Her words said one thing, but her eyes and that kiss said something entirely different. He wasn’t going to give up without a fight.
Besides, Kashif liked a challenge.
Whistling softly to himself, he followed behind her, more determined than ever to break through her resolve and reach her heart again.
8
Kristy could still taste him, and it stirred up feelings that she wished remained buried. How did he expect her to react? Did he seriously think that he could tell her that he still cared and expect her to fall back into his arms? She’d spent four years protecting herself. Even if she did want to let him in, she didn’t know how to do it. If she were honest with herself, he was the reason why she hadn’t been interested in dating anyone since. She told herself it was because of Arella, but she knew better. No one would compare.
The kiss complicated things. It was bad enough that her body still reacted to him, but the touch of his lips had made her weak in the knees. She wanted nothing more than to cling to him while he erased four years of hurt and loneliness, but she couldn’t.
“I think we owe it to ourselves to at least talk about it,” he said quietly as he dropped a few items in her basket. His tone of voice had her dropping her gaze rather than risk looking him in the eyes. When she looked down at the basket, she saw four perfectly shaped pine cones.
Clearly, he wasn’t going to let it go. “Kashif, you’re still chasing an adventure, but there isn’t one here for you. I’m not the same young girl. I’m a single mother running a farm a million miles away from your country. A country that you are going to be running very soon. We had our moment, and it didn’t work out, but if we were being honest with each other, we would admit that it wouldn’t have worked out anyway.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Kristy. If you think that it’s not going to work, then you’re going to have to prove it to me, because I’m not convinced.”
“What?” she snorted. “You think we can simply pick up where we left off?”
“Why not?” he asked seductively. “Think of it as an experiment. If you truly think there’s nothing between us than lust and infatuation, what do you have to lose?”
Her heart pounded in her chest as she stared at him, slack-jawed. Was he seriously proposing what she thought he was proposing?
“You think that I’m going to sleep with you again?”
“I want to be able to talk to you without arguing. I want to touch you without you moving away. I want to kiss you, Kristy.”
“I know what that will lead to,” she whispered.
“Then, you don’t deny that the attraction is there?”
Oh, boy. Suddenly, the air around them grew heavy. She fiddled with her basket and tried to remember how to walk. One foot in front of the other. “It’s not like you got uglier while you were gone,” she muttered dryly. “A fact, I take great offense to.”
Kashif grinned. “Sorry not to make it easy for you. Give us a try, Kristy. If you still don’t think that it’s going to work, I’ll walk away and never bother you again.”
He clearly thought the challenge was going to work out in his favor, but she saw something com
pletely different.
Since the birth of her daughter, she’d been on a few dates and kissed a few men, but none of them sparked the same fire in her that Kashif did. She hadn’t been in another man’s bed since Kashif, and it showed. Her mind might be screaming no, but her traitorous body wanted desperately to take him up on his offer.
Why shouldn’t she have a little fun? It wasn’t like she was going into this blind. She already knew what it would be like when he walked away, and this time, she’d be prepared for it. Why not enjoy him this time the same way that he’d enjoyed her?
“Okay.”
The word was out of her mouth before she could stop it, and Kashif turned to her in surprise. “Really?” He eyed her suspiciously. “Am I missing something?”
“You’re very persuasive,” she said with a shrug. “That’s an important quality to have, Prince Kashif. There is one condition.”
“And what’s that?”
“You stay away from Arella. She trusts too easily, and I don’t want her heart broken when you leave. Do you understand me?”
“She’s kind of hard to ignore,” he said wryly.
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t bother you. I’m serious about this. Arella is everything to me, and if I think for one second that she’ll be hurt, it’s over.”
He stared at her, and she feared that he wouldn’t agree. Finally, he nodded, and she bit her bottom lip. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt. On one hand, she’d managed it so that Kashif spent as little time as possible with Arella, but on the other, she’d opened herself up to him.