Roxelana & Suleyman

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

When Haseki awoke with the coming of the new day, the luxuriance of fur was warm beneath her n***d flesh. She gasped with the tingle of pleasure. Suleyman was sprawled down the divan, tenderly l*****g and sucking on her toes. That mouth.... His nakedness mesmerized her—the flawlessness of his skin; the ripple of muscles in his side as he hovered around her feet. He was quite hairless except for a smattering of darkness that covered his armpits, groin and inner thighs. Long, black locks hung from his head, swaying as he moved back and forth. Still with her toes in his mouth, he glanced up at her and he smiled—biting gently. He ran his tongue up the full length of her leg, nuzzled for a moment in the pleasure of her femininity, then continued up her body until his lips were upon hers. “Good morning, my beautiful tulip,” he breathed within his kiss.

“My lord,” she replied, blushing.

Suleyman smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “Come,” he said, taking her by the hand.

Suleyman pulled her from the bed and out of the sleeping room into another filled with divans and other fine furnishings. The Moor women who had spent the entire night in the room watched them leave. Two black male eunuchs followed them through the sitting room, down a corridor and into the Sultan’s private hamam. Haseki was now used to being n***d in front of others, but still she held herself close to Suleyman and placed her free arm over her breasts.

In the hamam Suleyman motioned for her to sit by him on a tiled bench. He lifted tepid water from the ornate trough with his cupped hands and splashed it over her flesh and his own. He washed her with his bare hands, exploring her body with sensitivity, as if he had never seen, nor touched, a woman before. He sat astride the bench, pressing his knees into the side of her leg. Cupping her breasts, he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.

“Suleyman?” Haseki whispered.

“Yes, my exquisite flower?” His eyes were closed, his cheek pressed against hers as he exulted in the touch of her skin.

“Let me....” Haseki ran her hands across Suleyman’s chest, and down the smooth, taut abdomen. She pushed him backwards until he was lying on the bench. He seemed surprised, but let himself be forced down onto the tile. Haseki lowered herself upon him, pressing her lips against his.

She didn’t go back to the harem that day—or the next, or the next.