CHAPTER THREE
From the light cast by the moon, Olivia could make out the intricate designs in the lace canopy framing her bed. Unable to sleep, she’d counted the numerous dragonflies stitched into the eggshell counterpane.
Ten minutes later and still wide awake, Olivia turned her head. She stared through the window at the half crescent moon and sighed heavily. The glowing orb had nothing to do with her current unease or her inability to sleep. The root of her problem centered on the guest across the hall.
Khalid Francois Du?s had become the bane of her existence. Ever since she’d laid eyes on him, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She kept seeing the sardonic curve of his full lips, those unusual pale green eyes studying her as if he was trying to uncover her innermost desires…her secrets.
Why did Harry have to extend their hospitality? Even worse, what had come over her? She could’ve fabricated an excuse; instead, she’d allowed this odd attraction to him get the best of her and like a bitch in heat she’d welcomed him under their roof.
Olivia wrapped her arms around her pillow. How in the world was she going to survive the next three days? In spite of his arrogance, there was something about Khalid that tugged at her. A part of her hated him but the other half was inexplicably drawn to him.
Even now with two walls and a landing separating them, her body and mind were attuned to his proximity. She felt tight as a bow, and she kept making up the silliest scenarios with him starring in every one. She envisioned him stealing into her room, standing over her bed. Her lips throbbed in anticipation of his kisses. She imagined his hands caressing her breasts, her nipples hardened and the button between her legs throbbed.
A rush of heat swept over her, made her skin burn and her breath catch. Ignoring her body’s calling for far too long, Olivia gathered her gown, lifted it until it lay rumpled around her upper torso.
Despite her innocence, she knew instinctively what her body wanted, needed. She cupped her breasts, lifted them, and squeezed them. Her fingers plucked at her puckered nipples, while she imagined it was Khalid who was making her body come alive.
Craving more, her hand slipped lower, down her belly, and into her cotton drawers. Her fingers glided over her mound and she gasped. She was so hot, wet, and aching for stimulation.
Never having touched herself like this before, and relying entirely on her medical training, Olivia spread the folds of her sex. Tentatively, she circled her *oris, grew bolder and fondled the swollen nub.
Groaning loudly, Olivia bit down on her bottom lip. The medical books hadn’t prepared her for these delicious sensations. Her breasts, her sex, her whole body burned. An unimaginable pressure built up inside her, constricted her lungs, making it difficult to breathe.
Olivia pictured Khalid sprawled naked on the guest bed. His leanly muscled, bronzed body wrapped in cool, white sheets. Her fingers quickened their pace as she imagined herself lying next to him, skin to skin, her body completely open to him. She pictured him taking her in his arms, his long hard body sliding over hers, pressing her into the mattress. The head of his cock nudging against her now dripping sex and she bucked her hips.
Olivia groaned again. The pressure increased two-fold, building inside her, driving her to the unknown. Drawing closer to the edge, she abruptly came to her senses. With a cry of self-disgust, she rolled off the bed. Had she lost her ever loving mind? She would not find her pleasure fantasizing about that egotistical bastard!
“No,no,no,no!” she muttered while putting on her robe and slippers. Fuming and in need of some air, Olivia stomped from her room. She descended the stairs, weaved her way through to the back of the house and burst onto the back porch. With hands planted on her hips, she breathed in deeply, allowing the cool night air to calm her senses, abate the fire in her blood.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
Startled, Olivia whirled around. Hidden in the shadows of the porch’s overhang, Khalid would’ve remained unnoticed if it wasn’t for the glowing ember of his cigar. The sweet scent of the cheroot tickled her nostrils and made her want to taste it on his lips.
“Why are you out here?” she asked, ignoring his question.
Khalid stepped forward, removing the cheroot from his lips. Almost a foot taller than she, he towered over her. Uneasy, she edged away. “Why are you out here?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
His lips curled into a sardonic smirk. “Makes two of us.”
Olivia was annoyed he would try and find some kind of commonality between them, especially when she’d spent a good portion of the night trying to exorcise him from her conscience.
“There isn’t an us,” she countered. “And there will never be,” she added for good measure.”
