Free Sheikh's Revenge by Jessica Brooke, Ella Brooke

soft and moist tongue lapping at her palm until he slurped up the date. “Aww, thanks for the kiss, little fella.”
    “You’ll say that to him but not to me? Should I be offended?” he asked, this time kissing her neck and suckling hickies into her flesh. Addison blushed to think of the love bites that would be visible on her skin, marking her as the sheikh’s. “I should be thanked for my kisses as well.”
    She turned and kissed him back, her tongue playing with his. “Then thank you for the perfect day and for such an adorable finish to the date so far. How did you get into animals? You said you had a falcon, right?”
    He nodded and crooked his arm so that she could walk with him. “Maybe it would be more respectable to be a veterinarian than a breeder, but what I want to do more than anything else is to be free, to feel just that wilderness. Maybe I’m someone who’d fall off the grid and become a mountain man or a desert hermit if I didn’t have any other obligations, but I’d need a good steed with me, and in the desert, a camel’s a terrific companion.”
    “I wouldn’t know,” she said. “I haven’t even ridden a horse before, let alone a camel.”
    “Well, I’d like to fix that last part at least. For horses, of course we have Arabians back at the palace. We’ll have to set you up with that one day as well,” he admitted. Then he stopped in front of a camel held by a man in long white robes. The camel had a makeshift saddle, bumpy under a woven blue blanket. “Would you like a ride, my lady?”
    Zahir punctuated his question by kissing the back of her hand. The cur.
    She nodded as he helped her onto the camel first. Addison sat back on the seat and watched as Zahir effortlessly jumped in front of her. That was a relief. If she’d been responsible for trying to steer the animal, then they’d wind up in a ditch somewhere; God knew she had no idea how to do it. To be fair, she was sure that just kicking at the camel’s side a bit and begging with a “pretty please” wouldn’t help her.
    Besides, this was better.
    Like this, she was able to press her body against his back, to feel the heat and heft of him, and revel in his exotic scent. “I’m game for anything, my sheikh.”
    Except telling you the full truth, about everything that we’ve actually done together. I just can never tell you that I’m your kitten .
    She pushed those thoughts away—the worry that he’d somehow find out too much about her and run away, or that his pretty words and promises would mean nothing once they started work again on Tuesday. Right now, she had him, and she could cling tightly to the muscles of his body as they both rode off into the glimmering sunset.
    It was enough for now.
    It would have to be.
    ***
    Her heart was still pounding when they got back to their bedroom. The bed was a four-poster monstrosity with a comforter of woven silk and golden thread. The camel ride hadn’t been fast or difficult. It hadn’t even been dangerous. There was no racing into the sunset, just a gentle ride where, okay, she’d been convinced she’d still fall off even if they were going a grand total of five miles an hour. Overall, she was glad that he’d come up with the idea. There was a lot to be said for being so near to him, to having a valid reason to cling to his body. If she’d sat in front, having his hardness so near to the cleft of her rear, bumping up against her with every step, then Addison knew she’d have been unable to have rational thoughts. Since she had been positioned behind him, riding with him hadn’t left her hot and bothered, desperate to feel all of him deeply inside of her.
    Now, even though they were back and their contact had been reduced to his arm wrapped around her shoulders as they stood inside the room, her heart was working overtime to pound out of her chest. She needed him, and Addison needed him to know that.
    “Are you alright, Addy?” he asked, frowning at her. “Was the