Sleeping with the Sheikh: The Sheikh's Bidding / Delaney's Desert Sheikh / Desert Warrior

Nearing the edge, he pulled her head up and kissed her once more. Then he rolled her over and poised himself to enter her. But before he could sink into her, she said, “No.”

Sam sighed. “Have you suddenly changed your mind?”

“I’ve almost lost my mind. We’re forgetting something. Again. As much as I love Chance, I don’t think it’s a good idea to give him a brother or sister.”

Sam rolled onto his back, laid an arm over his eyes and cursed his stupidity. How could he be so careless a second time? How could he almost disregard something so very important? Because his only thoughts were of Andrea and making love to her.

“I’ll take care of it,” she said in a whisper, and before he realized she had moved, he felt her sheath him. “It’s okay now,” she said quietly.

Sam removed his arm and found her staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to take the next step. He vowed he would not disappoint her.

When Sam pulled Andi back into his arms, she experienced a rush of anticipation. Everything in her life seemed to have come down to this one moment, this reunion of bodies and souls with this one man.

He rolled her to her back and nudged her legs apart with his leg, then entered her with an easy thrust. She had a strong sense of being where she belonged, so close to this man who had lived within her heart for almost a decade.

He moved once more and seated himself deep inside her. A steady moan climbed up her throat and slipped out between her parted lips.

Sam stilled against her. “Have I hurt you?”

“Not in the least.” Not yet. But he would when he left again.

“Good. You feel better than I remember,” he said with a soft kiss on her brow, his voice strained with his effort to speak.

“So do you,” she said, then tilted her hips up to take him completely inside her body. As he set a steady rhythm, she tried to memorize the moments, every incredible sensation, Sam’s face as it showed the tension of a man trying to maintain control. How she could relate to that. Right now the bliss of this union was almost more than she could bear without giving in to tears of elation.

“Come with me,” Sam murmured, then pulled her over so they faced each other, her leg draped over his hip, their eyes connected as well as their bodies.

“I’m with you,” she whispered, and she was. At least for now.

Never in all her imaginings did she ever believe this would happen again. Never did she think that Sam would be making love to her once more, touching her inside and out, drawing another incredible climax from her as he quickened the pace.

She clung to his solid shoulders, held on as if to never let him go. He whispered to her softly in both English and Arabic, heightening the erotic quality of the night and this act. And with one final thrust, he said her name over and over as she relished his climax as well as her own.

The night sounds surrounding them seemed to stop, or maybe it was only Andi’s imagination. But she hadn’t imagined Sam, the power of his body, the gentleness of his touch, the way he had loved her as if she did mean something to him.

She turned onto her back, breaking the intimate connection between them. She needed to regroup, assess what had happened to her resolve to avoid any emotional entanglement.

How could she have been such an idiot? How could she have believed that by letting him back inside her body, she’d push him out of her heart when she had only drawn him further in?

Sam came up on one bent elbow and braced his cheek on his palm as she stared at the night sky. “Have I disappointed you, Andrea?”

She glanced at him and smiled, though she felt like crying. “No. Not at all.” If only he had disappointed her, then she wouldn’t be facing such a predicament.

“Perhaps you are wishing on stars again?”

She sighed. “I don’t do that anymore, Sam.” She had learned long ago that nothing could be gained by such a frivolous activity. She was in charge of her destiny now, at least where Sam was concerned. No matter how wonderful the experience had been, she needed to stay grounded and remember this was only a temporary thing between her and the prince. She couldn’t do that with her head off somewhere in the galaxy.

He drew lazy circles around her breasts, and darned if she wasn’t reacting as if he had yet to touch her. “Do you not have dreams any longer?”

Oh, she had them. She just refused to buy in to any of them that dealt with what could never be. “I want to be the best horse trainer the racing world has ever known.”

“Much like your father?”

“Daddy was good at what he did, but he never aspired to be the best,” Andi replied, more than willing to discuss anything except what had just happened.

“People will know that you are the best,” he said adamantly.

She released a humorless laugh. “If you say so.”

“They will if I have a say in the matter.”

Her gaze zipped to his, fueled by a burst of pride and a spear of anger. “I can do it on my own, Sam. I have to make a name for myself, by myself. It’s the only way I’ll earn it.”

“And you will not accept my help?”

“You’ve already done enough by letting me train your filly.”

“She is yours when I leave, Andrea.”

Great. A consolation prize. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I already have, and I will arrange—at my expense—for her to race when you feel she is ready.”

“If you insist that she stay here, I’d like her to belong to Chance.”

“As you wish.”

Sitting up, she reached for her discarded clothes and began to dress again, before she told him that she loved the horse but she loved him more. Before she did something really crazy like beg him to stay.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I imagine Tess is wondering where we are.”

“I imagine she has already retired to bed, considering the late hour.”

Andi slipped on her panties and shorts then stood. Seeing Sam stretched out on his back still gloriously naked, his dark skin contrasting with the pale-blue blanket, made Andi almost reconsider her departure. But she had to regain her emotional bearings.

Bending down, she retrieved his shorts and tossed them at him. “Put these on, Your Highness. Tess doesn’t take too kindly to naked men in her kitchen.”

His grin lit up the night. “How do we know that she has not had a naked man in her kitchen?”

Andi groaned. “I don’t even want to go there.” She thought about what Tess had told her the day before. “I guess you probably know that she and Riley are finally getting married.”

“Actually, no.”

That surprised Andi. Tess had been an open book since Sam’s reappearance. “Well, they are in a few weeks.” She sighed. “I can’t even imagine Tess being away from the farm.”

“They will not live here?” Sam asked.