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He shocked her. Hedidknow that it was her.
But then he crossed the space and wrapped his arm around her, drawing her into the room. “They will not touch you,” he said.
“There’s no one here,” she said.
“There was,” he said, insistent.
“No,” she said. “No one is here. You’re safe.”
But what she said was lost as he growled. And dragged her deeper into the room, throwing his body in front of hers as he pinned her to the wall.
She wrapped her arms around him, her hands on his chest, and she could feel his heart raging beneath her hands. “Riyaz,” she said softly. “Riyaz come back.”
She moved her hand slowly over his chest, down to his stomach.
Then moved her hands back up. And gradually, she felt his heart rate begin to slow. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “It’s okay.”
And then he turned suddenly, hands bracketed on either side of her face against the wall. She could scarcely breathe.
Her heart was thundering radically. His face was so close to hers. And then she reached up and touched him. “Riyaz.”
It was like the fog cleared. Suddenly.
And he came back. And then tension of a different kind began to move between them. He moved one hand around her waist, stroking her up and down the way that she had just done him. He was back now, but he was more feral. More himself in some ways, she thought.
He moved closer, and her eyes fluttered closed, and she forced them open. She wanted to watch this. Whatever might happen next.
You’re an idiot. He’s a sheikh. He’s supposed to marry somebody else. You’re supposed to be in love with his brother.
Yes. All great reasons to move away.
This is not what you want. You want a normal life. This could never be normal.
Still. She didn’t move away from him. Still. She stood there. At his command. Or maybe it was a different command. One that they were both subject to. One that neither of them could deny.
She didn’t know what she expected. Perhaps for him to lean in. Close the distance between them. To claim her mouth with his own. Instead, he touched her face. Dragging calloused fingers along her jawline, his thumb moving over her lip. And then he dropped his hand and stepped back.
“This won’t stop,” he said.
“I...” For a moment she was confused. For a moment, she didn’t understand what he meant. But of course he meant the flashback. But right in that second she had thought that perhaps he’d admitted to the thing between them. The pulse that arced there.
“It will. It’ll get better. It will...”
He growled. She flattened herself against the wall. Not because she was afraid of him. But because she was afraid of what she might do.
“No. It will not. There is something broken in me. If Cairo needs me to be a figurehead, then that is well enough. But as to whether or not I can rule...”
“Don’t let them take it from you,” she said, the words coming out fiercely.
She was shocked by it. By the intensity of what she felt. But it wasn’t fair. He was a strong man. A proud man. One who would do everything possible to protect those in his life.
Those that he cared for.
He would do the same for his country, she knew it.
“It’s PTSD, Riyaz. Soldiers get it when they go to war. Many people have it after they’ve experienced abuse.”
“I read, remember? I’m familiar. But whatever you call it, it is unacceptable for a man like me. For a man in my position. I must be what they need me to be.”
