by Olivia Gates
Feeling her entrenched convictions being uprooted, leaving her in a free fall of new confusion, she released a tremulous breath. “You’ve got yourself one effed-up family, Jalal.”
“Tell me about it.”
She teetered on the verge of throwing herself into his arms and hugging the despondency out of him.
One more thing first. “So why didn’t you persist, after your mother was out of the picture and I was no longer in her range?”
His look of self-blame almost made her stop him from answering. “Because I was going through some…heavy stuff, with Haidar, with…other people, and I acutely felt the kind of anger and hurt that could fuel your hanging up on me after six years. I thought I’d be a reminder of your worst memories after you’d moved on. I was also not in any shape to take more emotional upheavals at that time.”
Her hands fisted on the urge to reach out. “What’s changed?”
“You did.” His golden eyes blazed with pride and fondness so powerful and pure, hers started burning. “You came back. It proved to me you’re ready to face your demons, to snatch what you deserve from their fangs. I now think having me back in your life won’t resurrect painful memories—you’re ready to remember the good ones and form new and better ones. And I have also changed. I’m removed enough from my ‘effed-up’ family that I can be your haven again. And the big gun in your camp.”
The tears she’d been holding back for eight years cascaded down her cheeks. He reached for her as she did him, took her into his long-missed affection and protection.
He kissed the top of her head. “Does this mean you believe me?”
She raised a face trembling with mirth and emotion. “What else could it mean, you big, wonderful wolf?”
“That you’re too softhearted, that you forgive me even if you still believe I befriended you to seduce you away from Haidar.”
She smirked, poked her finger into that dimple in his left cheek. “As if you could have seduced me. Or even wanted to.”
His smile was relief itself. “Aih, I would have found Haidar’s accusations hilarious, if I hadn’t been so incensed with him. You felt like my real twin from the first time we met, ya azeezati.”
A sob escaped her at hearing him call her “my dearest” again. “You don’t know how much I missed you…ya azeezi.”
“That’s it?” he mock reprimanded her. “You’re taking me back into your heart? And I’d hoped you’d grown as diamond-hard as the exterior you project. You still have a gooey center.”
She knew what he was doing. He was taking this away from acute emotions, even if the positive, wonderful variety. “Takes one mushy core to know another.” She jumped to her feet, dragged him up with both hands. “I didn’t have breakfast yet. Share it?”
His grin lit up the whole world. “Sure will. I haven’t eaten a thing since yesterday, dreading this confrontation.”
“Says the man who once went swimming with sharks.”
“Azeezati, first, that was for a zillion dollars in donations for your list of causes. Second, your possible rejection—and worse, my inability to heal your pain—were far scarier propositions than being gnawed on by sharks.”
She kissed him soundly on the cheek for that.
For the next hour, they talked and laughed and shared news and opinions as if they’d never stopped. It felt like being in the past, when she’d raced through her work so she could run to her squash date whenever he was in the kingdom.
They were sipping mint tea when he said, “Apart from being my friend and sister again, I need your professional services.”
One eyebrow rose. “Uh-oh. This was too good to be true.”
“You think all this—” he gestured to their cozy companionship “—was me leading up to this request?”
It took her a moment to make up her mind. “I might be a colossal fool with syrup for blood, but no. I trust you too much.”
“You didn’t trust me at all till a couple of hours ago.”
She shook her head. “That’s not true. Even if I didn’t hear you defending me to Haidar, I would have believed that however things started, the feelings you developed for me were genuine. It was because I thought you cut me from your life that I developed a grudge against you. I missed your friendship sometimes more than I missed the illusion of my love for Haidar.”
He dragged her into his arms for a convulsive hug. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am, how angry I am for the heartache my family caused you and forced me to be party to inflicting on you.” He set her away, held her by the shoulders. “But I will never let anyone hurt you again.” She nodded, a tear slipping down her face. He wiped it away gently. “This means you’ll consider my request?”
She mock shoved him. “Without knowing specifics, I have to remind you that friends and business are never a good mix.”
“Usually not, but not never. When it’s the right people, the right friendship, results can be spectacular. And lifelong.”
“There have been recorded incidents.” She faced him, folding her legs on the couch. “Okay. What do you propose?”
He mirrored her position. “With your connections, you must have heard I was approached by four of Azmahar’s major clans to be their candidate for the throne.”
“I was asked to weigh in on candidates. You, Rashid Aal Munsoori and…Haidar are the ones who made it to the final round.”
He couldn’t have missed her hesitation over Haidar’s name, but made no comment. “I want you to be my consultant, my all-round adviser. I am ambivalent about this whole thing, and I need the guidance of someone I trust implicitly, someone neutral, who knows all the goings-on of the political and economic scene. Is there anyone else on the planet you know who fits the bill?”
“With those criteria, no.” She chewed her lip. “Though I must qualify your ‘neutral’ assertion.”
His head shake was adamant. “What you lack in neutrality, you’ll make up for in professionalism.”
