Possession of the Sheikh: (Interracial BWWM Erotica) (The Men of Sharjah Series Book 2) (8 page)

“About my home?” he questioned when he was finally able to make sense of her words and speak. 

She nodded. “I thought you were joking, but you really do live out here in the desert?”

“I have a home and lands in Sharjah, of course. As well as my residence on Amir’s compound.” He gave her a small smile before he nodded toward the horizon.  “But there are times when I need to be alone, and that’s when I return to the land of my mother’s people.” He didn’t tell her that losing her had been what had driven him deep into the desert; that after he’d completed his military training, had he not sought refuge in the desert, he would have long ago gone insane.

She followed his gaze, finally seeing what he saw—an ancient
caravanserai
that had been built along the Silk Road.
The polished marble had faded over time, and with it the brightly decorative frescos, but nearby remained the oasis that had provided food and water for the many travelers who navigated the desert.  His mother’s tribe, the
Bani Khalid
, was now camped there, and it returned every year for three months before moving on for the fall. He swept his gaze over the nearly fifty tents, and all the animals that accompanied them, as embers of smoke from long extinguished cooking fires billowed toward the sky. 

They would depart any day now, and as much as he welcomed an end to the isolation, when the tribe once again moved on, he would just as easily settle into his daily routine and embrace the silence he’d grown accustomed to.

He returned his attention to Sabeen, and found her staring at him, as if she didn’t know what to make of him. No doubt she was confused by the man she was starting to realize he was, and how at odds that man was to the one she’d believed him to be.  It had pained him to walk away from her all those years ago; all while pretending that he was a wild, womanizing playboy, so that she wouldn’t discover the truth—that he had never stopped loving her.  It had killed him to hurt her, but he’d done it
for
her. 

Without thinking, he lifted his hand to cup her cheek, but before his fingers could steal across her flesh she drew back.  Within the space of a moment, her eyes darkened and her lips pursed into a frown.

“Nothing has changed between us,” she snapped, already turning toward the tent where he knew she so desperately wanted to escape.

Had she remained quiet, he probably would have allowed her to, but her words struck a chord inside of him, the same chord that she’d struck all those years ago, when her boldness had gotten the best of him, and he’d been driven to take her.

Everything
had changed between them.  Besides he’d had enough of her bad attitude.  At first he’d excused it, knowing all of this had to be difficult for her. So in the weeks leading up to their wedding, he’d been forced to leash his desires, when all he’d wanted to do since he’d become her fiancé was bury his cock inside of her, and not in the gentle way a man usually claims his soon to be bride.  No, he wanted to make her beg, and then he wanted to make her scream, from both pleasure and pain, until her body couldn’t recognize the difference.

When she turned her back on him, as if he could so easily be dismissed, all pretenses of civility vanished, and he called after her before she could disappear inside.

“You should have learned long ago, Nala, that I am not a man you can toy with.”

She spun to face him, her eyes blazing, “Don’t call me that ever again.  I never should have allowed it then, but you lost the right to call me that long—”

“I’ll call you whatever I wish, now go inside and get undressed.”

Sabeen stared at him through blinking eyes as if she hadn’t heard him correctly, but he knew the moment she realized just how serious he was because her entire face turned red, her eyes flashing with rage. 

“How dare you speak to me like that? You’re not to touch me.  You’re not to lay a single hand on me—”

In her tirade of outrage, she obviously hadn’t been cognizant that with every second, he’d stalked closer, and with every word, he’d grown angrier. It took Khalil one final stride to close the distance between them, and before she realized what was happening, he’d dragged her into his arms and silenced her with his lips.

She struggled against him, but he easily overpowered her, backing her inside the tent, letting the flaps close behind them.  Within seconds he had her pinned beneath him atop his bed, with her arms above her head.  Her protests took on a new urgency, but he muffled them against his mouth.  Determined to seal her lips shut, she was so busy trying to evade his kiss that she didn’t realize he’d bound her wrists—not until it was too late.

Chapter Five

I knew I was in danger the moment Khalil’s lips joined mine, I just didn’t realize the extent to which until I felt the textured softness of satin encircle my wrists, but by then it was far too late.

He’d tied my wrists together and secured them to the wooden post running along the head of his bed.  I gasped, anger and shock coursing through me at his audacity—that was my second mistake.  The second my lips parted, his tongue swept inside my mouth, stroking, and claiming me with an urgency that literally took my breath away. 

Although it was useless, I continued to struggle.  I still hadn’t recovered from the humiliation of how easily I’d surrendered to him that morning in my boardroom.  It was as if years of pent up longing had finally burst forth and broken free that day.  The problem was just those few minutes with him had left me shaken, that I knew a night in his arms would completely shatter me.  It had taken me years to get over my heartbreak, and I just couldn’t go through that again.  I was the object of his desire and affection
now
, but eventually Khalil would shut down, shut me out, and then walk away—just like before.

