I know the wretched man is provoking me, so to get rid of him, I say, “She’ll be busy all week.”
“Everybody has a day off,” he says to my assistant, and I know it’s just to irritate me. “I can wait until you’re free.”
“No matter the day, she won’t go, Zarif. Now get out of here.”
I hear Irfan’s laughter, and the three of them start walking towards the door, but then Madeline says, “I’ll have a day off next Saturday. I’d love to attend your party, Zarif.” Her voice sounds defiant.
“I think I’m in love with you, Madeline,” my brother mocks.
I feel my blood rising. She’s challenging me.
“Leave,” I say, ice dripping from the word. This time, they do as I say.
When the door closes, I take a step closer to her. If Zarif was invading her personal space before, there’s no name for what I’m doing. I’m so close that I can almost feel her breath.
Her chest rises and falls rapidly, and I can see from her expression that she wants to step back, but she doesn’t.
This closenessis, at the very least, inappropriate, but I can’t think clearly in this moment.
She just stares at me. Again, I feel that powerful connection, that kind of sexual magnet drawing us to each other.
I want to break it.
I need to fight the hunger she stokes in me, but I also want to hold her by the nape of her neck and claim that mouth, marking her.
Chapter 9
I don’t know what came over me to challenge him like that, but now it doesn’t matter, because I can’t think clearly. My brain is jelly.
He looks angry and intimidating, but suddenly, to my surprise, I notice him taking a deep breath.
“Your skin smells like flowers,” I hear him say, and I close my eyes for a few seconds, a shiver of pleasure running through my body as I detect the huskiness in his voice.
I know it’s wrong. More than that, Kamal is off-limits to me in every way, but it’s hard to have him so close and not be affected.
His large, strong body makes me feel feminine, makes me long to be under his control.
What’s wrong with me?I ran away precisely to avoid fitting into someone’s mold.
A little voice in the back of my mind, however, warns me that the control I desire from Kamal has nothing to do with taking charge of my life. It’s raw desire. Carnal need.
“You can’t say those things to me,” I repeat what I told him the day we met.
“I can do anything,” he replies arrogantly, and it only turns me on even more.
I open my eyes and meet the steel glint in his. Kamal’s intensity is irresistible.
He knows what I’m thinking and feeling. He’s too wise not to notice.
Take a few breaths, you fool,I reprimand myself.Snap back to reality.
The problem is, the way Kamal looks at me makes it clear what he wants from me. I don’t need to be experienced to understand that’s an invitation to luxurious sex, a promise of delightful pleasures.
He gives me a slow, devastating grin, and I have no doubt that he knows how much he affects me.
“No.” I force myself to react and take a step back. “You can’t, not with me.”
He approaches me like a tiger, a predator stalking its prey, and my heartbeat quickens. His gaze lowers to the level of my breasts, and I wish a hole would open under me so I could hide because I know what he sees: my hardened nipples against the fabric of the dress not even the lace bra can hide.
