore... He even let her pull away for a second when the wonder of it overwhelmed her. Eyes glued to one another, their breaths mingled as he waited, for what, Allegra couldn’t tell.
But with the inevitability of a diver jumping from a plane, she surged up for another taste. And in the space of a heartbeat, Rahim was devouring her. Strong, corded arms lashed her body to his, his grip so tight she could barely breathe. Not that breathing was uppermost in her mind. No, the tongue sliding against hers, driving her senses wild, was more an urgent need. One she couldn’t get enough of no matter how much she strained against him.
A moan slipped free, which triggered an answering groan from Rahim. Her fingers traced his neck, gloried in the pulse hammering at his throat, before spiking into his damp hair. Against her belly, the thin covering of his towel did nothing to disguise the surging evidence of his arousal.
Wetness pooling between her thighs, singeing her with even greater need, she strained closer. Then almost cried out in despair when Rahim gripped her waist and set her away from him.
Breaths panting, they stared at each other. Allegra had no words to describe the state she was in, so she gazed mutely at him, hoping against hope that he wasn’t about to send her away. The very thought made the fingers she’d clenched in his hair tighten.
‘This is how you want to make amends?’ he enquired, his voice gravel-hoarse with arousal. ‘Think carefully before you answer, habibi. Because once you answer in the affirmative, once I have you in my bed, there will be no going back.’
She wanted to tell him she knew she’d already burned bridges where he was concerned. From the moment they’d touched, she’d known Rahim Al-Hadi had inexplicable power over her. Allegra knew it was why she’d reacted so uncharacteristically strongly to him. Whether she wanted him to matter or not, Rahim spoke to a need in her soul she couldn’t deny.
And right here, right now, she didn’t want to.
‘Yes,’ she whispered. Then in a stronger voice because her very soul demanded it, she repeated, ‘Yes, I want this.’
RAHIM STARED INTO Allegra’s face, her beauty momentarily blinding him to the reality that he needed to stop...walk away before things escalated out of control. They were already a light year from how he’d expected things to go when he’d entered his bedroom and found her here.
Having resigned himself to seeing the last of her in his study, and having taken out the brunt of his anger at her duplicity in an hour-long pounding in his private swimming pool, finding her scantily clad and looking guilty as hell had been a shock.
Hard on the heels of shock had been disappointment—that she was no better than any of the females he’d availed himself of in his past life who always wanted something from him—followed closely by the resurgence of anger. That he’d read her motives for coming to Dar-Aman so wrong. That she was so set on securing material assets that she was unwilling to consider offering the vital assistance he needed for his people.
But as Rahim had stood there debating whether to throw her out or go one better and call security, other, more urgent needs had taken over. He wasn’t ashamed to admit those needs, after that kiss that threatened to blow his mind, now reigned supreme.
However, he knew her motives weren’t as altruistic as she pretended, so he forced himself to slow down, to give her a chance to redeem herself, even as his fingers dug into her waist to hold her in place, and every cell in his body screamed at him to take what she offered, gorge on the feast she’d laid at his feet.
‘Are you sure?’
She let out a laugh, probably designed to entice. Instead the clear nervousness in the sound curled around a hard kernel of his remaining resolve, melting it to nothing. Then her hand unclenched from his hair and slid along his stubbled jaw. When her shaky fingers traced his lower lip, Rahim groaned low and deep.
‘Before I came here, I was known for saying what I mean and meaning what I said.’ She laughed again, the sound easier, if a little hungrier than before. ‘I haven’t demonstrated it as well as I should, but yes, I’m sure.’ The last bit was whispered, her blue eyes turning several shades darker as her gaze locked on his lips.
Knowing she wanted his kiss, and much more, lit pure fire in Rahim’s veins. He caught her roving finger into his mouth and suckled hard. Her eyes widened. For a second, he wondered about her sexual experience, then lost himself in the expression of wonder on her face as her gaze locked on what he was doing to her finger. Testing her further, he licked the tip, and she gasped.
Desire pounded through him as the many ways he could have her flared across his senses. Reaching for the wrap hiding her from him, he ripped it away.
Her negligee was a silk-and-lace concoction, delicate enough to tear at the slightest exertion. The temptation to do just that was strong, but Rahim exercised restraint. Anger and disappointment were no longer overriding emotions—he would triumph in finding a way out of his predicament, he always did—but they remained buried beneath more urgent, earthier needs. Needs so voracious he forced himself to pause a beat as her heaving breasts straining against her thin silk sent renewed hunger roaring through him.
Catching her beneath her hips, he strode quickly to the fireplace set beneath the pillared elevation of his bed. Before the flickering flames dancing between the coals, he laid her down on soft cashmere rugs and sat back on his heels.
The flames reflected off her glowing skin a few shades lighter than his own but exhibiting her Latin ancestry.
Slowly, he traced the sweet curve of her jaw, to the pulse hammering at her throat. She shivered and squirmed, her movements innocently seductive as she stared up at him.
For a long moment, Rahim didn’t move, arrested as he was by her.
‘Please...’
‘Shh, let me enjoy you for a moment, for you are an exquisite sight to behold.’ The clear outline of her nipples drew his touch and he circled the bud with his finger, drawing an urgent cry from her that echoed deep within him.
Sliding the straps from her shoulders, he bared her to