That thought gave me the strength to dislodge my mouth from his long enough to halt any further attempts at seduction with a single word.

“
Stop.”

Light shone from a single lamp within the tent, but despite the shadowed darkness, Khalil knew immediately that I was serious.

The eyes staring back at me were wild with anger and heavy with desire, but swirling in their depths I glimpsed a deeper, stronger emotion, one that I couldn’t bring myself to believe was genuine, so I refused to even acknowledge it as I looked away.

“You are my wife.”

His statement jarred me after the long stretch of silence, but it was the raw anguish I heard in his voice that drew my gaze.  The expression on his face made me feel things that I’d sworn I could never feel again.

It was all I could do to close my eyes, when I spoke again. 

“In name only.”

I didn’t need to see his face to know that he was furious. I could feel the tension pulsing through his entire body.

“You are my wife in the truest sense and in every way.” When I didn’t respond, he grasped my face between his callused palms and lifted my head, so that I had no choice but to open my eyes and meet the burning intensity of his gaze. He repeated his statement more forcefully, which for some reason angered me even more.

“I won’t share your bed,” I shouted back, just as forcefully.

A muscle twitched in his jaw as he continued to glare at me.  When he cursed, I thought he would roll off of me and untie my wrists in defeat, but instead he did the unexpected.

“You are duty bound to give me an heir, but since you refuse, then you leave me no choice. Tomorrow I will file for an annulment.” The threat of his words hung between us, and when he reached above me as if to unbind me, I knew the steely resolve in his eyes was not a bluff.

That stupid contract—and its stupid, sexist stipulations. 

If I didn’t at least
try
to conceive an heir, he would annul our marriage, which wouldn’t be so bad, except for all of the rumors that would soon follow.  And they would be nasty ones that would attack everything from my character to my sexuality.   The honor and reputation of my family would be called into question, if not ruined entirely, and while I didn’t care so much about myself, I knew I couldn’t allow my father and sisters to suffer for my actions. 

“Wait.”

Khalil stilled immediately, and I lay there trapped beneath the weight of his body and the intense scrutiny of his gaze.

“One child, no matter the gender, then after that you promise to leave me alone.”

He studied me in silence for several moments before finally demanding, “And what of your needs? You’re a very passionate woman, Sabeen.  Would you just deny them?”

I frowned at his question. “I’ll be fine.”

His eyes narrowed, but that did nothing to shield me from the anger burning there.  “We are now married. I will never allow you to take a lover.”

“And I won’t take one,” I said on a sigh of frustration. If only he knew how badly he’d spoiled me for other men, he wouldn’t be silently fuming right now. 

“And what of my needs?” he asked quietly, and I noticed then he’d begun to toy with the wisps of hair framing my face, causing his fingertips to lightly stroke my cheek.  “Would you allow me to take a lover to see to my needs?”

His soft caresses had obviously dulled my mind along with my senses, because before I could catch myself I blurted out vehemently, “
Never
.”

From his expression and the small smile that slowly curled his lips I knew he hadn’t expected that response.  Well that made two of us.

I was about to correct myself when he said, “Six children.  My generation is full of males, so I want at least three girls.  And it’s customary to have at least three boys to ensure the continuance of our family name, so I want at least three boys as well. After that, then I shall consider leaving you alone.”

I stared at him as I did the math in my head, the entire time wondering if he was insane.

“What if we have six boys, or six girls?”

“Then I won’t be able to leave you alone, now will I?”

“You’re crazy.  We could end up having twenty kids!”

He shrugged.  “We could.  Or you can refuse, and I will give you an annulment instead.”

At first I couldn’t believe him, but then I could when I met his steely gaze.  Fierce determination brimmed in the depths of his eyes, along with a heavy dose of desire.  Even if I hadn’t glimpsed it, I could feel his erection growing harder and larger against my inner thigh.  My own temperature began to climb and I could actually feel my breaths coming quicker and shorter.

I cursed my wanton body, along with that stupid contract.  Everything Khalil had requested was well within the law and language of our betrothal and subsequent wedding contract.  It was the most outdated, antiquated stipulation, and rarely enforced, but when life had been much harder in Sharjah, and agriculture and livestock had been the means for economic prosperity, large families had been necessary; so even the minimum number of children to be born within a union had been written out.   The contract had been agreed upon by my father, so I couldn’t change it, and I never thought Khalil would ever enforce it.  The contract stipulated a minimum six children, with at least three of them being boys, but now he wanted at least three girls
too
. 

