My Controlling Sheikh Page 3

  When the sheikh released me, I gasped for breath as I stumbled back.

  Had we really just kissed? Was it really the sheikh's mouth on mine?

  My gaze flew to him, but he looked so composed it was as if I had only imagined what happened.

  “Wh-wha—-”

  The sheikh didn’t let me finish. “You may go.”

  The Punishment

  I didn’t tell anyone about what happened that night.

  The sheikh hadn’t forbidden me to do so. He didn’t have to. This was exactly like what happened the first night we meet. If I ever spoke a word, I’d end up ruining my mother’s marriage – the one thing in her life that was purely beautiful and happy.

  And I just couldn’t do that to her.

  After school the next day, a soldier came to me, saying the sheikh was requesting for my presence in his study.

  “Could you tell him I’m not feeling well?” Not waiting for the soldier’s answer, I smiled wanly at him before closing the door on his face.

  I threw myself on my bed, still in my uniform. It was all a lie of course, but I just knew I wasn’t ready to face him yet.

  Memories of our kiss flooded my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut, but they persisted to haunt even the darkness behind my lids, taunting me of my weakness.

  That kiss shouldn’t have happened, but it had, and I hadn’t done anything to stop it. Instead, I had returned the kiss, surrendered myself to the kiss and if the sheikh hadn’t put a stop to it, I would have let the kiss go on...forever.

  For the rest of the day, I locked myself inside the room, even going as far as skipping dinner because I still wasn’t ready to face him.

  Near midnight, someone knocked on my door, waking me up. “Who is it?” I called out. I was sleepy and confused, unable to understand why the soldier outside my door didn’t just tell me who it was.

  “May I speak with you?”

  It was the sheikh.

  When I didn’t answer, the sheikh said quietly, “I do not want this between us, Lady Ella. Let me speak with you. Please.”

  The raw sincerity in his voice drew me in, and before I knew what I was doing, I was already unlocking the door and letting him in. “Your Highness,” I mumbled, sinking into a curtsy. I avoided his gaze the entire time.

  I heard the sheikh close the door and lock it. The latter stunned me, made me wary all of a sudden. I looked up, and the mocking gleam in the sheikh's blue eyes made me gasp.

  He had tricked me again!

  I tried to run away, but he was too fast. Before I knew it, he had twisted us around, my back slamming against the door while he held me caged between his arms.

  I was trapped.

  We stared at each other for a moment, both of us breathing hard. The sheikh was dressed in dark night robes, the deep V showing a sliver of his bronze chest, while I was in a slip of silk, one that revealed more than it hid.

  The sheikh started to bend his head.

  I began to struggle. “No—-” I started to scream, but the sound was swallowed into his kiss.

  The sheikh kissed me long and hard, my desperate struggles no match for his strength. He kissed me deeply and passionately, kissed me until I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but moan and surrender into his touch.

  No longer able to resist what my body wanted, I wrapped my arms wrapped around his neck. Hesitantly, I kissed him back, and at the first touch of my tongue with his, the sheikh shuddered.

  His control seemed to break, the kiss becoming wild, the sheikh sucking on my tongue. It was another first, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I wanted him to suck my tongue forever.

  His mouth moved down, the sheikh kissing my neck, sucking hungrily on the pulse. His mouth moved down once more, his fingers clearing the way as he pulled the neckline of my blouse down. When tore my bra away and my breasts popped out, I gasped in shock at finding myself half-naked all of a sudden. I hastily tried to cover myself but the sheikh quickly caught my wrists and pinned them over my head.

  “Keep still,” the sheikh snarled.

  And I did, because he had never used such a tone with me.

  I trembled as the sheikh's gaze moved down. “Such beautiful breasts,” he murmured.

  I shook my head in mortification. “It’s too big.” The words came out of nowhere, but my worry was real. My shame was real. They were too big. I believed that because my breasts tended to make men stare at me the wrong way.

