“Anything to report?” she asked as she approached.
He looked up at her, and she noticed his eyes dart from her head to her toes before he grinned. “Nothing important. I’m sorry for waking you, but sleeping all day would be terrible for your jetlag. You’ll adjust better if you try to stay up as long as you can now.”
Nicole yawned. She had had plenty of sleep, but that didn’t make up for the fact that travel was exhausting, and flipping time zones did murder to a body.
Kadeen stood and slipped his phone back in his pocket before making his way towards the hotel entrance. Nicole fell into step with him.
“How often do you come back here, anyway? Has it been long since your last visit?”
Kadeen stepped out into the warm sunlight, waving down a valet. He glanced at Nicole before looking off into the distance, as though searching for something. “Ah, here we are,” he said, dodging her question.
It didn’t get past Nicole that the Sheikh was avoiding speaking about his home country. There was so much about him she wanted to know. How did one become so wealthy and successful by the age of thirty? It seemed incomprehensible that he could live such a life, so different from what she had known during her upbringing in Upstate New York.
She watched him closely as he spoke to the valet in Arabic. He slipped a bank note into the man’s hand before he walked away, returning moments later behind the wheel of a sleek convertible.
“Practical,” Nicole observed, and Kadeen looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.
“You’re not a fan of convertibles?”
Nicole shrugged. “I don’t mind them. But if we’re heading where I think we are, I don’t imagine damaged art will do too well being carted around in these conditions.”
“Well there’s no guarantee that we will find it… Wait. I asked you to lunch, not to seek out our new…” he glanced furtively around them, “…acquisition.”
Nicole found it interesting that Kadeen didn’t want the people around them to know what they were looking for. Still, in the art world, exclusive finds were best kept a secret until they had been secured. That was one lesson Nicole had learned very fast.
The valet was staring at them. He had exited the car and opened the passenger door for Nicole to step in. Realizing this, she nodded appreciatively to the young man before sliding into the front seat.
She noticed Kadeen slip another note into the valet’s hand, and, after acknowledging a very respectful bow, he was in the driver’s seat, buckling up.
He looked at Nicole and pressed down on the gas, revving the engine. “Shall we?” he asked, a glint in his eye.
Nicole nearly lost her breath in that moment. Why, oh Lord, why did he have to be so sexy?
Not wanting her emotions to show, she reached into her purse for a pair of oversized sunglasses and slid them on, tossing Kadeen a grin. “Let’s do it,” she said.
The Sheikh’s resulting smile was infectious, and irresistible. He pulled the car out of the entryway and steered them onto a coastal highway.
Nicole leaned back, enjoying the warm air paired with a cool breeze as her hair tumbled around her face. She couldn’t remember the last time she had taken a vacation, and while this certainly wasn’t one, it felt close enough. The fancy hotel, the beautiful scenery, and the transportation all made her feel like she was on a luxury trip.
Perhaps that was simply what life with Kadeen was like.
Glancing to either side, Nicole took in the shimmering waters of the sea and the gorgeous ancient buildings of Balahai. Kadeen was curiously quiet, though with the wind it was difficult to hold any kind of meaningful conversation anyway. Nicole enjoyed the comfortable silence they held, feeling content to simply drink in the experience.
After some time, the city fell behind them, and they ended up in a small fishing village to the north. Weaving through twisting streets, Kadeen found a spot to park, and turned off the engine. When he looked at Nicole, he laughed.
“You look a bit windswept, there.”
Nicole’s hand flew to her hair, which did indeed feel tangled beyond reparation. She pulled a hair tie from her purse and made quick work of damage control. The look in Kadeen’s eye implied that he might not be terribly opposed to seeing her hair in disarray, but she tried to quell that observation. She had to be imagining things. There was no way a man like Kadeen—rich, successful, powerful—would want anything to do with an art conservationist. She had to remind herself of her position, because if she didn’t, she was on the way to doing something very stupid indeed.
Kadeen ran his fingers through his tousled black hair, looking sexier than ever. Totally unfair.
Collecting herself, Nicole opened her door and stepped out, breathing in the briny sea air as they fell into step once again, strolling along the dock.
“This is beautiful,” Nicole breathed.
Kadeen nodded, keeping his eyes ahead as they walked. “This is actually one of my favorite places in Al Qazar. It’s small enough that I don’t tend to attract too much attention, and the local cuisine is out of this world.”
“This whole country is out of this world. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen!”
Kadeen looked at her then, and Nicole wondered if that was vulnerability in his eyes.
“Do you really think so?”
