closer to him. She wanted him, at least in a carnal sense, which he could live with for now. It was beyond him to deny her such a simple thing. Leaning over her, he rubbed his face against the underside of her breast. If only it were so easy to mark her as his own in this primal fashion. He caressed her delicate flesh, indulged with his lips and tongue the taste of her sweet female musk. There would be rapture this evening. Complete abandon to indulge both their bodies and senses. What did she think of him rubbing over her as if he were some great predatory cat tamed by her mere presence? When she lowered her hand, sliding it between their bodies, he had a feeling she wanted to aid him in release. But this wasn’t about the gratification of sex. This was about reacquainting his mind with his dreams, his fantasies. This was about holding on to the one thing that had kept passion and reason flowing in his veins over the years. He stopped her hand from reaching its destination. “Do not touch me this eve, unless I give leave to do so.” He didn’t mean for his voice to sound so harsh. When he released his hold, her arms fell loose to either side of her. His teeth grasped her crested nipple; he wanted to test her limits—Amir had promised a woman willing to explore the darker nature a man had. When her back arched higher off the divan, her desire seemed to get the better of her. Both her hands shot out above her head to push against the wall. There was no need to guide her hips over his desire-ridden body. She moved to fulfill her own need. The thrust of her pelvis was jerky and it took everything in Griffin to hold out until she peaked. “Thread your hands together, above your head.” Better to have her not touch him when his release was so close. It didn’t matter that he’d purchased this right. He would purchase her a thousand and one nights more, if it were the only way he could spend more time in her company. He tasted her freely now everywhere his mouth and tongue landed with each one of her thrusts. He couldn’t seem to pull her in tight enough to appease either of them. Biting at her breast with as much gentleness as his sex-crazed body could deliver in this current state of excitement, he heard her let out a deep moan. He ground harder into her, his control gradually slipping as he rode out both their pleasure. Her body slid with ease over his clothes. He could feel her wetness penetrating the material of his smalls when her body let out a gush of feminine fluid and her legs dropped farther open. There was no reining in his desires at that point. His cock swelled and there was no hope of stopping the release so close to overtaking him. They jerked together in the abandon of their congress. “By all that is holy . . .” Her words came in Persian as she arched farther off the divan, bringing her ribs right up to his chest as she came to her crisis. Another rush of fluids aided the slide of their bodies. He rocked his hips a few more times as the last of his seed pumped out painfully in the constriction of his trousers. With a slight collapse onto her, he released the tight grasp he had on her hips and breathed heavily against her for a moment. He needed to catch his breath. Had they really just done that? There was no thinking straight with her sensual body wrapped around his. It didn’t matter what they’d just done. They’d both been consenting adults in this. It was obvious they had both needed this release. She wouldn’t have taken her own pleasure so fiercely if she hadn’t needed it. The bigger question remained, though. Did she play this game with everyone or did she remember him and find comfort in losing herself to his touch? After tonight he’d have answers, or at least he hoped to. It was obvious she would continue with this charade of hers. But would she keep denying the truth after a few months spent in his company?
CHAPTER FOUR Reunion and Reconciliation 1841 Five Years