Olivia couldn’t see his eyes, but she could feel his scrutiny. “The lady doth protest too much.”
Feeling suddenly vulnerable, Olivia turned to re-enter the house, but he blocked her path. He reached for her and she stumbled down the porch stairs. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she took off down the stone path leading to the small greenhouse her father had built for their mother.
Olivia shared her mother’s love for horticulture and she still used the building. It would be unlocked and therefore a safe refuge. She reached out for the door, her fingertips grazing the latch, when she was brought up short by Khalid’s grip on her upper arm. Olivia opened her mouth to protest, but he clamped his hand across her lips as he kicked open the greenhouse door.
Once inside, he released her abruptly. Olivia stumbled backward. Moonlight spilled though the greenhouse’s glass roof, affording her a clear view of him as he stalked her. Olivia gulped. She was in big trouble. All alone and unable to fight her odd attraction to him, there was no telling what she would allow him to do.
“You can’t run from what we both are feeling.”
“Don’t kid yourself. What we’re feeling is completely one sided.” Olivia was proud at how steady her voice sounded. Outwardly, she was composed, inside her heart was beating a mile a minute. She needed to extricate herself from her present predicament. Now. Eyeing the greenhouse’s only exit, she edged over to the nearest worktable.
Khalid moved with her, tracking her with those unusual eyes of his.
“You want me as much as I want you.”
Soft spoken, yet true his words hit her like a sucker punch, causing her knees to buckle. She leaned against the table for support before she fell to the floor and made a bigger ass of herself.
“I’ve been wondering how you’d taste ever since I first laid eyes on you.” Quick as a predator, he pounced, trapping her by placing one of his hands on either side of her on the wooden table. “I’m tired of speculating.” Khalid crushed his lips against hers.
Olivia lifted her arms intending to beat against his chest, but he increased his assault and the strange thing that had happened at dinner took hold of her again.
She fell under his spell.
Even with the table at her back, Olivia grabbed at him. Through the soft material of his button-down shirt, she felt his muscles ripple. And in that moment, she wondered why they were burdened by so many layers of clothing.
Like in her fantasy, she wanted to have him pressed against her, skin to skin. It was one, if not the only, reason why she didn’t protest when he suddenly lifted her and set her onto the worktable.
While his kisses stole all her common sense, his hands untied her robe and then pushed it from her shoulders, baring her skin to the cool night air. Olivia moaned against his lips, her hands clutched at his shoulders, pulling him closer. Their bodies collided and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist.
“Got to have more,” he whispered against her lips. He shoved her nightgown up her thighs. His hand touched her mound and they groaned in unison.
“You’re so hot, so wet.” His tongue traced the shell of her ear and she shivered.
He slid a finger between the folds of her sex, finding her *, he pressed against the hot bud with the pad of his thumb. Moaning, Olivia pumped her hips against his hand.
“I knew you were a woman of great passion,” He growled against her neck and rewarding her by breaching her sex with his middle finger.
He moved his finger slowly, pushing in deep each time and deeper still. His finger twisted, retreated, plunged, and in turn drove her completely mad. Olivia imagined him driving into her in the same manner, stretching the walls of her sex and her body ached for more.
“Khalid,” she pleaded, clawing at his shoulders.
He shivered beneath her hands. “Finally…my name sounds delicious on your lips.” His face was flush with desire. “Say it again.”
Olivia almost rolled her eyes. She was close to orgasm and he wanted to hear his name.
“If you want to come,” he nipped her ear, “say my name.”
Olivia hated ultimatums but in this instance she was more than willing to acquiesce. Her gaze locked with his, she said, “Khalid.”
His hand gripped the back of her head, catching her by surprise.
“Look at me when you come, Olivia.” Growling, he licked a scorching path along the side of her neck, causing her sex to ripple around his stroking his fingers. “I want you to see who’s giving you pleasure…who made you come.”
Breathless, gazes locked, unable to look away as he pumped in and out of her, Olivia followed his directive. The intensity of his triumphant gaze provided the final push she needed. Her body pulsated, provoked by his devilish fingers. She came hard and fast, her body shaking with her release, gasping his name.
