Brenda Jackson - Sleeping with the Sheikh

Andi wanted to laugh. Her suit was a relatively modest two-piece, and for most of the day she’d worn her oversize cover-up. “I just bet you say that to all the girls in your harem.”

“I have no harem.”

Andi tossed up her hands in mock exasperation. “Well, darn. There went my desert fantasy.”

Sam rubbed a large hand down his thigh, bare because of the shorts he now wore, capturing Andi’s attention. “I am sorry to disappoint you.”

In reality he hadn’t disappointed her. Yet. But the night was young, and she had only one major goal in mind—to convince Sam that spending the next two hours in the limo could be as boring, or as exciting, as they chose to make it.

On that thought, she fanned her face. “It’s rather warm in here, don’t you think?”

His expression went as taut as the black leather covering the seats. “I am comfortable.”

“Well, I’m not.” She unbuttoned her blouse and let it fall open to reveal the top of her less-than-comfortable bra. “That’s a little better.”

“I will ask Rashid to adjust the air.” Depressing the intercom button to his right, he made the request then settled back against the seat with the magazine he’d been reading earlier.

This would not do, Andi thought. She refused to let him ignore her. Feeling brave, she reached for the button on her denim shorts then reconsidered. “Speaking of Rashid, can he see back here?”

Sam sent her a suspicious look. “Not as long as the privacy window is intact. Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering.”

Muttering something in Arabic that Andi couldn’t understand, Sam went back to the magazine and Andi went back to tugging off her shorts. On afterthought, she unfastened her bra and slipped it off through the armholes then tossed it onto the floor to join her shorts. Now she wore only a white sleeveless cotton shirt and a pair of skimpy black panties. If that didn’t get his attention, Andi doubted anything would, short of leaning out the window naked and hollering at the top of her lungs.

When Sam failed to look at her, she decided to take matters into her own hands, or whatever else she needed to take into her hands to earn his notice. All day long she’d endured the sidelong glances aimed at Sam. And all the while she’d had to pretend they were old friends.

She was tired of the whole charade because he was more than a friend. He was the father of her child, and at one time her lover. Just once more before he disappeared again, she wanted to experience all that he had to offer, if she could just convince him to cooperate.

On that thought, Andi slipped to her knees and crawled to the opposite seat to move between Sam’s parted legs. When he looked up, she noted a hint of surprise in his expression.

She grabbed the magazine and tossed it behind her, then slipped her fingertips immediately underneath the hem of his khaki shorts. “Is that magazine so darned interesting that you can’t give me a little of your time?”

He nailed her with his dark eyes. “Is my time all you want, Andrea? If so, you do not have to resort to such measures as crawling on your knees.”

“You don’t like me on my knees?” she asked, topped off with a suggestive grin.

His glance fell to her open blouse that now revealed a good deal of her breasts. “I would like you to return to your seat and put your clothes back on before I…”

His words trailed off, leading Andi to believe that he was entertaining some of the same naughty ideas.

“Before you what?”

“Before Rashid sees you.”

She frowned. “I thought you said he couldn’t see back here with the window up.”

“I do not believe he can, but I’ve never ridden in the front to test the window’s merits. It would be unwise to take that risk.”

Andi’s wicked side surfaced, and she climbed onto the seat on her knees, straddling Sam’s thighs. “Why don’t we just hope for the best? Besides, you can always say you had something in your eye and I was trying to remove it.”

He braced his hands on her waist but didn’t attempt to move her out of the way. “I doubt that Rashid would buy such a weak excuse.”

“Considering this car’s owner, I’d just bet Rashid has probably seen it all.”

“What are you saying?”

“You and other women engaging in some hankypanky.”

“I use this car for business purposes and nothing more.”

She rimmed her tongue along the shell of his ear and whispered, “Then maybe we should get down to business.”

“Andrea, why are you so intent on pursuing this?”

Pulling back, she locked into his dark gaze, determined to have her say—and her way. “Because I have to know if I only imagined how wonderful you made me feel, or if it’s just the fact I had no one to compare you to.” She ran the tip of her tongue across the seam of his lips. “I want to know if you’re really all that great.”

Sam tightened his grip on her waist, and his eyes went almost black. “Are you saying that you wish to know how I compare to other men? Have there been so many, Andrea?”

There had been only one other man, a brief affair that had been more than disappointing, but revealing that fact wouldn’t help her cause. “I’m saying it was a long time ago and that maybe my recollections are incorrect.”

“Yet you have told me repeatedly you do not wish to resurrect the past.”

“I’m telling you now that I need you to refresh my memory.” She moved against him, immediately noting the slight swell beneath her bottom. “Is that a camel in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?”

Sam’s grin surfaced. “You can be a very devious woman, Andrea.”

“You don’t know the half of it, but I’d be glad to show you.”

Indecision warred in his expression. Andi knew the moment he lost the battle when he released a strained breath. “Perhaps I should show you a few things.”

Sliding his hands to her hips, he pressed down until she could feel every glorious part of him. He nudged her forward then back ever so slightly against his erection, creating an amazingly erotic friction and a rush of damp heat where Andi’s body contacted his.

“I remember much about that night,” he said in a voice only a degree above a whisper, deep and grainy and sensual. “I remember the way you looked, trusting and innocent. I remember how your skin felt beneath my hands.”

He slipped his hands beneath her panties and stroked her bare bottom. “Do you remember me touching you this way, Andrea?” He asked the question while continuing to glide her hips back and forth against him in a steady rhythm.

She combed her hands through his dark hair then closed her eyes. “Maybe.”

Like some love-starved woman, she savored the feel of his mouth as he feathered a kiss across the rise of her breast, grazing his tongue over her nipple just enough to tease and entice. “I remember the soft sounds of pleasure you made when I kissed you this way, how you begged me to continue.”

Right now she was primed for some more begging if he dared to stop. “It’s beginning to come back to me, but I could use a little more detail.” In reality, she hadn’t forgotten one incredible detail.

He began to move his hips in sync with hers, increasing the contact of their bodies that fitted so perfectly together. “I remember how brave you were, how you ignored the pain.”

The pain had been nothing compared to the pleasure. And the pleasure was upon her now as Sam continued his erotic motion, rubbing cotton against silk, creating delicious sensation against the place that needed his attention the most. He undid two more buttons on her blouse and a cool draft of air streamed over her bare breasts.

Andi kept her eyes closed, lulled by the sound of his sensual voice. “I remember how you trembled beneath me. How warm and wet and soft your body was surrounding mine. I remember being totally lost to you at that moment.”