Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 49415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Waiting until all other guards had left, he made another attempt to speak to her, but Hyacinth only shook her head, saying under her breath, “Not now, sheikh. I need to take care of Anisah.”
And because he knew this made sense, he nodded curtly and left – only to wish he had never gone at all.
For that same night, an attempt to kidnap Anisah had been made, and her abductors had almost succeeded if not for the palace’s security team inadvertently coming to her aid and Sheikh Tarif finding Anisah within the secret tunnels in time.
The whirlwind of events had Rayyan’s head reeling, but throughout it, one thought had remained in the back of his mind.
What if it had been her?
What if it had been Hyacinth who was kidnapped?
Rayyan rose from his bed in a fury of movement. Fuck what was right. He needed to see for himself, make sure that Hyacinth was safe and sound. But before he could even reach for his robe, he heard the secret panel sliding open, and then she was there –
Hyacinth.
She was in his arms in one second, their lips fusing in a deep, hard, open-mouthed kiss even as he tasted unspoken words of farewell in the tears that slowly trailed down her cheeks.
God.
No.
They made love like time was against them, not even making it to the bed as the sheikh ripped her robe off her and tore her panties away before fucking her against the wall. A strangled gasp escaped her even as she locked her legs around his waist and her hips moved frantically to meet his thrusts, urging him to pound into her even harder.
She came within minutes, but he didn’t let her go – wasn’t goddamn willing to let her go just like that when they both knew this was all there was left, a goddamn goodbye fuck to last for the rest of their lives.
As soon as he lowered Hyacinth to her feet, he thrust back into her from behind, and she ended up hanging over the back of his couch, panting and moaning, breasts jiggling in the air as he relentlessly hammered into her.
“Rayyan, oh God.”
She tried to crawl up when they finally made it to his bed, but the sheikh was far from done, tossing Hyacinth to her back as he plunged back into her. It was almost as if he wanted to permanently brand her, and the tears started falling down again.
Stupid sheikh.
If his love for Cecile Bauer had made him unable to forget the other woman despite having only one summer with her, how much worse would it be for Hyacinth, whose memories of the sheikh went all the way back to when she was four?
It didn’t matter that she hadn’t known she would fall in love with him then. What mattered was that she loved him, always would, and that love was all it took to taint every memory with the most bittersweet shades of pain.
Hyacinth slowly wrapped her arms around his neck as the sheikh sank back into her one last time, the heat of his passion flooding inside of her. I love you, Rayyan.
She hid her face in the crook of his neck.
I love you so, so much.
But she just couldn’t take this anymore. Mrs. B. nearly losing her life, Anisah almost being kidnapped – it was like fate was punishing Hyacinth over and over for being such a bitch, and maybe she was being silly and superstitious, but she just wasn’t willing to take the risk anymore.
Because next time, it might be Rayyan paying the price for her selfishness, and she knew if that ever happened, if something ever happened to Rayyan because she had insisted on keeping her with him even while knowing he loved someone else –
I love you so much.
And it was for this reason she had to let him go.
THE SHEIKH’S COOL GAZE followed her as she swung her legs off the bed and walked away, all silken limbs and unconscious grace. It reminded him of how Botticelli had envisioned Venus rising from the sea in his painting. It was said that the Greek goddess of love had been a full-fledged woman at birth, one so assured of her beauty and her worth that she had not minded that all people’s first glimpse of her was of her nude body.
His lips twisted in a caustic smile as he glanced back at the petite woman who had just walked away from him. The indifference she displayed to her own nudity would have done the goddess proud. In fact, the sheikh wouldn’t even be surprised if she turned out to be Aphrodite reincarnate, and truth be known, he almost wished she was.
That at least could explain his extraordinary obsession with her, and why he felt so damn empty watching her start to dress.