patted her down in an impersonal manner. As if he was used to her antics and had done it a thousand times before. As if he cherished his right to indulge her.
A hard knot made its place in Amira’s throat.
His hands rested on her shoulders. The sheer breadth of him took her breath away anew.
“So what was it this time?”
Caught staring at him once again, Amira frowned. “What was what?”
“What caused you to divulge all those important facts about dimples to me? Was I making you sad, perhaps? Upset? Angry?”
“You’re shamelessly goading me into admitting something I shouldn’t. Isn’t it enough that I made a fool of myself?”
“Please, ya habibiti.”
She raised a brow, stalling for time. “Why do I have the feeling you never say that word?”
He shrugged. “A couple of times in the last decade.”
She sighed. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know. “I’m attracted to you. I could steal all kinds of romance novels from the library and read about all the feelings that hit a woman when she finds a man attractive, but it’s not even close to what I feel. You could be forgiven for thinking it was all cooked up to sell books, this whole chemistry thing. And yet...it’s new and it’s strange and it’s utterly scary and it’s...”
Heartbreaking and painful.
Despair swamped her so fully and so suddenly that she pulled away from him. Looking up, she fought for composure.
Stars glittered in the sky above, winking at her. The fragrant night with its whispers and taunts seemed like a punishment now. It promised something she could never have.
Warmth coated with his scent reached her back. She tensed as he stilled behind her. Her pulse zigzagged all over at the closeness. He didn’t even touch her.
“Come away with me, Amira. Just for a few hours. I promise you again I would never harm you.”
“It’s wrong.”
“Why?”
“I’m not free to be attracted to you like this. I’m not free to indulge in this...this late-night stolen moment with you. And not just because my father would skin me alive if he found out.” Longing curled through her and she tried to shut it away. “I’m a betrothed woman.”
There was that contained energy within him again. Like walking too close to fire. “Is it your fiancé that...” the words choked in his throat “...that hurt you?”
“No. He...is a perfect gentleman who barely even looks at me. If you ask him what color my eyes are, I’m sure he wouldn’t know.”
“Then who is it?”
“My father. He...his temper gets away with him.”
Whatever it was that made him cover the last step between them, she didn’t care. His arms enveloped her on either side and unlocked her tight grip on the sill.
The graze of his hard chest against her back ripped open a longing inside of her. One, two, three...four seconds before she fell into his embrace. Sensations beat upon her. He was so shockingly hard all over—his abdomen against her back, his thighs resting against the back of hers, his muscular arms wound tightly around her own... He didn’t press the part of him that she wanted to feel most, to her wicked shame.
And yet, she felt consumed by him.
She closed her eyes and leaned back into him. The scent of him filled her every breath. His heart thundered against her back. She rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand, curious for the feel of him.
His skin was rough and tanned, his fingers long and square-nailed. A dark emerald jewel sat on his ring finger and Amira traced it, too, carving it into memory.
It was the first time in her life that she had been held like this by a man. It was both exhilarating and comforting—just like the man himself.
“Is that why those shadows linger in your beautiful eyes? Because you love this man you are to marry but he does not love you in return?”
“Love? I would settle for acknowledgment as a person. My father is King Tariq’s closest friend. I have been betrothed to Prince Zufar for most of my life.” A bitter laugh escaped from her mouth. “I’m to be the future Queen of Khalia, Adir.
“I’ve been trained, educated, groomed, molded to within an inch of my life to complement Prince Zufar in every way. My life has never been my own. My will can never be mine. My dreams and desires...are not mine.”
SHOCK BARRELING AT him with the might of a sandstorm, Adir struggled to hold himself still. She was Zufar’s betrothed... The future Queen of Khalia!
The realization drummed in tune with his heartbeat even as desire filled every inch of his body. “You’re shivering,” he whispered, moving his hands up and down her arms.
Thoughts came and went through his head like sand held in a palm. His fingers must have tightened over her shoulders for she let out a soft gasp.
Adir gentled his grip, but for reasons he couldn’t fathom, he didn’t want to let her go.
The bones at her shoulders jutted under his palms as he tried to soothe her. And himself.
Desire for her, he understood. She was beautiful, brave, smart, funny.
But this fierce possessiveness that coursed through his blood... It stemmed from something else.
That she was his half brother’s most precious possession perhaps? Now in his hands?
“I should walk away.” Her words were a whisper in the night—a plea, a demand on herself. Yet she didn’t move from the cradle of his arms. “From you. From this moment. It only tells me how much I cannot have. This...” she brought his arms up to her face, burying it in his palms. The soft buss of her kiss against his skin burned him “...only pains me. Only reminds me of how much I never had. And never will have.”
“Shh... I only want to hold you, Amira,” he said, even as his mind raced. “Whatever you need, it is here, now, with me.”
Turning, she burrowed into him. Her arms wrapped around his waist, her face hidden in his chest. The scent of her hair filled his own breath. He wrapped thick strands of her hair around his fingers, coiling and uncoiling, not unlike his own thoughts.
She was so damn innocent and trusting. Such a gift. A gift Zufar didn’t deserve. A gift Zufar didn’t even value, for why else would she crave a stranger’s company so much?
A gift that had unwittingly fallen into Adir’s hands.
He raised her chin until she was looking into his eyes. The transparent desire he saw there banished any doubts he might have
