Page 10 of Sheikh's Unexpected Triplet Babies
“You don't need to.”
She blinked, looking up at him. “Um, I guess you could order them to keep them open, and they would listen to you, but there's really no need for that, is there? I mean, I'm here, and I'm pretty sure we've exhausted all of the options for fun in Masir at this point...”
“Not all of them,” he said, and to her shock, he took her hand again.
No, she had not become immune to him at all. A few moments ago, she had been enjoying their time together, laughing with him as if they had known each other for years. Now in the fading evening light, there was an edge of hunger to him that called to something dark and primal inside her. There was risk and danger here, and the shock that traveled from his body to hers just through his touch was unlike anything she had ever felt before.
“Jahin...”
She couldn't say any more before he pulled her close, cupping the side of her face in his free hand. Bedelia only had time enough to realize that his hand was wonderfully warm before he dropped his lips to hers in a kiss.
She had kissed men before, of course. They had all been fumbling things that left her wondering what all the fuss was about. She had even wondered more than once whether she was frigid and cold, unable to respond to others the way the world told her she should.
With one kiss, however, Jahin told her that this was certainly not the case.
His kiss was fire and fury, igniting a response from within her that made her heart beat faster. Suddenly, with a single gesture, he changed something inside her, and all she wanted was to learn more about it. With a wild abandon she had never felt before, Bedelia threw her arms around him, dragging him close and tilting her head up so she could feel the kiss more clearly. She might have started out as shy and nervous, but soon she was boldly exploring the kiss, learning and craving more with every moment.
When they finally pulled back, she knew her cheeks were pink and she was breathing hard. She looked at Jahin as if he were some kind of god or hero, someone who could change the way the world worked with just a moment's touch.
To her surprise though, there was a slight knowing smirk on his face, which brought her right back to the ground. She hadn't expected him to be as awed with their touch as she was, but perhaps she had expected something a little less...smug?
“My god, you are a woman of passion,” he said with some satisfaction. “Perhaps you would like a chance to show me more?”
“What...what do you mean?”
“I mean that I have been reading your signals all day, and right now, I am inviting you to go back to my camp to show me exactly what you would like to.”
“I'm sorry... Did you think I was trying to...to seduce you or something?”
“You can call it whatever you want, beautiful one,” he said. “I just know that there is a pull between is that we do not have to ignore. This isn't some ancient time where a single hot look represented a lifetime of commitment.”
“Say it bluntly,” Bedelia said, surprising herself with how steady her voice was. She knew that all she was doing was buying heartbreak with this, but she had to be sure.
Jahin raised an eyebrow at her, shrugging slightly. “I am inviting you to my bed, where I would make you feel as good as it is possible for a woman to feel. I hardly think that a woman like you would balk at the idea.”
“A...woman like me?” The hits just kept coming, and for some reason, she couldn't seem to stop. There was a smart thing to do here, and that was to simply thank him for helping her when she needed it and go inside before she had to hear any more of this. Before she had to listen to him destroy all of the pleasant things she had thought and dreamed of throughout the day. She had known that those pleasant things were far from real or true or even possible, but they had still been lovely, and she didn't want to give them up.
“Well, you are in Muneazil by yourself, and certainly from the way you kiss, you are a woman of the world. You have struck me as a woman who knows what she wants, and who knows that I can give it to you.”
His grin turned sly, and a part of her was still resentful that he could be so handsome while he was being such a jerk.
“Come now, no games,” he said coaxingly. “Why bother playing games when we could be making each other feel so very good, so very whole?”
Somehow, Bedelia found herself smiling. It was a strange smile, one that didn't have much to do with anything else. She saw Jahin's grin widen, as if he had convinced her and he had won.
She kept smiling as she stepped a little closer to him and then slapped him across the face as hard as she could.
The force of the blow traveled from her palm up through her arm then through her entire body. She felt as if she was on fire, and that anyone who looked at her too hard would simply be burned. The look on his face changed from smug surety to shock, and she shook her head.
“Yes,” she agreed softly. “Let us not have any games. And I am a woman who knows what she wants, and what I want right now is to be away from you.”
He looked at her, speechless, which was satisfying in a dark kind of way, and then she spun around on her heel and walked away.
She didn't break down into tears until she was alone in her room, stifling her cries in a shirt. It had been an illusion. The whole day with a man she could honestly look at and call a prince was an illusion, and somehow, now that it was over, all she could do was mourn it.