  “Too big?” the sheikh mocked. “For an ignorant man perhaps but not for me.” And he seemed to want to prove it as he cupped one large breast with his equally large and strong hand. My breast filled his hand nicely, and the sight was almost hypnotic.

  A whimper escaped me when the sheikh started kneading my breast. It was the most amazing sensation, the most addictive feeling. Then he started tweaking my nipple, and I lost it. I started rocking against his body.

  “Please, please, please.” I couldn’t stop begging.

  I wanted more of his touch and I didn’t want it to stop.

  As if hearing my thoughts, the sheikh asked, “You want me to stop?”

  I shook my head wildly.

  The sheikh released me.

  “Don’t refuse me again.” The sheikh slammed the door shut behind me as he left, leaving me shaken and confused.

  The next day, I came down for breakfast, wondering if I’d see him, scared if I would.

  But he wasn’t there.

  “The sheikh left last night, milady.” Seeing my stricken look, the cook clucked her tongue. “You two had a fight again?”

  “S-something like that,” I mumbled. A veritable feast laid waiting before me but I had no appetite, the knowledge that the sheikh was gone making me feel listless.

  “It will be fine, he’ll come back.” The cook patted my hand comfortingly. “All my life I have worked here, watched the sheikh grow from a wee babe. Never had I seen him so worried when you didn’t come to join him for dinner.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “The sheikh was...worried?”

  “That he was, child. He even had me send you a tray but told me I shouldn’t let you know about it.” The cook winked.

  “I see.” I was dumbfounded by her revelations.

  “The sheikh does not find it easy to trust anyone, milady. He doesn’t find it easy to show his emotions, but I tell you, milady. Yesterday, it was very obvious he missed your company—-”

  “But we don’t even speak when we eat together,” I protested. “At all!”

  “Ah, you are indeed young, milady.” The cook smiled. “You can enjoy a person’s company even when not a single word has been spoken, and that’s how it was with you and the sheikh. He always dines alone, milady. Even when his family is all here, he prefers his own company, taking his meals in his suite. But when you came...”

  When I came, there was not a day I hadn’t my meals with him, whenever the sheikh was in residence. All along, I had thought that was because it was tradition...but now I knew it wasn’t.

  Could it be true? Did he really enjoy my company that much?

  Something spread inside me, something warm, beautiful, and forbidden.

  I mustn’t read anything into it, I told myself. I mustn’t. Even if he did enjoy my company, that was it. It didn’t change a thing. He was still the one I couldn't have. Nothing would – could – happen between us, and I had to remember that.

  The Supper

  The sheikh came back the next day, and this time I didn’t think twice about joining him for supper. I had again dressed up for the occasion, choosing a long-sleeved robe with loose transparent sleeves and a tight-fitting bodice. But even now, I couldn’t admit to myself that I wanted to be pretty for him.

  Seated on the head of the table, the sheikh was dressed in the formal traditional robes of his kingdom. It made him appear more regal than usual for some reason, and so much more beautiful, too, that it had me faltering in my steps.

  The sheikh f
rowned when he saw me nearly stumble. "You are all right?”

  “Umm, yes.” But with the sheikh's bright blue gaze following my every movement, I ended up stumbling twice more, and the sheikh made a frustrated sound.

  I looked up and saw him already rising to his feet. "It's fine—-"

  But he was already striding towards me, and as soon as he reached my side, he asked right away, "Is it your shoes? Is it giving you a hard time?"

  You're the one giving me a hard time, I thought, but since that would be even more embarrassing, I forced myself to nod instead. "They're new," I said lamely.

  "Can you walk on your own then?"

  "Yes," I said stiffly.

  The sheikh walked back to the head of the table, and after a moment's hesitation, I followed behind him.

  “Are you lost, Lady Ella?” The sheikh's voice was acerbic when he saw me placing a hand on the chair next to him.

  “Nope.”

