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Rehaj.
Instinctively, she took a step back, so that the foliage surrounding the front of her balcony hid her from view as she spied on him. God above, he was gorgeous. Marcus had been handsome too, but nothing like this man. Rehaj wore his masculinity with ease, all rangy, lithe sinew and chiseled strength. Water glistened off his smooth skin and Ani bit her lip, her tongue tingling with the urge to lick those droplets off him one by one.
Her breath quickened and she scolded herself. This was silly. She’d seen half-naked men before. Hell, she and Marcus slept together for nearly ten years. To get this affected by a man she’d just met yesterday was stupid and wrong.
She was still grieving over the loss of Marcus. She shouldn’t get involved again. It would only lead to more heartache and strife. Wouldn’t it?
Staring out now at Rehaj in all his glory, Ani began to have her doubts.
Truthfully, she didn’t know a thing about him. Not really. And maybe that was part of the draw. They were two strangers, stranded together on a tropical island for two weeks. He could be anyone she imagined him to be and the same with her. They’d been paired up together to for most of the activities, at least for today. She could get to know him better, if she wanted.
Man, oh man. Did she want right now.
Down on the beach, Rehaj had finished drying off and had wrapped the white towel around his waist. His hair was sticking up in adorable disarray around his head and he was walking toward the stairs leading up to his balcony beside hers. She needed to move fast or he’d catch her hiding in the bushes like some weird peeping Tom.
To cover her nervousness, she set about rolling up her yoga mat then picked up her small hand mirror to check the light coat of makeup she’d applied before coming out here. Ani never went anywhere
without makeup. Another lesson learned from watching her mother. All part of that confidence shield she was trying so hard to build.
Rehaj stopped halfway up to his villa and waved to her. “Good morning, partner.”
“Morning,” she called, as casually as she could and did her best not to stare at all that fine male flesh on display. “You’re up early today.”
“I usually am,” he said, his smile a bit tighter than she’d expected. There were shadows under his eyes as well and she couldn’t help wondering if he’d not slept well last night. She’d tossed and turned herself for a while, before falling into an uneasy sleep. Ani had put hers down to being in a new place, but with Rehaj she sensed there was more behind his lack of slumber. Before she could ask, he stepped up onto his balcony. “I’ll see you at breakfast then.”
He gave her a quick head-to-toe appraisal that caused her insides to warm before he disappeared inside his villa and closed the door. Ani stood there a long moment, breathing deep to steady her racing pulse. One thing was certain. These next two weeks were going to be interesting.
3
Rehaj rushed through his shower then pulled on a pair of black board shorts and a black Nike T-shirt before slipping his feet into a pair of black flip flops. It felt strange not dressing in his regular suit and tie as he’d done every day since graduating college with his doctorate degree in Political Science, but then he was on vacation. He should dress like someone on holiday, or at least what he thought someone on holiday would wear. He honestly had no idea, since he never took time off.
He’d thought a swim would help him clear his head, as it usually did back at the palace, but no such luck. All through the night he’d been tormented by images of the accident that had killed his poor, precious Ayesha and those agonizing final minutes as her life had drained away. As long as he lived he’d never forget the words she’d spoken to him—about her hopes and fears, her dreams and her plans—as the light in her eyes had slowly dimmed. There’d been nothing he could do to save her, nothing he could do to help her, trapped as he was in the wreckage himself.
And even though he’d spent close to two months in the hospital, recovering from his injuries and going through rehab, he knew that he would carry the burden of his fault for the accident, for Ayesha’s death, for the rest of his days.
Of course, the press having a field day with the accident and shredding his reputation and relationship with Ayesha afterward hadn’t helped matters either. By the time it was all over, his convictions had been firmly cemented in place. Relationships belonged behind closed doors, out of the public eye. The minute anyone outside of him and his lover got wind of it, it was all destroyed. One more reason to keep to himself, to guard his privacy above all else.
He made himself a pot of coffee in the villa’s small kitchenette, then dug out the burner phone he’d managed to smuggle in. Perhaps if he was lucky he could fire off a text to his contacts within the palace to check on the status of the bills Feraz’s advisors were voting on this week. Last night, he’d considered letting it all go, but in the morning light he knew that was impossible. He wasn’t a let-it-go kind of guy.
So he walked around his villa with a mug of coffee in one hand and the burner phone in the other, searching for any kind of a signal at all. The most he got was two measly bars in the corner nearest the closet in the bedroom. He set his mug on the nightstand and fired off a quick message:
Please advise on status of bills
Then he hit Send. Not exactly eloquent, but then he wasn’t even sure the message would make it to Djeva anyway. After he was done, he shut off the phone and hid it back in the side zip pocket of his duffle before strolling back out onto his balcony. A part of him had been hoping that Ani would still be there, but alas she was gone.
Now there was a walking conundrum if ever he’d seen one. She tried so hard to appear put-together with her clothes and makeup and appearance, then she went into hysterics over missing a plane—after she’d already been on the island for two hours! He chuckled then sipped more coffee. If that had been him, he’d have been back down at those docks five minutes after disembarking. Then again, he had considered running too, so…
And there’d been something about her last night, as they’d sat quietly on their respective balconies in the darkness. Something that made him feel oddly reflective and open, something about her that urged him to tell her all his secrets. Which was beyond insane.
He kept his secrets to himself these days.
Not to mention he’d just met her. Why would he tell her anything? Why would he trust her?
Because you need to trust someone.
As he stared out at the sparkling turquoise waters of the Arabian Sea, Rehaj couldn’t help but smile, a bit of his usual stoic melancholy lifting. He had the whole day ahead to discover more about Ani and what made her who she was. A whole day to spend watching her and those lovely long, tanned legs of hers. A whole day to simply enjoy the beauty of the island and the weather and just be himself. Whoever that might be.
He’d not paid much attention to his wants and desires in life—outside the bedroom—since his graduation from college. There hadn’t been time, what with him and his brothers busy cleaning up their father’s mess then trying to rebuild their beloved nation into a first-rate, first-class international destination for both business and leisure travelers. Most days Rehaj barely got four hours of sleep, let alone time to sit around and think about what he really wanted out of life. He was too busy living it. But now? Well, for the next fourteen days, he had nothing but time to think. That could be a good thing or a bad thing in his case.
