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He wondered now if he’d ever seen her truly relaxed before. Britt Skavanga unmasked and laughing was a wonderful creation. She genuinely loved people and would be wasted behind a desk in an office.
They ate together with a crowd of students who swarmed around Britt. He was almost jealous. Their table was the noisiest, but she still got up and went around every table in the refectory, introducing herself and explaining the scheme she was already cooking in her head. It was as if there had never been a misunderstanding between them, he thought as she glanced over to him and smiled as if wanting to reassure him that she was enjoying this. One of the students commented that Britt came from a cold country, but she had a warm heart.
Cheesy, but she’d warmed his heart. How long had he been in love with her? From that first crazy day, maybe? He just hadn’t seen it for what it was. But one of the nice things about being a sheikh was that he could pretty much follow his instinct, and his instinct said, don’t let this woman go. He had everything in a material sense a man could want, but nothing resonated without Britt. He saw things differently through her eyes. She made every experience richer. He wanted her in his life permanently and that meant not half a world away. He wanted them to do more than plan an exchange scheme or run a company. He was thinking on a much wider scale—a scale that would encompass both their countries. A life together was what he wanted. He knew that now, and that could only benefit the people who depended on them, and for the first time he thought he saw a way to do it.
‘Are you ready to go?’ he whispered to Britt discreetly.
‘Not really,’ she admitted with her usual honesty, gazing round at all the people she hadn’t had chance to meet yet.
‘You can come back,’ he promised. ‘Remember—I’ve asked you to run this project, so you’re going to be seeing a lot of these people.’
‘But—’
As he held her stare she saw with sudden clarity exactly what he was thinking. Her own eyes widened as his gaze dropped to her mouth.
They were never going to make it back to the citadel. He lost the outriders a few streets away from the university and the security van went off radar in a maze of side-turnings in the suburbs. Britt yelled to ask him what he was he doing when he pulled into a disused parking lot earmarked for development.
‘What do you think?’ he yelled back, skidding to a halt.
The scaffolding was up and a few walls were built, but that was it. More importantly, no one was working on the site today. Dismounting, he propped the bike on its stand and lifted Britt out of the saddle.
‘Is this safe?’ she demanded when he backed her against a wall.
‘I thought you loved a bit of danger?’
‘I do,’ she said, already whimpering as he kissed her neck.
He couldn’t wait. Neither could she. Pelvis to pelvis with pressure, waiting was impossible. Fingers flying, they ripped at each other’s clothes. Blissful relief as Britt’s legs locked around his waist and her small strong hands gripped his shoulders. Anything else was unimportant now. They were together. She was ready for him—more than. Penetration was fast and complete. There was a second’s pause when they both closed their eyes to savour the moment, but from then on it was all sensation. He cupped her buttocks in his hands to prevent them scraping on the gritty wall, as he kissed her. He groaned and thrust deep, dipping his knees to gain a better angle. Britt was wild, just as he liked her. He wanted to shout out—let the world know how he felt about this woman— How he’d felt without her, which was empty, lost, useless— And how he felt now—exultant. Nothing could ever express his frustration at how long it had taken him to realise that if they wanted each other enough, they would find a way to be together. And that it had to happen here in a parking lot—
‘Sharif?’ she said.
She was giving him a worried look he’d seen before; he knew she couldn’t hold on. ‘Britt...’
He smiled against her mouth, loving the tension that always gripped her before release. And now it was a crazy ride, hands clawing, chests heaving, wild cries, until, finally, blessed release. The best. It wasn’t just physical. This was heart and soul. Commitment. He was committed to this woman to the point where even the direction his future took would depend on what she said now.
‘Marry me,’ he said fiercely. ‘Marry me and stay with me in Kareshi.’
‘Yes,’ she murmured groggily in a state of contentment, resting heavily against him. ‘What?’ she yelped, coming down to earth with a bump.
