The sheikh slowly drew her close, and her heart began to pound.
Faster.
Harder.
And as the space between them disappeared, and her dark eyes lifted to his, it was also then that the sheikh's head slowly descended, and their lips finally met.
Safiya.
To be able to even think of her name felt an indulgence, and Altair found himself indulging in it over and over as he had his first taste of her mouth.
Safiya. Safiya. Safiya.
He fought to keep the movement of his lips slow and soft. Gentle. He didn't want to frighten her, but controlling himself was proving a lot harder than he imagined. She tasted too fucking lovely. Sweet. And innocent. But most perturbing of all, she tasted his.
The way her lips trembled. The way she whimpered, and the way her arms circled around his neck as he deepened his kiss—-
All of it whispered to his heart that she was his.
His.
The princess was his. Safiya...was his, and as the knowledge sank in, Altair's hunger for her exploded—-
Safiya could only jerk in surprise when the kiss abruptly deepened...just as the sheikh hauled her close, and as her entire body fell against his—-
Hard.
Every inch of him was so, so wonderfully hard, and best of all, his hardness against her softness—-
It felt good.
So, so unbelievably good that Safiya couldn't help but dig her nails into his back and moan against his lips—-
But it wasn't enough.
She had thought it would be, but it wasn't. She wanted more, and somehow, even though her mind didn't know what 'more' meant exactly, her body seemed to do so, and—-
Oooooooh.
Safiya slowly began rubbing her body against the sheikh's.
What. The. Fuck.
Altair's first instinct was to pull away. It was one thing for them to kiss, but this?
This would only further complicate things, but fuck, fuck, fuck—-
It had been too long, dammit, and he couldn't even remember the last time he wanted a woman this much.
Just too fucking goddamn long—-
And when he felt her nipples start to pout against his chest—-
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
But it was too late now.
He wanted her, she wanted him, and most importantly of all, she was his, so complications be damned—-
Safiya whimpered when the sheikh suddenly lifted her up in his arms, and she could only grip his shoulders more tightly as she felt him lower her to the couch.
The sheikh guided her down until she was flat against her back, and he was seated on the edge, his hard thigh pressed against her arm. Their gazes clashed, and her breath caught. Oh, the way he was looking at her now—-
Altair bit back a growl as he watched the princess' breasts swell against the tight confines of her school blouse.
Outside this room, the afternoon sun was still harshly bright, and the desert heat oppressive. Students were still in class, and university personnel were still roaming the hallways. That now was not the optimal moment to touch her was a gross understatement, but even so.
He wanted her, dammit.
Wanted her so fucking bad that he just couldn't help himself, and so with his gaze still holding hers captive, Altair let his fingers slowly drift down—-
"Altair..."
The melodic softness of her voice wrapped around his name like a lover's caress, and lust burned even hotter inside of him.
"Ah!"
Her gasp was full of wonder as his hand finally found her breast, and Altair could feel his cock swelling in size as he watched her gaze turn hazy with desire.
"Afraid?" the sheikh asked in a rough whisper.
"Never," Safiya whispered back, and she nearly whimpered when she saw his gaze glitter with approval. Not even in her wildest dreams had she allowed herself to imagine this—-
The sheikh staring at her with blatant lust as his fingers made short work of her button, and when she felt him give her bra a hard yank for her breasts to spill out—-
Aaaaaah.
Safiya's body buckled as the dizzying heat of his touch penetrated her skin, and an acute sense of trembling awareness threatened to consume her when the sheikh started palming and kneading her breasts.
His hands, she thought dazedly, were so much larger than hers. Harder. Stronger. Beautiful like the rest of him, and when she found herself telling him exactly that—-
Altair nearly choked.
Beautiful?
Was she blind?
Did she not see the long, jagged scar that marred half of his face? She was either a liar or an idiot, but when he fucking looked into her eyes—-
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
All he could see was an innocent and almost eager desire to please him, and at the sight of it, Altair's lust knew no bounds.
"Aaaah!" A gasp spilled past her lips, and Safiya's body nearly flew off the couch.
The sheikh...her nipple...his mouth...
He began suckling right away, and all she could do was writhe and whimper. The sensations that rocked her body were impossible to describe, and when his other hand joined in the delicious fray, his fingers pinching and tweaking her other nipple—-
A moan tore out of her throat, and she found herself clutching his head tightly to her chest—-
Beloved. Beloved. Beloved.
The word echoed endlessly in her mind, and when she felt him switch to her other breast, she had to bite hard on her lip to keep herself from sobbing the word out loud.
Beloved. Beloved. Beloved.
Her belly started to tighten, a ball of pressure building, and as the sheikh's teeth scraped against one distended nipple, something inside of her burst, and Safiya's lips parted in a silent cry as she climaxed for the first time in her life.
Her eyes squeezed shut as her body shuddered down a sensual journey that made her feel like she was soaring and falling at the same time. She had no words, absolutely no words to describe the beauty of it. All she knew was that it was beautiful...because of him.
Beloved.
Chapter Eight
Dear Mama,
The most exciting thing has happened!
I...
Made...
The sheikh laugh.
And it was the loveliest sound, too!
"PEOPLE ARE LOOKING at us, alshaykh."
"Altair," the sheikh reminded his betrothed.
"Maehdina." I'm sorry. "I forgot." And then she glanced up at him inquiringly, saying yet again, "People are looking at us, Altair."
Aurora and Ella, having heard the entire conversation, couldn't help but snicker at their friend's utterly serious tone, and they snickered even more when the words had Altair Al-Atassi pinching the other princess' cheeks before wrapping his strong arms around her in a fiercely possessive embrace.
Been there, done that, Ella thought humorously. As the saying went, 'it took one to know one', and from her very first meeting of Sheikh Altair, Ella had known right away that she and Safiya's betrothed were peas of the same cynical and distrustful pod. For people like them, people as pure as Safiya was akin to a miracle, and when they also happened to be as adorably serious as her new friend—-
Ella discreetly studied the couple that currently had most of the other students in the university's dining hall gaping in a mixture of shock, awe, and not a small amount of envy. That the sheikh was back in Mushriq for two days in a row now was pretty shocking in itself, but for the Ramilian military commander to also have his betrothed sit on his lap while feeding her...