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Suddenly, it felt as if he was standing behind a wall she’d erected. He shouldn’t miss the messy, volatile Yana he’d once known, but he had a sudden feeling that this defensive barrier was a fundamental part of her.
“If that’s a problem for you—”
“You keep thinking I’m still hung up on you. I’m not. Haven’t been for a very long time. It might even be the right thing for all of us, because who knows how much time you actually give Zara. This way, you’ll be forced to take time off from your work.”
And there was the truth, putting him in his place in the perfect way. As only she could. “Yes, fine, you can spend time with Zara every year. But we don’t have to put it in a contract.”
“We do. I don’t trust your good opinion of me will last forever.”
And that was, apparently, that.
Pushing out her long legs, she reclined her seat and closed her eyes. Her arms were folded around her midriff, thrusting her small breasts up.
It took him seventeen long seconds to look away from the enticing picture she made even in repose, from her shiny hair to the deep cleavage at the V of her blouse to the long legs bared in pink shorts.
She was right.
He had no idea how the aftermath of these three months was going to look. Because the truth he’d refused to accept until now was that this woman had always threatened his control. Had always pushed and prodded at all the rules he’d lived his life by. She made him want to risk everything again all over. She made him forget the excruciating pain of loving and losing.
CHAPTER FIVE
“YANA?WAKEUP.”
Yana tightened her arms around the solid warmth that enveloped her, needing to sleep for another thousand hours. “Get off. Leave me alone.”
A soft tap on her cheek, followed by a chuckle, tickled the blurry edges of her consciousness. “We’re here. Let’s go, sleepyhead.”
She was warm, and cozy and so tired, and the voice sounded so good against her temple. Like a deep bass reverberating through her, weaving a web of comfort she’d rarely known. “That’s not how you wake up someone,” she mumbled, snuggling closer and pouting.
A sigh and a hiss disrupted her pleasant state.
“Ahh... Would you like me to try the Sleeping Beauty method? I don’t know my fairy tales properly but I think it involved a kiss.”
A kiss? That deep, husky voice was offering a kiss to wake me up? Would it be as delicious as he sounded?
It wasn’t a bad way to wake up, even though she’d always found the idea of someone kissing her to save her a bit problematic.
“Come on, Yana. Unless you want me to act on that threat.”
Slowly, she blinked her eyes open and found amber-colored eyes gleaming back at her in the dark interior of the car. They were like warm, deep pools, inviting her to sink into them. She frowned. Something was wrong with the cozy picture, in and out of her head. In the past ten years, she’d only ever seen those eyes staring at her with contempt or anger.
It was Nasir. But why was Nasir offering to wake her up with a kiss? Was she dreaming again?
The car came to a sudden stop, forcing her to take stock of the surroundings. Through the tinted windows of the chauffeured car, she spotted a dark gray twilight sky, punctured by thick, tall trees that seemed to stand to attention, watching their arrival.
Her eyes widened as she realized she was in the car with Nasir and that they’d finally arrived at their destination. When he handed her a tissue, she stared at it blankly. A sigh left him before he gently wiped at the corners of her mouth.
Yana sprung back from him as if he were a viper flicking his forked tongue at her. Slowly, she pulled her limbs away from around him, even as her body bemoaned the loss of his solid warmth.
“It’s okay. You’re okay, Yana,” he said so softly that the incongruence of it froze her. He’d never spoken to her with that tenderness. Not in ages. “You fell into an exhausted sleep,” he added.
She wiped the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand and repeated the same to gritty-feeling eyes.
“Why am I not surprised that you are such an aggressive cuddler when you’re asleep?” he said, a hint of humor peeking through his tone.
“It’s information you shouldn’t have at all,” she quipped, feeling irrationally resentful. Though she knew he’d said it to put her at ease.
“No?”