“How can I not? Have you seen the place?” she asked, gesturing around them. The buildings were aged, and quaint. Everything was made of some sort of clay material that gave the village a very earthy feel to it, even as it sat by the sea. Townspeople passed by without noticing them, and though they didn’t look up and smile like an American would do, they all had a friendly aura that Nicole instantly liked.
Kadeen nodded, and his lip tugged upward. She liked making him smile, she realized.
“I suppose you’re right, though it’s hard to tell sometimes. This is all I ever knew until I left for New York.”
“I thought you said you’d travelled a lot?” Nicole said.
“I did, but not until later in my life.”
“You’re twenty-nine. How late in life can you possibly be?”
“Sometimes one can experience enough to feel older than one’s numeric age, don’t you agree?”
“I’ve heard of such a concept, yes,” Nicole agreed, her curiosity going wild. What could Kadeen possibly have gone through to make him feel old? On the outside, his life looked like a total dream. Where was the stress that had led to his wisdom?
Before she could find a way to ask him, he reached out and stopped her with a hand on her arm. The skin there felt electrocuted at his touch.
“I think this is the place. Yes, right over here.”
He removed his hand, to her acute disappointment, and led the way towards a small restaurant.
When they walked inside, Nicole was surprised to see a long mat laid out on the floor, above which was a low table set up with colorful plates, bowls and cutlery. The floor was carpeted with rich russet hues, patterned with a series of diamond shapes. On the walls, which appeared to be made of mud brick, there were shelves that housed beautiful pottery. The walls were painted with a tan stucco, with red rugs hung around the small room.
A man in flowing robes approached them and gave a gentle bow. Kadeen greeted him, and they were escorted to a section of the table, where they sat across from one another. Nicole’s eyes couldn’t take it all in fast enough. She wanted to memorize everything. The preservationist in her wanted to run her hands along every sculpture and pot and see what it was made of.
“You’re not thinking about stealing anything, are you?”
Nicole started at Kadeen’s question. When she met his gaze, she noticed a teasing glint there.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Because you’re looking at this place like you want to catalog everything in it and put it in a museum.”
Nicole’s grin was guilty as she glanced up at him. “Is it that obvious?”
“Only to m
e, I imagine. I’ve known you long enough to know that your passion for art transcends normality.”
“Are you calling me weird?”
Kadeen placed a wounded hand to his chest. “I would never.”
He was clearly teasing her, and Nicole found that she was liking this side of Kadeen more and more with each passing moment.
A waiter arrived and offered them some specials, or at least Nicole assumed that’s what he was saying. He spoke entirely in Arabic, and Kadeen responded in kind.
He looked at Nicole. “Do you like seafood?” he asked.
She nodded, and he continued speaking with the waiter until the man nodded and walked away.
“I think you’ll enjoy what I’ve ordered. They catch everything fresh each morning. That’s why this place is so spectacular.”
“I can’t wait.”
A moment later, a waitress appeared, carrying a large silver basin which she placed between them. Nicole stared at it, unsure of what to do.
“This is for cleaning our hands before the meal,” Kadeen explained.
The waitress draped towels over Nicole and Kadeen’s shoulders then asked them to place their hands in the basin, fingers down. Nicole’s fingers were centimeters from Kadeen’s, but she forced herself not to touch him. Even the smallest of touches threatened to make her lose her cool.
The warm water streamed over their hands as the waitress poured it into the silver basin. It was the most refreshing experience of Nicole’s life. The girl then gestured for Nicole to dry her hands on the towel, which she did as the basin was removed. They were then served an appetizer of meat—lamb, perhaps—baked into a flaky pastry crust and topped with a cinnamon sugar powder. It was an interesting combination, but one Nicole found that she instantly loved.
“Ahem,” Kadeen said, and Nicole looked up from her piece of pastry.
“What?” she asked, unsure what he was getting at.
“You’ve just got a bit of cinnamon sugar there,” he said, running his finger over the same spot on his own face.
Mortified, Nicole began fervently wiping at her face, and Kadeen started laughing again. How much had he laughed since they’d left the office? Perhaps they needed to do it more often.
“All right, you’ve managed to wipe every spot but that one. Come here.”
He reached his hand out, and without thinking, Nicole leaned in and looked up into his charcoal eyes as he ran a thumb along the crease of her lip, successfully removing the offending sugar. Did she imagine it, or did his finger linger just a smidge longer than was necessary?
She realized that they were staring at each other, his hand caressing her face, over a table in a public place.
Clearing her throat, she pulled back and looked away. She would need to find a new topic of conversation, and quickly. His lips looked far too delectable from that angle.
“So tell me about your childhood here,” Nicole said, changing the subject.
Kadeen shook his head almost imperceptivity, and once again Nicole found herself wondering if the attraction was mutual. Was there meaning in these glances and words, or was she reading into something that wasn’t there?