  He raised a brow. “Let me make it clear to you then.” He nodded towards the other end of the table, which was a full dozen feet away. “That is your place.”

  I knew that. I even told myself to get moving. But instead, an imp inside me made me ask, “Why do I have to sit all the way there?”

  “Why do you even have to ask?” the sheikh snapped.

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why won’t you answer my question?”

  We stared at each other again, the sheikh's blue eyes frosty with displeasure. But then all of a sudden, a calculating gleam appeared in his gaze—-

  Unease skittered over my spine.

  Shit.

  I might have bitten off more than I could chew here, I thought, gulping. I started to take my words back, but it was too late.

  “Forgive me.” The sheikh spoke in a lazy voice, the purring tone mesmerizing me. He stepped towards me, and I jerked when I felt his hand on the small of my back. The simple touch had heat exploding inside me, and all I could think of was how wonderful it felt to have him touch me.

  “It would be my greatest pleasure to have you seated beside me, ukhayyah.” He gestured to the chair. “May I?”

  It took me more than a second to realize what he wanted and, flushing, I stepped aside so the sheikh could pull out the chair for me.

  The moment we were seated, attendants immediately came forward, placing napkins on our laps before serving us the first course.

  We ate in silence.

  I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t think of anything to talk about. Once in a while, I would sneak glances at the sheikh but he appeared fully concentrating on his meal, his every movement slow but graceful. Even after all this time, I could honestly watch him eat forever. It was like art in motion, and I wondered if all members of royalty ate like this.

  The sheikh suddenly looked up, his spoon pausing mid-air, and once again he caught me staring at him.

  Shit. Why did this man keep catching me at the worst possible moment?

  “Is something on my face, Lady Ella?”

  Shit.

  “Yeah, I think...umm...there.” I pointed at a random part of his face before quickly looking down.

  “My thanks for pointing it out,” the sheikh murmured, but the smirk in his voice told me I wasn’t fooling anyone.

  Shit.

  The attendants cleared away the plates from the second course. When they were gone, that was when I felt it—-

  The sheikh's hand on my knee.

  I froze, my eyes flying to him in shock.

  “You see, ukhayyah, it is for your benefit that I gave you that seat,” the sheikh said silkily. “If you are this close to me, I would not be able to resist.”

  His blue eyes captured mine. “And you would not be so foolish to think of resisting me, will you?”

  I shook my head mutely.

  His fingers started trailing up my thigh, and it was all I could do not to cry out loud.

  The attendants came back to the hall just as the sheikh's fingers found my sensitive flesh. I froze, and I tried not to look like anything was happening as the sheikh started to stroke me. My panties were drenched in seconds.

  The sheikh smiled – a dazzling sight – just before his fingers pulled my panties to the side.

  Oh!

  I couldn’t breathe, could only look down at the table as the sheikh started stroking a tiny nub of flesh between my legs. I knew about it, of course, but I had never tried to touch it, hadn’t even known how sensitive it was until now, with the sheikh making me want to scream at each tortuous stroke.

  God, I hated and loved that he was so good at this. I wish I could be as good, just so I could drive him crazy the way he drove me out of my mind.

  “Lady Ella?” It was one of the attendants, and I realized she was unable to serve me the third course until I leaned back on my chair.

  The sheikh's thumb started moving faster.

  Oh, oh, oh—-

  It was all I could do not to shudder as I forced myself to lean back against my chair. The position had my legs parting wider, making me more exposed to the sheikh's touch.

  The attendant bent forward—-

  The sheikh slid the smallest tip of his finger inside of me.

  I gasped.

  The attendant froze.

  Oh dear God, please go away!

  But she didn’t of course. Instead, she looked at me with concern, and her frown deepened when she saw my tormented expression. “What’s wrong, milady?”

  The sheikh pushed his finger a fraction deeper inside of me.

  I shook my head vehemently. “N-nothing,” I stammered.

  The attendant threw me an odd look. “All right, milady.”

