by Kalia Lewis
"Just be you." He smiled encouragingly at her. "If there are any difficult questions, I will ad-lib and we’ll learn more about each other as we go along."
Making that her cue to leave, she nodded before pushing her chair back from the table. It had probably been the most bizarre twenty-four hours of her life. "If you don’t mind I think it’s time to retire. I’m absolutely pooped." Placing her chair back into position, she turned to walk to the bedroom doors. "Goodnight, Tariq."
Tariq stood up to put the lids back on the food and collect up the plates. "I will be along shortly," he responded in a gruff tone.
Turning swiftly to face him, she visibly shivered at his words. "You can’t be serious. Surely you aren’t going to...I mean...not with me...how about you sleep on the sofa?"
Keeping himself occupied with the cutlery, he answered smoothly, "No can do." Whatever his feelings were on the subject of this marriage, Katie's refusing to sleep in the same bed as him was not acceptable.
"What?" she exclaimed. "You’re really going to lie in the same bed as me?"
"The last time I checked, that’s what married people do," he replied gently.
"But we’re not really married!"
"Yes we are."
"No we’re not."
"Yes we are, and it’s for life."
That wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear. "But you promised me. No funny business."
"I promised not to make a move on you. If it makes you feel better you can put a line of pillows between us." Aiming to keep it light and not make a big deal out of it, he raised his eyebrows and grinned at her.
Crossing her arms over her middle, she huffed at him. "This is not funny, Tariq."
Closing the distance between them in several long easy strides, Tariq put his hands on her shoulders and gazed into her worried looking eyes. "We may be here for some time until I can get proof about Hassan and Amira. Until then, I can’t let the staff pick up on our separate sleeping arrangements. We need to look like a newly wedded couple who are in coital bliss." He wished the 'coital bliss' bit was true.
The warmth from his touch pierced her skin. "Okay, but one wrong move and I swear you'll end up as a eunuch!"
Lowering his head, he put his lips mere centimetres from hers. The heat between them soared. "I will let you decide if there'll ever be anything more than a working relationship between us, but here's my warning. The second you give me a green light, I won't give you a chance to change your mind." Electric energy pulsated between them. Even though he wanted to dive right in and throw her over his shoulder and carry her to bed, he'd promised her the space to make the first move, but if she so much as gave him the nod, she'd become his completely.
Dropping her eyes to look at those full lips made her lick her own in response. "Oh, I assure you, it will be business all the way," she breathed, as she mentally thought about leaning in and nibbling on them.
Tariq’s heart beat faster at the seductive tones of her voice and his blood rushed into his lower regions. His thumbs were making small circles on her collarbone. Just the feel of her was causing his body to go into overdrive. Letting go of her shoulders, he watched as she turned to open the door and he playfully smacked her rump. "I won't mind if you sleep naked," he teased.
"In your dreams mate," she retorted in a smiling tone as she rushed through the door and made her way through the bedroom and into her dressing room.
Crap!
This marriage just kept getting more complex by the minute. Rummaging through the drawers, she pulled out a long Victorian styled nightgown, "Nope, definitely not!" A pair of green and white striped pyjamas also got tossed out. "Too much like toothpaste," she muttered out loud. Seriously, she thought, whoever had gone shopping for these night clothes needed a girlie pep talk on fashion! Finally, she settled on a pair of pink pyjama shorts with tiny printed white flowers and a white T-shirt with a glittered red heart in the centre. "I'll feel about twelve lying next to an Arabian god," she mumbled, as she headed for the bathroom.
Once in there she spent a ridiculous amount of time in primping herself by flossing her teeth - twice - brushing her hair until her brush held more hair than her head and scrubbing her face until it was red. Finally, she felt just about ready to climb into that big bed with Tariq. Leaving the bathroom, the clothes bomb in the dressing room demanded her attention, so she began to tidy that up too. In the end, she realised that she was purposely avoiding the moment, so she took a deep breath, opened the door to the bedroom and peered around it. The bed was empty.
