The Healer's Warrior (27 page)

“I love you, Tareq,” Jem’ya sniffled.  

Tareq caressed the side of Jem’ya’s neck. Then his lips crashed against hers. He savored the comfort of her soft lips, the arousing taste of her warm mouth, the indication of her increasing desire as she kissed him back more and more eagerly, and the satisfaction of being connected to her, physically and emotionally. But wariness and disbelief started to cast their shadows over Tareq’s enjoyment. Reluctantly, he pulled his mouth away and averted his eyes from her beautiful face. “Why? Why do you love me?” 

“Because I am enough for you.
You wanted to make me your one and only wife. And I love you because you are a good man, Tareq.” Jem’ya cupped his cheek. “You
are
.”

Tareq touched the hand on his cheek. He wrapped his hand around her thumb and brought her palm to his mouth. He closed his eyes as he kissed the center of her hand. Their fingers entwined and their joined hands fell to their sides. “I love you,” he whispered. Jem’ya pressed her body against his. She and Tareq eagerly resumed the kiss that had been broken, sucking and nibbling at one another’s lips. Jem’ya was ready to give in to her desire. She didn’t want to wait any longer to finally make love, and judging by the placement of his hands Jem’ya concluded Tareq was ready too. He was pulling her hips closer to his and feeling her curves. Tareq’s hot hands adored the yielding fullness of her round bottom. Then he stopped. He ended the kiss and the caress, rested his forehead against hers and sighed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He kissed the bridge of her nose. Tareq was compelled to take a moment to show Jem’ya that he did not intend to use her. He intended to cherish her for the rest of his life. He lowered himself to a bended knee, took the pearl ring from his shirt pocket and held it out to her. “In all my years of travel across this great continent, you are the only thing, the only
woman, that
has captivated me entirely. My life was hollow and gray without you. The world is a new and wondrous place because you are in it. When I’m with you, every moment is salted by your appreciation for life and each minute is sweetened by your love. Jem’ya, would you be my wife?”

Tears of joy spilled from Jem’ya’s eyes.
“
Yes
, Tareq.
There could never be anyone else.” Tareq slid the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly, like it was made for her. “It’s beautiful,” she smiled.

Tareq stood and held her in his strong embrace. Jem’ya kissed at his neck, stoking his lust again. He pecked softly at her lips at first. “I want you, Jem’ya.
Now.”

She whispered, “Have me.”

Tareq devoured her mouth, coaxing her to let his tongue go deeper, pleasing her with a slide of his tongue across her bottom lip. She clung to him. He pulled his mouth away and her hands gripped the back of his shirt tighter, unhappy to part from him. “I don’t want anything to interrupt this moment,” he explained. Jem’ya released his shirt. He strode to his bedroom door and pulled it open.
“No disturbances, guards, unless it’s an emergency.
Tell
Asif
that Jem’ya will not be leaving today.” He shut the door again and shifted the latch on the lock. He turned around and found Jem’ya already removing her clothes. Her boldness entranced Tareq. She was pulling her white dress up over her shapely legs, her curvy hips, her slender waist, her ample chest and finally over her head. She tossed it to the ground and smiled shyly in only her undergarments.

Standing before her, Tareq’s heart raced as he started to participate in the unwrapping of his gift. His fingers skimmed her back as he found the bow of her strapless breast cloth. He was so close to her as his fingers undid the knot. His breath warmed her neck. Jem’ya’s skin yearned for more contact. The breast cloth fell away. Tareq’s eyes trailed down to her exposed chest. He couldn’t help but claim them both with his large hands. He brought his mouth down to the dark slopes of her breasts and kissed them as his hands wandered to her hips, tugging down her panties and making her completely bare. His hot hands caressed her skin. He lifted his face away from her chest and smiled, appreciating the sight of her nakedness in the white light of the morning sun. How magnificent it was to see his woman wearing nothing but those gold and pearl earrings and the matching engagement ring. “Perfect,” he breathed.

