by the delicate khaleeji abaya she had chosen, he cursed in Arabic and she gasped when he grabbed hold of the neckline and ripped it clean down the middle. With her breasts bared to his gaze and his hands, Imogen felt her nipples peak as he bent his head to take one into his mouth. She threaded her fingers through his hair to hold him tight and felt his own skim down over her quivering belly, sucking in a deep breath as he ran the tips of his fingers around the lace between her legs.
‘So wet,’ he murmured. Imogen moved against him but his hands drifted to her thighs, gripping her hips as he dropped to his knees and kissed a line down her belly.
‘Nadir, I—’
She didn’t finish her sentence because he hooked his fingers inside her panties to remove them and widened her stance with one hand while he delved between her legs with the other. Almost sobbing with need, Imogen placed her hands on his shoulders and watched as he pressed his face between her legs and stroked her with his tongue. She cried out as he pleasured her, her long hair swinging around them like a curtain as she almost bent double when her orgasm hit.
‘Imogen.’ Nadir lifted his head and scattered kisses across her pelvis. ‘Your taste drives me wild.’
Gazing down at him with his knees spread wide on the carpet and his chest bare, Imogen swooned. ‘I want to taste you too.’
She dropped to her knees as he rose before her and shoved the soft cotton pants down his legs. As always the sight of him aroused and erect gave her pause because he was just so big and imposing, so lethally male.
‘Touch me, habibi,’ he urged in a raw voice husky with need, his hands tangled in her hair, his warm strong fingers massaging her scalp. So she did. Flicking her tongue out to wrap around the head of his shaft as her hands slid rhythmically up and down. He let her have her way with him for what seemed like only seconds before he took over, groaning about self-control and need as he pushed her to the floor. Then he was above her and the only sounds that broke the silence were the mingling of their own harsh breaths.
‘Look at me, habibi,’ he commanded. ‘I love to watch your eyes as I come inside you.’
‘Nadir, please—’ Imogen threw back her head as he shifted his weight and then drove deeply into her slick heat. She couldn’t have said if her eyes were open or closed because she was in another world and when he brought his mouth down on hers in a demanding kiss she could hold nothing back as her world coalesced into this moment and then splintered into a trillion tiny pieces. He swore and Imogen held his head in her hands and wound her tongue around his as her orgasm continued to roll through her.
Unable to contain his own climax, Nadir threw back his head and roared his own relief and Imogen knew she would do anything for this man. That she would follow him anywhere. That she loved him completely and utterly.
God, did she? Had she really fallen for him all over again? No, she hadn’t fallen all over again because she’d never stopped loving him. She groaned and didn’t realise she’d made the sound out loud until Nadir swiftly rolled to the side so he was no longer covering her. ‘Are you okay?’
Cold replaced his slick warm skin and she shivered. Was she okay? Would she ever be again?
‘Imogen, did I hurt you?’
No, not yet. ‘No.’ She cleared her throat and shifted on the silk Persian carpet beneath her. ‘I’m fine.’ At least she hoped she was.
He leaned over and cradled her cheek in the palm of his hand. ‘You’re sure? I wasn’t too rough?’
God, he was divine. Beautifully rugged and so elementally male. Would he hurt her? Or did knowing that he would never love her mean that he didn’t have that power any more? Because it was the hope before that had made the crash-landing so disastrous, wasn’t it?
‘Imogen, you’re scaring me.’
‘I’m sorry. I’m fine. I was just thinking...I was thinking that this thing...’
She fluttered her hands between them and he smiled. ‘It only gets better. Stronger.’
Was he feeling it too? Was it possible he had fallen for her as well? ‘Yes,’ she whispered, her heart lodged somewhere near her throat and constricted her breathing. ‘I...’
‘Yes,’ he agreed and pushed her hair back from her face. ‘Every time we make love I want you more. I wouldn’t have said that was possible. It’s certainly never happened to me before.’
‘Possible...’ And then his meaning became clear and she felt quite ill. ‘Sex?’ He was talking about sex...
‘Not just sex.’ His eyebrow rose in a sexy slant. ‘Hot sex.’ He kissed her. ‘Great sex.’ Another kiss. ‘Phenomenal sex.’ His smile was sinful and Imogen buried her face against his neck.
God, she had nearly made an utter fool of herself by blurting out what was in her heart and he was talking about sex!
‘I’ve made you blush.’
She forced herself to laugh softly because what else could she do?
‘You feel the same.’ There was a deep satisfaction in his voice and Imogen pushed her feelings aside. She raised a small smile because she knew this wasn’t a love match and to his credit he had never pretended it was. And what would telling him how she felt achieve anyway? It would only make her feel awkward around him and probably him around her as well.
No, it was better if this was her secret to deal with alone.
IMOGEN CAME AWAKE slowly and felt the sun on her face before she opened her eyes. She felt blissfully relaxed right up until she realised that she was alone in Nadir’s bedroom; the only sound she could hear was a hawk calling periodically outside her window.
Nadir had gone again. He’d woken early and left her. Still unused to having help with Nadeena, she sprinted out of bed and only paused long enough to pull on a robe behind the door on her way out. It was Nadir’s robe, of course, and it smelt of his special blend of male and spice. Trying to ignore the way his scent made her tingle all over, she padded quickly down the marble hallway and into the living room.
When that was empty she headed for the outdoor terrace.
Expecting that she would find the same scene as she had the last time, Imogen heard the sound of Nadeena’s infectious giggles. She waited for the sight of the devoted Maab playing peekaboo with Nadeena when her heart all but flew into her mouth as she discovered that it wasn’t Maab or Tasnim entertaining her daughter, but Nadir—in the pool. The sight of his bronzed torso stopped her in her tracks and she drooled at the way the sun glinted off his skin and turned it to burnished copper.
Pausing in the doorway and half hidden by a massive potted palm, Imogen watched Nadir throwing Nadeena up in the air and catching her just as her toes flittered across the top of the water, his biceps stretching and bulging in a fascinating display while Nadeena squealed with delight and clung to his neck.
She watched quietly for a moment, completely unnoticed as father and daughter frolicked in the sunshine. It seemed impossible
