“The market is years old and one of the most respected sales markets of any kind in Dubai. Besides, you asked me what I loved in life. Did you really doubt when I said animals?”
“So if you didn’t have billions of dollars, a company of employees depending on you, and a country to run, then you’d be a camel rancher or breeder or whatever they’re called,” she said, scrunching her face up a bit at her inability to find the right camel-wrangling term.
They passed a stall where only a mother and her baby stood. The little one’s fur was so light that it was almost white and it stood no more than four feet high. His head was tiny in proportion to the rest of his body, and Addison chuckled at his gangly appearance once she realized how much he’d have to grow to be as big as his mother, who was easily twice as tall as he was, or at least it seemed like it with her hump.
“He’s so adorable,” she said.
Zahir nodded beside her and pulled a few juicy dates from his pocket. “Would you like to feed him? The market won’t object.”
“It would be bad to disagree with the wishes of your sheikh, wouldn’t it?” she asked, winking at him.
Addison knew that she had a tendency to put her foot in her mouth, and she knew she’d wounded him at first when she’d woken up at the palace. She just wanted him to understand that none of this was because he was sheikh or she wanted or (conversely) disdained his wealth. No, all of this between them was because they had shared such passion on that roof, and she’d never felt anything like it in her life. Part of her was scared she never would again if she ran from it.
“Yes,” he replied drolly. “I’ll make heads roll, have no doubt of that. I must have prime ability to carouse with camels at all times.”
“Well, at least you admit your monomaniacal dromedary tendencies,” she added, holding out her date, cupped in her palm. “That’s the first step to recovery.”
Zahir affected a deep, rousing bass and shook his head. “Being megalomaniacal is the best part of being a sheikh, don’t ask me to give up on the perks. And you need to hold your palm flat. It’s the best way to avoid being bitten by an overeager baby camel.”
“Well I would like to keep my fingers.”
He leaned forward and kissed her neck, teasing her pulse point as well with a quick flick of his tongue. Damn him. That tricky man was already stoking the fires within her belly, leaving her core aching for him. “They’re very talented. I have to admit that it would be a shame to lose them. I’d be rather devastated.”
“Good to know,” she said, holding out her palm and laughing at the camel’s soft and moist tongue lapping at her palm until he slurped up the date. “Aww, thanks for the kiss, little fella.”
“You’ll say that to him but not to me? Should I be offended?” he asked, this time kissing her neck and suckling hickies into her flesh. Addison blushed to think of the love bites that would be visible on her skin, marking her as the sheikh’s. “I should be thanked for my kisses as well.”
She turned and kissed him back, her tongue playing with his. “Then thank you for the perfect day and for such an adorable finis
h to the date so far. How did you get into animals? You said you had a falcon, right?”
He nodded and crooked his arm so that she could walk with him. “Maybe it would be more respectable to be a veterinarian than a breeder, but what I want to do more than anything else is to be free, to feel just that wilderness. Maybe I’m someone who’d fall off the grid and become a mountain man or a desert hermit if I didn’t have any other obligations, but I’d need a good steed with me, and in the desert, a camel’s a terrific companion.”
“I wouldn’t know,” she said. “I haven’t even ridden a horse before, let alone a camel.”
“Well, I’d like to fix that last part at least. For horses, of course we have Arabians back at the palace. We’ll have to set you up with that one day as well,” he admitted. Then he stopped in front of a camel held by a man in long white robes. The camel had a makeshift saddle, bumpy under a woven blue blanket. “Would you like a ride, my lady?”
Zahir punctuated his question by kissing the back of her hand. The cur.
She nodded as he helped her onto the camel first. Addison sat back on the seat and watched as Zahir effortlessly jumped in front of her. That was a relief. If she’d been responsible for trying to steer the animal, then they’d wind up in a ditch somewhere; God knew she had no idea how to do it. To be fair, she was sure that just kicking at the camel’s side a bit and begging with a “pretty please” wouldn’t help her.
Besides, this was better.
Like this, she was able to press her body against his back, to feel the heat and heft of him, and revel in his exotic scent. “I’m game for anything, my sheikh.”
Except telling you the full truth, about everything that we’ve actually done together. I just can never tell you that I’m your kitten.
She pushed those thoughts away—the worry that he’d somehow find out too much about her and run away, or that his pretty words and promises would mean nothing once they started work again on Tuesday. Right now, she had him, and she could cling tightly to the muscles of his body as they both rode off into the glimmering sunset.
It was enough for now.
It would have to be.
***
Her heart was still pounding when they got back to their bedroom. The bed was a four-poster monstrosity with a comforter of woven silk and golden thread. The camel ride hadn’t been fast or difficult. It hadn’t even been dangerous. There was no racing into the sunset, just a gentle ride where, okay, she’d been convinced she’d still fall off even if they were going a grand total of five miles an hour. Overall, she was glad that he’d come up with the idea. There was a lot to be said for being so near to him, to having a valid reason to cling to his body. If she’d sat in front, having his hardness so near to the cleft of her rear, bumping up against her with every step, then Addison knew she’d have been unable to have rational thoughts. Since she had been positioned behind him, riding with him hadn’t left her hot and bothered, desperate to feel all of him deeply inside of her.
Now, even though they were back and their contact had been reduced to his arm wrapped around her shoulders as they stood inside the room, her heart was working overtime to pound out of her chest. She needed him, and Addison needed him to know that.