putting the final touch of polish on a marble figure, he stroked the side of my neck, my arms, my hips. He ran the tips of his fingers in the fine grooves defining my ribs before tracing a circle under my breasts. My nipples sprang out, hard and responsive, demanding attention. I wanted him to take me in his arms and bite those two flaming buds until they hurt.
But he didn’t. Everything he did he did with great tenderness. Unlike the beachcomber who must have thought it terribly amusing to piss over me, and the other man who could think of nothing but thrashing me with a cane then taking me violently over the side of the dinghy, the man in white behaved as if he had come across a delicacy to enjoy and savour, something rare and precious; a unicorn, I thought, a fairy queen, Wendy for Peter Pan in this timeless NeverLand.
He moved me to one side of the dune, and stretched the sarong over the sand. I watched as he unwound his turban and was surprised how long it was, how intricately coiled. He folded the material and placed it at one end of the sarong. He removed his shirt, then his leggings, which he placed on top of the turban, making a pillow. As he turned to me, the pendant around his neck caught my attention. I studied the gold spider on its golden web and in his expression was the desire for me to understand its significance.
Just as he had read the contours of my body, I did the same, not because he demanded that I do so, but because I wanted to. I ran my palms over his unblemished skin. He was beautiful like a carving with a broad chest, narrow hips, a small round bottom and a perfectly straight penis that bobbed between us. I imagined the sheikh was used to being admired as well as being obeyed, that unlike his companions, he would never have to take a woman against her will.
I held his penis in my hand, drawing the loose flesh gently up and down, up and down. As I looked back into his eyes I could feel rather than hear his sharp intake of breath. The pale light sketched shadows over his prominent cheek bones, his strong, faintly hooked nose, his sensuous lips that I kissed and, as I did so, he seemed startled as if the kiss burned like fire, as if kissing was a mystery to him. He moved back momentarily, then pressed forward, his kiss raw and unformed, a boy’s first kiss. I didn’t pull away. I slid my palm between our lips, then cupped his cheeks, holding his head still. Now I kissed him, slowly, patiently, sucking his bottom lip, running my tongue over his teeth, pressing into his cheek.
‘Slowly. Softly,’ I whispered.
Did he understand?
Not my words. Our bodies were finding a common language. As I kissed the sheikh he kissed me back, finding new positions, new rhythms, new pleasures. The kiss is the greatest of gifts, uniquely human. A kiss before midnight. A kiss before dying. The Judas kiss. The kiss of the devil. A big wet smacker beneath the mistletoe. More can be said with a kiss than a book full of words. We kiss to say I love you. We kiss the rings of the self-important. The feet of conquerors. The rich dark earth when we reach the promised land. We kiss babies’ cheeks to soak up their innocence. We kiss the foreheads of loved ones as they begin a journey. We kiss beautiful strangers in far away places because on hot July nights with the music of the sea and the stars above your head your lips are incomplete until they are joined in a kiss.
As we kissed, his penis swelled against my tummy, urgent, throbbing, a little animal with a will of its own. Breathless, our lips parted. I ran my tongue over his chin, down his chest and, dropping to my knees, I kissed the head of his penis. I slid the creature into my mouth. He sighed. He pushed into me, deep and hard, much too fast, and again I stopped. I pulled at his legs and he lay back on the sarong like a reclining god in an Oriental temple.
He propped up his head with his hands and watched as I knelt between his legs, made myself comfortable, and