Possessed by Desire by Elisabeth Naughton Read Free Book Online

up to find Ashur standing in her doorway, his dark hair hanging to his shoulders, his sculpted body taut with tension, his mouth set in a grim line.
    One look at his cold, distrustful eyes and she knew. Somehow he’d figured out what she was and he was not happy.
    She swallowed the knot in her throat and lowered the magazine she’d idly picked up while waiting for him. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”
    His eyes locked on hers, not warm and inviting as they’d been before, but icy. “This is not a game, noor .”
    Noor . The Arabic word for light. Except he hadn’t said it in an endearing way. No, there’d been very clear contempt in his voice. She’d been right. He knew exactly what she was, and he was pissed. Tossing the magazine on the coffee table, she pushed to her feet. “No one said it was.”
    “What do you want from me? My powers?”
    She should have expected he’d assume that. But it still stung. “I couldn’t take them even if I wanted. And I’m no longer celestial. At least not in the literal way. I’m fallen, or hadn’t you heard?”
    “You lie.”
    She blew out a humorless laugh and glanced around the barren hut. “I wish I was, but unfortunately, I’m not. I’m as mortal as they come. At least until my punishment is over.”
    “You were banished? Why?”
    It wasn’t a question but a demand, and she considered holding back, then figured, what the hell? He was djinn. Seduction was still the best way to convince him to take her to his realm, even if he did know her lineage. But in order to get him to do that, first he had to trust her. At least marginally.
    “Because I posed too many questions to my superiors about humans and life in general. So I was banished here, alone, with a few…conditions, to experience it for myself.”
    “Conditions?”
    “The loss of my powers, for one.”
    “And the rest?”
    She bit her lip. Debated. Finally decided a partial truth would do her better than an out-and-out lie. “Free will. Just enough to make me…curious.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Then why summon a djinni? I’m sure there are plenty of humans who could give you the thrill you’re looking for.”
    She shrugged, ran her hand along the back of the chair cushion to her left. “Why not? According to my superiors, I’ve already sinned. Why shouldn’t I experience the full range of seduction with a being that was created just for that purpose? Humans don’t excite me.”
    His eyes darkened with both heat and danger, and a shiver of apprehension washed through her. She was walking a fine line here. While he was a slave and technically bound to do her will since she wore the opal, it was clear he had very contemptuous feelings for celestial beings. And she’d just gone and revealed that not only did she lack powers but that she was now mortal. For the first time, she considered the possibility that this could end badly for her.
    “And you’re saying I do excite you?”
    Her stomach tightened when she remembered his mouth at her breasts, his tongue laving her nipples, that mind-numbing orgasm. And this time, she didn’t need to lie. “Yes. You do.”
    He was silent so long, she didn’t know what to say. But the dark way stared at her and the steady rise and fall of his chest ignited more than just arousal. It sent a shiver of anticipation through her whole body.
    “Take off the opal, noor .”
    “What?” Confusion replaced excitement. That was not what she’d expected him to say.
    “Take it off, and I’ll consider giving you what you want.”
    This was a change in tactics. “You want me to release you? I already told you I don’t have any powers. The opal doesn’t change that.”
    “Then it won’t matter whether you wear it or not. Take it off.”
    She touched the opal at her throat. He was smarter than she’d thought. Humans who wore the necklace couldn’t remove it until their wish had been fulfilled, but he knew enough about those from her realm to know that