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She shook in his arms, a small cry escaping her lips.
“Riyaz,” she said. “That’s not... We can’t.”
“You like it.”
“I’m talking about something serious,” she said, pressing her hands against his chest and pushing herself away from him.
“Tell me,” he commanded. “Your serious thing. Though I don’t understand why I cannot hold you in my arms while you do.”
“Because youlickedme.”
“Yes. You taste delicious.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“I never said that I was fair.”
“You’re very frank,” she said. “You’re going to have to work on that. People don’t just say whatever they think.”
“And why not? It seems to me that it is the duplicity in the world that creates problems. Not honesty. Not frankness. I don’t understand why these different things are issues. Why should you not love Cairo and also want me? Why should you be ashamed of either of those things? Why should I hide the fact that I find you beautiful? None of it makes sense to me. It is duplicity that killed my family. Honesty harms no one. You loving Cairo... It harms no one. Who does not wish to be loved? He should be pleased.”
“It is embarrassing,” she said. “Because when you love someone, and they do not return the feeling, it is painful. Because you feel foolish and exposed to want someone when they had never demonstrated that they want you.”
“He would have to be an idiot not to want you.”
“I should say... With Cairo... I’m not sure that himwantingme would feel especially flattering. He is not discriminate when it comes to sexual partners. It’s a hobby to him. Some people run every morning when they wake up. I think your brother takes a new lover. He’s not particular.”
He chuckled. “How nice for him. When I tell you that I think you’re beautiful, I mean I have never looked at another woman and had the same feelings. Or the same thoughts.”
“You also haven’t seen very many women. I’m just guessing.”
“No. But then, it sounds to me as if you’re just choosing not to be flattered. Because it is easier.”
“How is it easier?”
“You’re afraid of what would happen if you believed me. That you were beautiful.”
She looked away from him. “Being beautiful has never given me anything. My father...” She looked back up at him. “None of this is about me. None of this is about my life. We are supposed to be talking about you. It’s you that I’m supposed to be concerned about.”
“How long has it been since anyone concerned themselves with you? Who came alongside you? Cairo rescued you, but did he do this for you? Did he speak to you? Did he try to teach you how to live in the world? Eat the same breakfast as you, and watch movies with you?”
She looked away. “No. He didn’t. But I was fifteen, and he was nineteen. And we would not have... It’s simply not how that relationship would’ve worked. He sent me to school. He was establishing his business, his fortune. He didn’t need a girl hanging on to him and...”
“Perhaps you should let me listen to you. Perhaps it would be a good thing.”
“My father wanted to sell me. What do you think of that? To pay his debts. I was pretty enough. His rival wanted to buy me, and then sell me continually. To whatever men might want to pay for an evening. Or few moments. That is what being pretty meant when I was fifteen. And maybe part of why I love Cairo so much as he didn’t treat me like being pretty was all I was. And he certainly didn’t use it as an excuse to touch me or ask for payment for what he did for me. Maybe that is why I cared for him so much.”
Fury rushed through him. Fury. That any man could think to put their hands on her when she did not wish them to. That her own father would treat her so.
He had tasted betrayal. A man his father trusted had ultimately led to his death. Had led to Riyaz’s imprisonment. But his own father had fought to the death to save him. To save his wife, to save his sons.
He had never known the betrayal of family.
His family had loved them.
“Does your father still live?”
“As far as I know,” she said.
