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“You’re not offended.”
“Why should I be?”
“Because the opinion of a mere hotel maid doesn’t matter, does it?”
“Of course your viewpoint is important.” More important than he wanted to admit.
“You sound like a politician.”
“I am a politician.” Though not one that could be voted out of office.
Diplomacy was nevertheless very important in his life. He wasn’t being diplomatic with her, however. He meant his words. For reasons he could not identify, her opinion mattered.
“You’re very sexy for a politician.” She sounded surprised by that fact.
Or perhaps it was her own admission of it.
Unable to bank the hunger any longer, he leaned forward. “I am glad you think so.”
“You’re going to kiss me,” she whispered as his mouth was centimeters from hers.
He didn’t bother to give a verbal reply, but pressed his mouth to hers. At first, she acted like she didn’t know what to do, but then her lips softened and she let them mold to his.
And he understood her initial reticence. She’d said she didn’t do one-night stands; naturally, she would have reservations about what was about to happen between them.
With great reluctance, he pulled his lips from hers. “We cannot have more than one night,” he felt compelled to point out one last time.
He was still a man of honor, no matter how inconvenient.
*
Liyah had to process Sayed’s words and what they meant before she could reply. “I know.”
He’d made their short-term incompatibility perfectly clear. And she didn’t care. She’d spent her entire life listening to her mother preach against easy familiarity with men.
Liyah had not dated in high school and only rarely in college, but she’d never allowed anything beyond simple kisses. She’d maintained her virtue on behalf of Hena Amari, to prove something that was forever denied her.
Her daughter’s worthiness to be recognized by the Amari family.
She would never know that acceptance, but she was worthy to carry the Amari name. More worthy than those who would turn their back on Hena because her love for her child was too great to let Liyah go.
Liyah had remained chaste to prove to them all, but most especially Hena, that her mother had raised her better than any of them could have. Proving something to a woman who was irrevocably gone from Liyah’s life, or people who simply did not matter, seemed beyond ridiculous.
Even to her alcohol-addled brain.
She had an entire life of being alone to look forward to. For this night, she would experience intimacy she’d always denied herself and might never know again.
No matter how melodramatic she told herself the sentiment was, Liyah had the distinct feeling no other man after this one would ever suffice.
Was love at first sight real, or was this just lust?
Liyah did not know, but the feelings she had for this arrogant sheikh went beyond anything she’d ever experienced.
She’d always thought her mother had been doing some kind of penance in never dating or seeking out another relationship, but maybe it was even simpler. Maybe Hena Amari had never stopped loving Gene Chatsfield.
And he hadn’t even remembered what she looked like, much less her name.
Pushing those disturbing thoughts away, Liyah focused entirely on the man before her, the one whose kiss had touched her more deeply than she thought possible.
