by Lora Leigh
Even Abdul had been unaware that Shayne wouldn't be there until they had left. Whoever his brothers had hired to attack Marty hadn't worried about facing Khalid as well as two FBI agents. Fortunately for Khalid, no one had known until this evening that Braque and his men were watching the estate.
"When did you hire them?" Marty asked, as they stepped into the suite.
She turned to stare at him as though trying to read past whatever answer he would give her.
"Several days ago," he informed her. "They've been staying out of sight until tonight."
"You didn't trust Shayne and me to protect you?" She laid her little purse on the antique table just inside the door.
"I hired them as backup, not protection. Besides, you're my lover, not my bodyguard," he answered her. "I had them secure the house when I learned Shayne wasn't returning with us tonight."
"I see," she murmured, moving farther into the room. "So, will they be here permanently?"
"I would imagine they will be. At least for a while," he told her. "I sleep easier with you in the bed sleeping with me. Neither of us will have to worry about the security of the estate this way."
Khalid followed her slowly, crowding her closer to the large bed on the other side of the room.
"Do you have a problem with this?" he asked her silkily.
"Would it do me any good to have a problem with it?" A delicate brow arched mockingly.
"We would, of course, discuss it," he promised, as he shed his evening jacket.
"Oh, I just bet we would." Eyes narrowed, she watched as he toed his dress shoes from his feet.
"I'm always willing to discuss any problems you might have, dear," he assured her, as he began to loosen the buttons of his shirt.
"Somehow I doubt it would be an acceptable discussion." The edge of mockery in her voice had his lips tilting in acknowledgment.
"I would always do my best to accommodate you," he promised her, as his gaze flicked over the ballgown she still wore. "However you need."
"And if my needs didn't include sex at the moment?" Her head tilted as her arms crossed over her breasts. "What if the discussion topic was something that required words rather than actions?"
His brows arched as though in surprise. "I assumed all discussions require words rather than actions. Have the rules changed?"
"Whenever you decide to try to change them," she shot back.
Khalid almost chuckled. She was a fiery little thing; he loved that about her. He would never manage to get anything over on his Marty; she would always see him for the man he was. Whether or not that was a good thing, he wasn't certain at the moment.
What he was certain of was the complete hunger raging through him. He needed her. His dick was a fiery throb, his lips ached to kiss her. Like a drug he had been too long without, his entire body was edgy for her.
"You should inform me when you make these decisions," she told him, as he moved closer to her. "Don't pretend I know everything that's going on here. And this decision to hire a mercenary force without my knowledge is bullshit. You should have consulted with me first."
His nostrils flared. "I do not have to consult with anyone where my protection and the protection of my woman are concerned."
He watched her expression tighten. Her chin lifted to a stubborn angle, her gaze darkened. He hadn't thought he could feel hornier, but that look proved him wrong.
"I am fully trained." She bit out the words, ire punctuating every one. "Have you forgotten that?"
Khalid was treading a very fine line, and he had the sense to know it. Just as he knew that if the ground rules were not established now, then the problems down the road would only amplify.
"While you are in my bed, sleeping in my arms, I am your protection," he said, as he gripped her waist and pulled her to him. "Hear that, Marty. Know it. You may call the shots at any other time. But during those hours that you are my lover, I will ensure your protection with my life."
He didn't give her time to argue. As far as he was concerned, there was no argument. His lips covered the words ready to spill from her, his tongue stroking along the satiny curves before pushing in to tease her tempting little tongue.
"This is no way to win this fight," she gasped, as he pulled at the skirt of her gown, jerking it up her leg to allow his hand to stroke beneath it.
"This fight has already been won," he informed her, trying to breathe through the hunger pounding through him. "The unit is here, they are on guard, and, by God, you are in my arms. I win."
He was certain she would have said more. The woman could argue for hours, he knew. Rather than give her the chance, his hand slid to the wet triangle of silk between her thighs and cupped her firmly.
Instantly, her expression softened, a flinch of pure pleasure shook her body, and Khalid couldn't hold back the growl that tore from his throat at her response.
"I want to be inside you." Lowering his head to her ear, he nipped at the lobe as his fingers found the delicate little nub of her clit and rubbed it sensually. "I want to watch my cock sink inside the snug heat of your pussy, Marty. I want that with every breath inside me."
She was melting in his arms. As he pulled aside the elastic curving around her thigh and slid his hand inside the minuscule material of her panties, he felt her melt against him.
Parting the curl-shrouded folds of flesh, his fingers slid instinctively to the clenched, tight opening he sought.
Marty knew she should fight this. She should demand her independence here and now, because later might well be too late. But, oh God, the pleasure. Her head fell back on her shoulders, her hands gripping his neck as his lips traveled to her shoulder to kiss the sensitive flesh there.
His fingers, broad and heated, the tips calloused and sensually rough, parted her flesh and began to work inside with such sensual pleasure that Marty felt her senses skyrocketing.
Heated dampness spilled from her pussy, spreading along his fingers as he moved them inside her, caressing and rubbing the most sensitive spots with erotic destruction.
