Heir to a Desert Legacy - By Maisey Yates Page 0,60
up and saw Chloe, stumbling over the sand, the wind whipping through her coppery hair, her short, cotton dress blowing up over her knees.
“What are you doing here, Chloe?”
“I saw you come down here.”
“Where’s Aden?”
“Sleeping. And the nanny is with him.”
“So you thought you’d follow me? I thought I’d frustrated you enough this afternoon that you might avoid me.”
She came to stand in the shadow of the rock, the stone shielding her from the wind, her hair tumbling over her shoulders. “I thought we settled this. Earlier today, in fact.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking for, little virgin.”
“Not a virgin anymore. And don’t do that. Don’t try to make it seem like I somehow don’t understand things simply because I’d never had sex. I know the mysteries of the universe, sex hardly rocked my world.”
“Did it not?” he asked, extending his hand and brushing his thumb over her cheek. He found he was addicted to the sensation of touching her that way. An illicit dose of her soft skin beneath his hand. Just a taste of what it had been to touch her naked body. And he hadn’t done nearly enough touching that night. Not nearly enough.
“Well, in some ways it did.” She looked down, a blush staining her cheek, dark enough for him to see, even in the falling twilight.
“Chloe, you should go back.”
“No. Let me tell you something, Sayid al Kadar, you might be out of touch with your emotions, but I’m not out of touch with mine. I know what I want.”
“And you want me? What a waste of your desire.”
“It’s not. How could it be? I’m your wife after all.”
“Not my real wife,” he said, his voice cold. “You will never be my wife in any real sense. Even now, even with you as my wife for this brief period of time, it puts you in danger, do you not see that?”
“I don’t feel very in danger, actually. Which is funny, because I used to think that if I ever let a man get close to me...I would feel afraid. But you don’t make me feel afraid.”
“I should. As far as the world is concerned, you’re my wife and that means you’re vulnerable to an attack on me.”
“I don’t feel all that vulnerable when I’m with you. I feel strong.”
She moved forward, and as she got closer, he felt the tightness around his body loosen. Felt himself start breathing again, truly.
“You could not stand against men like I’ve encountered.”
“Is Attar at war right now?”
“No.”
“Is there even a rumor of it?”
He shook his head. “Since my capture and return, all has been quiet. The message Alik Vasin delivered to our enemies after my rescue was...it had deep impact.”
“Then that’s not really what you’re worried about.”
“I know the reality of what can happen to a man in the hands of those who are truly evil. Can you imagine what they might have done if I’d had a weakness to exploit? If I had cared a bit for my own skin? Or for the skin of another.” He put his hand on her cheek again, resting his palm there.
“So you’ll simply go through life caring for no one?”
“It’s all I can do now, Chloe, I don’t think you fully understand. I can’t do anything more. I was not trained to be a man, but a machine. And it’s too late to undo it.”
She stepped into him, kissing him, in the way that only Chloe could. Deep, inexperienced but filled with passion. Chloe didn’t hold back.
“Another experiment, Chloe?” he asked, when they parted, his voice thick with lust.
She shook her head. “No. This isn’t science.”
“I thought you wanted everything to be scientific. To be able to explain it all.”
“I don’t want to explain this. I just want to feel it.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he encircled her waist with his, pulling her tightly against him, relishing the feeling of her lush breasts against his chest, relishing the chance to move his hands over her curves.
He could feel the chains falling off. Could feel the walls crumbling, a rush of fresh air moving through his soul.
He could breathe.
“Chloe,” he said, her name a tortured sound on his lips.
He hands shook as he sifted his fingers through her hair and angled her head so he could delve deeper, sweeping the moist recess of her mouth with his tongue, tasting the essence of her, tasting Chloe, deep, letting her flavor fill him.
But it wasn’t enough.
“Are you okay?” he ground out,