Bound to Seduction (12 page)

He drew a deep breath, let it out. Finally
stopped pacing and faced her, because she deserved to see his eyes.
“I knew you were different, right from the start, Mira. I knew as
soon as I took you to that island that this time I couldn’t go
through with my task. I couldn’t corrupt your soul for Zoraida.” He
pressed his fingers against his temple. “I know it means nothing to
you, but I’ve been racking my brain, trying to come up with a
solution. Trying to find a way to break the Firebrand opal’s hold
on you. To free you from this nightmare I’ve sucked you into. I
want you to know that I’m not giving up. That no matter what, I’ll
find a way to make sure Zoraida doesn’t get your soul.”

Holy Allah. He’d made his choice. He hadn’t
realized it until the words were out of his mouth, but now he
didn’t want to take them back. He chose her. He loved his brothers,
but he couldn’t condemn one soul just to save another. And even if
Mira hated him for all eternity, that didn’t change anything. She
didn’t deserve this any more than he did. Any more than his
brothers’ did. She didn’t deserve anything but happiness.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he
didn’t see her push off the couch. Didn’t hear her cross the floor.
Didn’t even know she was next to him until her soft voice said, “I
love you, Tariq.”

His head
came up. His eyes widened. “You…
what
?”

A gentle smiled curled her kiss-me mouth. “I
love you.”

Disbelief rushed all through him. “Mira, I’m
a monster. I came here with the intention of—”

“Damning my soul. Yes, I got that.” She
stepped closer, rested her palms against his bare chest. Warmth
seeped from her hands into his body, easing the chill deep inside.
“But you haven’t yet. And you don’t want to. And since you’ve been
gone, I’ve had several days to research and think things through,
and there’s only one thing I know that really matters.”

“What’s that?” he asked before he could
think to stop himself.

She lifted her hand, brushed it against his
cheek. And he leaned into her touch without even realizing he was
doing so. “I made my own wish. I brought you here. I didn’t have to
do that, Tariq, so you shouldn’t feel guilty about anything that
happens to me. It was my choice.”

“Mira—”

She rose on her toes. Wrapped her arms
around his neck. Brought her body flush against his until the chill
was nothing but a memory and her heat was all he felt. “I would do
it again too. Even if it was only for a few days. Even knowing
everything I know now. I would do it again to spend these hours
with you because they’ve been the best of my life. I thought I
wanted to know how to be desirable, but I realized…I already am. I
just hadn’t met the right man.”

“Mira,” he whispered, unable to stop himself
from closing his arms around her. “I am not a man.”

“No, not technically, but it doesn’t mean
you deserve what was done to you. I can’t even begin to try to
understand your world, but I know what’s in your heart. I know that
you care about your brothers. About your father and your kingdom.
And I know from spending time with you that you have a gentle soul,
regardless of what you think. You tried to stop me from following
through with my wish. You protected me from those Ghuls. And when I
wouldn’t change my mind about wanting to be with you, you did
everything you could to prolong my wish so I wouldn’t be hurt. Even
knowing that witch could punish your brothers in the meantime. And
then you come back here with these marks on your back, and I…”

Her voice caught with so much emotion, it
radiated through his entire body. “That’s not something a monster
does, Tariq. That’s something an honorable man does.”

He didn’t know what to think. She loved him.
A slave, sent to condemn her. Really loved him.

She looked down at his chest. “I know that
in your own way you care about me, because you wouldn’t have done
all that if you didn’t. Even if it isn’t—”

“Mira, I care more for you more than I’ve
ever cared for anyone else.”

Her eyes lifted to his, brightened at his
words. “You do?”

He nodded and brushed his thumb over her
cheek. Even as his heart pinched at what that meant. “More than I
ever thought I could.”

A slow, sexy smile spread across her lips.
Lips that were plump and lush and tempting as they skimmed across
his. “Show me,” she whispered. “Forget everything else right now,
and just show me.”