Thank God!
On the humongous bed were several layers of pillows and cushions, so she pulled back the covers and began to arrange them down the centre. Stepping back to take a look, she saw that it wasn't right. The three tramlines of pillows only left her with about enough room to lie on her side. Shoving everything off, she started again, perhaps if she stacked them on top of each other? She'd just about finished her new three tiered wall when she felt someone behind her, watching her.
Tariq.
Turning to face him her breath caught in her throat. He was standing there with his hands on his hips looking at her with amusement, but it was the fact that his neck, chest, arms, stomach, wrists, legs and ankles were naked. She gulped. There was just too much nakedness, apart from a pair of tight, black, boxer briefs. "Erm, so no T-shirt for you then?" she asked.
He chuckled. "You're lucky I'm wearing these."
He normally goes commando!
Both of them looked at the black scrap of material.
"Being lucky is such an overrated thing," she quipped.
Tariq grinned. "I could make it unlucky for you?"
"No, no, absolutely not," she protested. "No funny business, remember?"
Tariq brushed past her and climbed into the bed, leaving a subtle scent of sandalwood behind him. Following him, she snuck under the cool cotton covers and peered at him over the wall. "Can you turn out the light please?"
The room descended into darkness and the only sounds came from their breaths as they combined and echoed around the room. Inside, she was wound up as tight as a spring. Plumping up her pillow with her fist, she dropped her head onto it and sighed heavily. There was no way she was going to get any sleep. A tingling sensation in her belly made her shuffle on the bed and she could feel her whole body humming for the man next to her. In fact, she'd bet that trillions of her atoms were planning a strategy on how to magnetically pull him over the wall. The traitors! She needed a distraction. "Tariq?" she asked brightly.
"Hmmm?" he replied sleepily.
Ask him something, anything to delay those atoms! "Do you have any other brothers and sisters?" Not a bad distraction, she mused.
"I have a sister called Miriam," he replied yawning.
"What's she like?" That was the one thing Katie had always yearned for, a sibling.
"She's wonderful. When she was born, she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, starving her of oxygen, which resulted in slight brain damage."
A little flutter of emotion burst from her heart. "Oh, that's so sad."
"Well, you'd think so wouldn't you, but it's never held Miriam back. She lives life to the full and she has a huge heart."
"I can't wait to meet her."
"You will tomorrow."
"I always wanted -"
"Katie," he cut in.
"What?"
"Go to sleep."
"I can't," she whispered. How could she with Mr. Hot Arabian God Bollywood lying next to her.
"Well, I could help you with that," he replied, smiling into the darkness.
The temptation to shove off all those pillows and make a grab for him was overpowering, but her mental logic reminded her that she'd only known him for just over a day, and for part of that she'd been unconscious. "No, no thanks, I'll go to sleep now."
Chapter Five
Tariq didn’t know where he began and she ended. Not daring to move, he lay there as still as a wooden board with Kati
e draped all over him. The pillows that she’d painstakingly placed between them last night were either at the bottom of the bed or on the floor.
His right arm was trapped at his side and his left was touching her bare knee as it bent over his middle. The little cute pyjama shorts had ridden up high on her thigh, revealing soft velvety skin and she still smelled of bloody lilacs. Gently, he moved her knee down lower and off his morning erection, which was stuck at double attention, living in the hope of some action after discovering the feel of full breasts against his chest.
Katie stirred at the heat of something on her leg. Images of a dark, brooding, sexy man filtered into her dream, caressing her thigh and then running his hands up the side of her body. In response to that touch, she moved her chest into the path of that hand, sighing in pleasure as it landed on her breast.
Tariq froze. His intention had been to move her off by her shoulder, but now he was palming the most delicious breast. If she woke up and caught him, she’d think he was doing the funny business. Carefully, he tried to lift his hand, but she grabbed his wrist and made a little mewing sound as she pushed deeper into his palm.
Shit!
