Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
But Khalil only gave her a lazy, predatory smile. “Enjoying it too much?”
“Ye – I mean, no!” Shit. That smile was too sexy, and it was confusing the heck out of her.
He raised a brow. “Is it a yes or a no?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she snapped, “because I’m out of here.” She tried to rise out of the water after that, hoping for a quick escape, but of course Khalil proved too fast, and she had only risen an inch before he had hauled her back to the water, causing Harper to tumble down, her breasts flat against his chest.
Oh!
“How stubborn you are, qalifa,” the sheikh sighed. “Did I not warn you earlier about leaving without my permission?”
“Permission?” she choked out. “I don’t need your damn permission—-”
At the same time, Khalil murmured, “I must claim another part of your body as punishment.”
Punishment? She gaped at him. Was he mad? People didn’t punish other people just because they had left without saying goodbye. Didn’t he freaking know that? She opened her mouth to argue –
But it was too late.
The sheikh had already bent his head, cupped her breasts, and took one nipple in.
Oh. My. God.
She tried her best to resist the sweet pleasure of his suckling mouth, but it was impossible. It felt too, too good. Oh, so, so good. And before she knew it, her fingers were the ones threading through his silky hair this time, gripping his head hard as she pushed her nipple deeper into his mouth.
A moan of protest escaped her when he lifted his head, but it turned into a whimper of desire when he moved to suckle her other breast.
Oh, this felt heaven – and maybe it would be heaven, if only a devil like him wasn’t the one laying a claim to her body.
By the time the sheikh carried Harper to his bed, she couldn’t keep her eyes open, couldn’t even think of protesting against the liberties he was taking. Three orgasms in a row, she thought dizzily. Was that normal for a man? For a woman?
When he joined her in bed and hauled her close, she told herself that she could justify letting it happen because she was bone-deep exhausted. She could get mad at the sheikh later, when she wasn’t so sleepy.
As the sheikh pulled the covers over them, a thought nagged at her about the setup. There was something she was missing. Something important –
But the thought eluded her.
Tomorrow, she could – would – think about it.
But not now.
Now, she just wanted to burrow in the sheikh’s arms and forget about the world.
HARPER DREAMED ABOUT the first time she and her father had flown back to America after his hero’s welcome in Ramil. She had never been the popular type, but when she had shown up in school the following Monday, Harper had been shocked at the way everyone was suddenly too nice to her. The boys kept telling her she was cute, and even the popular girls were saying she should hang out with them one time.
And fool her, she had believed it was like her Cinderella story had unfolded in real life. She had thought that the kids at school had probably seen the press photos from Ramil, and since she had worn her nice dress and some makeup that time, they had finally realized she wasn’t that ordinary after all.
She really had believed this until the cliché happened.
Harper was in one of the cubicles when she overheard Talia and her squad entering the restroom in a flurry of giggles. She had been about to step out and say hi when she heard Talia gasp, ‘Oh my God, I still can’t get over the look on her face when we told her we should go hang sometime. Like, for real? She really thinks we want to hang out for her?’
More giggles had followed.
‘Be ready to keep faking it for the rest of the year. Just keep thinking about all those hot sheikhs we can date if she takes us with her.’
Harper had considered confronting the girls afterwards, but in the end she had let it go. In the end, she had simply allowed herself to change into a grouch, a shrew – someone who said hurtful things first...so that they’d know she was tough, and they couldn’t hurt her.
Even though it always did hurt.
KHALIL SPENT THE ENTIRE morning the next day locked up in his office and doing his best to get as much work done. One taste of Harper’s sweet body was more than enough to cement his plans for her. She would be his queen, and he would let nothing stand in his way.
Or so he had thought.
It was a few minutes past noon when the sheikh received a call from Altair, and he answered it right away. “This is unusual.”