Jem’ya’s trembling hands worked to remove his black shirt. Tareq helped her pull it over his head. She wanted to feel him, the front of him, his chest and his stomach. She was already so familiar with his back and his legs after being his masseuse for so long. It was his solid chest and hard stomach, once forbidden areas for her hands to touch, that were an erotic treat for her senses. Her lips accompanied her hands in exploring the carved landscape of his muscles. A few dark freckles on his chest caught her eye. She kissed each one while her hands delighted the sensitive skin over his ribs. Jem’ya was happy to feel his tremor of pleasure against her mouth. She lifted her head, gripped his weighty arms, and pressed her body against his. As they kissed, her fingers carefully trailed down his taut stomach, down his navel, and hooked onto the waistbands of his undershorts and his black pants. Together, they encouraged the last of his clothing to fall down his hips.

She’d never seen a man unclothed and in an excited state before. His erection looked demanding and powerful. Jem’ya was a little frightened of it, yet she felt impulsive and needy as her eyes bashfully studied it. Charged with lust, they embraced each other and kissed hungrily. Tareq’s fingers pressed into her thigh. His hand slid down to the back of her knee and lifted her leg. She squeezed her leg around him. Her calf pressed against the firm curve of his behind. As he directed them toward the bed, Jem’ya wrapped her other leg around him. He carried her to his bed. Jem’ya was gently lowered onto the plush white sheets of the king’s bed. She ran her fingers through his silky hair and kissed his jaw line and his chin. Tareq touched her all over and admired her. “Beautiful,” he whispered, nuzzling and kissing her soft brown skin, smelling her, tasting her, down to her hips where he caressed the faint stretch marks there, scars created when she developed into the supple, womanly body beneath him.

She watched his hands and his gaze glide all over her. She glanced at his stiff manhood, anticipating the moment they would become one. Tareq kissed and embraced her. He rolled onto his back and brought Jem’ya with him so that she was lying on top of him. He gratefully cuddled her soft body against his, clutching at her feminine shape. Jem’ya loved the sensation of her breasts pressing against the swell of his firm chest muscles, and enjoyed the feel of his defined stomach against her belly. She kissed at his collarbone, following it to his neck. He turned her onto her back again.

His searing hardness nudged her inner thigh. Submissively she parted her legs to him. Her thighs succumbed to trembles as he pressed the head of his member against her slick opening. Breathless from a hot rush of adrenaline, she grasped at the valley of his spine. The cool band of her engagement ring grazed the healed scratches on his back. “I love you,” Tareq breathed as he penetrated her. Jem’ya bit down on his collarbone as his girth stretched her and the seal of her virginity was broken.

Tareq almost lost control. The combination of her hot mouth on his neck and of being inside of her was euphoric. She was so tight and soft. He could hardly speak. He paused, fighting for control of his body. They were suspended in the moment, panting. “
Mahsalom
, did I hurt you?” 

“A little.”
Her eyes twinkled with tears. The harmony and pleasure overshadowed any pain. “Don’t worry. You feel so good, Tareq.” Her hands slid down to his hips to pull him in deeper. “Please,” she whispered, begging.

“No, don’t move,” he whispered, desperately holding on. It was his first time with a woman and he wanted it to last. Every level of his being was where it was supposed to be. His mind was with Jem’ya, his heart was with Jem’ya, and his body was with Jem’ya’s. He kissed her but had to pause again because his control was slipping.

She saw how tense he was, straining to contain himself. She wanted him to relax and feel good. “Just let go,” Jem’ya whispered and rubbed his back. So he began to move. They moved together, their minds and bodies wild with the lightning and thunder of pleasure. Their hearts were like the eye of the rough storm, serene and at peace within their experience of oneness.

Jem’ya’s special bud was swollen, aching to be touched. Instinctively, her hand wandered down and she began to massage herself. The stimulation was toe-curling. She felt Tareq growing inside of her, furthering her pleasure to a new dramatic level. Tareq and Jem’ya moved rhythmically together until finally their orgasms crashed through them, again and again like the waves of a hot deep ocean barreling against soft sand. Passionate cries burst from their mouths. Then there was stillness.

