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Sitting at the edge of the couch, she stretched her legs out to take up all three cushions. She looked deliberately at the chair, but he just grinned and picked up her legs until he could scoot under her.
“Hey!” she protested as he draped her legs over his lap.
“My couch,” he replied simply before he started rubbing her feet.
Heat pulsed between her legs, but she tried to ignore it. She also wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of pulling her legs away in a cry for uncle.
“Fine. I could use a foot massage. A little harder, please,” she said primly.
He snorted but didn’t rise to the bait. “Do you want to talk about Liyah now?”
Mila didn’t want to talk about Liyah.
She didn’t want to discuss anything that was going to ruin the pleasure of having a ridiculously wealthy sheikh massage her aching feet. “We just had a fight. I think she had a hard time explaining how she felt, and I said a bunch of things that I didn’t mean. I can’t just call her up on the phone and apologize. She deserves to see me grovel in person.”
Rashid actually seemed interested. “Do you two fight often?”
“Not at all, but we have a special relationship. We met the first time we both came to Dubai, and then we were pen pals after that. This last visit, she was only here for a short while before she met Asad, so we haven’t even really had time to fight.”
Rashid stroked his thumb across the arch of her foot, sending waves of pleasure up her leg. “I’m sure she’ll understand. Why did you return to Dubai?”
She swallowed hard and leaned back into the pillow behind her. “My father died a year ago,” she said softly. “We were very close, and his death was hard on me. He made me promise before he passed away that I would do everything that I could to fulfill my dreams. I wanted to travel. I wanted to see the world, but that takes money. So I figured that Dubai was a good starting point.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the sensations his fingers were evoking, then resumed her tale. “Liyah and I had both decided that we would return, and Sahaar had stopped taking students in after her husband died, and she told us that we would both have a room there, anytime. I figured it would make a good starting point. The city is incredible. The culture, the atmosphere. It’s like living in a fairy tale. It’s a good place to go if you want to try and believe in yourself again.”
He took his hands away from her foot, and she struggled not to show her disappointment. The man’s hands were magic. She opened her mouth to object, but he was only moving his hands from her left foot to her right. He resumed the heavenly massage and then brought her back to the conversation. “What do you want to see?”
Her eyes widened in pleasure. “Are you kidding me?” She laughed and tossed her arms above her head. “Anything. Everything. America is great, but it doesn’t even come close to the natural beauty and history of the rest of the world. I want to roam the halls of ancient castles and gaze upon the art in Paris. I want to shop in Italy and visit the amazing caves in Vietnam. I want to scuba dive with whales and paraglide over the forests.”
“Live a nomadic life?”
“Sort of. I still want roots. I want to be surrounded by people I love, people who love me, and I need a place to call home, but I want the freedom to roam every now and again. What about you? If you weren’t tied down with business and family responsibilities, what would you do?”
Rashid smiled at her as the massage turned into a light touch, gently stroking. It wasn’t seductive but rather comforting. “I’ve never thought about it. As boys, our responsibility to our family is drilled into our heads. My parents are lucky to have three boys.”
“And Amira,” Mila reminded him.
He snorted. “We all love Amira, but she’s more of a curse than a blessing.” He grunted as Mira playfully kicked him and then smiled as she allowed him to capture her feet once again. “But I like to think that I’ve been able to enjoy my life. Society may disapprove of some of the things that I’ve done, but you have to cut loose and live a little. The sports complex is successful and takes up most of my time, but I still know when to blow off some steam. I make time for the things I want to do in life.”
“And the money to do what you want,” she added wryly.
“That does help.”
Mila stared at him, quiet for a moment. It was refreshing to have an open and honest conversation with the man. Here, on this couch, she felt like she was getting to know the real Rashid. “When you’re married, will you still enjoy your life, as you put it?”
“If you’re asking me if I’ll stray, the answer is no. I would respect my wife, and we would find things that we enjoy doing together. Like traveling.”
Mila’s heart slammed inside her chest. “And scuba diving with whales and paragliding over forests?” she whispered.
His hands stilled as he stared at her. “I’m in for the paragliding, but I might have to wait for you on the boat when it comes to whales. I prefer to be on the water rather than in it. I would definitely take you shopping in Italy and to the Louvre in France. I’ll explore caves for you and rent entire castles for you to get lost in.”
“Rashid,” she whispered.
“Mila, wait. Just hear me out,” he said in a low voice. He pushed her legs aside and stood. She straightened as she watched him walk into his bedroom. When he returned, he had a small velvet box in his hand. He settled on the couch next to her and took her hand.
“I did this all wrong in the beginning. Then it was about finding a wife, but after I spent some time with you, it became more about you. I thought you would be perfect for the situation that I was in, but now I think you might just be perfect for me. I bought this ring for you after the gala. I could have gone bigger, but I thought you might prefer something understated and elegant. Like yourself.”
Her breath caught in her throat as he opened the box. It was a small, brilliant, emerald-cut diamond, but it sparkled with perfect clarity. Every side caught the light and lit up like fire.