Khalil was a man of his word, and while I didn’t believe he would ever carry out his threat to annul our marriage if after possibly having six boys, I told him I was done, I had no doubt that he
would
hold me to the initial terms of the contract. 
Six kids. 
What the hell would we do with six children? Even if I managed to wrap my mind around the sheer number, it was far more daunting to reconcile myself with the more pressing issue of how many years it would take to safely give birth to them all.  More to the point, I’d planned to share Khalil’s bed for at the most a few months, pop out a baby, and then we’d been done.  A knot tightened in my belly with the realization that Khalil intended for us to have a
real
marriage—something that I wasn’t prepared for.

There was no way I could spend years making love to him, waking up beside him, bearing his children, and not fall in love with him all over again.  It would be impossible, just as it would be disastrous.  This was a game to him.  Right now he wanted six kids, to keep me by his side, but what about the day when he no longer wanted to share my bed?  What about the day when I woke to find my bed empty, myself alone, and my heart broken all over again? What then?

My expression must have been telling because in the next moment his fingers closed around by wrists at the same time he lowered his head and whispered against my ear, “You are my wife now, and will soon become the mother of my children.  From this day until the day I draw my last breath, no other woman will ever share my bed, but you, because I desire no other woman but you.  I never have and I never will.”

*

Khalil could tell she wanted to deny his words, but before she could, he claimed her lips, this time with an intensity that shattered any notion that he was in control. Just the thought of filling her with his seed, seeing her swell with his child, made his every action hurried and wild.  He knew his past made her think he would eventually stray, but if only she knew how desperately he’d wanted her then, wanted her now, she would not have doubted that he would
always
want her—
only
her. 

His hand shook when he ripped his
thoab
from her body, tearing it apart until the lush, ripe curves of her figure were on display beneath him.  He quickly removed his own garment and once again joined her upon his bed, where she awaited him, with her arms bound above her, her breasts thrust forward, and her hardened nipples jutting out.  She’d twisted slightly to the side, causing her hips to appear fuller, her waist smaller, and her shapely legs even longer.  With her hair spread out across his pillow, a wild mass of natural coils she created the most erotic picture he’d ever seen.

His cock throbbed.  Hard and needy to sink into her tight, wet, heat.  With her bound, he could think of a number of wicked things he could do to her, but none of them appealed to him.  Yes, he enjoyed rough play, just as much as she did, but the truth was, when he was with Sabeen, she had always been more than enough to wake his desires and bring him pleasure without floggers and clamps or whips and spikes, so much so, that whenever he was with her, he could never seem to get enough of her—and Khalil doubted a lifetime would hardly suffice.

“You never did say if you’d come to a decision.” Thinking of a lifetime with her, reminded him, they still had one matter to resolve.

He let his hand trail down the length of her thigh before slipping it between them. She gasped when his fingers stroked the wetness seeping from her pussy, and with that breathy sound he finally returned his gaze to her flushed face.

Sabeen stared at him with desire laden, unfocused eyes.  “You’re trying to distract me. Make me agree to anything—“

He smiled when she didn’t finish and instead closed her eyes on a long moan when he thrust his middle finger inside her cunt. As much as she was unraveling, Khalil could feel himself becoming undone when her muscles clamped down hard around his single digit and it was all he could do not to bust right there just imagining how tight and warm her pussy would feel squeezing his dick.

“Baby, you’re tight as fuck.” In one fluid motion he pulled his finger out of her, parted her legs and settled between her spread thighs.  “I wanted to eat you out until you screamed my name, and then make love to you for the rest of the night, but I need you now.”

To emphasize his words he nudged the head of his cock against her opening, which was now dripping wet with her juices. His body was saying what words were apparently failing to—he needed an answer
now
. 

“Six kids is a lot.”

He grinned at her statement that came out as a breathless pant.  As modern and cosmopolitan as she was, Sabeen was still a child of the old ways. She didn’t need to know that he would cut out his own tongue before he ever annulled their marriage—that he would never let her go, even if she’d refused to have even a single child.  But he’d known her sense of honor and duty to her family would never allow her to annul their marriage.  He almost felt guilty, until he thought of all those years he’d suffered in hell thinking of Amir with her and the day that he had always dreaded would come, when he would be forced to see her pregnant with his cousin’s child.  Six kids weren’t nearly enough to assuage the agony of that image alone.

“That’s not an answer, baby.” Cupping the soft mounds of her ass in his hands he pulled her closer so he could sink deeper into her wetness.  He groaned, low and deep, the sound mingling with her breathless sigh.

“There was never a decision to make.  I could never annul our marriage. So, yes.”

Her words brought with them no elation, although he hadn’t expected they would.  She could never annul their marriage not because she couldn’t live without him, or couldn’t stand the thought of never making love to him again, or giving birth to his children.  She could never annul their marriage because she loved her family, but not because she loved him—at least not
yet
.