whispered from behind that her moment had come. She didn’t need to be told twice and, expelling a long breath, let herself go.
The cataclysmic climax which ripped through her like a tornado was as brutal as it was liberating. She screamed for even more as the sensation burned and intensified. They obliged as, with a series of guttural moans, both men ejaculated inside her.
When she left the flat an hour later, once again the epitome of the respectable consultant’s wife, she was briefly ashamed of the things they’d persuaded her to do afterward—very briefly. It wasn’t in Claire’s nature to regret any of her sexual liaisons, especially not this one. To be dominated by two such obviously alpha males was a fantasy come true. Her body ached and burned, her muscles spasmed, and her knees were unsteady. It was a testament to the depths she’d plummeted at the hands of two virtual strangers. They had humiliated her, and she’d loved every minute of it.
She’d got so carried away that it didn’t occur to her to wonder why Paul seemed vaguely familiar to her. Even if it had, she would only have put it down to seeing him hanging round the sales office on the building site. He was unrecognizable from the man in overalls and shades who’d been supposedly working on the court repairs that morning.
Sheba and Leah drifted out of school in a crowd of chattering girls occupied with mobile phone conversations, sending text messages, eyeing up the boys, and discarding items of superfluous uniforms.
Leah shook her head. “I don’t think I can. You know what my dad’s like about me staying out late on school nights. Besides, I’d die if he insisted on coming to pick me up.”
“We’re only going to hang out on the beach. No biggie. But if you’re too young to be trusted out alone, it don’t matter to me.” Sheba shrugged. “I just thought it might be a laugh, that’s all.”
“It’s not that, Sheba. You know I want to come.”
“Then pretend you’re having an early night or something and then sneak out. Or don’t you dare?”
“Of course I dare.” Leah lifted her chin defiantly. “I’ll be there!”
But Leah’s bold response didn’t even register with Sheba. Instead she was looking at a man leaning against the fence outside their school, watching the kids. He was quite fit, but old. At least forty. He didn’t look like a pervert. Not that Sheba had any clear idea what one was supposed to look like, but she thought they were required to wear old macs with questionable stains down them and have greasy hair and shifty eyes.
She lost interest in the guy and turned back to Leah, ready to entertain herself by goading her a little more. But before she’d even opened her mouth, something made her look again. The man appeared to be smiling directly at her. The smile made his eyes crinkle in the corners in a manner that stirred something in the recesses of her brain. His hair was long, curling over the collar of his shirt, his eyes an unusual shade of brown. His body was deeply tanned, as though he spent a lot of time working outside. There was something about him that made her continue to stare. She couldn’t put her finger on quite what it was. She thought perhaps it was to do with her dad.
Sheba’s heart lurched when she thought about the father she idolized but hadn’t seen for more than six years. He lived on the mainland, and for reasons she consistently refused to explain, her mother had made him promise not to come near her or Malik. It was so unfair. She was old enough now to be told what the problem was between them. What had he done to upset her mother so badly? If she knew what was going on, she’d be able to make up her own mind about whether she wanted to see him.
“Sheba?”
Sheba blinked. She’d never forgotten the distinctive tone of his voice. She’d been hearing it in her dreams since the day they’d left the only place she’d ever thought of as home. That fateful day when
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