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‘What happened,’ he asked, ‘with this Mr Wrong?’
‘It was my fault just as much. I wanted it so much to work out—I needed to love someone enough to compensate for the loss of my parents and I was too needy, too demanding. I can see that now, of course. I can see that when he tried to let me down gently, I wouldn’t let him go.’
‘So how did it end?’
She gave a wan smile. ‘Badly. He announced to the world that he was dumping me on every social media account he was signed up with, because I was “a bitch, a total cow and crap in bed”. I do believe those were his exact words. Mind you, they worked.’
‘You’re not any of those things,’ he said, ‘for the record.’
She gave a half-smile. ‘For the record, I thank you. And I’d rather you didn’t post that anywhere, if it’s all the same to you.’
It was his turn to smile. The guy was a loser—that much was clear. ‘You’re better off without him. Anyone who could say those things wasn’t worthy of being a friend, let alone a lover, especially when you were already so low.’
‘I know. Sally said the same thing.’
‘So why child care?’ he asked, changing the subject, because the thought of her with another man was suddenly unpalatable and not something he wanted to dwell on.
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know exactly. But I always loved babies and little kids—maybe because I was an only child and grew up alone. They always fascinated me. When I found out I could make a living working with them, it seemed a no-brainer.’
He nodded, although he wasn’t sure he entirely understood. He’d grown up alone and he’d mostly kept to himself. If he hadn’t happened upon his three desert brothers, he’d probably still be wandering the world alone.
‘Have dinner with me,’ he said on a whim, because he realised they were nearing the Old Palace and soon she would excuse herself and take herself off to her apartments and the care of Atiyah and he was suddenly sick of being alone.
She looked flustered, her lips parting and closing as if searching for and not finding any words.
‘Just dinner.’
‘Um... I have to check on Yousra and Atiyah. We’ve been gone a long time.’
‘So check.’
‘And if Yousra has had enough or is tired?’
‘Bring Atiyah to dinner with you,’ he said, surprising himself that he meant it. ‘Bring her anyway,’ he added, if that helped. Anything to postpone the time she would close herself off from him again.
She blinked. ‘Why are you suddenly being so reasonable?’
He turned to her, careful not to reach out a hand and touch her, as he’d been wanting to all day, to touch the molten sunset of her robe, to feel her heat. In the end, he reached out a hand and wrapped it around hers. No pressure, just a hand hold, warm and true. ‘Because I’ve just had the best day I’ve had in a long time. And I don’t want it to end.’
God, he meant it. Tora’s skin bloomed all over. From just the touch of his hand. No, from the import of his words and the dark intent of his eyes. He actually meant it.
And it had been a good day. She’d had a personal tour of six amazing palaces and been both dazzled by their brilliance and appalled at their waste, in the company of a man who knew how to push her buttons, be they physical or emotional, and who now was testing out a new one, one that simply said like.
She was intensely aware they’d just entered the palace gates. Aware they’d soon have doors opened and the outside world would intrude and the moment would be gone—as maybe Rashid himself would be, whisked away to put to rights whatever problem besetting the country next needed addressing.
She didn’t want the world to intrude. Not just yet.
There would be time enough for the world later.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I will have dinner with you.’
‘Good,’ he said, drawing her hand to his mouth and pressing his lips to the back of it, while his eyes smiled and warmed her in a place she hadn’t expected his eyes to warm. Because it wasn’t just sex she saw there, she was sure. There was more.
And she welcomed finding more.
The car slowed, even as her heart raced. Dinner with Rashid. Could they really be friends? After today, she wanted to believe it possible.
He was still holding her hand when the car pulled up to the steps. She liked the feel of her hand in his. She liked the way it made her feel, liked that today their hitherto stumbling relationship had advanced to another level, one that involved both trust and respect.