“There’s not much to tell, really,” he hedged, and Nicole lifted a skeptical eyebrow.
“Really? You grew up as the cousin of a king and there’s not much to tell? You can’t be serious.”
“I am, though. My childhood was perfectly normal. At least, what I would consider normal. I realize that’s not exactly in line with what a lot of people experience.”
“I imagine not. Give me one example of a childhood memory, and I’ll tell you if you’re normal or not.”
Before Kadeen could answer, the waitress returned, carrying two huge plates of fresh seafood. There were mussels steamed in their shells, scallops decorated with edible flower petals, and enormous, bright-red lobsters served with butter on the side. It smelled incredible.
They shared the food, family-style, and Nicole took a succulent bite of lobster as the Sheikh worked to find a childhood memory worth sharing.
“Okay, how about this? Once, when I was about thirteen, I was staying the night in the King’s palace while my parents were away on vacation. The servants were stationed outside my cousin’s door, meant to keep us from getting up to mischief, but we tied a bunch of sheets together and climbed down the balcony. We ran to the ocean and swam under the full moon until nearly dawn. When the sun began to peek over the horizon, we climbed back up the sheets and replaced them, but we couldn’t stop laughing when the maid arrived in the morning to find our sheets covered with sand!”
Kadeen was laughing heartily at the memory. When he collected himself, he gazed at Nicole directly. “All right, now you tell me. Am I normal or not?”
Nicole took a sip of hot, sweet tea as she considered her answer. “Well, on the one hand, not many of us have a cousin with a palace, so I have to dock you for that. On the other hand, what teenager hasn’t gotten into trouble for sneaking out of the house? I think I’m going to have to peg you for normal on that one.”
“Excellent news. Here I was thinking I might be too exceptional.”
“Humble, too. Don’t forget your extreme humility,” Nicole smirked.
“I never do. That’s one of the things that makes me so great,” Kadeen said, returning her smile. “Now how about you? Tell me a childhood story, and I’ll tell you if you’re normal or not.”
Nicole paused, thinking about growing up with her twin sister in farm country. She hadn’t been a particularly mischievous child, and her stories all tended to be a little dull.
“I vandalized school property once,” she hedged.
Kadeen’s eyes widened in surprise. “You? Miss top-of-her-class at art school?”
“I know, I know,” Nicole said, laughing. “But it was elementary school, and we had just been told that recess would be cut in half, to make more time for math.”
“That sounds like a great injustice,” Kadeen observed, and Nicole nodded.
“You better believe it. We were beside ourselves with rage. One day, after school, I went behind the dumpsters and wrote ‘leave recess alone’ on the wall.”
Kadeen laughed heartily at her admission. “That’s priceless! Were you ever caught?”
“Of course not. But if I had been, my twin sister would have taken the blame for me in a heartbeat. We looked a lot more similar when we were younger, so we got away with a lot.”
“I didn’t know you had a twin sister,” Kadeen said.
Nicole nodded. “Yeah. I still miss her every day, but moving to New York was the best thing I ever did.”
“Well of course it is. It led you to me.”
Nicole gulped as she watched his expression, wondering just what he meant by that. She decided to keep it professional.
“And the best job I ever could have asked for, yes. I’ll always be grateful to you for that.”
Kadeen looked down, waving a hand as though to dismiss the thought. “You only have yourself to thank, Nicole. You’re the one who worked hard and developed the talent to work for the best fine art dealer in the business.”
“And there you go being all humble again. You really must learn to have confidence in yourself, Kadeen.”
“I’ll certainly have to try,” he grinned, taking a sip of tea.
After a pause, as they stared at one another without realizing it, Nicole cleared her throat again.
“Well, it sounds like you had a nice upbringing here, anyway.”
Kadeen blinked, rejoining the conversation. “I did. My parents were loving and kind, though they had ambitions for me that extended beyond the art world.”
“What do you mean?”
Kadeen shrugged. “I grew up under a lot of pressure to enter a reliable industry, like oil or engineering. When I told my parents that I intended to go into art dealership, they were less than thrilled.”
“But there’s certainly success to be had, as you’ve proven.”
“S
ure, but in the beginning I think they thought I was being foolish.”
“Is that why you left for New York? To prove them wrong?”
Kadeen hesitated, as though weighing his words carefully. “Perhaps that is part of it. New York was the best place for me to build my business, not to mention being far away from the pressure they put on me to do otherwise, so it was really the best move at the time.”
There was something hidden in his words, but Nicole thought better than to pry into his personal affairs any further. She swallowed the hundred questions rising to the tip of her tongue with her cooling mint tea.
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