  When she left, I looked at the sheikh. “Please.”

  He lifted a brow. “Please what?”

  I gazed at him in frustration. Dear God, I didn’t even know what I was begging for!

  “Please...do this?” The sheikh withdrew his finger out of me—-

  I started to sigh in relief, but I also had to battle away a strange feeling of disappointment.

  “—-or this?” He pushed his finger back in, deeper than before.

  I whimpered, shock and pleasure mingling at his penetrating touch.

  And so it went on, throughout the entire ten-course meal. His fingers fucking me, thrusting in and out, but never so deep I would feel stuffed.

  When we were done, the sheikh wordlessly offered me his hand and I took it, both of us knowing I had no choice. He left my knees shaking so badly there was no way I’d be able to walk without his help.

  The sheikh walked me to my room, with not a word spoken between us.

  My heart hammered against my chest the closer we came to my room. Would this be finally it, I wondered wildly. Would this be the night we’d close our eyes to the reality, would this be the night we’d throw caution to the wind and do what we both wanted?

  Because this was what he wanted, too, didn’t he?

  Even though I was his ukhayyah, surely the sheikh wouldn’t be able to deny the truth?

  He wanted to fuck me.

  Me.

  “Lady Ella.” The sheikh's voice was rough as we stopped before the door to my bedroom. A pair of soldiers was always stationed outside my room, but neither guard looked our way even when the sheikh and I came to stand between them.

  I swallowed. “Yes, Your Highness?”

  Hunger blazed in his eyes ,and I saw it turn fierce as his gaze moved down, lingering on my breasts, which rose and fell with every shaky breath I drew.

  “Say something,” he rasped out.

  “Umm...I...” My mind was a blank, and I said the first thing that came to me. “Today, umm, I was working, and...”

  The sheikh's lips compressed in a straight line, and I suddenly had a feeling he was doing his best to suppress his laughter.

  “What do you want me to say?” I cried out.

  He glanced at the guards. “Leave us for a moment.” They bowed stiffly at his words and descended the stairs
without a word. When they were gone, the sheikh gazed at me under hooded lids, and God, what it did to my body!

  What he had done to me in the dining hall had already left me aching, but with him looking at me like that, the aching turned into a deep, painful throb that had me breathless and unable to stand still.

  “Sheikh...”

  “What were you saying again earlier?” Even though I knew he was teasing me, the seductive purr of the sheikh's voice still made me throb even harder. “You were working...”

  “And...” I couldn’t think straight, not with the sheikh inching closer, forcing me backwards until I was pressed against the wall.

  “And?” he prompted huskily.

  “Why are we even talking about this?” I asked helplessly.

  “Because...” His eyes gleamed in cruel amusement as he murmured, “I like seeing you rattled, and I like it even more, knowing I’m the cause of it.” He raised a hand, and I watched with bated breath as he reached for a curl of my hair.

  My heat slammed against my throat.

  He twirled the lock of hair around his finger. “If you can remember to tell me what happened to your day, I’ll reward you.” And then he smiled, a toe-curling smile that promised me the most forbidden pleasure.

  Oh.

  I stammered, “I went to school...and w-while I was there, I r-received a visit...” I was so desperately focused on recalling what I busied myself with the whole time we were apart that I didn’t notice the way the sheikh's gaze narrowed. “The teacher called me out, and it was a representative of the Sheikh of Layla. He had sent me a g-gift—-”

  The sheikh suddenly tore himself away from me.

  Shocked, I found his gaze an arctic shade of blue, and there was no warmth in the sheikh's handsome face as he bit out, “Good night, milady.”

  Shock rendered me immobile.

  What happened? What did I say? What did I do?

  Recovering myself, I ran after him, feet flying over the steps and I managed to catch hold of the sheikh's sleeve just before he reached the next flight of stairs.

  He stilled at my touch.

  “Your Highness—-” Suddenly, I couldn’t think of what to say.