It was like setting a match to fuel. Her heart rate thundered as perspiration coated her flesh and her sex became hotter, slicker.
"Ah yeah, sweet baby," he crooned, the rough, sexual vibrancy in his tone making her womb clench. "I could make you come now. Feel you tighten on my fingers and spill all those sweet juices for me to lick away later."
She nearly came in that second. What he did to her should be outlawed. It shouldn't be possible. Her knee bent, her leg lifted along his as she fought for a deeper touch, a harder thrust from those diabolical fingers.
"There, precious, open for me." Approval thrummed in his voice as he sank deeper inside her, his fingers shafting her slow and easy as she began to shudder from the pleasure.
A distant part of her was aware of him moving her. He lifted her with his spare arm, angling her back as his fingers continued to possess her.
She expected to feel the bed as he stopped. A little surprised gasp left her lips as he lifted her instead, pushed her back along the table behind the sofa, and stepped between her spread thighs.
"God yes," he said, as he pushed the skirt of her gown to her waist, the taffeta bunching above her thighs as his gaze centered on where his fingers sank inside her.
"Khalid." She cried his name out, one hand gripping his wrist at the side of the table as her hips arched to one hard, fierce thrust as his thumb raked over her clit.
"So damned beautiful," he breathed out roughly. "You have no idea, Marty, how beautiful you are to me."
His fingers stroked, eased, stretched her. Flames surrounded her, white-hot and intense as they burned through her nerve endings, leaving her gasping, shuddering in near painful pleasure.
"Here." His hand lifted, breaking her hold on him before he gripped her wrist and brought her fingers between her thighs. "Play with your pretty clit for me. Let me watch, baby. Let me
see your pretty fingers as you pleasure yourself."
She had never done that. Never had another watched her masturbate, or aided her in the pleasure as she touched herself. A flush stole over her body, burning her higher as she let her fingers circle the sensitive knot of nerves and she felt his fingers moving inside her.
Her back arched at the first caress against her clit, as he timed the thrust of his fingers inside her. Sensation shot up her spine from her sensitized sex, washing through her body in a blaze of heat.
Her head thrashed against the table, and a long, low moan escaped her lips. It was so good. She stroked her fingers over her clit again, her teeth biting into her lip as his fingers shafted inside her, deep and strong, nearly sending her soaring as they stretched and filled her.
It was exquisite. Pleasure was a steady stroke of intense sensation and breath-stealing vibrancy as it shot through her, then rained over her nerve endings like a shower of heat.
Her senses became dazed, lost in the pleasure as her fingers moved faster over her clit, while his fucked her harder, thrusting inside her pussy with sure, deep strokes. The explosion when it came had her upper body jerking up, her free hand clenching his shoulder as their gazes locked and a wildfire of sensation began to spread through her.
Gasping, crying, Marty shuddered in reaction, shaking with the intensity of the storm inside her as Khalid pulled his fingers back, gripped the thick stalk of his cock, and jerked her to him.
The crest pushed past trembling folds of flesh to burrow into the clenching, tightening entrance of her pussy. His hands locked beneath her rear, lifting her, holding her steady, as he began pushing inside her, his erection stretching her, filling her as it burned along sensitive tissue and stretched her nerve endings.
Her clit, throbbing in orgasm, began to peak and explode in pure unimagined ecstasy. The explosion rocked through her body as she felt his lips at her breasts, his chin pushing aside the snug bodice of her dress to find the hard tip and suck it inside.
"Yes. Please. Oh God. Khalid." Desperate cries welled from her lips as his hips began to churn, his cock shafting inside her, parting her, burning her. She tightened further around him, her body melting, consumed by the ever-growing wave of pleasure. It was destructive, unending. The pure rapture of his possession of her stole her senses and consumed her mind until she felt herself exploding again, clenching on him, her juices flowing between them as he gave one last, hard thrust. Burying to the hilt, she felt him spurting inside her, his cock throbbing, jerking against the sensitive inner flesh of her pussy and peaking her orgasm higher.
Crying out his name, Marty held on to him, certain that without him she would be lost somewhere between the darkness and the fire consuming her without end.
There had never been anything as intense, as brilliantly hot and consuming as exploding in Khalid's arms.
As she fought to catch her breath she felt him pull back from her. A muted moan vibrated in his throat as his cock slid free of her, while a shudder raced through her body.
"Come, precious." His voice was sensually rough, rasping along her senses with a quiet stroke. "We can shower together."
In the past week she had found that she loved showering with him. He took forever beneath the hot spray, using incredibly soft cloths to clean every inch of her body.
She slid from the table with his help, staring up at him as he released the zipper of her dress and helped it pool at her feet. Leaving her in nothing but heels and stockings, his black gaze flared again with decided male interest.
"I can't get enough of you." He sighed as he stripped off the remainder of his clothes. She had no idea how he'd managed to shed his shoes and slacks without her knowing.
Slipping her shoes from her feet, Marty moved slowly away from him, heading to the shower.
