Walking over to the kitchen table, Hannah grumbled, "Let's eat. Not a word Miks," as she dropped into the chair and crossed her arms.
Damien and Mikayla did their best to hold in a laugh as they sat on the opposite side. They could not help but watch the exchange between Hannah and Tariq with fascination. The chemistry between the pair was undeniable, even though it was obvious that they were trying to hide it.
Hannah would have left the penthouse right there and then, but she knew that Mikayla would not have allowed it. Especially as tomorrow was a Bank Holiday and she had already promised to spend the night in order to go over some stuff concerning the wedding.
Taking a deep breath, Hannah tried to calm her nerves. She was always in control of her emotions and would not allow herself to be rattled. However, as she felt Tariq sit next to her, she could not help but stiffen slightly. Straightening her back, she did her best to ignore the heat radiating from his body as they all began to eat.
"This tastes amazing Mikayla! Damien wasn't kidding when he said that you were a great cook," Tariq complimented and then said, "I am honoured that you went through the trouble to prepare one of my favourite Qatari dishes."
Smiling, she replied, "It was no trouble at all, Damien and Hannah helped as well."
"Really? No kidding!" Tariq responded.
Raising her left eyebrow slightly, Hannah asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Damien choked slightly as he tried to stifle another laugh. Mikayla opened her eyes wide as she looked at Hannah, not entirely surprised by her rudeness, but astounded nonetheless.
Clearing his throat, Tariq took a sip of water, "I meant no offense Hannah."
Her blue eyes narrowed slightly, hinting at her disbelief. She held her tongue, not wanting Mikayla's eyes to fall out of her head, as she knew that she was being overly uncouth on purpose. As everyone resumed eating, Tariq reached across the table in order to get himself another helping.
Taking the opportunity, he leaned into Hannah a bit and whispered, "Nice to know that you're feisty during the day as well."
Without letting her face give away anything, Hannah discreetly used her free hand to pinch the side of his upper arm as she softly hissed, "You're sexier when you talk less."
He grunted in pain softly, causing Damien and Mikayla to look over at them with questioning faces. Tariq could not help but grin as he kept eating while idly chatting with the others. After dessert was served, they all remained at the table where the conversation continued to flow.
"How do you two know each other? Didn't you just get in today?" Damien asked.
A nervous chuckle escaped Tariq as he replied, "Yea... about that, I might have come in on Friday."
"Friday? And I'm now hearing about this? What have you been up to?" Damien's eyes lit up mischievously.
Mikayla gave Hannah a teasing look knowing exactly what Tariq had been up to. Hannah's face implored her to keep quiet, before she chugged another piece of Luqaimat into her mouth.
"Well as you know, I was thinking it would easier for me to be closer for a few weeks. To aid with some of the more important parts of the wedding preparations. It would be much more convenient than having to fly back and forth. So, I took my father up on his offer to reside at the London office for a bit to help with some of the ongoing projects. They needed me to come in on Friday for a meeting, so I figured landing two days early wasn't a problem. I remember you said you wouldn't return until Saturday yourself so I didn't bother to check in." he said.
Damien nodded as he sat up and leaned forward, his elbows on the table as his chin rested in his hands, "Ok, but that doesn't explain how you know Miss Cupid here?"
Hannah interrupted and said, "I don't see how that matters D, fact is we know each other. No need for introductions, moving on now! We have a wedding to plan, enough gossip."
She stood and took her dirty dishes to the sink, a chuckling Mikayla following her. The women busied themselves as the men helped to clear the table. Standing by the island, Damien caught Tariq staring at Hannah. He shook his head and gave him a knowing look.
"No way!" Damien mouthed.
Tariq's eyes closed in slight embarrassment. He was unable to stop the smile that spread across his face as his mind went back to Friday night. He reopened his eyes to gaze at Hannah once more before he looked back at Damien.
Using his hands, Tariq pulled on an imaginary bow and arrow then placed his hands on his chest. His open palms were directly over his heart as he playfully rocked back and forth. Damien laughed out loud causing Mikayla and Hannah to look back at them.
"What are you two up to?" Mikayla asked.
"Nothing!" the men answered in unison.
"Uh huh," Hannah grumbled, "this wedding planning is gonna be fun. They're like a pack of toddlers."
"Let us men finish the dishes love," Damien came over and kissed Mikayla's cheek softly.
"We'll meet you guys in the living room after," she said as she took Hannah's hand in hers.
With a slight frown Hannah dropped herself down on the couch.
Mikayla sat next to her and whispered, "You're just grumpy because he was, as you would say, 'all up in your vagina' and you can't avoid him like you would a normal conquest."
"Shut it!" she muttered.
e asked, "Soooo, am I to assume that his penis is nice?"
"Miks!" Hannah exclaimed with a laugh as she hit her best friend with a cushion.
————— ▲ —————
It was around 1:30am, everyone had gone to bed about an hour earlier. As much as Hannah did not want to admit it, the time spent in the living room after dinner had been entertaining.
They talked about the upcoming wedding, going over some ideas of what was left to get done. In the end, Mikayla had brought out a deck of cards and they played, the women versus the men. Naturally, the women won.
Hannah had been tossing and turning for the last half hour, unable to sleep. She silently wondered if her restlessness had to do with knowing that Tariq was sleeping in another room just down the hall. Of course, spending the night had seemed like a good idea before. However, since realising that Tariq was indeed the mystery man that she had slept with only two nights ago, she wanted nothing more than to escape being around him.
It was not that she was a coward, but he made her feel agitated. In that, since she had not had a one-night stand with a stranger in so long, his presence was a reminder of how careless she had been that night.
