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“I can’t see you again,” he began.
Her eyes dulled with pain. “I don’t want you to.”
Hafiz scowled at her statement. “I mean it, Lacey.”
“I do, too. I’m not really big on sharing.” Her chin wobbled, and she blinked back the moisture from her eyes. “Don’t contact me unless you’ve changed your mind and only want me.”
That wasn’t going to happen, Hafiz thought. It couldn’t.
The limousine lurched to a stop next to the helicopter pad. Hafiz immediately stepped out of the car and reached for Lacey’s hand. When she hesitated, he grasped her wrist. Fierce sensations scorched his skin from the touch. He grimly ignored the way his pulse tripped and assisted her outside.
Her long hair blew in the desert wind, and he escorted her to the pilot who was waiting by the helicopter. After Hafiz yelled instructions over the noise, Lacey climbed in. He tried to assist her, but she batted him away. He flashed a warning look at her.
The warning dissipated as he looked into her eyes. Even after what had happened, after everything they’d said, he wished for one more kiss. He was desperate for it and felt the pull. His mouth craved her taste and her softness. The yearning pierced at him like swift jabs of a knife, because he knew after this moment, circumstances would snatch Lacey away from him.
He looked away. The darkness inside him eclipsed the pain of knowing this was the last time he would see her. Their paths would never cross, and he could never contact her again. He wouldn’t know where she lived or if she was safe. She would disappear but linger in his mind as he worried and wondered.
“Your Highness,” the pilot shouted, breaking through Hafiz’s thoughts. “We need to leave now.”
Hafiz hesitated. He couldn’t make a clean break from Lacey, no matter how much he wanted to. How much he needed to, for both their sakes.
He glanced at her and met her gaze. No tears escaped her eyes. She didn’t speak. Didn’t move, but he knew she struggled for composure. He knew her poise was for his benefit. It was her way to prove that she would be fine.
She looked so beautiful and elegant. Regal. Hafiz thought his heart was going to blast through the wall of his chest. Lacey was more beautiful than when he first saw her. He was fortunate to have known and loved her, and she would never know. His throat closed shut as his strength seeped out of his bones.
He had to tell her. He had thought it would be kinder not to say anything. Not to give her the answer because it would have given her hope. Something to fight for. But he could not let her go with the belief that she didn’t matter.
“I love you, Lacey.”
Her lips parted, and she stared at his mouth. She frowned as if she had heard incorrectly. As if she had heard what she wanted to hear.
“You may think I hate you or I’m ashamed of you,” he said over the whine of the helicopter, “but it isn’t true. I took all of these risks because I love you. I will always love you.”
She began to reach out as the helicopter started to lift off. Hafiz wanted to grab her hand, but he forced himself to back away.
He watched her, unblinking, as the helicopter rose into the sky and turned, taking his love, his last chance of happiness, away from him.
But he didn’t deserve happiness. He didn’t deserve a life with Lacey.
Hafiz remained where he stood when every instinct screamed for him to run after Lacey. A ragged gasp escaped his raw throat as he watched the helicopter fly off until it was no longer a speck in the air. The silence sliced deep into his dreams and wishes until they lay tattered at his feet and darkness descended in his heart.
CHAPTER NINE
“LACEY, MY WORK SHIFT is about to start,” Priya shouted over the music. “Are you going to be okay? I feel weird leaving you alone.”
“That’s sweet of you, but you don’t have to worry.” Lacey smiled at her roommate. She felt bad that Priya felt the need to mother her. And drag her to this party so she would get out of the apartment. “I’m going to be fine. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a party, but it’s all coming back to me.”
“Good,” Priya said with a nod. “I know you’ve been mending a broken heart, but you are too young to spend all your time working at the hotel and staying in bed.”
