amazing pressure inside. Her frustrating position kept her from touching all the places of him that she wanted to. All she could do was wrap her leg tighter around his hips and feel the intensity of the sensation they made together. But she didn’t care about her own pleasure, or anything else. She only wanted Javad to be inside her, to touch her for as long as possible. Because when this ended, so would the best thing in her life.
"Arya," he gasped as he pulled out of her. "Don't hold back."
For an instant, she froze. Was he displeased with her?
"Do not stifle yourself," he said. "Give me your voice." And he plunged deep.
She opened lips she had kept shut tight and let herself cry out, a wordless howl of desire and pleasure. In her mind, that cry meant only one thing. I love you. With that passionate sound, she let herself go, and her body shattered. She dissolved in a firework shower of intense sparks, each one made of more pleasure than she had ever felt before tonight.
He shuddered and arched, every muscle tensing, and followed her in release before collapsing onto his back.
Moments later, his chest still heaving with exertion, he slipped his arm around her and dragged her to him.
"Arya," he said, as if assuring himself of who he had just slept with. He drew her hair from her nape and kissed her from behind. "Arya."
She closed her eyes and pretended that she never had to leave his bed. That every time he said her name in the future, he would say it with such praise and passion. Imagined that she hadn't just made the best decision of her life, and the worst mistake.
Chapter Six
Arya slipped through the side door to her father's house. News of her late night would be in her father's ear before noon, she suspected. She hadn't seen any of the servants, but that didn't mean anything. Right now, that was the least of her worries. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she jumped when a voice came out of the darkened courtyard, too loud over the quiet burbling of the fountain in the center of the garden.
"So," said a confident feminine voice, targeted to hit its mark.
Arya clutched at the bodice of her rumpled dress, trying to calm a heart rate that had jacked up to the point of pain. She gulped in a few noisy breaths and tried to zero in on where the voice had come from. It was one of her sisters, but which one? And what would she want in return for keeping this secret?
Except... Who cared? Her life was over anyway. She could see Javad's path forward clearly. Once, she might have worried about him using her and abandoning her. But the way he'd forced her to open up to him, to talk about her wanting him... He'd encouraged a dangerous emotional connection, at least connecting her to him. He would take that seriously. Him abandoning her? That would never happen. It might be better for her if he did.
In the meantime, she could deal with her sister. There, in the shadows. Daliya, the older sister who had always tormented her. Actually, she was curled up in the spot Arya thought of as her own. A soft light threw a glow on her face. Was that a Kindle? Daliya read? Books, not just Cosmo?
She had to laugh. She'd watched both her sisters sneak in exactly this way while she worked on her iPad. The role reversal was pure comedy.
"So," she answered, when she'd recovered.
Daliya looked at her, dark eyes flashing in amusement. "I guess the dress worked. Was he all you'd hoped?"
Arya swallowed. It was too bad. She wanted to talk to someone so badly, but Daliya was not safe. It hit her hard, then. She had no one in this place she could talk to about him. The few friends in her life were back in Ottawa. At least with the time difference, she could call someone right now without waking them up. Still, she wanted someone here to put arms around her, to console her for the wreck she'd made.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She lifted her chin and headed toward her room, and someone in another time zone.
"I'm not