Second Touch (Emma's Arabian Nights, #2) Read online

  “Come here,” he tugged her to his side and she spread her damp hair over the pillow.

  She curled up next to him and lightly traced the muscles of his chest with her fingertips, at once keyed up and exhausted. “Did your mom ever make you a quilt?”

  His laughter vibrated through his chest and against her cheek. “Oddly enough, no. My mom made quilts for people who needed them.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My mother was adamant about giving back and helping those who’d fallen on hard times. Back in Saudi Arabia my mother’s family was very active in their local community helping out the poor, especially widows. It’s hard for us to understand here in the States, but over there if a woman doesn’t have a man heading her household it is very difficult for her. Women aren’t even allowed to drive.”

  “Is it a religious thing?”

  “Yes and no. I’d say it’s more cultural than religious.” He sighed and lifted his arm to stroke her shoulder. “I’ve only been to Saudi Arabia a couple times with my mother and while it’s a different world, it is also very beautiful and very patriarchal. That’s part of the reason my grandparents came to the United States. My grandmother is a strong woman and she was getting in trouble with the local authorities for being too domineering. Her first husband died and her father-in-law tried to claim guardianship over her and the business she helped her late husband run. In order to avoid this she married a boy from her tribe that she’d been in love with since they were children, but had been unable to marry because she’d been betrothed. Fortunately, her new husband liked the fact that she was a strong, independent woman so he gave her a lot more freedom than was allowed at that time, which got them in trouble with the local mutaween.”

  “What’s that?”

  “They’re like the religious police in Saudi Arabia. In theory, they make sure people are following Islamic law. Because sharia is so open to interpretation, and because absolute power corrupts absolutely, they are more often a hindrance than a help. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but my grandmother was publicly beaten for breaking one law or another.”

  “For real?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “Why didn’t your grandfather stop them?”

  “If he had interceded, he could have gone to jail and then things would have gotten much, much worse. So in 1968 my grandparents packed up their house, their kids, and sold everything they could, then moved to Michigan where one of my great uncles was already living. There they opened their own grocery store which is still run by my family to this day.”

  “Wow, your grandmother sounds like an amazing woman.”

  “She is, but she’s also a total ball buster.” He laughed, then yawned. “I’d like to take you to meet her, to meet all of my mother’s family, though I will warn you some of my uncles are assholes. They won’t like you because you’re very much an American woman and they believe I should find a nice Saudi girl to marry.”

  “Every family has their share of assholes. Shit, I’m sure I have family members that won’t like you because you have a Middle Eastern background even though you grew up in the same town I did and are about as American as apple pie.”

  He turned to his side and tugged her closer until they were pressed together and she twined her legs around his thickly muscled calves. “Emma, thank you for tonight. Thank you for letting me sleep with you, and thank you for giving me a chance. I was afraid you were never going to see me again.”

  Unable to face the intensity of her feelings, she cuddled closer so her cheek rested against his chest. “I wanted to see you, but I was having a really hard time dealing with trying to balance my work and you.”

  “I know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He tensed for a moment before resuming playing with her hair. “You told me about it and I could see how much it was hurting you. I hated that, hated that something as stupid as money would be holding you back from the life you wanted to lead.”

  The head of his now erect cock brushed against her belly and she couldn’t resist the urge to wiggle against him. “I had to do what I had to do. Eventually I would have been able to get my life back on track. I just didn’t expect it so soon.”

  He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “I’m so happy for you and your family, Emma.”

  The desire that never went away around Ryan heated her blood, sending a surge of slick juice spilling from her pussy. “Me too. Want to celebrate?”

  “What were you thinking?”

  Grabbing his shoulders she managed to roll him over so he was on top of her. “I was thinking orgasms were a good way to celebrate.”

  He made a low, growling sound and slipped his hand between their bodies, stroking through the slick slit of her sex. “Mmm, nice and wet for me.”

  Pleasure coursed through her, making her arch into his touch as she ran her hands all over his magnificent shoulders. “Always.”

  After quickly lining his cock up with her sex, he began to slowly push in, reawakening the burn inside of her vagina from his earlier rough fucking. She winced, then let out a low breath, trying to relax and let him in, enjoying the stretch of his thick cock. He made a little hushing noise and propped himself on one arm while rubbing her clit with his other hand. Desire quickly overcame the discomfort and she twisted beneath him, loving the slow in-and-out glide of his big dick. The way he filled her up made her feel thoroughly taken and connected to him. Even with her past boyfriends she’d never felt this aware of someone before; in many ways it was almost like she was an emotional virgin with Ryan.

  He bent over and took her lips with his, the thrusts of his tongue mimicking the increasing thrusts of his cock until she was moaning beneath him and wrapping her legs around his trim waist, hooking her heels over the tight rise of his ass. He groaned and she realized his butt was still sore. A wicked part of her enjoyed driving her submissive crazy. She rubbed her feet over the welts, not enough to really hurt him but just enough to reawaken the burn.