Mira’s skin tingled with excitement and
nervousness. Not the same nervousness she’d felt the last time they
were together. No, she wasn’t worried about pleasing him; she was
worried about what came after. What she and Claire had discussed.
What she had to do when it was over.

Don’t think about that now. Think about Tariq. Think about
being with him. Think about this last moment
together
.

He lowered his mouth to hers, and she opened
to him without hesitation, tasted the hunger on his tongue—the same
hunger she knew was on hers. His hand slid down her spine, pressed
gently against her lower back, drawing her body even tighter
against his. She moaned into his mouth, tangled her fingers in his
hair, and kissed him harder. Wanted to kiss him as no one had ever
kissed him before. As she hoped no one would ever kiss him
again.

He hadn’t said he loved her, but that was
okay. She didn’t need the words. She knew he cared about her. And
that was enough.

She took a step forward, forcing him back.
When his butt hit the raised bed, she slid her hands down his
chest, smiled as his arms closed around her and he lifted her feet
off the floor, then laid her out of the mattress just as she
wanted.

He was all solid muscle and chiseled angles.
She watched in wonder as he shrugged out of his shirt, kicked off
his boots, as he climbed over her. Desire darkened his eyes,
brought a flush to his cheeks that superheated her blood. She
reached for him, was careful not to touch the wounds on his back,
then lifted to meet him, pressing her lips against his with a
fierceness that stole her breath. He lowered his body to hers, and
she loved the beat of his heart against her own, loved the heat
radiating from his skin. Loved how they fit together as if they
were made for each other.

He kissed her jaw, her earlobe, trailed his
lips down her neck, and nibbled at the tender column of flesh. She
moaned, arched into him. He slid his hand across her belly, under
her shirt, and up to palm her breast. Electricity rippled across
her skin as she lowered her back to the mattress again. As she
found his mouth and kissed him once more while his fingers teased
her nipple into a hard point beneath the satin of her bra.

She broke away from his mouth. Breathed
heavily. “Tariq—”

“
Lift
up,
hayaati
.” He
eased off her so she could sit up, then tugged the shirt over her
head and tossed it on the floor. Eyes locked on her satiny bra, he
flipped the front clasp and tugged that off as well until her
breasts spilled into his large, more than capable hands.

“So soft,” he whispered. Her nipples
tightened under his heated stare. As he cupped each one and ran his
thumb across the tip. Then she nearly came out of her skin when he
lowered his head and laved his tongue across her nipple.

Groaning, Mira dropped her head back in
pleasure and arched into his mouth. She’d had lovers before, but
none had been like Tariq. None had known where to touch her to make
her lose control. Dark flashes of arousal pulsed through her. She
wanted to taste him on her tongue again. Wanted to feel his cock
deep inside. Wanted him limp and sated in her arms when it was over
then begging for more. And she wanted to be the only one to satisfy
him, just like this, every day, for the rest of his days, however
long that may be.

Don’t think about the future. Just enjoy right
now
.

She knew that was what she had to do. She
knew it was the only way she’d survive. But it didn’t stop her from
wanting. From needing. From dreaming about a future she knew they
could never have.

He flicked the button on her jeans as he
brought his mouth back to hers, slid the zipper down. When she
lifted, he pushed his hand inside her jeans and around to cup her
ass, grinding his erection against her mound until she saw
stars.

“
I love
the sounds you make,
hayaati
.”

She loved the sounds he made too. Loved when
he groaned against her. When he rubbed that glorious erection
between her legs as he was doing now. Just when she thought she’d
go mad from the grinding, he broke away from her mouth, dragged her
jeans and underwear down her hips, tore them from her legs, and
dropped them on the floor near her shirt. Then he peeled off his
own jeans and climbed back on the bed, smiled in that sexy, lazy
way of his that heated her blood to near-boiling levels.

Her gaze slid over his perfect body. She
could stare at him for hours and never tire of the view. But right
now she wanted more than just looking. She wanted him.

