Sheikh's Stand In (15 page)

Then Aladdin stopped.

"What!"

Her eyes flew open, landing on his satisfied face.

 "Beg," he growled.

Somehow, she managed to shake her head wildly. Aladdin's only response was to shrug.

"So be it."

He started tonguing her again, making pass after pass over her clit. She knew what he was doing this time, and she tried to find her climax before he stopped.

She would not have given a stranger credit for knowing her signals, but again, right before she tipped over the edge, he backed off.

"Beg," he said again.

"Not on your life!"

Twice more he brought her to the edge of climax and then stopped. By then, she was a writhing mess, clutching the sheets for some kind of stability.

Finally, just when she was on the edge of coming, he pulled back again, and this time, something in her mind broke. Before he could even ask his question, she was wailing.

"Please!" Charlotte cried. "Please, please let me come. Oh god, please, I can't take it anymore. Please!"

Aladdin was silent for a moment. For a horrible second, she thought that it wouldn't be enough. She thought that he would simply refuse again, starting the cycle of almost unbearable pleasure over again.

Then, with a husky laugh, he bent his head to her straining flesh, and he didn't stop until she had exploded into a million pieces. She felt as if she were unraveling, spinning faster and faster until she had been cast into the sky. She knew she was shouting, pulling hard on his hair, but she couldn't make herself care.

Finally, her pleasure started to ebb, leaving her limp on the bed.

"Now you," she said, speaking in a voice that now sounded deep and hoarse.

"Now me what?" he asked, and she didn't have the patience to figure out if he was joking or not.

"Condoms in the bedside table. Come on. I don't want to be alone in feeling like this."

He chuckled a little, passing a hand over her sweat-soaked skin.

"This would be enough for me, precious star, if that was what you needed."

He raised an eyebrow at the unopened box of condoms, but he pulled one out, sheathing himself with the latex. She had wondered briefly what a man like Aladdin might want, whether he wanted her standing up or bent over.

Instead, he crawled on top of her, resting his weight on his forearms as he pressed himself against her. She was slippery with her own pleasure, and Aladdin groaned as he slid against her.

"So beautiful, and so perfect," he murmured.

Before she could answer, he slid all the way inside her, burying himself inside her to the hilt. There was a brief moment of discomfort as her body adjusted to his size and girth, but then it was over, leaving nothing but pleasure in its wake.

"Feels so amazing," he growled. "So wonderful...”

She couldn't even respond. All she could do was groan as he started to move, pressing deep inside her with every thrust. Despite his desperation and the obvious need of his body, he refused to hurry. Suddenly, Charlotte realized that he wanted to make every moment with her count. He wanted to make sure that he was drawing every ounce of enjoyment from her, making the most of every second he had to spend with her.

When he finally reached his own climax, she reached up to wrap her arms around him. Even after everything that they had done, it was an intimate act, one that made her heart beat faster. As he shuddered above her, Charlotte clung to him, feeling as close to him as she ever had to anyone. She could find it in her to be saddened that it was over, that this was strictly a limited engagement.

After a long moment, he pulled away, padding to the small bathroom to dispose of the condom. When he was done, he only came as far as the doorway, leaning against the frame to watch her.

“What's the matter?” she asked, still slumberous from the pleasure they had given each other.

He smiled slightly, tilting his head to watch her as she remained sprawled on the bed.

“I confess that I don't know what the rules are now,” he admitted. “Do I pack up my clothes and leave without a word? Am I breaking the rules right now by talking to you?”

“You worry about rules far too much,” she said, waving a dismissive hand. “You can leave if you want to, but I'd be happy to have you back in bed with me.”

The grin he flashed her was as bright as the sun as he crawled back into the bed with her. She rolled over on her side to allow him to spoon her. In a matter of moments, they were snuggled together as sweetly as if they had done this their entire lives.

