Wrapped in Pleasure (22 page)

“Do you want to cause problems in your marriage?” he decided to ask.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “But I can’t settle for anything less than a man who will be faithful to me. That is why I want to learn everything I can.”

He felt he needed her to understand. She was setting herself up for failure. “Even if I agree to what you’re asking, you will never learn everything, Jo.”

A determined look settled on her face. “As long as I know
what’s important to him. It shouldn’t be hard to keep him happy because of his age. He’s old.”

Rasheed raised a brow. “He’s old?”

“Yes, he’s fifteen years older than me, so I would expect most of his good days are gone already, over and done with. So I wouldn’t have to know a whole lot to keep him happy. Just the
right
stuff.”

Rasheed didn’t say anything. He hadn’t recovered from what she’d said about his age. “How old is he?” He knew the answer but asked anyway.

“Thirty-nine.”

He shrugged. “I don’t think that’s old.”

Johari wrinkled her nose. “I disagree,” she said, as if she had made up her mind about it and it wouldn’t be changed.

“If he’s had mistresses for as long as I’ve heard he’s had them,” she went on, “then he’s probably well worn-out by now, although I’m sure he probably doesn’t think so. I need to convince him that he is and from now on, I will be enough for him. But I’ll need to back up that claim with knowledge of the things a man would like.”

Her voice had gotten stronger. Was filled with more conviction, he thought. He tried to keep the hard line from forming on his lips, but more than anything he needed to make her see reason. He had no problems teaching her anything she wanted to learn, but he didn’t want her to be disillusioned and think for one minute it would matter in the bedroom. The bottom line was that he intended to keep his mistresses.

He pulled in a deep breath. It seemed that Johari was going to be more trouble than he originally thought. What she was thinking was utter nonsense, a waste of good time and energy…on her part but not on his. He would enjoy every moment teaching her things. But in essence it wouldn’t
change a thing, although she assumed she could wrap him in so much pleasure that he’d be convinced he only needed a wife and no one else. He shook his head. For the love of Allah, there wasn’t that much pleasure in the world.

That realization played on his conscience. Could he let her believe that? He looked at her and decided, yes, he could. It would be a hard lesson but one she deserved for not returning home to plan their wedding. Had she done the right thing, neither of them would be here now.

“So that is my condition, Monty. Will you take it?”

Rasheed felt it was time he taught his rebellious fiancée a few important lessons and he would enjoy doing so. In the end, when he revealed his true identity to her, she would see just what a mistake she had made in thinking she was clever enough to outwit her family and outsmart him.

He met her eyes and saw the soft, innocent plea in their dark depths. She had no idea what she was asking for. He had to be certain. “And you’re sure that is what you want?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

He waited for a few moments and then he said, “In that case, my driver and I will take you back to the hotel. I suggest you pack up your belongings and get a good night’s sleep. I’ll come to the hotel in the morning to pick you up at eight o’clock. We will fly out of New York by nine.”

She nodded. “Where are we going?”

A smile touched his lips. “First stop is to my private villa near Brazil. And your lessons will start tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

He blinked. She had actually thanked him. Did she not understand the seriousness of what she had agreed to do? What she had asked of him? He inclined his head. Out of curiosity, he decided to ask, “Won’t your fiancé expect you to come to him on your wedding night a virgin?”

She shrugged. “Probably. But I’m hoping he will prefer pleasure over innocence. Wouldn’t you?”

An easy smile curved his lips. “I refrain from giving my opinion.”

And he thought, for her sake, that was a good idea.

“A
re your comfortable, Jo?”

Johari glanced over at Monty, who was sitting across from her in his private jet. She had flown in a private plane a number of other times since both her father and brother owned them. But there was something about Monty’s jet that was unique in that it was larger and had a lot more amenities than any she’d ever flown in. When she had mentioned it to him he’d explained it was due to the amount of time he spent in the air.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”

She broke eye contact with him and glanced out the window, trying to recall every single detail of last night after they had agreed to have an affair. The thought made shivers run up her spine. She had just gotten kissed for the very first time two days ago and already she was looking forward to something more.

Johari turned back toward Monty and saw he was browsing through a stack of papers he had taken out of his briefcase. She could only vaguely remember leaving his condo to return to her hotel last night. He had walked her inside the hotel as far as her room door and then, doing nothing more than placing a soft kiss on her cheek, he had made sure she had gotten safely inside before leaving.

She settled back in the soft cushions of the leather seat and nervously licked her lips, thinking this was the day her lessons were to begin, but he had not yet shown any interest in starting them. He had picked her up at the hotel at exactly eight that morning. Before he had arrived she had taken time to make a call to Cel. Although her friend was out on international waters, Johari had left a message letting her know she was on her way to Brazil with Monty. In a way she was glad she had not spoken to Cel. Her friend would have berated her for acting so impulsively and going off with a total stranger. But for a reason Johari didn’t understand and couldn’t explain, she felt safe with Monty.