Tareq had collapsed on top of her. Their tired tingling limbs were entwined. Tareq shifted his weight, pulled out of her and lifted his face from her neck. Jem’ya read the wonderment and the love in his hazel eyes. The same emotions sparkled back in her gaze. Moved, they smiled at each other through tears. Tareq stroked Jem’ya’s right ear and ardently kissed at her tender lips. Their bodies became energized again. Tareq wanted more. “Do you want to go again? Can you?” he asked.

“Yes,
your
Highness,” she smiled.

Tareq smiled. His hand traveled into the valley between her legs. His thick fingers thrilled her nub. “It feels good to you to be touched here?”

“
Mmmm
.
Yes
,” she breathed. Her eyes became hooded.  

“Then I’m happy to caress you there, my queen,” he murmured. He rubbed slow circles against her bud and watched her writhing and whimpering with pleasure. He teased her nipples with his tongue, surrounding the rigid peaks with his warm mouth. Painfully hard again, he positioned himself to re-enter her. He pushed into her easier than before. She was still gloriously tight.

She wrapped her legs around him and arched her back. “This time you don’t have to be as gentle,” she hinted. Tareq lowered his face to her neck, gripped his fingers into her hips and began thrusting wildly into her. She cried out in pleasure.
“
Tareq!
”
Her fingernails made fresh scratches on his muscled back. He pounded into her until she floated away on a cloud of ecstasy.

Early the next morning, the exotic birds in the aviary gradually awakened as the rising sun cast a glow across the glass dome of the atrium. Lovebirds, macaws, parakeets, parrots, toucans, cockatiels,
conures
and canaries shuffled along branches and flapped their wings, singing, tweeting and squawking as they preened their vivid feathers. As the small birds began their flurry through the trees, the great falcon finally stirred awake. Sitting on a fifteen-foot perch, in a solitary twenty-foot cage, the falcon peered down through his wide, glassy black eyes at the flitting birds he could never make his prey. He stretched his brown striped wings, opened his sharp beak and released a terrifying screech.

Jem’ya woke up with a gasp. Tears clouded her eyes and her heart was slamming inside her chest. She sat up in bed. “
Kibwe
,” she whispered and buried her face in her hands. The bed sheet slid down her naked chest. Jem’ya tried to be as quiet as possible as she cried. Tareq was asleep beside her. She’d been tortured by a nightmare about her brother’s killing.

Everything seemed possible in this beautiful palace. The future seemed perfect when it came from Tareq’s lips, but it wasn’t perfect at all. He loved her and he respected her people, but her tribe would not respect who he was or forgive what he’d done, nor could Jem’ya fill the role of a queen. She could not be the humble wife she always dreamed of being if she was the Queen of Samhia. Tareq’s perilous kingdom would always come first in his life. Jem’ya’s family would always come first in hers. Her family’s rejection of her and the love of her life would leave her destroyed.

Jem’ya looked over her shoulder at the sleeping king. Her stomach and her heart protested, assaulting her with twinges and aches at the thought of leaving him. She reached out and touched a curl of his hair. She admired the fan of his dark eyelashes against his fair skin, and his strong build half hidden by the sheets. They made love three times yesterday. The second time was wild and loud. Both unleashed the primal passion and carnal curiosities they’d kept inside for so many years. They forgot all concerns of gentleness as they strived to possess each other. Afterwards, they took a long bath together. Hot water pulled some of the soreness away. Tareq’s input was required for a number of important political decisions. He had to leave her to address them at Commander’s Hall. The third time they made love was when he returned to the palace that evening. Outside, the night sky had glittered with stars and the moon was full. Tareq and Jem’ya’s bodies were weary but their hearts longed for their transcendent connection. They exchanged loving whispers, ghostly kisses and
lovedrunk
smiles, and stared into each other’s eyes as he moved gently inside of her. A slow, sensual buildup led to an earth quaking release that took them both by surprise. She would remember his love always.