“Vote of confidence appreciated and all, but…” She took a deep breath, admitted, “This will put me in contact with…him.”
“If that’s your objection, then my quest is done. Haidar and I will probably not be in each other’s vicinity in this lifetime.”
Her heart missed a beat. “It’s that bad?”
“I haven’t talked to him in two years.”
That was bad. But… “You were always ‘not talking to each other.’ Then you’d end up drawn back together like magnets.”
“I thought so, too. I left him that day eight years ago with the agreement that we were getting the hell out of each other’s lives. But we were drawn back together, over and over. During the crisis in Zohayd, it seemed we were back to being as close as we were as children. Then—” a spasm contorted his noble features “—we clashed again. The last time we met, he renounced our very blood tie.”
Her heart quivered, her lungs burned. If their bond had been truly severed this time, Jalal must be bleeding internally.
As for Haidar, his reptilian genes no doubt protected him from injury. The man who’d goaded, manipulated and almost seduced her out of her mind hadn’t been suffering from anything.
She drew in a ragged inhalation. “Okay, I’ll do it. But I’ll make sure that there is no conflict of interest with my job, and I won’t divulge anything that would provide you with any unfair advantage, just sort your own findings and add my own insights. And of course I would be helping you on a strictly informal, personal basis, not officially.”
She didn’t know if he was more relieved that she’d accepted, or that she’d made that stipulation. Seemed he, too, was still considering Haidar and his reactions in everything he did.
That was a reason unto itself to see Jalal to the throne.
She’d be saving a whole kingdom from having Haida
r as king.
Four
“How far are you willing to go for her?”
Haidar blinked, unable to turn his gaze from the second most magnificent sight he’d ever seen.
It was downright…magical. The undulating shore hugging pristine, placid aquamarine that in turn tugged at its unique red-gold edge in a tranquil, laced-in-delicate-froth dance. The bay that sent a tendril of land to almost touch the island teeming with palm trees just half a mile away. The canopy of crisp azure adorned in brushstrokes of incandescent white. Every wisp of breeze, every whiff of fragrance, every ray of light…breathtaking.
And he’d thought nothing could take his breath away anymore.
Seemed instead of becoming harder as he grew older, he was getting softer. A tiny, barefoot woman in a bathrobe had done just that last night. Taken it away, and held it at bay with her every move. And this place felt like an echo of…
“Her?”
He repeated the word as his eyes fell on his much smaller, middle-aged companion. He kept forgetting he was there.
The man, overdressed for the time and climate, beamed. “The estate. In the real estate business, everyone refers to it as ‘her.’ Comes from dozens of men going to lengths to acquire it that are normally reserved for bewitching and out-of-reach women.”
He could see how. He’d gone driving last night after he’d left Roxanne, and he’d registered nothing until he’d happened by this place.
He’d parked at the top of the dune that overlooked it, watched it transition through the grandeur of a starlit canvas to the glory of a majestic dawn to that of a sun-drenched morning. That he could appreciate any of it while he wrestled with his need to tear his way back to Roxanne proved this place was phenomenal indeed.
But as he’d sat there suffering, it had become clear to him.
He wanted her. And he would have her. Here.
He’d called Khaleel with his GPS coordinates, told him he would buy this place. In less than an hour the real estate agent had arrived, drooling at the prospect of a record-breaking deal.
They were standing at the ground-level terrace surveying the house that looked like a cross between a huge tent and a sail ship.
“…as you’ve seen, apart from the unique location and natural assets of this place, the house itself is a miracle of design. All bedrooms suites, sitting areas, upper and lower kitchens, formal and informal dining rooms have a sea view. Everything is arranged in an exquisite amalgam of Ottoman and Andalusian summer courtyard style, with waterways and gardens nestled within the interior—”
“As I have seen.” Haidar interrupted the slick Elwan Al-Shami’s sales pitch. He’d let him take him through the place, even though he’d already seen it as he’d waited for his arrival. The estate’s caretakers had fallen over themselves to show him around as soon as they’d recognized him. “Let’s close the deal.”
The man’s eyes brimmed with eagerness, yet Haidar could see he wasn’t ready to do so yet. He was programmed to keep driving a client’s acquisition need to fever pitch before he sprang the killing price. Even now that Haidar had made his efforts redundant, he couldn’t stop before his program had run through.
“When the owner heard it was you, he named a too-exorbitant figure. That’s why I asked how far you’re willing to go.”
Haidar swept his gaze around the place that answered any visions of heaven he’d ever had. “Shrewd man. He knows it would sell no matter how high he goes.”
“And he demands cash. That’s why those who bought it before fell behind in paying the installments of the huge loans they took, had to relinquish it to the indebting banks. The owner was always there to buy it back and make a profit.”
“He won’t be buying it back this time.”
“As long as you’re sure—”
“B’Ellahi ya rejjal. Name your price.”
The man blinked at Haidar’s growl. Then licking his lips nervously, he did.