She had taken more time with her appearance this morning, deciding to wear a white sundress and, from the look he’d given her, she knew she had made the right choice. But that was all she had gotten from him so far—a look and several smiles. She wasn’t sure exactly what she had expected, but to be ignored hadn’t been it. Maybe she had counted on too much too soon or maybe she was just a little too anxious for her lessons to start.

She glanced back out the window as she tried to blot out of her mind an incident she had heard about from the whisperings of her parents’ household staff. A sheikh who was to marry one of the daughters of a neighboring sheikhdom had ordered his bride-to-be to undergo a physical examination before the wedding to verify she was still a virgin.

When the examination showed she was not, the sheikh had called off the wedding and taken extreme measures to humiliate the woman before demanding that she be banished to Siberia. What if the same thing were to happen to her? What if Sheikh Valdemon got wind of the fact she had not returned to Tahran as expected and believed he’d been compromised by her behavior and ordered such an examination for her?

She didn’t want to think about such a thing happening. She was depending on him not finding out anything until their wedding night, and hopefully, by then once she showered him with all the things she had been taught, she would be able to convince him that the loss of her virginity didn’t matter. She wanted to believe that her future husband would appreciate a wife with exemplary bedroom skills. But still…

She drew in a deep breath, realizing it was too late to have second thoughts now since they were probably already halfway to Brazil. The sky was a beautiful blue and they were flying high above the clouds. A few moments ago the pilot had announced their altitude but she hadn’t been paying much attention. Her focus had been on the man sitting across from her.

And speaking of Monty…

She glanced quickly over to where he sat to find him looking at her. She swallowed and tried to control the deep pounding of her heart. He was looking at her the same way he had last night, just moments before he kissed her.

“Come here, Jo.”

His voice was deep, throaty, and she wasn’t sure she had heard him correctly. “You want me to come over there?”

A sexy smile touched his lips. “Yes, I want you over here.” He patted his lap. “Right here.”

She swallowed tightly as she unfastened her seat belt. The plane had leveled off, which made getting out of her seat and
walking the distance to him safe and easy. He unsnapped his own seat belt and then proceeded to shrug off his jacket and toss it aside. When she was within arm’s reach, he placed his hands around her waist and tugged her down to him, snuggling her into his lap with her head resting against his chest.

The only time she recalled being held this way by a man was when she had nearly cried her eyes out as a child of three when Jamal had left home to attend school in France. Jamal had been her hero. Her protector. The brother she adored. She had thought her world had come to an end and her father had held her tenderly while she shed all her tears. And now she was in the arms of a man who definitely wasn’t her father. In his tight embrace, she could feel the outline of his taut muscles. Hard. Firm. Masculine.

“Ready for your first lesson, Jo?”

The warmth of his breath fanned against her ear and she lifted her head off his chest to meet his eyes. “Here? Now?”

“Yes,” he said, curling his fingers gently in her hair, guiding her face closer to his. His lips tugged into a sensuous smile. “And this is how.”

Johari wasn’t sure what to expect, but she didn’t anticipate having her mouth made love to in such a way that turned her to complete mush in his lap. They had kissed before, but never like this. First he took the tip of his tongue and traced all around her lips, causing a sizzling sensation to stir throughout her entire body. Holding her mouth in place with his fingers resting on her cheekbones, with agonizing slowness he continued the process. His featherlight caresses were sending heated desire circulating all through her.

And when her lips parted on a moan, he inserted his tongue and curled it around hers, slowly and methodically taking a hold of it in a firm grasp. He began sucking on her tongue with a voraciousness that had her reaching out to clutch his shoul
ders when an incredible ache erupted inside of her. Dead center between her thighs. Waves of longing she had never felt before took over her senses and she could easily feel the engorged erection beneath her bottom and the solid hard chest pressed against her breasts

The muscles in his shoulders felt firm and hard beneath the grip of her fingers and she could only savor his taste while the mastery of his kiss rippled through her, stirred an absolute ache within her.

He slowly pulled his mouth away and murmured against her moist lips in a low, throaty tone, “A woman lets a man know how much she appreciates him by the way she kisses him. The most important elements in a kiss are taste and feel. Use your tongue to do both with the sole purpose of building a craving inside of him that is strictly for you.”

“Strictly for me?”

Another sensuous smile formed on his lips. “Yes. Go ahead, Jo, and try it.”

She wondered how he could entice her to do such a thing when so many sensations and emotions were running through her. Ninety percent of her body felt overheated and there was a throb in her center that seemed to have taken on a life of its own.

“I’m here to teach you everything you need to know,” he said assuredly, as the warmth of his breath came in contact with her ear, sending a sensuous shiver through her.

She breathed in deeply. “What if I don’t do it right?” she whispered in a soft voice.

“You will do it right because there is no right or wrong way. Just continue to grip my shoulders, lean close and go for my mouth the same way I went for yours. Feel me and taste me. Build a craving inside of me that is strictly for you.”

She focused on his lips and her heart began racing in her
chest all over again. The tips of her breasts felt tight and achy and sensations were swirling around in her stomach. Her hands left his shoulders and clenched the front of his shirt instead. And then she leaned forward.