He cupped her left breast, then slid his
fingers lower to her stomach, and finally into all her moist, wet
heat. She groaned again, lifted her hips. Needed him everywhere.
Anywhere. “Tariq…”

“
You’re
so wet,
hayaati
.” He
lowered his head, nibbled at her neck, teased her with his
fingers.

She closed her eyes and rode his fingers as
he stroked her, gave herself over to his wicked touch. Tingles
spread out from her sex, loosened her limbs, made her achy with
need. She turned her head, found his mouth, kissed him deep while
he circled her clit with his thumb, while he slid his fingers lower
and finally inside her.

She groaned, tightened around him. Gasped
when he stroked her deep. But it wasn’t enough. She wanted more.
She wanted all of him. “Tariq, I need you now.”

His eyes were as dark as she’d ever seen
them when he pulled back from her mouth, and stared down at her. He
shifted his body over her, pushed up on one hand, then filled her
in one fluid movement that drew a gasp from her lips and sent
pleasure spiraling through every cell.

Yes.
Yes
…

She tightened around his length. Tried to
hang on to his shoulders as he drew back out and in. As he slowly
picked up his pace, that pleasure grew in intensity until it was
all she could feel.

“Mira,” he moaned. “Allah, I love being
inside you.”

She loved having him inside her. She met
each thrust with her own. His lips closed over hers. She moaned
into his mouth, wrapped her arms around his shoulders as she lifted
to meet him. And she kissed him again and again while he made love
to her. Wanting to draw this moment out. Knowing it was going to be
their last.

Tears burned her eyes, but she forced them
back, didn’t want anything to ruin the moment. They rocked gently
against each other on the boat. Water lapped at the hull. But she
knew he was getting close. She could tell by the flush of his
cheeks, by the way he thickened inside her. By the way he hit that
spot again and again, driving her closer to her own release.

“Open your eyes, Mira. Come with me.”

She blinked several times, met his gaze. And
his eyes…God, they were the most beautiful things she’d ever seen.
Not sharp or brilliant in color but vibrant. Fathomless. Alive.
Everything she felt when she was with him.

Her orgasm rocketed through her, sending
electrical sensations all through her body that robbed her of
breath and thought and focus. It went on and on as he thrust
harder, deeper, as he filled her as no one ever had before. And
when he roared through his own release, long moments later, she was
still shuddering, still jerking, still moaning at the most intense
orgasm she’d ever experienced.

He fell against her. Aftershocks continued
to ripple through her body, but thought returned. And with it, a
feeling of completeness, of belonging. Of home.

Slowly, she sifted her fingers into his damp
hair, kissed his temple. “That was better than last time,” she
said. “Think you can do that again?”

He
chuckled, and the vibrations spread all through her chest, warming
her deep inside. “This time, I might need a moment to
recover,
hayaati
.”

She rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t
see her. “So much for being an all-powerful supernatural being,
huh?”

He smiled as he pushed up on his arm and
looked down at her. A devilishly sexy grin that heated her blood
all over again. “Are you mocking me?”

“No, I was just stating an observation.” She
hooked one leg around his thigh and rolled him to his back, keeping
him locked tight within her. He went easily, smiling at her joke
the whole time. And she took that as a sign that his back didn’t
hurt nearly as much anymore. Or maybe she’d taken away the pain.
“What if I promise to do all the work?”

She pushed up to sitting. Tightened her
sheath. Grinned down at him with all the confidence she hadn’t
known was inside her. His eyes darkened again as he rested his
hands at her hips and she rocked slowly against him. He hardened
quickly inside her, as if all he needed was that tiny bit of
coaxing.

“And what if I want to help?” he asked,
lifting to thrust deeper inside her. “Just a little?”

She grew wet and hot and achy all over
again. Bracing her hands on each side of his head, she leaned
close. “I guess a little help won’t hurt, djinni. But this time, my
wish is to pleasure you. So you have to let me do whatever I
want.”

His lips curled as she closed her mouth over
his. As she lifted and lowered. As she slid her tongue along his
and tasted his hunger all over again.