Page 25

Part II
“I want to paint you, Valeria.”
Valeria
Everything became muffled in his living room when I whispered those sweet words. It felt as if a membrane had dropped around us, caging us in a heady sensation.
‘Can I… Can I kiss you, Khalid?’
I let out a small gasp when I felt his hand wrap around my waist and pull me closer to him, settling me on his lap. My first impression of Khalid was how hard he was—no, not there, but how strongly built he must be. Like a concrete wall. And how broad his shoulders were when my hands fisted the material of his shirt. He was large, larger than anyone I had ever known, caging me on his lap, his muscular arms with corded veins wrapped around my waist.
But his touch was gentle, like a wind brushing petals of rose. He was gentle. It made my heart ache.
Then Ifelthim. The hard bulge underneath my thigh.Did I cause that?A pulse throbbed violently between my legs. White hot lust turned into a melting sensation in my lower belly. I was aching painfully, wanting and waiting.
With my hands on his jaw, I could make out the sensual line of his mouth. I had the sudden urge to lick those lines and please him. My skin prickled with anticipation, trying to be patient with his answer. His heart was racing when I smelt his scent. Exotic and musky and pure male.
It was purely vulgar and filthy, in the sense I had never known.
I felt his head move slowly in a nod. My breathing grew erratic, as if I might hyperventilate. My skin burnt with fire when his large palm cupped the side of my face, his thumb rubbing my cheek. I was hot. Fiery. It felt overwhelming, and I didn’t know what to do.
Khalid said in a low voice, “Yes, my sweet one.”
Before I could react, his arm pushed me towards him, our bodies pressing into each other. Melting into one. He anchored my head towards him and pressed his mouth against mine, stealing my breath.
My eyes squeezed shut when I felt the gentle press of his lips, his hand deep in my hair, holding me close. I kissed him back, my own fingers trailing up to feel his hot skin and the wild pulse in his neck and settling on to his hair. I wanted more.Neededmore when he pulsed beneath me.
I moaned into the kiss.
With a small groan, Khalid plunged his tongue into my mouth. As if my moan had driven him to the edge. My legs clenched around him when he took the kiss from zero to one hundred. It was no more a gentle, exploratory kiss.
It was explicit. Raw. Wicked.
I didn’t know what I was feeling anymore. Adrenaline and delicious pleasure coursed through my blood. It made my body aware of how hot and hard he was. How soft and willing I was. It made my skin tingle with awareness. My heating core tightened with extreme need.
I registered after a while that his hand was under my tee shirt, caressing my back softly, my spine sending shivers down my body making my toes curl at his touch. I felt something in me when his mouth left mine, allowing me to gulp down a deep breath when his lips trailed down over my jaw, kissing my neck.
My head tipped back, eyes closed. I was smiling. My entire body was reduced to a frantic, urgent need that I felt crawling beneath me. And Khalid stroked that exact need to make me feel alive.
I was alive.
I felt drugged and dizzy with that feeling. It was consuming me.
“Khalid…”
Khalid
I heard her sultry whisper and looked up at her through my diamond like black eyes. Her face was flushed and her lips were swollen red with the kiss we had shared. She looked dizzy with a small smile on her lips.
I had to hold on to her so that I wouldn’t combust. She was my anchor.
I took a deep breath, urging myself down, not wanting to taint her innocence with my raging need. It felt wrong to me even though what we had just shared… I had never felt like that before.
I removed my hand from the tee shirt, not knowing when I had done that, and rubbed her back, patting down her mussed hair.
“Are you okay, Valeria?”
My voice wrapped around her name in a rich timber. I felt the small clench of her legs, and I knew she was as much aroused as I was. If not more, judging by her dizzy expression.