“Don't get the wrong idea,” she cautioned him. “This is definitely a no-strings-attached, one-night stand. I'm just not rude enough to kick you out after everything that we have gone through. You made me feel...well, let's just say that it's been a long time since I've felt that.”

Or ever,
her mind reminded her. She wasn't sure that she had ever had a partner like Aladdin before—one who had been so intent on her pleasure that his own came far after.

“I'm glad that I could please you,” he said gravely. “And do not worry, I will respect your rules. No attachments, no strings.”

“No more talking, either,” she murmured happily, snuggling closer to him. “You wore me right out. It's time for me to sleep.”

She drifted off into slumber with his soft laugh in her ears, and when she dreamed, she dreamed of his bold green eyes.

CHAPTER TWO

The next morning, she woke up alone with a vague idea that it didn't feel right to do so. Blinking the sleep away from her eyes, Charlotte thought about her previous night, blushing a little at the pleasure that she had received from Aladdin and what they had done together.

A quick inspection of her apartment told her that she was completely alone. He had apparently taken the rules seriously. For a moment, she allowed herself to be a little disappointed. She was the one who had set the rules, and the rules were in place for a very specific reason. However, there had been something about his smile, his laugh, and of course the pleasure he had given her that told her that she might not have minded having him around for a second or even third or fourth round.

It's probably for the best. After all, the last thing that either of us really needs is getting attached.

She was just starting to believe that when she saw a pink paper bag and a tall paper cup on her kitchen counter. She had not left any food there, but she instantly recognized the label. Mona's was a small bakery right around the corner, and it had some of the best donuts and coffee she had ever tasted. They were accordingly expensive, but whenever she had a moment, she made sure to pick up something tasty from there.

Almost hesitantly, she went to open the bag and found two lemon-curd donuts, along with a blueberry bagel and a small container of cream cheese. When she took an experimental sip of the coffee, she found that it was their best Guatemalan blend, still hot and delicious. Charlotte looked around for a note, but to her simultaneous relief and disappointment, she found that there wasn't one.

“Well, score one for the successful one-night stand theory,” she said out loud, settling at her tiny table to eat.

It occurred to her that it was late enough to call Viviana. When she checked the clock, she realized Viviana's flight should have landed hours ago, and that meant that it was likely a great time for a sisterly chat. It took her sister a while to come pick up the phone, but just when Charlotte was ready to give up, she answered.

“How are you doing out there?” she asked.

“About ready to strangle someone,” Viviana said drily. “There's been so much going on that I don't think I've slept at all. I got here, the apartment that I'm meant to be staying in is a mess, the office that I'm meant to be using seems to be above a diner that hasn't changed its grease traps since the fifties, and the cab driver got lost...so not great. What's going on with you?”

Charlotte couldn't help but chuckle at her younger sister's pique. Of the two of them, Viviana had always been the one who was concerned with appearances, the one who wanted to make sure that everything was just right. She had, in fact, been one of Charlotte's clients for years at Brooks, but in the last little while, she seemed more interested in striking out on her own.

“Well, since I talked with you last, there's been a lot going on, actually.”

Briefly, she outlined what she had decided about one-night stands and how well the last one had gone. She skipped over the more intimate details, but she did end with the fact that Aladdin had sneaked out and left baked goods and coffee in his wake. After she told her story, she stopped, sure that Viviana would have her own take on it. She wasn't disappointed.

“Are you serious?” demanded Viviana. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was, and how badly that could have gone for you?”

“I told him that he couldn't do anything I didn't like,” Charlotte quipped, but she could practically imagine her little sister pacing back and forth in her apartment, her knuckles going white from gripping phone too hard.

“Yes, because that works so well on murderers and thieves,” Viviana said darkly. “Because that's what it takes to stop violent crimes in their tracks, simply asking people if they could please not do that thing. Seriously, Charlotte, you don't know anything about this guy!”