Then he smiled wickedly. It wasn't his fault that her nipple was so erect through her T-shirt that you could’ve hung a coat on it. Not one for being able to resist such a delicious offer, he tweaked it gently and she pushed further into him.
In her dream, Katie bit her lip as the dark man pinched her nipple. "Mmmm, yes, just like that please," she murmured.
His dick just got harder.
How was he going to get out of this? Not that he really wanted to. Her plump breast felt divine in the palm of his hand, but he didn't want to face her wrath either. Turning towards her, he managed to dislodge her body, but she still had his wrist in a vice grip to her breast. Coughing gently, he called her name. Her eyelids fluttered in response, but she didn't wake up.
In her dream, Katie heard the dark man utter her name. "Yes, more," she answered breathlessly.
They were virtually lying face-to-face and Tariq itched to bite and suck at her lower pouting lip before moving to devour her whole. If she opened those big blue eyes of hers and found him licking her all over like a lollipop, he knew he’d be in the dog-house and tonight the sofa would be his bed partner, so he tried again. "Katie, wake up, you’ve trapped my hand."
"Hmm, what did you say?" The sexy man was fading, but the warmth on her breast was not. She snapped open her eyes to meet a pair of lazy, sensuous, hazelnut chocolate ones.
"My hand? Unless of course this is you making the first move?" he enquired, as humour seeped into his gaze.
She looked down at where she had his hand gripped to her breast. "Oh my God, crap!" Immediately, she let him go and he rolled out of the bed and strutted into his dressing room.
"Next time, I will take that as a green light," he called out, as he closed the door behind him.
Katie was mortified. It was bad enough having to share the same bed, but after taking one look at his near nakedness last night, she’d climbed into bed nearly choking with desire. By the time she’d managed to bring her body under control and get comfy, she’d had a random thought that perhaps it was him who needed the wall of pillows for protection from her jumping his bones. No wonder she’d had an erotic dream.
After a quick shower she dressed in a pair of pale blue linen pants with a matching tunic top. Making her way into the lounge area of the suite, she found Tariq waiting for her by the patio doors, which had been opened wide, allowing a cool breeze to drift in.
"I thought we might eat breakfast on the balcony and then decide what you would like to do with your day before the dinner tonight."
"Perfect," she muttered, still feeling slightly embarrassed about her iron grip of his hand to her breast. He gestured for her to go before him and she stepped out into the morning sunlight. The vista that met her eyes took her breath away. Endless powdery white sands and a turquoise ocean stretched out before her.
"You like?"
She shivered as he breathed the words into her neck. "I like very much," she answered with a smile in her voice.
"Come."
He turned her by her shoulders and guided her to a chair where he unfolded a napkin and laid it over her knees. "Thank you," she said politely, as she sneakily took in his profile out of the corner of her eye. Today, he was wearing jeans with a royal blue shirt tucked in. His sleeves were rolled up and his feet were bare, giving him a relaxed aura.
Sitting down next to her, he picked up an orange from the fruit bowl, rolled it in his hands and then slowly peeled away its skin before putting the fruit on her side plate. "Eat," he ordered.
No-one had peeled fruit for her since she was a child, but when he did it, she nearly drooled all over it. How can peeling an orange be so sensual! Now she was beginning to blush again. Taking a slice of the plump flesh she put it halfway into her mouth and sucked on it, feeling the tangy juice as it hit the back of her throat.
Tariq stood stock-still. The coffee pot hung in midair as his hands stopped in their tracks. Who on earth ate oranges like that! Heat shot to his crotch and he wished he could replace that slice with a certain piece of his anatomy. Damn! Here he goes with the sex thoughts again. Trying not to look over at her as she devoured the whole orange, slice-by-bloody-slice, he went about pouring the coffee and buttering his toast.
Katie noted his attempt at avoiding her, so she bit her final piece in half and sucked on it loudly, then asked, "Yesterday, you mentioned that you had a camera for me. Can I see it after breakfast?" It felt like forever since she’d been behind a lens and she was missing its constant presence.
