Marguerite Kaye - The Chatsfield Short Romances 1-5

Nat’s legs amost gave way. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop calling out. The zip was down and Salim took his hand off her breast to push his trousers down, kicking them off impatiently. Now he wore only his underwear, which did little to hide how big or aroused he was.

‘ Je veux —’ he stopped and cursed, ‘I want to see you.’

Nat looked up, and emboldened by the heat in his gaze, she let her dress fall down over her arms and to the floor. So now she stood in just her bra and panties. Salim’s gaze devoured her.

‘Si belle.’ So beautiful .

Nat ducked her head. Embarrassed. Salim tipped up her chin and one brow was arched. ‘What? You don’t know how beautiful you are? You are a woman, Natalja, who has lived and loved.’ He shook his head, ‘You’ve seen things…been braver than most people ever are.’

Nat felt meserised. Cocooned in this spiraling hot tension between them. She shook her head and whispered, ‘I wasn’t brave…it was a form of escape too, not dealing with things. And I’ve loved, yes, but not a man, a lover…’

Not someone like you , she just stopped herself from saying, realising in that moment that she’d always avoided that ultimate sacrifice of her heart for fear that she would be left, abandoned again. And suddenly, she realised that already this man had the power to hurt her.

Before that revelation could suck her under completely, Nat said huskily, ‘Kiss me Salim.’

‘With pleasure,’ he growled softly before drawing her into him and lowering his head to hers. The flimsy barriers of their clothes almost melted off their bodies. Nat was only aware her bra was gone because Salim was cupping both breasts as they kissed, fingers pinching her nipples to stinging points.

She was arched into him, tongues tangling, hands under his briefs, kneading the smooth taut muscles of his backside, the thrust of his arousal against her soft belly. She pushed his briefs down and felt that stiff column of flesh against her, skin to skin.

Drawing back, she looked down and a wave of heat pulsed through her to see him revealed. He was magnificent. A bead of moisture anointed the head and Nat touched it with her thumb, before looking up at Salim and bringing her thumb to her mouth and tasting his essence.

Salim looked tortured. ‘ Dieu , I want you. Now .’

Nat felt heady with her power in that moment. That this huge awe inspiring man should be so hot for her. Salim took her hand and led her to the bed, drawing her down with him.

There were no barriers between them now, and Nat tangled her limbs with his, arms wrapped tight around him. His hands seemed to be everywhere, cupping and squeezing her bottom, covering her breast and reaching down to between her legs, finding that slick spot and making her moan and squirm as he circled and explored, taking her higher and higher.

In the haze of heat she barely heard the sound of a foil wrapper, or noticed that he left her for a second to put on protection. She was incoherent with need, a fine mist of perspiration covering her entire body.

He was behind her, gathering her into him, pulling one leg over his thigh, his arm holding her against him, tight. And then he was there, thrusting up and into her, so deep that she cried out.

He moved slowly then, giving her time to adjust, but there was no discomfort, only a feeling of intense union and completion, unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She turned her head to find Salim’s mouth already searching for her, his hand cupping her face, holding her close, while his body moved in and out of hers with relentless precision.

Nat was lost, and yet profoundly rooted, mouth clinging to Salim’s, breaths feverish as their tongues mimicked the movement of their bodies. And then he moved his hand down, over her breasts and belly, to between her legs, fingers finding the centre of all her nerve endings, so close to where he was thrusting faster now, deeper.

He took his mouth from hers. Nat opened her eyes and saw only him. ‘ Viens avec moi, Natalja .’

Come with me.

And as if her body had no choice but to respond, she did. In a twisting breaking free of that tight band of tension. She stopped breathing as her body soared so high she feared she might never come back. And then she did, crashing back to earth in a million shattered but glorious pieces, her body clamping tightly around Salim’s as he breathed out the shuddering aftermath of his own release.

Chapter Five

When Salim woke he was aware of a sense of panic even as his hand went out and found the bed beside him empty. The fact that this was a wholly new sensation after sleeping with a lover was not welcome.

He opened his eyes. She was gone. Not there. The panic rose higher. Merde . He felt weakened by the incredible sex, unable to gather his strength to move for a second.

He closed his eyes as a memory assailed him—the tight sheath of Nat’s body clamping around his, drawing the longest most intense climax he’d ever experienced out of him.

They’d lain there for a long moment, stunned by the depth of their release. And then Salim had extricated himself and dealt with the protection. When he’d come back, Nat had been curled up on her side, asleep, and he’d wrapped himself around her as if it was the most normal thing in the world. When it was anything but.

Cursing again, he got up, that panic intensifying. He prowled into the living area and his heart stopped and started again when he saw the terrace doors open to the balcony outside and a slim robed figure looking out over the view as the first pink light of dawn broke over London.

Not liking the sense of relief that gripped him, Salim went over and knew she heard him when he saw her tense minutely. He came up behind her and put his hands on the stone balcony on top of hers. Something deep in his soul was soothed, and instantly Salim told himself that that was ridiculous, it was just sex. Incredible sex.

‘I’ve always loved this time of the day.’

Salim’s libido reacted forcibly to the roughness of Nat’s voice. Rough because she’d been begging, pleading—he brutally cut off the memories and focused on the view. Birds soaring high against the skyline, free. And for the first time in years, Salim had a sense of something lifting off his shoulders. A dark weight.

He reached his arms around Nat and pulled her back against him. She fit him perfectly. Already he was hardening against her and he knew she felt it when her bottom moved against him.

‘I love it too,’ he heard himself saying. And he realised he did. The dawn had always seemed to him to hold the potential that perhaps the day ahead might not end in carnage and horror, and even if it did, the dawn never got tainted for him. As if some part of him refused to be dragged down completely.

Nat turned in his arms then and he saw her eyes flare when she realised he was naked. He caged her in, loving how she felt pressed against him, the way her head tipped back, those golden green eyes surveying him with such seriousness and yet with a hint of mischief and humour.

She bit her lip for a second and then she said huskily, ‘I don’t even know you. This is…’

Salim put a finger to her mouth, stopping her words. He took it away and looked at her and felt something break apart inside him.

‘I know,’ he just said, filled with a sudden incredible melancholy. Because she was right, even though she hadn’t said it, he knew what she would say…that this was crazy. They lived on opposite sides of the world. It was one night…they’d never see each other again.

As if reading his mind and absorbing that sadness, a small sob escaped Nat’s mouth and he saw a sheen in her eyes. When she stretched up to touch her mouth to his, a desperation infused their movements, desperate to reclaim what they’d just shared, desperate to make it last, even just a while longer.