Any way Iris looked at it, Asad felt more for her than he realized.
Marrying him might mean Iris giving up her current job, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t start something new. Living among the Sha’b Al’najid and exploring the world they lived in could take a lifetime for even the most devoted geologist.
Six years ago Asad hadn’t considered Iris a candidate to become part of his family, but he’d admitted to having been blind and stupid. He implied he wasn’t either any longer.
If that was true, then she had a few short weeks to show her new and improved, open-eyed sheikh the light.
It had taken Iris twenty-four years to give up on fighting for her parents’ affection. She could be stubborn and determined with the best of them, even if others rarely saw that side of her.
It was time Asad did, at least.
When they reached the overlook, Iris had no trouble understanding why it was popular with lovers. “The view is magnificent,” she said with an awe that was becoming familiar.
Asad might not live in a palace, but his home was one of the most beautiful places on earth.
“It is. I come here to think, to ponder my people’s needs in the face of the modernization of our world.”
She let her gaze travel over the panoramic vista. Off in the distance, she could see a herd and she bet they were animals cared for by the Sha’b Al’najid. “Seeing all this, it helps you keep perspective, doesn’t it?”
“You know me well.” He turned to face her, his eyes smiling even though his lips were still.
It reminded her of how he used to be at university.
“I want to.” She reached up and cupped his face between both of her hands, loving the feel of his closely cropped beard against her fingers. “I want to very much.”
He nuzzled into her touch, turning his head so he could kiss each of her palms. “You do?”
“Yes.” She wasn’t any good at the games women played with men, and she didn’t want to be, either.
If Asad decided he wanted Iris in his future, he would have her as she really was, not something she pretended to be to gain his attention.
He gently pulled her to him, his desert robe enveloping them both. “There is one way you know me better than anyone else.”
“Really? No other lovers have learned all your body’s secrets?”
“No. You do not know them all though, either, not yet.”
“Maybe I could learn some more right now.”
He jerked as if startled by her suggestion, but then he smiled. “I thought we both had work to do?” he asked, sounding bemused.
“My work can wait a little. Can yours?” She reached up and kissed the underside of his chin.
He shuddered. “Yes, my dove, for you … for this, it can.”
“Good.”
“It will be.” He started to undress.
But she stopped him. “Let me.”
Silent, his eyes darkened by lust, he nodded.
She took her time, removing each of his desert layers with intermittent kisses and caresses until he stood naked before her, the timeless Bedouin sheikh.
She took off her own clothes while he stood watching her, his erection so hard it was nearly parallel to his stomach. They had only made love that morning, but clearly something about this was exciting him beyond bearing.
And then she realized it was the first time she’d initiated the lovemaking since they’d renewed their intimacy.
Apparently he missed her feminine aggression.
She let her last garment fall to the ground and stood proudly naked before him. “I want you.”
His entire body shuddered at her words, his nostrils flaring, his eyes narrowing, his gut tightening. Her gaze skimmed lower and she noticed a pearl of preejaculate on the end of his penis. More evidence of sexual desire at its peak. She reached out, swiped it with her finger and then brought the bead of viscous fluid to her mouth.
It was sweeter than when he climaxed, which she preferred not to swallow. He never seemed to mind, but was always complimentary and grateful when she took him in her mouth at all. Even though he gave her oral almost every time they made love.
One thing he had taught her to appreciate six years ago was that if they both enjoyed it, then whatever they did was beautiful.
She loved tasting him and the way he lost himself to her touch when she took him into her mouth. She felt like he truly belonged to her for those frozen minutes in time, no matter what their future held.
She went to drop to her knees in front of him, but he grabbed her under her arms and stopped her.
“Why?” she asked, not understanding.
He loved this.
“You will hurt yourself.”
She looked down at the hard ground and shrugged. “I’ll survive.”
“No. We will fold my robe into a pad for your knees.”
She smiled, realizing the man wasn’t turning her down, just taking care of her. “All right.”
It took only a moment and then she was where she wanted to be. Wrapping her fingers around his engorged member, she said, “Today you are mine.”
“You are not usually so possessive.” The bemused tone was back.
She looked up and met his dark gaze. “You don’t know what goes on in my head when we make love.”
“Perhaps I should.”
She just shook her head before leaning forward to lick delicately at the tip of his hardness. He groaned, his hips jerking forward. And she did it again. She loved this game, where she licked and mouthed, but didn’t quite take him inside.
After a few minutes of that treatment, he cursed. “You are such a tease.”
“Am I? I thought a tease did not follow through.”
“My knees will give before you are done playing.”
“Poor sheikh … his knees are going weak.”
He growled and she grinned and then pushed his foreskin back to take him fully into her mouth. She could never take much of him, he was too big, but she didn’t need to. Coordinating the movement of her hands and mouth, she soon had him gritting out a warning that he was close to coming. She pulled her head away to finish him with her hand.
She liked being able to see his face as he climaxed, as well. The ecstasy there always excited her and touched something deep in her heart.
He looked down at her as his body went absolutely rigid, their gaze locking in primal connection. He whispered her name reverently and his ejaculate exploded like a geyser between them. He wasn’t inside her, but it felt like their very souls connected in that moment.
“Thank you,” he said hoarsely, his eyes devouring her naked body kneeling before him.
She kissed the glistening tip and then licked her lips, the flavor more salty and bitter now that he’d come. “I like it.”
“You are a very giving lover.”
No. She simply loved him. Someday he would understand that, but she swallowed the words back. It wasn’t the right time to admit her emotional vulnerability to him, no matter how close she felt to him in that moment.
She let