The witch! "Sure. I’ll have a picnic packed up and we’ll do a bit of touring so that you can test out the camera if you like?"
A huge smile moved across her face and Tariq sucked in a breath. This was the first full-on smile she’d given him since Tristan and Annabelle’s wedding and it was like the sun coming out after a desert storm.
"Do you know the make and model of the camera that you have?" she asked him lightly. Okay, so she was seriously anal about the type of camera she preferred.
"Well, I wasn’t sure, so I ordered the top design of every make."
She nearly choked on her coffee. "Are you for real?"
He wasn’t sure whether that was a compliment or not, so he decided to dodge it by adding, "Once you pick one out we can return the others." That seemed to placate her as she nodded her approval.
After breakfast they left the suite and Tariq guided her further down the corridor and through another set of doors.
Katie was rendered speechless. The whole room was set up as an office-cum-photo lab, full of the latest technological equipment. Most of her work was now digital, but he’d cared enough to provide her with lighting, tripods and background screens for portraits. A table in the middle was full of various types of cameras and she fingered them one by one, Nikons, Leicas and Canons. Her favourite had always been the Canon EOS, which is what she'd left behind, but she couldn’t resist picking up her dream camera, the one she'd been going to buy when she’d established a name for herself - the Hasselblad H4D. It felt good in her hands, not too heavy. She held it up to her eye and clicked the shutter. It was an extraordinary piece of equipment. "This is incredible, Tariq, thank you. I will use this one and return it to you once we’ve finished the job."
Tariq couldn’t stop himself from smiling. She’d picked the one that he too thought was the best and his knowledge of cameras was zilch. "Take it, it’s yours."
"I...I," she stammered as she thought about her dressing room full of clothes and shoes in her size that had been bought for her. Accepting this too felt as though she was being overindulged.
Tariq could sense her quandary. "If you won’t take it as a gift, then see it as payment for your services."
Something darkened in her eyes and she raised her chin in a stubborn stance. "I didn’t marry you for money or to obtain possessions, Ta
riq. I married you to save your men’s lives and to see my father again."
He could’ve kicked himself for ruining a special moment. To ease the tension he raised his hands in the air as though surrendering. "Okay, I give in. Do it your way."
The pressure relaxed in her belly and she laughed. What was she thinking? He was only trying to be kind in this difficult situation. "Thank you. I accept your generous gift."
Now pleased, he nodded at her change of mind. "Shall we go?"
"Absolutely!" The excitement from earlier was now back.
Downstairs in the lobby, Thebes was waiting for them with a picnic basket and a straw bag containing suncream and a blanket.
"Your car is in the courtyard, Sayyid," he said with a wink at Katie.
She looked over Thebes' shoulder and saw a little red Mercedes convertible waiting for them. Smiley widely at Thebes, she was secretly pleased that they weren't going in the limo and she'd guessed that Tariq somehow knew that.
Following Tariq, who'd picked up the bags, she jumped into the passenger seat and then turned to take a picture of his profile as he started the engine. "Where’s your family?" she asked out of interest.
"They’re at the back of the house eating a leisurely breakfast by the pool."
"You have a swimming pool?" She gawked at him.
"Yes," he replied laughing, as he whizzed the car down the drive and out of the gates.
"So, where are you taking me?" she asked, as the breeze lifted her hair and fanned it out behind her.
"You’ll see," he said smiling at her.
Within a few minutes, he pulled into a carpark and from here she could see a bustling bazaar. Now giddy with the possibilities of colour, vibrancy and natural shots, she checked her camera before jumping out and following him through the gates into a swirl of noisy activity.
A few hours later, an exhausted Katie had taken over two hundred pictures. Never had she met such a warm welcome from people. Children had milled around laughing and smiling. Store owners had taken their time to show her their wares and allow her to take photographs. They'd even sat and had coffee with a carpet maker as he showed her how to weave the threads through the strings.