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Thinking of my woman, I followed the directions to the picnic area where they’d rented the pavilion on the southern banks of the island. Due to the rip currents between here and a small islet a short distance away, there was absolutely no swimming. I hoped everyone followed that rule and I wouldn’t have to be the bad guy—or the rescuer—this afternoon.
After parking, I headed toward Sariah, who stood on the sidewalk, talking on her phone.
“Habibi,” I murmured, putting my arm around her waist and kissing her temple. She jumped away, flailing her arms.
“Hi, baby? Is that what you said? Buddy, you have—”
I backed away with my hands raised in front of me. Fuck, this was my woman’s twin. “You’re not Sariah.”
“Uh, no. And what’s going on with you and my sister? Huh?”
“Tarek!” Sariah ran over and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me from the side. “Hi,” she breathed.
“Hello, love.” I brushed my lips over hers, my whole soul settling with her beside me again. I hadn’t even realized the unrest that had simmered inside me since leaving her bed.
“Marcia, this is my…”
“Boyfriend,” I supplied since she was unsure of the status to share. And it would soon be fiancé then husband…not to rush things. “I apologize. From the side, you look exactly like Sariah.”
I could see the differences now, though. Her eyes were a slightly different color, though that could be due to the makeup she wore. Though tasteful, she applied it with a heavier hand than Sariah. And her hair… If she had the same glorious curls as my woman, she’d committed the travesty of straightening them. She was also slightly thinner than my gorgeous girl.
Now looking closer, it shamed me that I’d even been confused for a second. Perhaps guessing my thoughts, Sariah pulled my lips back to hers and kissed me lightly.
“Don’t worry about it. Even our mother was confused for a second when she first saw me.”
Marcia huffed and planted her hands on her hips. “Sis…how fair is this? I’ve lived here all my life and can’t find a decent guy. You’ve been here fifteen minutes and find this Greek god.”
“He’s not Greek,” Sariah laughed. I attributed the heat filling my face to the temperatures that had climbed high since this morning. I also noticed my woman only disputed my heritage.
I kissed her temple before brushing my lips over her ear. “You’re the goddess,habibi.”
My chest tightened as her blush tinged her cheeks.
“Maybe, your guy just hasn’t gotten to Sizzle Beach yet,” she offered to her sister.
“Maybe…” Marcia didn’t look convinced. “Or maybe, I’ll just have to resign myself to being a spinster librarian and an awesome aunt to the gorgeous babies you guys will make.”
“Marcia!” Sariah exclaimed, embarrassed.
“She’s not wrong,” I murmured into her hair. I couldn’t get enough of touching her, but held myself back while we were in public and near the curious eyes of her kin. “If I have my way, we will have beautiful babies we’ll adore with everything in us.”
Our children would never experience what she had.
She just stared up at me, starry eyed. “I thought you were going back home at the end of summer.”
“We need to talk about that. Do you think I could leave you?”
“Oh my God, you guys are so cute. I’m going to go see if Felix has spare insulin.”
“He’s diabetic,” Sariah told me as Marcia walked away. “Family history I never would have known if they hadn’t found me. Come on. You can meet everyone.”
“I kind ofdoknow Felix,” I admitted. “He was dating one of the other lifeguards. A real messy break up.”
“See…you already know more about him than I do.”
Our hands laced together, and she wrapped the other around my forearm, leaning into me as we walked toward her family. The giant throng of people rivaled my tribe that my brother was sheik over back home. I hadn’t broken that news to Sariah, though her brother knew some of my background, so I probably needed to talk to her more about my family—sooner rather than later.
“Hey, Sheik!” Felix yelled in greeting almost as soon as I had the thought.