It took everything within Rasheed to just be a participant in the kiss and let her take control, be in control. His lips throbbed beneath the tip of her tongue as she traced his mouth from corner to corner with the lightest of strokes. The same way he had done hers. Johari was a quick study. She was also one very sexy woman. And the dress she was wearing looked stunningly feminine on her. There was just something sensual about white against brown skin.

A shudder rumbled through him. He could actually feel perspiration forming on his brow, and the erection behind the zipper of his pants felt helplessly engorged. There was nothing like being savored by a woman, having her tongue roam over your mouth, tasting you, feeling you, and destroying your ability to think straight. To think at all. When he parted his lips on a groan, she inserted her tongue to taste and feel some more, and when she did so he drew her tighter into his arms at the same time Johari deepened the kiss.

Desire answered the call of their mating lesson and he felt like a primitive animal being overpowered. Taken. He was the one being seduced. She was effortlessly sweeping him into a stream of heated lust and, when she sank her mouth deeper into his, he couldn’t help the fingers that went through her hair to hold her mouth steady while images of what went beyond kissing filled his mind. This was pleasure as gratifying as it could get and he had been the one to show her how it was done.

“Please get ready for landing, Your—Mr. Madaris.”

Rasheed was glad Johari was so focused on what she was
doing that she missed the almost-slipup by his pilot. She slowly pulled her mouth away, but not before taking the tip of her tongue for one final flick.

Oh, Allah.
He breathed in deeply. His student had been extra, extra thorough, eliciting a response from him that he had felt all the way to his toes. A knot formed in his throat when she lifted her eyes to meet his. He was finding it a challenge to maintain control. The lust running through his body was about to kill him.

“I need to go back to my seat now, Monty. How did I do?”

He let out the breath he was holding. “If you do any better I won’t be able to handle it.”

He saw the way her lips tilted in a proud smile. “Thank you.” She eased out of his lap. “Do we practice the kiss some more later?”

The eagerness in her tone touched a sensuous chord within him. Her innocence touched him, as well. It took everything he had to rein in his desires and any emotions attempting to overtake his common sense. He did not let women affect him. He affected them. “Yes, but we’ll also move on to other things, as well,” he finally said. “We have but ten days to cover everything.”

He watched how she moved back toward her seat and appreciated the sway of her hips. That sundress was adorable on her and he was looking forward to taking it off her later.

With Monty sitting beside her in a car driven by Ishaq, Johari smiled as they made their way toward another airport, where a smaller plane would fly them to the island where Monty’s villa was located.

As they rode across the scenic spans of the Costa e Silva Bridge, the largest bridge in the world that connected the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi, she was fascinated by everything she saw. All around was water bordering tall, mag
nificent buildings with mountains looming in the backdrop and all encased under the splendor of a beautiful blue sky.

This was her first time in South America and she thought the country was simply breathtakingly beautiful. She had been captivated from the moment she had stepped off the plane in Rio de Janeiro. Monty didn’t let her tarry too long before he escorted her to the car that had been waiting on the runway for him. Ishaq had taken over as driver and now they were on their way.

She didn’t have to glance over at Monty to know he was watching her. He was studying her intently and had been doing so for the past few minutes. She couldn’t help but wonder why. Was she some type of puzzle he was trying to figure out?

She couldn’t resist the temptation any longer and turned away from the window. For a long moment their eyes locked and no words passed between them, making her as intensely aware of him as he was of her.

And then an unexpected mischievous smile touched his lips as he picked up the car’s remote and pressed a button for the power privacy divider to separate them from Ishaq. Window covers immediately rolled down, as well, shielding them from outside view. They were plunged into semidarkness with only a few accent lights around the mirrored ceiling providing illumination.

“Come closer, Jo.”

“Closer?” she asked softly. In the dimness of the lighting, he appeared solid, masculine and so starkly handsome it almost made her mouth water.

“Yes. It’s time for another lesson.”

Her eyes widened. “There’s time?”

He tilted his head to the side as if giving her his absolute attention. “For you we will make time.”

The words, spoken so matter-of-factly and glistening with sexual tension, had the heat of arousal and were the reason the very air they were breathing seemed to drip in blatant hot sensuality. She had never experienced anything like this before. Living a sheltered life for twenty-four years had certainly made her miss out on a lot of things, especially men like Monty.

She was wasting time and she knew it. He knew it, as well. There was nothing about him that frightened her. Only the way he was making her feel, the emotions he could awaken. The man was so passionate, so sensual, he could easily stoke the flame of desire in any woman. But she also had that power on him. Whenever she came in contact with that certain part of his body, it didn’t matter if they were standing or if she was sitting in his lap, his desire for her was evident.

She would have to say the feelings, the desire, were mutual because she wanted him as much as he seemed to want her. It was the novelty, as she had figured out earlier. It couldn’t be anything else, especially for him since she was definitely not the type of woman he was used to.