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

      ‘It’s no big deal, is it? Everyone has a first time.’

      Sayid put his weight on one arm and with his other hand tipped her chin up till she couldn’t escape his scrutiny.

      ‘What are you hiding, Lina?’

      Her eyes opened wide. He wanted to read her thoughts, her secrets, but he found himself drowning in that brilliant purple-blue gaze.

      ‘I’m not hiding anything.’ Yet he caught the thread of agitation in her voice and in her quickening heartbeat, hammering against him.

      She must have read his scepticism for she snatched a quick breath. Sayid had to fight to ignore how her nipples scraped against him as her breasts lifted.

      ‘Look, I grew up in a traditional house, okay? My mother might have been a dancer once, and her reputation suffered with the old biddies in the town as a result, but if anything that made her even more determined to protect mine. The only men I saw growing up were relatives and close friends of the family, usually my father’s age. I had no chance or inclination to go to bed with a man. Especially when I saw the way some of them looked at my mother, despite the fact she was married.’

      Sayid experienced a ripple of distaste. He guessed the young Lina hadn’t had a good opinion of the men she’d met. And then there were her cousins, trying to take advantage of her in her own home.

      ‘I was brought up to think the only man I’d sleep with would be my husband.’

      ‘Until your uncle sent you here.’ A sliver of guilt needled Sayid. He hadn’t taken advantage of her then, but now—

      ‘And you gave me an opportunity I could never have imagined.’ Her smile broke his train of thought. ‘For the first time you gave me power over my own life. You gave me my freedom, and the right to choose.’

      ‘But you didn’t exercise that choice while you were overseas. Why not?’ Increasingly he found it hard to concentrate. Partly because of that sunshine of a smile beaming up at him and partly because lying body to body was too arousing. He wanted to get to the bottom of Lina’s decision but his need to know was becoming obscured by the need for sex.

      Her expression sobered, even as she lifted her hand to smooth her palm over the upper slope of his chest. Tingles of want spread through his body.

      ‘Why should I? It’s not something to rush into. Does it really matter since in the end I chose you?’

      Sayid struggled to think, to process the meaning behind Lina’s words. On the face of it, no, it didn’t matter. He should be pleased she’d taken up his scandalous proposition and gave herself to him.

      Yet there was something...cagey about her. He sensed an unwillingness to talk on this. A disinclination to discuss something so personal? Or maybe someone had broken her heart while she was away? If he discovered someone had hurt her...

      Anger throbbed through him at the idea, but before it could take hold Lina linked her fingers around his neck and tugged, inviting his kiss.

      For a moment Sayid withstood the invitation. His gut warned she was holding something back and it bothered him that he had no idea what it was. He didn’t like mysteries, especially as he sensed this could be important.

      ‘Sayid? Don’t you want to kiss me?’ Her expression grew tentative and he heard the tiniest hint of a tremor in her voice. It was a reminder of her almost total lack of experience.

      ‘How can you doubt it?’ He moved, angling his body so his erection aligned perfectly between her legs.

      Her eyelids fluttered as he tilted his hips, pressing so that, if he hadn’t put on loose trousers, he’d be entering her. His pulse jumped at the thought.

      Seconds later he was skimming the trousers down his legs and kicking them off, reaching across to the bedside table for protection.

      Postponing the discussion was a deliberate decision, he assured himself as he rolled on the condom. Lina’s reticence was natural modesty, that was all. He didn’t need to understand everything about her to enjoy sex with her.

      In the past it had suited him perfectly not to delve too deep into the thoughts and motivations of his lovers. It was all part of keeping a suitable detachment.

      Ruthlessly Sayid muted the voice protesting that he wanted to understand everything about Lina. Proclaiming too that his urgency now was proof that his vaunted self-restraint had cracked, if not shattered.

      Sayid stilled, trying to summon that restraint.

      Then Lina put her hand on his chest, right above his thudding heart. Her fingers slid slowly down, over ribs that tightened at her touch, skimming his belly that twitched and trembled at the caress. Lower.

      Explosions detonated through his body as her small hand closed tentatively around him. Sayid’s breath stalled as her fist glided down his length then paused. The arm propping him up on the bed shook like a Bedouin tent in a sandstorm.

      ‘Harder.’ The word was gruff, almost indecipherable. Yet Lina understood. Her grip firmed as it slid, centimetre by torturously slow centimetre, back to the tip.

      Sayid shut his eyes as they rolled back in his head. Her caress wasn’t practised or smooth but he’d never felt such raw delight at a woman’s touch.

      Why? The word drummed an incessant staccato beat in his head.

      But it was drowned by the rush of blood evacuating his brain and heading lower. He’d been stiff as a board but now he grew in her hand, pressing into that warm caress that slid down his shaft then up, more confident and devastating with each pass.

      Dimly Sayid recalled the need for control, but it was swept away as he bucked into Lina’s hold, unable to stop himself.

      He snapped his eyes open, falling into her violet gaze. The rich scent of roses and female arousal filled the air.

      She squeezed him and he jolted. Any second now...

      Gritting his teeth, Sayid plucked her hand away, shuddering at the slide of her fingers against his erection.

      He saw a protest form on those plump lips but he wasn’t in the mood for conversation. His mouth crashed down on hers in a kiss that was barely short of brutal, devouring her with a hunger he was past restraining.

      Sayid covered her mound with his hand, relishing the way she tilted up into his touch. That was it. He just needed to check... Yes. Triumph stirred. Lina was ready for him.

      He’d learned how to make foreplay an art, priding himself on his patience, ensuring his lover’s satisfaction first. But now there was no time for subtlety or patience. He braced himself over her and with one purposeful thrust, pushed hard, harder, only to find himself sliding with incredible ease right to her core.

      Stunned eyes, the colour of mountain irises, met his. For an instant the world held steady. Then, before he had time to expend the breath cramming his lungs, or even think about technique, the pressure hit like a runaway train, smashing into him.

      Lina clenched around him again and again, a flush tinting her bare breasts, throat and cheeks, a look of astonishment on her face.

      Then Sayid was incapable of noticing anything but the unholy tightness in his groin, the rush of volcanic pleasure pulsing through him, and the tug of muscles stretched to breaking point as instinct took over and he pumped frantically into oblivion.

      Dimly he heard a guttural cry of triumph and a sob of what he hoped was feminine delight, as his strength gave way and he crashed down on Lina.

      He had to move away. He had to get off her. But the strength had seeped from his body. Besides, there was a warm, rhythmic stroke over his back that urged him not to move. His head was in the curve of Lina’s shoulder, his chest crushing her.

      Finally, gathering his wits, he lifted his weight onto his elbows. Instantly she murmured a protest, her arms wrapping around his back, pulling as if to tug him down. Sayid