  Ryan’s response was instant, his body tensing as he began to fuck her in earnest. She couldn’t help but throw her head back and cry out as he took her hard and fast, just the way she liked it. Hell, right now she didn’t care if she had to use a wheelchair to get around in tomorrow, the feeling of Ryan unleashing his strength on her was just too exquisite.

  “Emma, look at me.”

  She arched as he stilled inside of her, the hard length of his cock pulsing against the stretched walls of her sheath. When she looked up at him she shuddered at the pure, raw love in his eyes. Love for her. Love she could return without fear. Reaching up she cupped his face in her hands and whispered, “I love you.”

  Instead of smiling his gaze became more intense, almost fierce, then he began to move again and she hovered on the edge of her orgasm. Everything about him, from his amazing body to his even more amazing soul drew her in until she felt as if they were sinking into each other, that their bodies were so close her heart beat with his. He didn’t look away, refused to release her gaze as he ruthlessly drove her higher, shifting her hips until she was moaning his name. Fisting her hair in his hand, adding the pain that she loved, he took her to a level of arousal she had never experienced, made even stronger by her emotional connection to him.

  She didn’t just come, she died in his arms. With the first contraction, her vision went dark, then exploded with flashes of light as the electrical storm of her release overwhelmed her nerves. She was vaguely aware that she was screaming Ryan’s name, and that he had her hands pinned to the mattress as he hammered into her. But all she really knew was that she must be dying because nothing could feel this good without killing her. As she was beginning to coast down from her spectacular climax, Ryan stiffened, then roared out her name as his cock jerked deep inside of her, bathing her abused pussy with his seed.

  He collapsed next to her and rolled her over while they were still connected, both lying on their sides. In a low, ragged voice he began t
o whisper how much he loved her, how much he wanted to make her life perfect because she was perfect and deserved nothing but happiness. She cuddled close and absorbed his words, drank down his love until for the first time in forever she felt…whole.

  Sometime later in the night Emma stirred from a deep sleep, her mind insisting something was wrong. She sat up and listened, Ryan’s sleeping shape a comforting mass of warmth next to her. It was still night outside, but she could see from the faint illumination from her bedside clock that it was 4:34 a.m. After listening for a moment, she was sure she’d imagined it, then the sound of a door opening in the hall off her bedroom reached her.

  She froze, then shook Ryan and whispered in his ear, “Ryan, wake up, someone’s in my apartment.”

  He barely had time to stir before the door to her bedroom opened and the light was flicked on, blinding her.

  Less than a second later six loud bangs rent the air and she was thrown from the bed by Ryan who cried out in pain. He landed on top of her, wet warmth spilling down over her legs as she screamed as loud and hard as she could. Another shot rang out and she tried to shove Ryan off of her, but he wasn’t moving. Ringing filled her ears and she continued screaming, sure she was going to die.

  The next thing she knew, her neighbor, Julio, appeared with a baseball bat in his hand. He said something but she couldn’t hear him, then she realized that she was still screaming. Ryan pushed off of her with a groan and black dots danced around the edges of her vision as she took in the blood soaking his body and hers. She got hot, really hot, then cold, and her last conscious thought was that Ryan was going to die and she didn’t think she could live without him.

  Chapter 10

  Ryan winced as he sat up in the uncomfortable as hell hospital bed. Emma immediately tried to help him, but he waved her away, keeping his gaze on the female police officer who sat in the chair next to his bed. Detective Hornbeck was in her early forties with a no-nonsense demeanor he liked because, right now, he wanted to find the motherfucker who would dare attack Emma.

  She opened her notepad and let out a sigh. “Ms. Simonov, are you sure you don’t know anyone that might have some type of grudge or vendetta against you?”

  Emma shook her head and his heart broke as his strong Mistress seemed to crumble before his eyes. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a casual grey sweater that was about two sizes too big for her. With her hair pulled back in a ponytail and her face still swollen from the tears she hadn’t stopped shedding, she tugged at his every protective instinct.

  “No, I can’t think of anyone who would want to do this. Are you sure this wasn’t like a robbery gone wrong?”

  “Whoever entered your apartment was looking for you. Nothing was taken and from what you told us about the perp opening doors looking for you, the most logical conclusion would be that he or she came in with the intent to do you harm, though we don’t know that for sure yet.” Clearing her throat, Detective Hornbeck flushed then said, “What about someone from your work? Would one of your clients have reason to harm you?”

  Emma flushed, then shook her head. “No, all my clients are decent guys.”

  “Look, Ms. Simonov, I’m going to be upfront with you. I don’t understand your lifestyle, but I’m not judging you for it. Whatever consenting adults want to do in their free time is their business, but I need to know if any of your clients had maybe a kidnapping or rape fetish that they liked to indulge.”

  Sitting up a little bit straighter Ryan watched the steel come back into Emma’s gaze. “No, none of them had that particular kink. I had one man a long time ago that liked to pretend I was an evil queen holding him hostage, but that was about it.”

  A slight smile curved Detective Hornbeck’s lips before her expression turned serious again. “What about you, Mr. Darwish? Anyone that would want you dead?”

  His shoulder ached from where the bullet had gone clear through but the painkillers they’d given him had helped dull it to just a low level throb. “Not that I can think of offhand.”

