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Gemma peered at the screen of her phone. She scrolled through both of her main social media accounts. Things had quietened down a little since she'd been gone.
Well, at least that was one thing to be grateful for, she told herself.
Still, there were plenty of desperate messages demanding to know how long her "social media holiday" was going to last. It seemed as if going dark online, as she'd done for two whole days, was enough to drive some people crazy.
There were lots of photos of Ahmed. They'd been dug up by some of her more enterprising followers. Many of the images had been tagged with messages that varied from the funny to the downright crude.
It seemed as if Ahmed had made quite an impression while she was gone. Even when he had been isolated in the desert with her, life had carried on.
Gemma wondered how Ahmed would react to all the extra attention.
Probably he'd take it all in his stride, she thought. It would take more than a few online comments to ruffle his feathers.
Some of the photos of Ahmed had been taken at receptions and events over the last few years. As she scrolled through them, she could see the changes in his appearance. How he'd developed and grown more mature.
A few years ago, he'd still retained a youthful, almost immature quality. But now, there was nothing immature about the man with whom she'd shared a bed only hours before.
No.
Ahmed was all man, in every possible way.
She glanced at the more recent photos, admiring his gorgeous good looks, his winning smile, his sheer unadulterated sexiness. Just looking at the pictures reminded her of how she'd felt lying with him, alongside him.
Beneath him.
She sighed and stretched back on the sofa. She groaned and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what on earth she was going to do.
During the entire trip across the desert with him, coming back to Qabiyah, she'd felt the way he'd held her. It hadn't been like the way he'd held her close on their first horse ride together.
No. This time it had felt as if Ahmed did not want to let her go. That if she went away, something vital would have been taken out of his life.
Once again, she asked herself how it could be that such a sudden attraction could have developed between them.
Was it only the beginning? Or was it the end?
As she'd driven her car along the straight highway, back toward Qazhar city, Gemma had tried to understand what had compelled her to run from him the way she'd done.
Had it just been fear of the future? Or had it just been her habitual reluctance to be involved with anyone?
But surely that couldn't apply to the man she had just given herself to, could it? In being with Ahmed in the most intimate way possible, she had assured herself of one thing, above all else.
She would never be the same again.
With or without Ahmed.
She felt a tightness in her chest and a familiar unease settle in her belly.
And wasn't that what this was all about?
That simple choice.
Was she going to go forward with him?
Or without him.
She took her phone and went to one of her social media pages. The one she used to type in her hourly, sometimes more frequent, messages to her followers.
The empty box stared back at her. She stared at the number next to it. The one that told her how many million followers she had.
