wondered, had he resisted her for so long?
‘I hated it when you came up here with her...’
They were jealous words but she felt free to say them and he knew exactly the time Gabi referred to.
‘You will recall that I sent her back down,’ Alim said as he kissed her hard against the wall.
‘Why?’ she demanded.
‘I was at risk of saying your name.’
‘Why?’
‘You know why,’ Alim said, and mid-hallway, a long way from the entrance to his lounge, let alone the bedroom door, he recalled that incident. ‘Because I was hard for you.’
He was hard for her now.
Her hands were in his hair and though she was unskilled in her kiss, so untamed and frantic was her mouth it was effort that was rewarded.
His hands dug hard into her bottom as they kissed; he felt her wriggle and Gabi let out an ‘Ow’ as he dug into her bruise.
‘It’s sore there,’ she said, for all her senses felt heightened and she saw him frown in concern that he had hurt her. ‘Where I fell,’ she further explained.
Oh, yes.
His apartment might just as well be in Venice, for the corridor was simply too long for both of them; he would have to drag her, like a marathon runner across the finishing line. Oh, her determination was there but her willpower had gone at the same moment as his.
Still he kissed her hard against the wall, his tongue forcing apart her lips and his hands holding Gabi’s wrists by her sides.
She ached to touch him, but he held her tight as he kissed her hard. Her arms attempted to flex, but his grip tightened and then suddenly released.
‘Bed,’ he said.
‘Please,’ she told him.
They fell through the door and were greeted by warmth and the scent of wood and pine and a fire lit in the grate.
It surprised Gabi, for she had expected opulence but not warmth.
He was behind her and the intention was bed but so warm was the room and so wanting the flesh that his hand came to her zipper.
‘Show me where you hurt,’ he said.
Gabi screwed her eyes closed for she wanted pitch blackness before she was naked but her dress was already sliding down.
She had felt beautiful in it, but now she was scared that the unwrapping of the parcel might reveal less than delicious contents.
Instead, she heard a low moan as he ran a finger down her spine.
‘Alim...’ Gabi breathed as she felt his fingers in her knickers, sliding them down.
Then he knelt and she felt his breath on her bottom and then his mouth soft and warm, and she thought she might fold over.
Her thighs were shaking as she stepped out of her knickers.
His hands splayed her thighs so that she stood in her lovely high heels with her legs spread a little apart. He kissed the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh, then kissed the new purple bruise and it was bliss, but a bliss that could not last, for either of them, for more was needed for such pleasure to be sustained.
He stood then, undid her bra and turned her around.
He was completely dressed.
As if he had just come in to check on his staff.
You could not tell he had been on his knees between her thighs.
‘I feel at a disadvantage,’ she admitted, for she was naked apart from her shoes.
‘Yet you have the complete advantage,’ Alim said, for she could bring him back to his knees if she so chose.
Instead, she took off her shoes.
They made her unsteady—or was that Alim?—for his eyes never left her face as he shrugged off his jacket.
Gabi stood perfectly still, yet her breath came in pants as if she had been sprinting. His fingers reached for a nipple, taking it between finger and thumb, and then he looked down. Gabi swallowed as he lowered his head and took a leisurely taste; to steady herself, her hand went for his head.
But he removed it.
Her breast was wet and cool from his mouth as he removed his tie and shirt.
Oh, she had wanted to see him for so long. His skin was like burnt caramel and his chest was wide, his arms strong. She looked at the fan of hair and the dark puckered skin of his nipples, and she too wanted her taste. For a moment she resisted, for there were other feasts to be had.
She ran a hand along his upper arm and it was an unexpected move for Alim but he liked the soft touch of her hands and the slight pinch of her fingers.
Then she looked down at the snake of hair and the swell beneath and she bit on her lip because she knew tonight was going to hurt.
‘I’ll be gentle.’
‘Really?’
And there was a dry edge to her voice, a smoky provocative edge that even Gabi had not heard in herself before.
She was stroking the crinkle of hair on his stomach and then her mouth went to his flat nipple; she licked the salty skin and this time it was Alim who held her head and moaned at the soft nip of her teeth. And it was Gabi who slid down his zipper.
Alim had anticipated reticence, yet her touch was eager.
They both stood naked now, so there was no disadvantage, not a single one.
She could see and feel and touch his desire, which she did, stroking him at first then abandoning him erect so that she could reclaim his kiss.
He was damp and hard against her stomach and she was burning on the inside. She had dreamed of being kissed on his bed.
Instead, they did not make it past the fire.
They knelt, though their mouths remained engaged, sharing hot, wet kisses as they sank back onto their heels. His body was magnificent, his shoulders were wide as she ran her hands over them.
Always, she had felt cumbersome.
Not tonight.
He felt her lips stretch into a smile.
‘What?’ he asked, and pulled his head back a fraction.
‘You always make me want to sit up straighter.’
‘Sit up straighter, then.’
She had to fight to do so because, as he traced her clavicle with his tongue, she wanted to fold in two. Then down to her breast and he tasted it again, only slowly and deeply while massaging the other, rolling the swollen nipple between finger and thumb.
‘Sit up straight,’ he warned, as she started to sink into his skilled caress, which crept lower and lower.
She rested her arms on his shoulders as his fingers slipped into her tight hollow; she let out a sob of both pain and pleasure as he stretched and probed her, readying her for him.
She could sit up straight no more so he laid her down on the floor, stroking her and kissing her all the while.
His fingers did not rush, though his hand was insistent.
She went to push it away at one point for he made her want to scream, but instead Gabi clenched her jaw. He spoke in Arabic and his words, though not understood, matched her urgent desire.
He was passionate, sensual and far from cold as he coached her those final steps home.
‘Come,’ he told her, licking his lips, and she felt that if she did not then his lips would ensure that she did. Gabi succumbed to the pleasure, simply letting go.
She