Haidar whistled. No wonder many men had been broken by their desire to acquire this place.
Just as the man started to look worried, Haidar gestured to the distance. “Throw in those dunes and the land up to the road and you have a deal. Send me the contract and payment details. I want this finalized by tomorrow morning.”
Before the man could express his elation at this once-in-a-lifetime deal, Haidar waved goodbye and headed to his car.
As he drove away, he took one more turn around the area to soak in the sight of the place that would be his in hours. It already felt as if it had always belonged to him.
He could have gotten it at half the asking price.
But this haven of solace and seclusion was worth the expense. It hadn’t felt right to haggle for something he appreciated this much.
And then, he had to save bargaining powers for what lay ahead.
The war of reacquiring Roxanne.
* * *
Haidar’s body now officially hated “Cherie.”
If it sustained lasting damage from the blow of deprivation her sudden appearance had dealt it, it would remember her as his worst enemy.
Nothing was working to mitigate the gnawing need for Roxanne. Not even bringing himself to release twice while mentally reenacting their plummet into sensual delirium, this time to an explosive end.
He’d continue to ache until he slaked his hunger in her body. At least three times a day. For a month. To start.
He rested his forehead against the wet marble as he let the barrage of cold, needle-sharp water pelt his flesh, attempt to put out the inferno she’d relit inside him.
And to think he’d sought her out to prove that he’d blown her effect on him out of proportion. That he’d find the older edition of the woman who’d dealt him his life’s harshest humiliation and disillusion hard and off-putting. And that gaping hole in his psyche would be sealed once and for all.
Then he’d seen her. Talked to her. Dueled with her. Touched her. Fast-forward to his current agony.
Way to exorcise the memory of her, you idiot.
Instead, he’d only managed to resurrect it to full raging life. Worse. He’d managed to create a new breed of monster. An insatiable one that nothing would appease except total and repeated satisfaction of its every craving.
He had to give it everything it hungered for.
Not that she’d make it easy. Not that he’d want her to.
Sure, she’d melted at his touch, would have let him take everything he wanted, taken everything he gave. But he had no illusions. That surrender wouldn’t be repeated. For some reason, she was averse to letting him back into her bed. Perhaps the career woman she was wanted her men safe and convenient, when he was anything but. Or she feared indulging her lust would compromise her career. Whatever it was, the element of surprise had been expended. All he had now was post-almost-sex upheaval.
He had to strike again while the iron was white-hot.
He exited the shower cubicle, didn’t bother drying anything but his hands, strode across the hotel suite to his cell phone.
He dialed her number, gritted his teeth as he waited for her to pick up.
She would. Because she wouldn’t recognize his number.
“Hello?”
He squeezed his eyes. Aih. It hadn’t been temporary insanity. If one breathy hello could have him fully hard all over again, she now operated his hormonal controls.
His lips twitched in self-deprecation at his weakness, in satisfaction at intending to give in to it thoroughly.
“Is Cherie gone?”
The silence that greeted his question indicated that it had stopped her breathing. Good. He shouldn’t be the only one having trouble breathing over this thing between them.
“I can come over if she is.” He marveled at the humorous, sensual goading tha
t came so naturally when he talked to her. “Better still, you come to me. I’m at Burj Al Samaa.”
“Your turf is a hotel room?” she finally said. “And what would your terms be? Something from the room-service menu?”
A laugh rumbled from his gut. Ya Ullah, but this was new. He’d never enjoyed her wit this much before. But then, he hadn’t known she was witty. Now that he thought about it, they’d talked last night more than they’d talked in a month back then. Their limited, stolen times together had been consumed mostly by hot and heavy sex. Back then, all the talking she’d done had been with Jalal. He’d felt left out, and he hadn’t even known how much he’d missed.
He wouldn’t miss a thing now. He’d have it all. All the fire and friction and fun of her.
“But I’m proposing a continuation of our first round, not a second one. That will be on my turf and terms.”
“You’re…” He could tell she muffled the phone with her hand. He could still decipher what she said. “I’ll only be a moment. Sure, I’ll take another cup of tea.”
His smile froze. She…sounded totally different. Easygoing and eager. She’d never sounded like that with him. Not even when she’d been claiming to love him.
Then he heard the voice that answered her. Distant and muted. But definitely male.
Something hot and harsh spread like an intravenous shot of lava in his veins. Something he’d only ever felt on her account. Jealousy…
Jealousy? Now, that was idiotic. There was no application for anything like that in their situation. He shouldn’t…didn’t care what she did or who she did it with.
Even if he was stupid enough to care, she was probably at work, and that was a colleague or an assistant and he was again blowing things out of proportion…
“Listen, you exasperating lout. I spent this morning trying to resolve the mess you left behind, and the only thing I’ll do if I come to your temporary turf is kick you where it counts. So it would be potency-preserving for you to get off my case.”
Her threats still tickled him. But he couldn’t laugh this time. Not after he’d heard her talking to that man. Hearing the difference in her voice now doused his enjoyment.