The laughter died as she lifted her hands, cupping his face so that he had to look her in the eye. “Did you miss the sex?” she asked, holding her breath, waiting for his answer. “Or did you miss me?” As she looked up at him, she knew that she had to be honest with him. If not for him and their future, but for herself. “Because I missed you, Jurid. I missed talking with you, laughing with you, and being with you.”
Jurid froze at her words, looking down at her. He was fully aware of her soft breasts just inches from his chest, but he couldn’t seem to pull his gaze way from her eyes. She’d been so honest, he could do nothing less. “I missed you, love. I missed that stubborn chin of yours and the way you dare me to agree with you so that we’ll start another argument.” He lowered his body so that his hips were cradled against hers. “I missed your laughter and the way your eyes light up when you hear something funny.” He kissed her lips gently, just a soft, brief caress. “I missed the way you snuggle up to me every morning, making me hard and aching to roll over and make love to you, but I don’t, because you feel so good snuggled against me.”
With each admission, she’d released a button on his dress shirt, pushing it out of the way so that she could feel him, pressing her hand against his heart. It pounded solid and steady, but when she released the catch on his belt buckle, that heart rate picked up dramatically. Several minutes later, when he entered her, his heart raced as fast as her own.
He made love to her slowly, inching up their passion by increments. But this moment was different. It felt different and Jurid knew that she was different. There was a softness about her that hadn’t been there before.
The week he’d spent with her in London, she’d held something back. He hadn’t known it then, but as he thrust into her today, amazed once again by her tight, hot sheath, that restraint was gone and he felt it with every thrust.
When she cried out with her pleasure, he could feel it in her cries and released his own control. His climax this time was more mind-blowing than he’d thought possible!
Afterwards, he held her in his arms, her head cradled against his shoulder and he realized how much he’d needed her to come to him like this. To know that she gave herself to him fully and not because of some ridiculous betrothal contract that neither of them had known about when it was signed.
This was the Tamara he wanted. This was the Tamara that he loved.
“I love you,” she whispered, her fingers threading through the hair on his chest.
At her words, he shifted so that he was over her again. “Say it again,” he ordered, his voice urgent and forceful.
She smiled sadly up at him, her hand moving along his shoulder to his neck. “I love you.”
He lowered his head to kiss her swollen lips, stunned by how her words made him feel. “I love you too, Tamara. I can’t believe that it happened, but I love you.”
There was surprise in her eyes for a long moment after that declaration, but then that surprise slowly morphed into happiness. She smiled up at him, rubbing her inner thigh against his hip. “So I guess we should…” she stopped, her eyes widening. “I have something for you!” She pushed against his shoulders so he’d let her up. “Where is my coat?”
He stood up and grabbed his slacks as he walked out of his bedroom, coming back moments later with her coat. “Is this what you need?” he asked, shooting her an odd look.
“Yes!” she gasped, then rifled through the pockets and pulled out Mike’s phone. “Here. Give this to your guards and have them analyze it. My friend, Mike, recorded something. I didn’t listen to it. I don’t have his password either, so they’re going to have to break into it.”
“A recording?”
“Yes. That’s all I know. Except that he took a very roundabout way of getting the phone to me, so I know that it’s important.”
His eyes narrowed and he stood painfully still, looking down at her. “Is this why you came back to me?”
She looked up at him, noticed the tension in his shoulders and understood instantly. Getting up on her knees, she placed her hands on his chest and locked eyes with him. “It’s the excuse I used to come back to you. Not the reason.” She willed him to understand what she was saying. “When I told you that I love you, I meant it, Jurid.”
He nodded, then grabbed a shirt. “Hold that thought,” and he walked out of the room, coming back a few minutes later. “Now, where were we?” he asked and pulled her into his arms.
Tamara laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You were going to tell me that you love me again.”
Chapter 16
Jurid walked into his office, feeling like whistling. So he did. Tamara was here. She was safe and they were discussing a wedding date. Life was pretty damn good!
“Hamid?” he asked, noticing that his cousin was standing on the other side of his desk. The side of his desk where no one, absolutely no one, was ever allowed to be. Even worse, he was holding a piece of paper, and jumped when he noticed Jurid. “What’s going on?”
Hamid had been with him for over ten years, and he’d never rifled through his desk before. At least, not that Jurid knew. Now seeing the guilty look on his cousin’s face, Jurid was wondering if his trust all these years had been misplaced.
“You…” He looked around and stepped back. “If you’d just listened to me!” he hissed, and pulled a small pistol from underneath his shirt. “Damn you! You wouldn’t listen to me! You only listened to that bitch!”
Jurid glanced at the gun, but focused on Hamid. The eyes were a better indicator of menace, even though the gun would do more damage. “What didn’t I hear?” he asked, moving so that his back was to the windows, pulling the potential for danger away from the doorway. If Hamid didn’t have good aim, he might hurt someone else. At least this way, a stray bullet would only break the glass.
“The resorts! You wouldn’t listen to me about the resorts! They could bring in billions in taxes!”
Jurid shrugged. “That small fishing village? The people in that region already have jobs. A resort would only destroy those jobs, pollute the waters, and rape the land.”
“What about the others? What about the people who still need jobs and security?”
Jurid eyed his cousin carefully and something about the conversation struck him as odd. He remembered a report about a land sale in that area recently. It had been out in the middle of nowhere, which is why it had struck him as odd. The land hadn’t been inside of the village, but outside of the city limits where there was only fields of weeds and rocks. “Hamid, did you invest in the land around that area? Are you losing your money because I didn’t approve the resorts?”
“Yes!” he snapped. “I bought up all that damn land! Every piece I could get my hands on!” he waved the gun carelessly. “I even had plans drawn up to show investors what could be done with the land! I went out and solicited their capital! I was the one who put all of this together! But you! You had to go and ruin it by being noble! By listening to that stupid woman who doesn’t know anything about how to run a country! She just wanted to protect a few people instead of raising revenue for the treasury!”