  “But you do handle some high security clients as part of your business, correct?”

  “I do.”

  “Can you think of anyone that would benefit from you being harmed? Any hackers that might want revenge on you?”

  He almost laughed, but the serious expression on the detective’s face stopped him. “This isn’t like the movies. Hackers don’t usually go around killing people.”

  Emma slipped her hand into his uninjured one as Detective Hornbeck leaned closer. “Mr. Darwish, I’m pretty sure that whoever it was that broke into Ms. Simonov’s apartment was aiming for you. Every shot was aimed at where you were laying in the bed and they only stopped shooting once you were on top of Ms. Simonov. The bullet casings we found indicate that if the shooter was using a full clip, they still had ammunition to spare. Now what you need to help me figure out is who would want to kill you and why.”

  He stared at the detective and slowly shook his head. “Honestly, I have no idea. Yeah, the company I work for has high profile, high risk clients, but even if they took me out, Justan and a couple of the other guys in our firm would be able to cover my absence. Nothing would happen that would make secure networks suddenly open to being hacked.”

  “Then logic would conclude that it must be personal.” Detective Hornbeck leaned back in her chair and closed her notebook. “Thank you for taking the time to give me a statement, Mr. Darwish, Ms. Simonov. We’ll start going through what we have and see if we can come up with any likely suspects.”

  “But it could just be random, right?” Emma asked with a slight tremble in her voice.

  Detective Hornbeck opened her mouth, then hesitated before she said, “It could, but I don’t think it is. I can’t put my finger on it but something about this seems personal. Do you have somewhere safe you can stay?”

  Emma blinked. “You mean I can’t go back to my apartment?”

  “I wouldn’t recommend it. There is virtually no security and if your neighbor hadn’t heard the gunshots and your screams then scared the perp off… Well, let’s just say I think you should lay low for a bit until we can come up with something solid.”

  Ryan gripped Emma’s hand. “Do you think they’ll try again?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m a bit paranoid about my own personal safety so if I were you I wouldn’t make myself an easy target. Go somewhere safe and make sure you’re not alone.”

  “I can stay at a hotel,” Emma said in that pained whisper he hated. “Would that be safer?”

  “Yes.”

  “No fucking way,” Ryan said and turned to face Emma, trying to hide his wince. “You’re staying with me.”

  Some of the fire came back into her gaze. “The hell I am. You got shot because you were with me.”

  “We don’t know that.”

  “You heard the detective, it’s personal.”

  “If you think I’m leaving you alone with some psycho out there after you, you’ve lost your mind.”

  She tried to jerk her hand away, “And you’ve lost your damned mind if you think I’m going to endanger you.”

  “Emma, I swear if I have to kidnap you to make you safe, I will. My house has a kick ass security system and I can hire bodyguards to watch over us. You have to come home with me.”

  “I don’t have to do anything.”

  “Children,” Detective Hornbeck interrupted with a dry tone in her voice, “settle down. Ms. Simonov, Mr. Darwish has a point. His home is probably safer than yours, and I believe he would do anything he could to protect you. It’s what men that love their women do, but it is your choice to make. Just keep us informed wherever you are, all right?”

  To his shock Emma grabbed the little button for his morphine drip and hit it, sending a burst of the drug into his system that instantly mellowed him out. “I will, thank you.”

  Detective Hornbeck barely hid her smirk as she gave Emma her card, then put another one down on the movable table next to his bed. “
You too, Mr. Darwish. If you do hire a bodyguard please have them contact us as well. Hopefully whoever tried to shoot you is heading for Canada right now, but you never know. I’ll be in touch with you once we get the initial report finished.”

  The detective left them, closing the door after herself and Ryan let out a weary sigh. “Emma, please come stay with me.”

  Her back stiffened and she lifted her chin. “I don’t need you to take care of me.”

  His first impulse was to tell her that she did, and she damned well better get used to it because he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her, but even in his drugged state he knew that would be a bad idea. So instead he decided to work her from a different angle, one that she’d be much more vulnerable to. “But I need you to take care of me.”

  She blinked, then chewed on her lower lip. “What?”

  “I’m going to be kind of out of commission with this injury for a bit. I could use some help around my house.”

  Her pretty, red-rimmed blue eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you hire a nurse?

  Why indeed. He blew out a harsh breath. “Because I’ll lose my fucking mind if you stay at a hotel. I’ll follow you and sit in the parking lot watching you. I’ll probably get really dehydrated and sleep deprived sitting in my car 24/7, but I’ll do it.”

  A smile fought to curve her lips, but she crossed her arms. “You’re insane.”

  “Insane about you.”

  She brushed her hand over his cheek and tears filled her eyes. “What if the reason you were targeted was because you’re with me? What if my staying with you puts you in more danger?”

  “Emma, the only danger I’m going to be in is in danger of getting arrested for stalking you if you try to leave me.”

  She gently rested her head on his uninjured shoulder and trailed her fingers over the hair on his arm. “I’m scared.”

  He automatically went to hold her, but groaned in pain from his injured shoulder. “Don’t be scared, I won’t let anything happen to you.”