Modern Romance July 2018 Books 5-8 Collection. Annie West

      Lina licked her lips, dry again despite the juice he’d shared with her, and saw with faint wonder the fixed way Sayid stared at her mouth. As if mesmerised. She registered the pulse suddenly noticeable at his temple. Tentatively she licked her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue again and felt a ripple pass through the big frame beside her.

      But before complacency at her power could take hold he’d relinquished her hand, moving from the bed to the floor. Startled, she watched him kneel before her and lift her foot onto his thigh.

      A quiver shot through her as those large, warm hands closed around her ankle, her nipples peaking in response to the darts of sensation spearing through her body. She had no name for them except possibly awareness, or need.

      His smile was knowing but his shoulders were rigid with tension as he investigated the delicate suede ankle straps of her purple shoes.

      ‘Sexy shoes,’ he murmured as he tugged one tiny buckle undone and moved to the second.

      ‘I...’ She cleared her throat. ‘I bought them the week before I came back to Halarq.’ She didn’t bother to add they were more daring and expensive than any shoes she’d ever owned. After years of frugal living, and with the shimmering purple fabric waiting to be made into a dress, Lina had succumbed to the urge for excitement and luxury. For who knew what life in Halarq would bring?

      An affair with the Emir, that’s what!

      Even now she found it hard to believe. The sight of Sayid Badawi, kneeling before her, undoing her shoes as she’d once knelt before him, removing his boots, made her tremble.

      Did he remember that night?

      Even then, despite her fear, she’d been attracted to him. She’d decided it wouldn’t be a hardship after all to share the Emir’s bed. Yet that attraction was a mere shadow of her feelings for him now.

      He removed her shoe and put it aside, then slowly, oh, so slowly, rubbed firm fingers the length of her sole and up her calf. Lina splayed her hands on the bed as her bones liquefied and pleasure swelled.

      ‘Good?’ She opened flickering eyelids to see his glittering gaze sweep over her.

      ‘Marvellous.’

      ‘But not as expert as you. You’ll have to teach me.’ He lifted her other foot onto his thigh and reached for the miniature buckles.

      Lina said nothing, too swept away by his touch and the intoxicating notion that Sayid wanted to do this again, but even better, to please her.

      A moan built at the back of her throat as he removed the second shoe and massaged his way from her foot, up her calf, to her knee and the sensitive spot behind it that she’d never known about.

      When his mouth followed his hands in a torturously slow trail of open-mouthed kisses and licks, it was as if something snapped inside her. Her elbows gave way and she collapsed onto her back, waves of delight lapping higher and higher.

      ‘Sayid.’ It was a whispery breath, almost inaudible over the rush of blood in her ears.

      Instantly the caresses paused. ‘Yes?’ She felt the word in a waft of warm breath against her knee. That caress, or perhaps the fact he’d stopped, seemingly attuned to her sudden tension, eased the nerves unexpectedly coiling in her belly.

      ‘Just... Sayid.’ For a moment she was overcome, by the wonder of this man and what he did to her. Nothing had prepared her, and they’d only just begun.

      Lina blinked and watched him rise over her, hands planted either side of her on the bed.

      ‘You’re safe with me, you know that, don’t you?’

      Of course she knew it. It was crazy to feel so emotional about what was, after all, the most natural thing in the world.

      Besides, if her logic worked, a week of intimacy with Sayid would cure her of this emotional see-saw. She’d glut herself on him and be able to walk away, head up and heart whole. It had to work. The alternative was unthinkable.

      ‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘I trust you.’

      Which was all the encouragement he needed to slide her higher up the bed then lower himself beside her. In the move the towel at his hips came undone and Lina felt the hard, hot swell of his erection heavy on her thigh. She wrenched her gaze from his taut features, down that hard, muscled chest and lower, feeling nervous and fascinated at the same time. She wanted to trace the shape of him, discover how that hardness felt.

      ‘Not a good idea.’ Sayid’s hand cuffed her wrist then brought it up to the mattress beside her ear.

      ‘But I want to touch you.’ Did she sound like a little girl deprived of a treat? There was nothing childish about how she felt.

      He huffed out a laugh, yet the sound was stretched as if it covered pain. ‘Later. Touch me now and this will be all over.’

      Holding both her hands in his, he lowered his mouth, not to hers as she’d hoped, but to her neck, nipping with tiny bites that had her writhing till he swung a heavy thigh across her, pinioning her beneath him.

      It was the most marvellous feeling, his weight pushing her down, evoking an instant need for her to rise against him, even though she had no desire to escape. But then Sayid pressed his lips to her décolletage, following the V neckline of her dress, and fire exploded in her veins. His lips, soft as a wisp of silk, brushed the upper slopes of her breasts again and again, and this time she couldn’t stop the moan of pleasure.

      ‘You’re sensitive there.’ His voice sounded hard, rough even, but there was definitely smugness in his eyes as he looked up at her. Then, holding her gaze he sank lower, drawing her nipple into his mouth and sucking hard through the fabric.

      Lina jolted as if from an electric charge. Aftershocks radiated from her scalp right down to her toes.

      ‘Shh, it’s all right. I’ll make it all right.’ Sayid moved a little, hovered over her other breast then lowered his head again, this time gently scraping his teeth over her peaked nipple and making her cry out in wondrous delight.

      Heaven help her. She was wound so tight she wouldn’t survive much more of this.

      ‘Please, Sayid.’ She tried to reach for him but those strong hands still manacled her wrists as he teased her breasts with his mouth. ‘It’s not fair,’ she gasped. ‘You touch me but you won’t let me touch you.’

      He looked up, his mouth still closed around her nipple and the sight of him there sent a rush of liquid heat down to that needy place between her legs.

      Finally he lifted his head. ‘I never promised fair, Lina. But I promise you’ll enjoy our time together.’

      She had no trouble believing that. Already her body hovered near the brink of something momentous. The knowing gleam in his eyes told her Sayid understood exactly how to tip her off the edge.

      ‘At least let me undress.’ Because perversely, being fully clothed when he was naked felt almost embarrassing, because she was receiving all the pleasure and giving none. Or perhaps she was simply desperate to be one with him.

      ‘Allow me.’ He slid his hand under her shoulder and across to the zip at the back of her dress, lowering it so slowly Lina found herself arching her body against what felt like a caress.

      When the zip was down, instead of peeling the dress from her shoulders, he grabbed the hem and lifted it by inching degrees up her legs. Lina found herself transfixed by the fierce intensity of his stare as he focused on revealing the bare skin of her legs. Finally there was a waft of air across her panties and she waited, breathless, for him to drag them down, or invite her to.

      Instead, to her amazement, Sayid leaned down, nuzzling the flimsy damp fabric that hid her from his gaze.

      Lina jumped as sensations she’d never known burst through her. She lifted her hands to push him away, then hesitated, fingers hovering above his head, mesmerised,