AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hafiz frowned as he gave a good look at his affair with Lacey. He thought their relationship had been perfect. A dream. A fantasy. He thought he had been generous and good to Lacey, but he had failed her.
He had to fix this. Somehow he would show Lacey that she was the most important person in his life. She thought it could only be demonstrated by marriage, but that was wrong. Marriage was about alliances and property. It was about lineage and power.
He would prove to Lacey that marriage had nothing to do with love.
* * *
Lacey sighed as she tiredly unlocked the door to her apartment. The stupor that had encased her almost a week ago when she left Hafiz now felt cracked and brittle. Exhaustion had seeped in. She couldn’t wait to tumble into bed, regardless of the fact that it would be cold and lonely.
She pushed the door open and stumbled to a halt as she was greeted by Damask roses everywhere. Lacey inhaled the heavy fragrance with her gasp of surprise. The front room looked like a garden with red and pink flowers.
An image splintered through her mind. St. Louis, in the hotel’s penthouse suite. Hafiz dragging a rose bud along her naked body. Longing swept through her as a flush of red crept under her pale skin.
“Lacey, I have to know,” her roommate Priya said as she strolled into the room, wearing wrinkled pajamas. “What have you done to deserve all these flowers?”
“They’re for me?” Her stomach clenched. She’d sensed they were. Only one person would send her flowers. Only one man would make such a grand gesture. Trust Hafiz to disregard her demands and to this extent. Suddenly she was a challenge that he had to overcome. “Uh...nothing.”
Priya cast a disbelieving look. “No guy goes through all this trouble without a reason,” she said as she walked over to one oversized bouquet and stroked the fragile petals. “And this one is very sure he has no competition. He didn’t sign the cards.”
Lacey felt her mouth twist into a bittersweet smile. Hafiz didn’t need to say anything because the flowers said it all. He wanted to remind her of the passion between them, the love they shared and of what she was turning her back on.
As if she was in a trance, Lacey walked from one bouquet to the next. The shades of pink and red thawed the coldness inside her. She felt the vibrant flowers questioning her choice to exist without Hafiz. Lacey sighed, knowing she should have ignored the bouquets and gone straight to bed.
“Prince Hafiz doesn’t want you to forget him,” Priya said with a sigh and placed her hands on her hips. “As if you could.”
“I’m not getting back together with him.”
“If you say so,” her roommate said softly.
She bent her head and brushed her cheek against the soft petals. “I’ve learned that being with him wasn’t worth the tears,” she lied.
“No guy is,” Priya muttered.
Lacey pressed her lips together. Hafiz was worth it. What she had really learned was that he didn’t think she was worth the sacrifice or the struggle. Hafiz desired her, he may even believe that he loved her, but he didn’t love her enough.
“I should call...and tell him to stop,” Lacey said. She needed to let him know that she couldn’t be wooed like the first time. She understood the rules now. Another affair with him would destroy her.
“Uh-huh.” Priya rolled her eyes. “Right.”
Was she kidding herself? Lacey wondered as she grabbed her cell phone from her purse and headed for her bedroom. Maybe those flowers stirred up a longing she didn’t feel strong enough to deny. Maybe she was desperate to hear from Hafiz, and she was jumping on to this weak excuse. Lacey knew she should talk herself out of it, but instead she paced the floor as she called, wondering why she hadn’t deleted his number. She held the phone to her ear with shaky fingers.
“Hello, Lacey.”
She halted in the middle of her room. “Hafiz.” She closed her eyes, tears instantly welling. Her heartbeats stuttered as a shiver swept through her. He sounded so close to her, as if his mouth was pressed against her ear, ready to whisper sweet nothings. Lacey curled her head into her shoulders, wanting to hold on to the feeling, wanting it to be real. “Thank you for the flowers, but I don’t think you should be sending me presents,” she said huskily. She gritted her teeth. She needed to be firm.