“I know that he's good in bed,” Charlotte said with a laugh. “I know that he's nice enough to run to get me donuts and coffee before he makes himself scarce. I mean, that's pretty good if you're talking about a boyfriend, let alone a guy who was here last night and gone today. Honestly, if we put him on a list of the guys that I've been with, he's close to the top.”

“That's a lot more depressing than you think it is,” Viviana snorted. “But what if he's made a copy of your key? You have some nice things at your apartment. At some point, he might just decide that he can let himself in and help himself. Is that something you want?”

“And he could have murdered me in my sleep, shot up in my bathroom, or trashed the place. He didn't do anything at all, except be a perfect gentleman.”

“Somehow I don't really think that perfect gentlemen follow weird girls home at night for one evening of fun....”

“Well, maybe this one did. Calm down, Viviana! It went well! Can't you just be happy for me?”

Across the country, she heard her younger sister sigh.

“All right, you called for approval, not for a lecture. Sis, I'm happy that had a good time. I'm happy that you’re ridiculous gamble paid off, and that instead of getting stabbed and dumped in a New Jersey landfill, you managed to get some donuts and coffee instead.”

Charlotte sighed.

“That's the best you can do, huh, Viviana?”

“It actually is. Next time, make sure that you get his name, okay? I would just like to know who I have to kill if something happens to you.”

“All right, I got it.”

Viviana breathed deeply. Charlotte could imagine her shaking her head and giving in.

“I'm glad he was good for you. You've had too little of that lately.”

“Yeah, I'm not really thinking of it that way. I had a good time, I put a time limit on it, and now I'm back out and about doing exactly what I like with one better experience under my belt. As far as I'm concerned, it's all good from here.”

“Just get his name next time, okay?”

Charlotte hung up after chatting for a little longer, taking another sip of her coffee. In some ways, her sister wasn't wrong. If she had been short on anything for the last few years, it was fun. Now that she had had some, maybe it would work like sympathetic magic and more fun would find its way to her door.

She was getting ready to throw away her coffee cup when she realized that there was some writing on it. There were no words, she realized, taking a closer look. Instead, there was a phone number.

“Huh, very nice,” she mused. “You're leaving the ball in my court. I...don't hate this.”

She fiddled with the cup for a moment. On one hand, the golden rule of a one-night stand was simple—no contact beyond one night. However, there was nothing that prevented her from saying thank you.

That was fine.

That was even polite, wasn't it?

She sat at her table—phone in one hand, coffee cup in the other—and considered this latest turn of events. 

***

Manhattan was a small place, at the end of the day. It took the cab less than fifteen minutes to get from Charlotte's little apartment to the elegant brownstone where Aladdin ben-Arie was staying while he was in New York.

It had taken a little getting used to. At home in Abu Dhabi, the palace was set miles from the city, something that had always irked him. His little brother Mikal, shy and inclined to isolate himself, hadn't minded, but for the far more social Aladdin, that distance was torture. He had always spent a great deal of time in the city, eventually choosing to stay in one of the royal properties downtown for days on end. His parents had been furious when he would stay in the city rather than come home for some event or other.

Of course, that meant that they were less than thrilled when their firstborn son and heir had decided to go all the way to the United States to get away from one of those special occasions.

When he got back to the brownstone, he let himself in, enjoying the quiet elegance of the place. The palace was an ostentatious luxury, and the penthouse in Abu Dhabi was expensive and modern, but there was something about the brownstone in Manhattan that suited him well. It was a property that his grandfather had purchased years ago. He was the first member of his family to set foot in it in twenty years. He supposed that made it his in a way that the other places weren't.

He set his own coffee down on the counter and went to check his messages. He had been avoiding them for almost forty-eight hours, and as he expected, there were five from his father, nearly a dozen from his mother, and unexpectedly, one from his brother.

Settling himself on the couch, Aladdin pulled up his brother's number.

“So how much do you like the idea of being disinherited?” was the first thing he heard.