Guarding His Princess

CAMERON SAW the trees coming toward him as he lost control of the jet. He tried half a dozen maneuvers, but none of them worked. They were going to crash, and he was going to die. Seconds later, the deafening sound of metal hitting trees as the jet nosedived. He was paralyzed. Unable to move. Unable to get himself free. Flames were rising from the wing, and smoke was engulfing him inside the cockpit. There was nowhere for him to turn. There was no way out.

“NO!” He thrashed around in the bed, but then suddenly, he felt soft hands comforting him, whispering soft words. “It’s going to be all right.”

Was that Amani’s voice? What was she doing in his dream? She wasn’t there when he crashed the jet. Immediately, Cameron’s eyes bolted open. Amani was sitting on his bed, and from the moonlight cascading through the window, she was wearing a nightgown. Her large, puckered… the more he stared, the more pronounced they became. Would they harden beneath his tongue?

He had to stop this way of thinking and forced himself upright. “Amani, what are you doing in here?”

“I was having trouble sleeping, and then I heard you cry out,” Amani responded. “I came in to see if I could help.”

“In the middle of the night?” he asked incongruously. She didn’t respond. Instead, she touched his bare thigh which was partially on display thanks to him tearing up the bed and tossing off the covers. Electricity arced between them at her touch. He glanced into her chocolate brown eyes and saw she felt it too. Instead of moving her hand, Amani kept it right where it was. Her touch scorched him.

“You feel it too,” she whispered. “I know you do.” She never ceased to surprise him with her willingness to speak exactly what was on her mind. “There’s something between us. Why deny it, Cameron?”

“Because it isn’t right,” he spoke quietly even though it was just the two of them in the room.

She smiled. “Well, that’s the first time you’ve not shied away from the chemistry between us.”

He shook his head. “It might exist, but nothing is going to happen.” One of them had to do the right thing. He supposed it was going to have to be him because Amani was impetuous and often leaped before she looked.

“You don’t think so?” she asked, and to his utter surprise, her hand slid downward dangerously close to his manhood.

He glared at Amani, giving her a ‘don’t you dare’ stare, but she didn’t heed it. Instead, she caressed him, slowly as if to get acquainted with him. Cameron sucked in a deep breath and tried to act as if nothing was going on underneath the covers, but he was lying. Her soft sure strokes were causing him to swell.

“Stop it, Amani!” Cameron grasped her hand to fling her away, but before he could, she launched herself forward on the bed, capturing his mouth with her own and pressing a hot, hungry kiss onto his stunned lips.

Cameron stiffened and his muscles tightened, but then the damn minx wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her nubile body against his. He had no choice but to let himself fall into her web. His mouth softened against hers, and he gathered her close, returning her kiss for kiss.

AMANI COULDN’T BELIEVE it was finally happening. After all these weeks of buildup. She was in Cameron’s arms, in his bed, on top of him, and his lips were on hers. And not just his lips. His hands were lacing into her hair and cupping her head so he could hold her exactly where he wanted her and deepen the kiss. The brief kiss they shared previously had been nothing like this.

Cameron was a force of nature and flipped her backward onto the pillows and kissed her again, harder this time. Amani was breathless, and she desperately needed oxygen, but Cameron didn’t give her any room to breathe. Each time his lips touched hers, she wanted it to go on forever. Her whole body was on fire and burning up with need for Cameron and the feelings he evoked.

She pressed her body tight against the hard wall of his chest and felt the warmth of him surround her. She breathed in his clean male scent, and it drove her wild. Cameron’s mouth was no longer gentle, but demanding as he stroked his tongue inside her mouth. Amani moaned as his tongue tangled with hers and explored the innermost caverns of her mouth. She mirrored his actions and let the intimate dance they were doing take over. She didn’t know kissing could be this good, this intense. She reveled in the fact she could make a man like Cameron want her.

And he did want her. She felt the heated evidence of his arousal pressing against her stomach. To her surprise, Amani wanted to touch him, to feel his skin next to hers. Even though she’d never been with a man before, she knew, knew making love with Cameron would live up to her wildest dreams and imagination.

Cameron’s hands began roaming over her body, and Amani felt her nipples swell in the gown she wore and heat pool low between her legs. What was happening to her? She clung to him, desperate for purchase. She’d read books, but surely this was something altogether different. This was carnal and dark and totally wicked, but she wanted it.

