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“This is a dishdasha,” he explained gruffly as he tried to contain the lust that heated his blood. “I wear it for royal functions. Now explain what you are doing outside alone.”
She held up her plastic bag and lightly jostled the contents. “I went shopping.”
“Shopping,” he repeated dully.
“Yes, I wear this whenever I leave the apartment.” She glided her hand down the black gabardine with the flair of a game show model demonstrating a prize. “I know Rudaynah only asks tourists to dress modestly, but I don’t know if I fall in that category. I’m not quite a tourist, but I’m not quite a resident, am I? I didn’t want to take any chances.”
Hafiz barely heard the question. Whenever she left? She had done this more than once? Routinely? What did she do? Where did she go? And with whom?
It wouldn’t be with a man. He knew he could trust Lacey. She had fallen in love with him that first night and saw no reason to deny it.
But he didn’t like the possibility that she had a life apart from him. He was the center of her world, and he didn’t want that to end. “Whenever you leave?” he asked as his eyebrows dipped into a ferocious frown. “How often do you go out?”
“You don’t need to worry about me.” Lacey’s smile dropped. “Or are you worried that one of your friends or relatives will meet me?”
Hafiz heard the edge in her tone and felt her impatience. He surrendered to the need to touch her and delve his hands into her hair. He needed to feel the connection that sizzled between them.
Hafiz spanned his fingers along the base of her head and tilted her face up. “I thought you spend your days playing your music,” he murmured distractedly.
“And dreaming about you?”
“Of course,” he said with a slanted smile.
Her smooth brow wrinkled as she considered what he said. “I can think of you while I’m shopping. I’m talented that way.”
“No.” His sharp tone stanched any argument. “No more excursions. You don’t know the language or the country.”
“How else am I going to learn if I don’t get out and—”
“You have servants who can shop for you. Yes, yes.” He held his hand up as she tried to interrupt. “You’ve already told me. You’re not comfortable with the idea of someone waiting on you. But they are here to take care of you.”
“You can’t hide me inside all the time,” she insisted as she pressed her hand against his chest. His heart thudded from her touch. “I’m not Rapunzel.”
“I know,” he said resignedly. She often mentioned that European fairy tale. She once told him the basic story line, but someday he needed to read it in case there was more he should know.
Lacey leaned against the wall and sighed. Hafiz flattened his hands next to her head, her sunglasses dangling from his loose grasp. He stared at her mouth, his lips stinging with the need to kiss her.
But this was as close as he would allow himself. If he leaned into her softness, he wouldn’t leave.
The tip of her tongue swept along her bottom lip. “Hafiz, we’re outside,” she reminded him, her voice hitching with scandalized excitement. “You shouldn’t be this close.”
He knew it, but it didn’t stop him. She was his one and only vice, and he was willingly addicted. He had already risked everything to be with her. Each day he made the choice to risk everything for her. But now the choice was taken away from him, and it was all coming to an end.
He bent his head and stopped abruptly. He should pull away. Hafiz remained still as he stared at Lacey’s mouth. Their ragged breathing sounded loud to his ears. One kiss could bring him peace or could set him on fire. One kiss would lead to another.
As if he were in a trance, Hafiz grazed his fingertips against her brow. He caressed her cheek, wishing it were his mouth on her. Hafiz swallowed hard as he remembered how her skin tasted.
He shouldn’t be with her. No, it was more than that. He shouldn’t want to be with her. Lacey Maxwell was forbidden.
Wanting Lacey went against everything he had been taught. He should only find honorable and chaste women from his sultanate attractive. Yet the only woman he noticed was Lacey.
