AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shrugged. “I developed an allergy to makeup.”
His lips twitched as his anger dissolved into wry humor. “Another allergy?”
“Not a real one. I just realized that regardless of whether makeup makes me look worse or better, I was focusing too much on what others thought of me. So I decided to focus on myself. Be myself.”
That pride he showered on her flooded his gaze. “Good for you. You’re perfect just the way you are.”
Kanza stared at him. In any romantic movie, as the hero professed those words, he would have suddenly seen his dorky best friend in a new light, would have realized she was beautiful in his eyes and that he wanted her for more than just a friend.
Before her heart imploded with futility, she slid down on the couch, pretending she thought it a good moment for one of those silent rituals they exercised together.
Inside her, there was only cacophony.
Aram considered her perfect.
Just not for him.
Eight
Aram sank further into tranquility and relaxation beside Kanza, savoring the companionable silence they excelled at together, just as they did at exhilarating repartee.
Just by being here, she’d turned this place, which he’d felt ambivalent toward until she’d entered it and decided she liked it, into a home. He’d decided to have one at last only because she’d said she would always stay in New York and make it hers.
He sighed, cherishing the knowledge that expanded inside him with each passing hour.
She was really her name. A treasure.
And to think that no one, even Shaheen and Johara, realized how much of one she really was.
He guessed she was too different, too unexpected, too unbelievable for others to be able to fathom, let alone to handle.
She was perfect to him.
It was hard to believe that only six weeks ago he hadn’t had her in his life. It felt as if his existence had become a life only once she’d entered it.
And it seemed like a lifetime ago when Shaheen had
suggested her as a convenient bride, convinced she’d consider his assets and agree to the arrangement. If Shaheen only knew her, he would have known that she’d sign a contract of enslavement before she would a marriage of convenience. If he’d known how unique, how exceptional she was, he wouldn’t have even thought of such an unworthy fate for her.
She’d achieved her success in pursuit of self-realization and accomplishment, not status and wealth—things she cared nothing about and would certainly never wish to attain through a man. She’d even made it clear she didn’t consider marriage a viable option for herself. But among the many misconceptions about her had been his own worry that his initial fascination would fade, and she’d turn out to be just another opportunistic woman who’d use any means necessary to reel in a husband.
But the opposite had happened. His fascination, his admiration, his pleasure at being with her intensified by the minute. For the first time, he found himself attracted to the whole woman, his attraction not rooted in sexuality or sustained by it. He had to use Shaheen’s word to describe what they were. Compatible. They were matched on every level—personally, professionally, mentally and emotionally. Her every quality and skill meshed with and complemented his own. She was his equal, and his superior in many areas.
She was just perfect.
Just yesterday, Shaheen had asked him for an update on whether he’d changed his mind about Kanza now that he’d gotten to know her.
He’d said only that he had, leaving it at that.
What he’d really meant was that he had changed his mind about everything.
The more he was with Kanza, the more everything he’d believed of himself—of his limits, inclinations, priorities and everything he’d felt before her—changed beyond all recognition.
She made him work hard for her respect and esteem, for the pleasure and privilege of his presence in her life, for her gracing his with hers. She gave him what no one had ever given him before, not even Shaheen or Johara. She reveled in being with him as much as he did with her. She got him on every level. She accepted him, challenged him, and when she felt there were things about him that needed fixing—and there were many—she just reached inside him with the magic wand of her candor and caring and put it right.
She’d turned his barren existence into a life of fulfillment, every day bringing with it deeper meanings, invigorating discoveries and uplifting experiences.
The only reason he’d fleetingly considered Shaheen’s offer had been for the possibility of filling his emptiness with a new purpose in life and the proximity of his family. Now he found little reason to change his status quo. For what could possibly be better than this?
