Page 12 of Her Seductive Enemy

The tiniest whimper escaped her, and the wild, panicky look in her eyes told him that even without him saying a word, she had sensed the direction of his thoughts –

He saw her wet her lips.

FUCK.

Anisah jerked in shock when the sheikh suddenly released her as if he had been burned. Her arms falling to her sides, she stared at him in wary silence, wondering if he had only let her go because he had something more nefarious planned.

Tarif’s lips curved in a humorless smile. “There is no need to look at me like that, my sweet. We both know I would not have had to use force on you.” He saw Anisah’s mouth open in an automatic retort, but he didn’t let her utter even a single word. “A warning, anisdi—-” The sheikh’s tone was soft and pleasant, ominously so. “If you deny this—-” He watched her gaze suddenly dart towards the door. “—-or make any attempt to leave this room until I’m done speaking with you, then I will be forced to prove you wrong, and this time—-” His smile turned grim. “I doubt I’ll have the strength to keep myself from fucking you the second time.”

Anisah whitened. The sheikh was known for a lot of things, but making idle threats was not one of them.

“Do we have an understanding, anisdi?”

She gave him a jerky nod.

“Ahsanti.” Perfect. The sheikh walked towards the set of observer’s chairs facing the glass wall. “If you would take a seat, my sweet?”

Resisting the urge to stomp towards him like a child, Anisah forced herself to keep a sedate pace as she walked to the chair she had originally occupied. As she sat down, the sheikh bent down as well, and Anisah couldn’t help stiffening and thinking the worst—-

But when the sheikh straightened, it was only to hand her the hardcover notebook she had accidentally dropped earlier. “I believe this is yours?”

Anisah took every care not to have their fingers touch as she accepted the notebook, muttering in a flat voice, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” The sheikh’s tone was polite, but Anisah only allowed herself to relax slightly in her seat when he moved away to take the other chair, which was one good foot away from her. She wished it could have been a mile instead, but alas, beggars with no blue blood could never be choosers in this world.

“We were talking about harpies, weren’t we?”

He wanted her to stay behind so they could talk about...harpies? Confusion mixed in with wariness as she muttered, “You called me one, yes.”

“And do you know why?”

Was that some kind of trick question? Even as Anisah’s confusion grew alongside her suspicion, pride caused her to lift her chin as she returned evenly, “Your choice of term, perhaps, for women capable of turning you down?”

But the sheikh only grinned. “An excellent guess, my sweet, but not quite accurate.” Leaning back against his chair, he murmured, “In some versions of Greek mythology, harpies have also been described as guardians. Granted, they were protecting the Underworld, but even so – for a person to be considered a guardian is to acknowledge that person’s strength—-”

“I’m sorry,” Anisah couldn’t help interrupting the sheikh with a frown, “but I don’t see what this has to do with me?”

“Seeing you protect the queen in battle and act as her guardian was an incredible sight, Tory.”

The words tore a stunned gasp out of Anisah’s throat. How did he know that?

“And later on, learning of how you had also been Kyria’s champion when she was being bullied in school?”

Anisah shook her head in disbelief. “How do you know these things?”

“Your courage was – is – a fucking turn-on, my sweet.”

Oh! The words were completely unexpected, but this only made them more poisonously potent, and she barely managed to bite back a moan even as a treacherous sliver of wetness turned her folds slick.

Stars above...not again!

“It’s strange as hell, but I get hard every time I hear of your noble, brave deeds—-”

Another gasp was torn out of her. Oh dear heavens, these crude things he was saying!

“I d-didn’t do any of it for you—-”

“Which makes it an even bigger turn on,” the sheikh returned silkily.

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