"Blast him!" she muttered.
With a heavy sigh, Hannah got up and stretched a bit, before running her hands through her untied hair. The light of the moon caressing her naked body as she stood by the large bay window. Her eyes slowly took in the lights of the city, a small smile on her face. She slipped on her pink silk robe and decided to head down to the kitchen to get a drink.
She enjoyed the coolness of the marble against her bare feet as she silently walked down to the first floor. Opening the fridge, she took out a bottle of sparkling water. As she closed the fridge and turned around, she almost dropped the bottle when she noticed Tariq standing by one of the counters.
"Fuck! Don't sneak up on people like that!" Hannah hissed.
A soft chuckle was heard as Tariq stepped fully into the moonlight, his eyes travelling over her body, lingering on her painted toes before settling on her face. He took another drink of water as he stepped closer to her.
"Technically I was here first," he replied, as he rested the bottle on the kitchen island.
Hannah frowned slightly as she watched him approach her. He was bareback and she could not help but admire his physique. The dark hair on his chest led a tantalising trail down his torso that disappeared into the waistband of his dark pyjama pants. Her eyes lingered on the enticing V cut of his abdomen. A slight blush appeared on her cheeks as she realised that she was caught staring, the sound of Tariq's voice bringing her out of her thoughts.
"You couldn't sleep either huh," he stated rather than asked, stopping mere inches in front of her.
Cracking open the bottle of water, Hannah took a long drink as an excuse to not reply. He was standing so close to her that she could easily smell his bodywash. The acquainted scent of him causing the memory of them to flash before her eyes some more. Feeling the familiar ache of arousal at her core, she involuntarily squeezed her thighs together.
Noticing her body language Tariq said, his voice low and deep, "I can help you with that."
"Really now?" she challenged while closing the bottle and slamming it down on the counter a bit harder than intended.
He nodded, "You seem a bit tense," his voice teasing as he backed her up against the kitchen island, his hands coming to rest on either side of her.
"You know, I never expected you to be this arrogant. You looked like you had manners, but I suppose shame on me. I mean what should I have really expected from an entitled heir to an empire, you oil tycoons are all the same," Hannah said as she looked up at him.
"Oh Hannah," Tariq breathed heavily, his forehead coming to rest against hers. "There's so much that you don't know about me. Why don't we change that?"
She had to do her best not to let herself smile; Tariq's distinctive responses to her mouthy quips ignited something within her. Typically, men could never really come back with a witty enough response for her liking. Not Tariq though. So far, he was proving to be a man that could handle whatever quirky witticisms she could dish out. Nothing turned her on more than mental stimulation.
"How about we don't?" Hannah responded.
"Why not?" he murmured, his nose nuzzling hers while he brought their bodies closer together, "And for the record my dear, I'm am far from entitled, I work hard and I fuck even harder."
Hannah's hands slowly moving up his arms to rest on his shoulders to push his face away from hers a bit so that she could look into his eyes. "There's one thing that you need to know about me Tariq."
As he felt her hands resting on his bare shoulders, the touch of her fingers on his bare skin caused slight goose bumps to dust across his flesh. His breathing suddenly changed and his pupils dilated as his body became more stimulated.
"Yea? What's that?" he asked.
She whispered, "I don't fuck the same penis more than once."
Tariq visibly stiffened, his hands moving to grip her wrists, "What do you mean by that?"
"I know that English isn't your first language, but I'm pretty sure I was clear in what I meant," she replied.
The left side of his jaw ticked as he pushed himself against her even more. He made sure that the hard length of his erection pressed into her stomach. Tariq could not help but silently wonder just how many men she had been with. Not that he was judging her for being open in her sexuality.
The problem he faced was that he was very attracted to Hannah, in spite of the circumstances surrounding how they met. His family, more so his grandmother Aziza, would not take too kindly to him bringing home what she would not deem as a 'proper' woman.
Jida Aziza was very old school and being the only child, Tariq had a lot of responsibility placed on him to carry on some of the family traditions. Especially since his own father had failed to do so when he married. He shook his head slightly, he had to be out of his mind to be even thinking about introducing her to his family already. Tariq barely knew Hannah, but he could not help the thoughts that swirled around his head.
The only information he had came from Damien and Mikayla. From their descriptions, he knew that she was an amazing friend and that she was a person that did as she pleased and had no filter for her mouth.
He had learned a lot through interacting with her these last few hours and even found himself liking her audaciousness. It was obvious that she was a very sexual person. And while other men may have been intimidated or even put off by it, he could not help but feel attracted to her.
Tariq could not help the emotions that threatened to take over him. Call it lust at first sight, but the moment their eyes locked in the club, he could admit that he had been smitten. He did not know how or why he felt drawn to her; he just knew that he had to make her his.
Realising that he had not responded to her, he refocused himself before asking, "Why don't you, as you stated, 'fuck the same penis more than once'?"
Hannah was a bit shocked by his question. She had expected his reaction to be the same as the men before him. Angry, their egos not being able to handle the rejection. She could not ignore the heat of his member pressing into her, her body involuntarily pushing up against him.
"Because repeat performances lead to relationships. Be it a situationship, friends with benefits, etc. Emotions eventually get involved and Hannah does not do emotions," she replied truthfully.
Tariq watched her face intently, taking in every facial movement as she spoke. It was obvious that someone in her past had wounded her, he could sense it. His fingers remained firmly wrapped around her wrists, needing to keep touching her. He knew that his next question might be out of place, but he always followed his instincts so he boldly enquired.
"Who hurt you, Hannah?" he asked.