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As he finished drying her, she stretched languidly, her gaze remaining on his face as he laid the cloth and towel aside before turning back to allow his eyes to rove over her body.
"Where did you go today?" he asked again.
Marty almost smiled. She didn't dare tell him where she had been, but she wouldn't lie to him, either.
"I had things to do, Khalid. " She shrugged before forcing herself from the bed. She tried to change the subject. "I guess I have to venture downstairs again to find my clothes?"
Also getting up, he buttoned his jeans before going to a tall wardrobe and pulling a robe from inside it.
Holding the thin silk robe in both hands, he moved to her and indicated that she should allow him to help her into it.
As she pushed her arms through the long sleeves, she turned and allowed him to tie it gently.
"I'll get your clothing later, or Abdul will bring them up. " He eyed her skeptically. "You're avoiding my questions, Marty. Which means you were doing something you feel you can't tell me. As you're on vacation, I can only assume it isn't job-related. "
"So therefore you have a right to know what it is?" she said, grudgingly. "It doesn't work that way, Khalid. Just because we're sleeping together doesn't mean you own me. "
Following Shayne Connor wasn't dangerous, unless Khalid found out. She knew Shayne was searching for information on Ayid and Aman, and it was information she was fairly certain they weren't going to share with her.
She had no intention of telling Khalid about what she was doing, simply because she knew he would warn Shayne, tipping him off to the fact that she was indeed shadowing him whenever possible.
"It means I have a right to know when you're endangering yourself. " No one had said he wasn't amazingly intelligent. "The very fact that you refuse to discuss your whereabouts with me tells me I would likely not approve. "
"And your approval should affect what I'm doing? Since when?" She bristled at his sheer arrogance, not to mention the dominance he thought he had a right to.
"Since you decided seducing me was a good idea. " He watched her, his expression stony now.
"One has nothing to do with the other," she stated, keeping her voice calm as she spoke against his stubbornness. "I'm sleeping with you; I'm not married to you. "
"Sleeping with me comes with a certain commitment. That commitment has an underlying responsibility, Marty. Don't pretend you're unaware of the rules of a relationship. "
"We're in a relationship?" She crossed her arms over her breasts and cocked her hip as irritation surged through her. "We've barely been together a week, Khalid. That doesn't exactly make it a relationship in my book. And that's besides the fact that you wait until I'm asleep then leave our bed until nearly daylight. You don't tell me what you're doing. Why should I tell you what I'm doing?"
Khalid would only get away with what she allowed him to get away with, she reminded herself. As far as she was concerned, there was no relationship until he acted more like a lover and less like a man scratching an itch and hiding secrets from her as he did so.
"I have work to do. " He spoke through gritted teeth.
It amazed her how riled he was. Khalid never got worked up over anything. Even his lovers swore he was the most patient, lovable man they had ever met. He was considered the ultimate third. Intimacy during sex was his middle name, and petting and cuddling were his trademark.
She had the intimacy now. She had the petting and cuddling as she slipped into sleep. But still, she didn't have the secrets he was hiding from her.
"You had work to do. " She nodded. "Well today, I had some work to do as well. Just because I'm on vacation doesn't mean there aren't still responsibilities to take care of. And until you fulfill your half of the relationship role, we don't have one. "
Suspicion narrowed his eyes.
"You're pushing," he warned her, his voice deeper. "Don't pretend there isn't more between us than whatever pleasure you find in my arms. "
Her head tilted to the side in curiosity. "What would that be? Perhaps you need to explain this to me, Khalid. You are, after all, my first lover, and maybe the rules aren't really clear to me. "
His lips tightened.
"What responsibilities am I overlooking?" she continued. "Sleeping in your bed?" She waved her hand to the mussed bed. "You don't sleep there the full night, so why should I bother? Intimacy, perhaps? I haven't had much experience with it; maybe you should show me what it is, so I get it right. "
As a hint, that was like a baseball bat against the back of his head. He didn't even flinch, though. Strike. She wondered how many of those she had so far.
She watched as his gaze flickered, his thoughts running through possibilities. He was dying to question her, but she could see the hesitancy as well. If he questioned her, and he was wrong, then the suspicions it aroused in her could work against him.
"After the attack you only barely survived, I would think you would be more careful. " He peered down his nose at her regally.