His hands slid down her sides, and Amani shuddered when he fit his palms to her breasts. She had never thought about her breasts, other than to think she was too large up top, and not small like the Caucasian women in her finishing school.

Unable to help herself, she moaned. Cameron made her feel beautiful, sexy and desired like she was a woman and not a girl. Then he was pushing one leg between hers, and her hot center was flush against the rock-hard steel of his thigh. When he pressed his open mouth to her neck and began nuzzling and suckling her most sensitive spot, she moaned aloud.

Amani felt more alive, wilder and hotter than she’d ever been in her life. She gave herself over to the moment. She had no idea she was rocking herself against his hard thigh until sensations began to assault her. And when Cameron pushed down her nightgown to reveal one of her engorged nipples, Amani was stunned, even more so when he took the taut peak in the warm cavern of his mouth and he sucked her nipple deep and hard.

Her thoughts crashed and flew apart. She wanted nothing more than to be with him, to be have all of him. Shamelessly, she moved harder and faster against him and when she reached the pinnacle and shattered, Cameron covered her scream with his mouth and once again proved his prowess by angling his head and feasting on her lips.

WHEN AMANI’S shudders had finally calmed, Cameron pulled his mouth from Amani’s, and she let out a groan. He suspected she was disoriented, but no more than he was.

“Don’t stop!” she moaned.

“I have to while I still can,” Cameron said, falling backward against the pillows. His breathing was labored. He was angry at himself for what he allowed to happen here. His erection was painful and he was frustrated, but he’d already taken a risk by how far he’d let things go between them.

“What have you done to me, Amani?” The burst of flame between them had been unexpected, but all-consuming, so much Cameron forgot time and place. He’d wanted her and consequently forgotten that not only was he here to protect her, but she was Khalil’s sister, an innocent, who knew nothing about men. Or at least she hadn’t until he’d just given Amani an orgasm. He was certain it was her first because the astonished look on her face spoke volumes.

“Apparently, I haven’t done enough to you,” she murmured, looking over at him with passion-glazed eyes. “We’re still clothed.”

Cameron took Amani’s rounded chin in his hand and held her gaze. She shivered at his touch and he could see the swirling emotions and longing he felt shining back in her eyes. He could smell the sweet fragrance of her soft skin that he’d touched. Tasted.

“This was a mistake, Amani.” A deep frown etched her features, and she sat upright wrenching her chin from his grasp. “How can you say that after what we just shared?”

“I should never have touched you. You’re Khalil’s sister.”

“But I’m a woman first,” she replied. “A woman that’s attracted to you and vice versa. I felt,” she looked down, unable to meet his eyes, “the way you responded to me. You weren’t indifferent.”

“Any male would have that reaction when kissing a beautiful woman.”

She grinned and realized he’d made a fatal error. “You think I’m beautiful?”

“You know you are, Amani,” Cameron replied, frustrated he’d spoken his real feelings aloud, “and any man will be lucky to have you.”

“Just not you?”

Her question was bold, but should he be surprised? From the moment they’d met, Cameron had quickly realized Amani wasn’t the naïve princess, the media played her out to be. There was a lot more underneath those layers. Layers he would like to explore if they were in different circumstances—but not now. As it was, he’d already compromised her safety. If someone had wanted to strike at her a few moments ago, they would have caught him with his pants down, and possible harm could have come to her. He couldn’t allow it.

“That’s right,” Cameron answered sternly. “You and I,” he pointed between them, “aren’t going to happen. Do you have any idea of the danger you were just in? Anyone could have come upon us, and not only would you have been compromised, but, worse, you could have been attacked.”

She rolled her eyes and quickly rushed to her feet and righted her nightgown to cover the breast he’d just had in his mouth. “Stop being so melodramatic. I have you here, and the royal guard. I’m safe. What I’m not safe from is the way you keep oscillating back and forth as if you don’t want me. But now, I know otherwise. And know this, Cameron.”

“What’s that?”

She kept her gaze trained on him and folded her arms across her chest. “I won’t stop trying to break down the barriers you keep putting between us.”

“Meaning?”

“You and I are inevitable.”