His finger continued to pump inside her as she floated back to reality.
“When I leave, come with me.”
Olivia’s heart pounded against her rib cage. Although she’d detested the idea of marriage and all its limitations, the idea of being by his side didn’t seem all that undesirable. “As your wife?”
“You would be like a wife.”
Olivia felt like he’d dumped a pail of cold water over her head. “Are you asking me to be your mistress?”
“I would give you everything your heart desired. Haute couture gowns, expensive jewels, a car. Just name it and it’s yours.”
“What if I wanted marriage?” Maybe not now, but someday she would like to settle down and raise children.
“I’m not the marrying kind, but I take great care of what’s mine.” His hand tightened around her throat. “Even after our relationship has cooled, I’d take care of you. I would leave you financially independent with money in the bank and a beautiful estate. You would never have to work again.”
How could she have been so stupid? He wanted to keep her in a gilded cage for his pleasure, and then throw her away like some used object. Olivia inwardly recoiled. Enraged, she lowered her legs and shoved against him.
Khalid staggered backward as if disoriented, giving her room to jump off the table. “I will not be kept until you tire of me and kick me from your bed to replace me with someone else more to your liking.”
“So you want marriage, then?” He reached out for her, but she sidestepped him. “If that’s the only way I can have you, then will you marry me? It’s the least I could do since you’re Harry’s sister.”
Olivia opened and shut her mouth, at a loss for words. For some reason she could neither accept nor deny him. Pissed that he could turn her world completely upside down, Olivia stepped forward and slapped him. “I wish you’d never come into my life.”
Using his stunned reaction to her advantage, Olivia ran back to the house. She took the stairs two at a time and locked her bedroom door behind her. For good measure, she shoved a chair beneath the knob. However, as she retreated to the bed, she wondered if the barricade was more for herself than Khalid.
***
Khalid started his day at dawn. The night before, he’d barely slept a wink, instead spending the remaining waking hours second guessing his actions. He’d been such a fool offering Olivia the world on a silver platter. And all she’d done was throw him and his proposal in his face. To think he actually offered marriage!
Swearing loudly, Khalid climbed out of the bathtub. Furious, he dried himself off and then stalked over to the bed. He stepped into a pair of linen boxers followed by a khaki jumpsuit, matching cap and desert boots. Per tradition, the day before a race would be filled with inspections and trial runs. Perfect timing. If he stayed under this roof another minute, he might do something foolish. Not a man of patience, he’d always lived his life seeking immediate gratification. And, he wanted Olivia more than anything he’d ever wanted in his life.
Khalid could still taste her lips, feel her soft curves pressed against his body. In spite of everything that had transpired, his desire for her hadn’t diminished. Her resistance only made him want her more. Even now his cock swelled and his balls tightened as an image of her sitting on the worktable, legs spread for him, taunted him like a mirage.
Damn! In less than twenty-four hours, she’d become an obsession. So much so, Khalid didn’t think he could get through the next few days without trying to touch her or get her in another compromising position, preferably on her back.
With only one day’s acquaintance between them, the odds were not in his favor. He needed more time to court her properly.
Khalid grimaced. In less than twenty-four hours, he’d turned into one of those silly, love-struck sops he’d ridiculed while he’d happily sowed his oats.
Even worse, today would be a complete bust. He couldn’t shirk his responsibilities to hang around here trying to secure Olivia’s affections. Too many people depended on him winning the Vanderbilt Cup and the Spanish Grand Prix. If he won, the exposure from both races would virtually cement the manufacturing arm of his family’s business.
Khalid gritted his teeth. Damn all this Western etiquette! He should just bundle Olivia onto a boat and take her to live among his mother’s people.
Even though the idea appealed to him, Khalid nixed it. He wouldn’t betray his friend. They’d shared too much during their time at Yale. Harry would be completely devastated if his little sister went missing.
Khalid grimaced. He was back to square one with no viable solution other than fulfilling his commitments and then returning to the States to win Olivia over. The world had definitely turned upside down because both tasks seemed equally daunting.