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My lips part on a soft whoosh of air. “What did you say?” Surely I’ve misheard. He’s a Sheikh, with far too much to do than play tour guide to me.
“I will take you.”
“Take me where?”
He considers that. “You said you wanted to see the caves in the Al-hasina mountains?”
I nod, floored that he remembers such a small detail from a throwaway conversation about my love of history.
“Then let’s do it together.”
I’m torn. From when I was a little girl, I’ve heard stories about these ancient caves, my hunger to see them weaved through my being. But with him? “You must be too busy for this.”
“Must I be?”
My heart skips a beat. “Zahir…”
“Amy?”
Another beat, and another. What if my heart stops beating permanently?
I shake my head. “This isn’t what I intended.”
“You just said you want to see them?”
I shake my head in frustration. “That’s not what I mean. I do want to see the mountains, but –,” My voice trails off into nothingness.
“Not with me.”
“I don’t mean that.” I’m surprise by my desire not to offend him.
“No?” Did he move closer or did I? It must have been me. A moment ago I was by the windows and now I’m only a step away from him. How did that happen? It’s as though a magnetic force has propelled me forward.
I frown, my forehead crinkling. “I just wanted a day on my own. Away from here. This.”
“Me?”
I swallow, my eyes dropping, the anger that has been incinerating me for days dissipating slowly. I shake my head.
“Amy?”
I keep studying the floor between us as though it’s a piece of unique artwork.
He presses his finger beneath my chin, lifting my face to his. Emotions barrel through me.
“You’ve been ignoring me.” The words emerge wholly without my permission. I don’t want him to think I care – or that I’ve even noticed his absence!
“Not ignoring you,” he responds gruffly. “But avoiding you, yes.”
My stomach twists at that distinction. “Why?”
“Why do you think?”
My breath is trapped deep inside of me, unable to escape. I shake my head rather than risk speaking; I don’t know if I could, anyway.
“You are all I can think of, Amy, and I knew that if I came to you, I would do something I’d regret. Something that stands outside the bounds of what we’ve agreed to.”
My eyes find his, sensual heat slamming into me like a stack of bricks. I hesitate, torn between my head and my heart, the hatred I tell myself I need to feel for him and a non-stop whirlwind of feelings that are warm and addictive. I swallow hard, aching to press up onto the tips of my toes and kiss him. Only the kiss would be a prelude to sex – there’s no way it wouldn’t – and I know I can’t give myself to him. It would be too much of a betrayal. I need to remember that.
