“How would you know?” she shot back. “You’re always protected by armed security. He’s just a little boy.”
“He’s also my son. He will have all the protection necessary. Far more than what he has now.”
Rebecca stood up from the table as the maids came to clear it. Stalking toward the edge of the terrace, she kept her back to him as she stared out toward the horizon, watching the sky darken. She stiffened when she felt his hands on her waist.
Sighing, she leaned back against him. “It’s incredibly beautiful here.”
Pushing her hair aside, he nuzzled her neck before kissing a line from her ear down to her shoulder. As she started to pull away from him, he tightened his hold on her, as he continued to kiss her.
“It is indeed,” he murmured, the sound of his voice causing goose bumps to pop up on her arms as she shivered in his arms.
“We aren’t finished talking about this, Zaid,” she admonished as she felt her resolve cracking away with each kiss.
Switching to the other side of her neck, he repeated the kisses on that side. “Agreed.”
Knowing she needed to put a stop to this, she tried again, “We also can’t do this in your father’s home.”
“It’s my home too and as I pointed out earlier, we aren’t in it, we’re on it.”
She chuckled before moaning, as he resumed kissing her. Standing here like this reminded her of that night they had stood on the balcony of her hotel room, the same way they stood on the palace terrace tonight, the culmination of a whirlwind romance that had developed over the course of his visit to the States.
She had been young and impressionable; or so she told herself to make missing him sting a little less. He was a blend of confidence and kindness, a gentle giant who knew all the right ways to touch a woman but could still use his body to keep her safe; the way he had at the bridge today.
As they’d watched the sun melt into the horizon from her hotel room, she had turned to kiss him, and found him waiting for her, eager as she planted her lips gently against his. Their mouths opened together, allowing their tongues to meet between them. Their kiss filled her body with the golden rays of the setting sun.
She had wrapped her arms around him and pulled him against her as her desire grew for him, burning deep within.
She pulled back from the kiss to find that they weren’t standing on the balcony of her American hotel room. They were standing on the rooftop terrace. No matter how much she had missed him, no matter how many dreams she’d had over the years, she wasn’t ready to do this again. She couldn’t believe that she was allowing her emotions to get the best of her.
She was in Sharjah to do a job, not to rekindle her long lost love.
“I, uh, I need to go,” she said quietly, and pulled herself away from Zaid, stumbling as she hurried from the terrace.
8
After Rebecca left, Zaid spent a restless night going over everything that had happened at dinner. Unable to sleep, he ended up in the palace gym and spent the next forty minutes pounding out his pent up energy on the treadmill. When he finally stopped, he was thinking more clearly. Rebecca had been right to leave. He still had no idea what Alacabak was up to and it wasn’t a smart idea to provide him with whatever fuel he was after right under his nose.
Thankfully, Candace didn’t say anything about the attack on the bridge to any of the investors and they were eager to continue their tour today.
He stood in the lobby of the brand new sports complex and business conference center with Alacabak Noozu beside him. They welcomed the members of the tour as they arrived from the hotel, escorted by a small security detail unit.
The front of the building was all glass. Inside, the lobby was wide-open, taking up the whole front of the building. As the guests walked in through the glass door, Zaid approached with his arms spread wide to welcome them, stepping away from Alacabak, who would have been content to wait for them to walk up to him.
“Welcome to the new Sharjah Sports Complex and Conference Center. I apologize for being unable to accompany you yesterday afternoon. An urgent matter came up, but I trust the representatives from the palace were able to keep everything on track,” Zaid began.
As the last few guests entered the building and joined the group, including Rebecca, bringing up the rear just as she had when they first arrived, Zaid continued. “This modern building was recently built by the Tadros Twins. Its amenities include state of the art athletic facilities and a modern conference center. It also offers shuttle services to and from all the major hotels in Sharjah so that visitors don’t have to worry about securing their own transportation. This represents another step forward for the region as we strive to keep up with our neighbors and bring the Emirate into the twenty-first century.”
There was one sour face in the group, one person who didn’t seem overly impressed with the conference center. Rebecca.
“I have some questions,” she announced from the back of the group.
“Yes, Ms. Reid,” Zaid answered, keeping his voice pleasant though inwardly he groaned. “I’ll be happy to answer your questions.” After she’d run away from him last night, he’d resolved to keep things strictly professional. At least while they were with the investors.
“First, how much were the workers paid?” she asked.
This again? Zaid thought, as he gritted his teeth and pasted a smile on his face. Whatever warmth there might have been between them the night before, whatever he’d managed to hold onto after she’d bolted, vanished. Why couldn’t Rebecca ever simply let it rest?
“Now, as far as the details of worker compensation, hours, and benefits, all of that is handled by the national labor board. Their job is to ensure that companies hirin