"We need to talk," she said, all too aware of him behind her as he watched her walk.
"Some discussions need to wait until daylight." Amusement lingered in his voice.
"Not this one." Turning back to him, Marty watched him as she felt the ache in her heart begin to intensify.
He was the ultimate in male arrogance, dominance, and supreme sexuality. Tall and broad, dark and brooding. He was the epitome of the male sexual animal. Enough so that her womb clenched with a renewal of spiraling, fiery need.
How could she ever let him go? Khalid wasn't known for his long-enduring affairs. What if she became nothing more than another notch on his bedpost? It was something she needed to be prepared for.
And it could come sooner rather than later if she didn't have her questions answered. She needed to trust him. She needed to know that no matter how strong was his need to protect her, he would always be honest with her.
Pausing at the bed, she shed her stockings before continuing to the shower. She hated the knowledge that she had to confront him for information; some things he should have volunteered.
If he had been accused of murdering a young woman, then that was information she should know. It was information that could have aided her in the investigation into who was trying to murder him, and why.
And on the heels of that thought: Why hadn't her fathers told her?
Chapter 18
Khalid found himself clenching his teeth as he followed Marty into the shower. He should be well beyond the fiery lust that he felt as he watched her rounded ass tighten and shift as she walked ahead of him. Hell, he'd just fucked her until they were both nearly exhausted, and still he could feel the white-hot bite of hunger clenching his balls and tightening his dick.
What the hell did she do to him? What was it about her that had his back teeth locking against the urge to bend her over and sink inside her again? Balls deep, his cock surrounded by the fist-tight, slick velvet depths of her pussy.
Hell. He was damned near sweating with the need now.
"Deerfield had some very interesting information when I met with him," she commented, her back still to him as she moved to the shower door and reached in to adjust the water.
"Did he?" He'd waited impatiently, torn between the need to jerk her out of the room with the bastard and protect her and the need to allow her the independence he knew she demanded.
As he moved into the shower with her, Khalid watched as she stepped back, grabbed her shampoo, and began lathering her hair.
Silence but for the pounding of the water filled the shower stall as Khalid watched her expression closely. She hid her emotions when she deemed the situation warranted it. Her face was calm, composed; there was nothing but the eerie sense of impending doom that circled his head to warn him of danger ahead.
"You haven't asked me about the meeting." She stepped beneath the spray to rinse her hair as she spoke. "Were you waiting on Shayne to discuss it with him?"
"We've been rather busy," he said. "Is there something that should concern me other than the manner in which he spoke to you?"
There was a trap in her question; Khalid could feel it, and he didn't like it.
"Is that all that concerns you?" She opened her eyes as the last of the shampoo ran from her hair and stared back at him, her lashes spiked with moisture.
"Why not get to the point, Marty?" he growled. "You obviously have something on your mind here."
Even the sense of impending doom did nothing to affect the jutting erection aimed her way. Damned stubborn cock. The woman had an effect on him that he simply couldn't fight.
"Why haven't you told me what happened in Saudi Arabia before you left? What happened with your brother's wife, Khalid?" she asked him as she pulled a soft cloth from the towel rack and dampened it.
Khalid's nostrils flared as he dipped his head beneath the spray, closed his eyes, and concentrated on the answer for a second.
"You don't have to make up a lie for me."
His eyes snapped open as he reached for shampoo and tried to occupy himself with the shower rather than with fucking her
against the shower wall and stilling the anger he could feel building inside her.
"I have never lied to you," he snapped.
"Then you don't have to find a way to delay or avoid the question." Her slim shoulders shrugged nonchalantly, though her demeanor was anything but.
Rubbing the cloth over the scented soap, his luscious little lover began washing delicate, silken flesh with rough strokes. Khalid almost winced at the force she used. He would have stroked her, caressed her, washed her with delicate sensuality and much pleasure.
"Deerfield believes you and your brother Abram shared, then murdered, his first wife."
Khalid's gaze jerked up in shock. "This has nothing to do with the investigation."
Marty watched as Khalid turned his back on her and soaped a cloth with a bar of creamy soap that she knew was made especially for him.
When he was finished, the soap was slammed back onto its small tile shelf. With rough, furious strokes he began to wash himself silently, his shoulders tense, the air in the shower suddenly thick with tension.
"It's not your place to decide if this pertains to the investigation," she informed him. "Vince Deerfield knows about it, and he was particularly volatile over the subject. I want to know what happened, Khalid."
"This has nothing to do with us." His tone was icy. Despite the warmth of the water flowing over her, Marty could feel the chill of it licking over her flesh.
"Do you really want me to get my answers in other ways, Khalid? Do I have to search for them?"
She watched as the cloth stilled for a moment. When it resumed, it was with efficient deliberation. He washed, tossed the cloth to the corner of the shower, then stepped beneath the spray once again to rinse.
Amazingly, he was hard. His cock stood out stiff and heavy from his body, the thick, engorged crest throbbing enticingly as rivers of water and suds flowed around it.
Marty resisted the urge to lick her lips as she jerked her gaze to his face.