Page 77 of The Billionaire's Timed Wife

“That I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you.”

“Is that why you didn’t mind me sleeping with my mother last night? I thought maybe you’d already lost interest because I’m no longer a novelty. Jazmina told me your flings don’t last more than a week.”

I take a step forward. “You’re not a fling. You’re my future wife. As for losing interest? Not even close.” I shake my head, smiling. She has no idea the power she holds over my body. “I thought it wiser that we not sleep alone at my apartment. I’m not perfect, but I don’t want to ruin this. We’ve waited this long; I can hold out until our wedding day.”

“Hold out?”

I brush a lock from her shoulder, my fingers threading through her hair. “That’s right,hold out, my fiancée. Because the moment our ceremony is complete, you’ll be mine. I intend to claim your body and teach you to claim mine, too. To bury myself in you so deep you won’t remember who you were before I possessed you. To join with you until our flesh is one. And that’s why there is no possibility of us sleeping in separate rooms once we’re married. No matter how long I spend inside you, Adeela, I know it will never be enough.”

She sighs, tilting her face to give my touch more access, and even knowing I shouldn’t, I kiss her.

The spark explodes at the simple brush of our mouths, but I force myself to retreat.

“Now that we’ve settled that, let’s go back to our seats. I can’t stay locked in a room with you without touching you.”

I thought she’d be embarrassed by my bluntness, but instead of stepping away, she comes closer.

“You said that when you take my body, I won’t remember what it was like before you. I already don’t remember, Kaled.”

Arrival in Rheadur

I don’t know who’s more nervous when the plane door opens: Adeela or her mother.

Their anxiety gets to me, but what bothers me is something else I see on their faces: fear.

“No one will harm you. You’ll have palace guard protection at all times.” In the chaos of the past few days, I forgot to tell them about the security measures I put in place.

“Will we both stay at the palace?” my fiancée asks.

“Yes, as we agreed. But later, if you don’t want to live there, all you need to do is tell me. I’ll build a house, or several, to your taste.”

“I’ll live wherever you are. Anywhere you are will be my home.”

“And you’ll be mine. Which is why I say I’d die a thousand deaths before I let anyone harm you or my mother-in-law.”

I stop in front of Adeela, wishing we weren’t on our country’s soil, where touching her in public isn’t acceptable. Even when my father ruled and we didn’t follow sharia[33] strictly, it still wouldn’t have been allowed. Unlike male friends, who can hold hands, husband and wife cannot.

“Come with me, my Adeela, and step off this plane with your head held high. In a few days you’ll be my wife, the only one I’ll ever have, and my people must respect and cherish you as they do me.”

I don’t miss that she and her mother are both without the hijab. I decreed its use optional, and seeing that she believes me and dares, for the first time in our country, to keep her hair uncovered, fills me with pride.

She told me that even before Naim made head coverings mandatory again, she never wore her hair out because her father forbade it.

The frightened girl who left Rheadur isn’t the same as the woman returning as my future wife. A little time away from Arif’s toxic presence was enough for her to bloom.

The aircraft door opens, and after the bodyguards step out to scan the crowd, we position ourselves to descend.

I look up at the cloudless sky and let the sun of my land warm my face.

When I face forward and see the people waiting, my heart swells in my chest.

There are shouts of welcome, hands raised, a few citizens on their knees.

And for the first time since I left to study in Switzerland as a teenager, after all my travel to the four corners of the globe, I realize this is my place.

My people. My world.

I’m paused on the second step, waiting for the women to follow me, and only when I sense Adeela at my back do I move again.