Never Seduce a Sheikh(33)

“You are assuming I will even give you the choice.”

Shock slid down her spine. “What do you mean?”

“What do you think, Habibti?” There was a hard, dangerous glitter in his eyes. “I like my sex rough, I like it dirty, and I always demand total control.”

Her mouth went dry and it had nothing to do with the desert heat. She’d always known his charm masked something darker. Something far more dangerous. But it didn’t frighten her. A challenge never had. “What makes you think I wouldn’t give it to you?”

Just for a moment, a feral hunger showed in his eyes. “Because you are not the type of woman who would surrender easily. And I would like that. I would like that far too much.”

Lily took a breath, her fingers curled into her palm, the heat of him still lingering on her skin, the hot, rich taste of him on her tongue. She couldn’t look away from him, from that hunger in his gaze.

Abruptly, Isma’il cursed, a soft sound in Arabic. Then, he turned and began walking back down the dune towards the car.

She stared after his tall, powerful figure, moving easily and gracefully in the sand.

Would she like that? Would she like him having total control over her?

The thought made her tense at the vulnerability of it. Of the trust she would have to give. A trust she’d never given to any man except her father.

Slowly, she uncurled her fingers, took a small breath.

It wasn’t just the trust she had to consider either. There was also the little issue of the oil deal and how sleeping with the Sheikh of Dahar would affect that. Keeping work and her sex life separate had never been a problem before, for the simple reason she’d never had a sex life.

But then, she’d never met a man like Isma’il before. A man who seemed to understand her in a way no one else had ever done.

Would sleeping with him affect this deal? Would he be worth the risk?

And more importantly, if so, would she be able to change his mind?

* * *

Isma’il jerked open the car door and got in, not waiting to see if Lily had followed. Desire and anger tangled inside him, knotting into a hot, seething mass of emotion that pressed at the edges of his control. Desire for Lily, for her bare skin beneath his fingers, her hot mouth. Her long legs around his waist, her gasp of surrender as he drove inside her. Anger at himself. For taking that kiss and not holding back. For wanting what he could not let himself have. And he could not have Lily.

It wasn’t only because of the potential deal with Harkness. If so, he could have indulged himself after the contract had been signed. But it wasn’t just that. She’d already been marked by a man’s violence and his self-control around her was almost non-existent. And that was a fatal combination.

He knew what he was capable of. The violence he could mete out. There were good reasons for the control he kept himself under and he could not—would not—put Lily at risk simply because he wanted her in his bed.

“Blood will out, boy. Blood will out . . . ”

Isma’il pulled hard on the car door, the slam drowning out Khalid’s voice in his head.

No, if he wanted sex, he’d wait until he got back to the palace. Find one of those sweet, submissive women he preferred in his bed. Women who did what they were told. Who spread their legs and didn’t fight, didn’t argue. Didn’t push. Didn’t challenge.

He put his hands on the steering wheel, gripped it tightly. And tried to tell himself that’s what he wanted. That’s who he wanted.

But of course, he didn’t. What he wanted was Lily.

The passenger door opened and then she was there, filling the car with that clean, sharp scent of hers. So different from the sweet heat of her mouth, the silky feel of her hair.

His knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.

“If you were trying to frighten me, you failed,” she said.

“I didn’t say that to frighten you. I said it because it was the truth.” He started the engine, pulled back onto the rocky desert road.

A tense, thick silence filled the inside of the car.

“Do you think I care?” she asked abruptly. “Perhaps I’d like to give you the control. Perhaps that would turn me on.”

“You do not know what you want, Lily, and I am not the man to teach you.”

He didn’t need to look at her to feel her anger.

“You bloody, patronizing bast—”

“There is also the contract to consider,” he said sharply, cutting her off. “I would not want any sexual affair we may have to get in the way of this deal and I don’t think you do either.”

“The oil deal has nothing to do with this, so stop using it as an excuse.”

Ah God, she should not do this. Not now. “Do not push me. You will not like the consequences.”