The Sheikh’s Forced Bride(33)
Coming out of the water, Khalid grabbed a towel to dry off.
Casey’s mouth went dry—dripping wet, the man was beautiful. Tall, tan and movie-star muscles left him quite the eyeful. She picked up her tropical fruit drink and said, “I’m done as a reporter.”
Khalid sat down in the chair next to her and pulled her feet into his lap. “Oh, and why?”
She waved at the scenery—the palms, the warm breeze from the desert and the sun glinting on the bay and the luxury hotel behind them, built low so it blended into the rocky coastline. “This—I’m becoming a travel writer. All I seem to want to do is focus on raving about this lavish, carefree lifestyle.”
The corner of Khalid’s mouth curved. “What if you had a look behind things? A Sheikh’s life is not all about fun. I have a business meeting to attend for my father this afternoon. I could ask the hotel manager to let you talk to the staff. They would show you the other side of the pleasure—how much work it is to make the guests feel pampered.”
She sat up suddenly. “That’s it. I don’t have to do travel articles—that’s fluff. But a book—that’s something substantial. It wouldn’t just be a travel guide, it’d be the insider’s guide. A look behind the scenes.”
She jumped up and kissed him. “When can I start? This afternoon? You don’t need me at this meeting, do you?”
Khalid grinned. “Want…yes. Need…no. Besides, I think my father has been sending meetings my way as a way of testing if what you told him is true—that his sons are ready for responsibilities. But I also think he would shudder to have you at one of these meetings. He is not quite certain what radical American ideas you might have.”
Grabbing her wrap, Casey slipped it on over her swimsuit and grabbed her laptop.
Khalid stood and slipped his hands up under the cover-up and onto her skin. “We have time before my meeting and your tour of the hotel. I suggest we use it well—and I want to thank you, my lovely wife.”
Casey blinked. “Thank me for what? You’re the one who just gave me a great idea.”
“And you are the one who has helped my father see me for more than a…a sulky Sheikh. You are like a breath of air every day. I think I am a better man with you. And a lucky one to have you as my wife. I…I feel almost as if I have been given a true chance to prove myself…and to step out from my father’s shadow.”
She heard the hesitancy in his voice and knew the words did not come easy to him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she told him, “You’re not the only one who had a chance for a new life here. I…I might have been stuck doing the same thing over and over, trying to be something I really wasn’t. I always thought Luke was holding me back—that if only I could get a spectacular story that would make my career. Now I can look back and see I wasn’t writing with my heart—I was trying to impress everyone. Sharjah showed me a new world—and my real talents. I’m the one who needs to thank you,” she confessed.
Khalid tightened his hold on her waist, his skin cool against hers. “Shall we take our mutual thanks and admiration into the bedroom where it can be better expressed?”
Casey laughed and kissed her gorgeous husband. “Please. Always. Forever.”
Standing up on tiptoe, she kissed him, hungry for more, running her hands over his back. He pulled away, let out a long breath and took her hands. “Too much more of that in public may lead to both of us in jail for it will have me stripping off that very small bikini of yours to make love with you on the sand.”
Wrapping an arm over her shoulder, he started back to their room. She fell into step with him. Resting her hand on the small of his back, she asked, “Do you think this really will last? Will we be this much in love with each other in ten years? Twenty? Fifty?” He stopped and turned her to face him. “I love you, Casey. I will always love you. This will last not just ten years or twenty or fifty but for as long as the sands burn and the ocean whispers.”
She wrapped her arm around his waist. “Take me to bed and make love to me, my Sheikh. And then you’re off to a meeting and I’m getting a tour and starting a book. And we’re going to live one amazing story.”
He pulled her closer to him. “But of course we are.”