Gadi came to the sheikh’s office the next morning with a fretful but determined look, and seeing it, Rayyan knew right away that only one person could be the culprit behind his assistant’s anxiety. “Go on,” he said dryly. “What she’s done now?”

“Your private calendar…”

“What about it?”

“The young lady still has access to it---”

“Just spill it, Gadi.”

“She’s added things to your calendar,” the younger man blurted out.

Things?

After dismissing Gadi, he took his tablet out to take a look at his appointment calendar. Nothing about the rest of the week jumped out at him, and the sheikh frowned. What the hell was Gadi talking about –

And that was when he saw it.

On the day Hyacinth was slated to return to university, she had listed down several tasks for the day.

Text Hyacinth. Ask her how she is and say you can’t stop thinking about her.

As for the following weekend, she had listed down a dinner appointment for the two of them.

Find a way to get her alone and have your way with her.

And on the day he was supposed to fly out to Miami for a couple of business meetings –

Call her when you get to the hotel. Pretend you’ve forgiven her for forcing you to cut ties with the woman you love (for now).

Hyacinth was having breakfast with her sister when her phone started to ring, and her heart jumped to her throat.

Anisah raised a brow. “A Boy?” She couldn’t even understand what that code name was supposed to be. Subtle? Rebellious? Kids these days were just too complicated.

“Can I take this outside?”

“Not so fast.” The older girl’s violet eyes narrowed. “Why are you hiding his identity? Is he the kind of guy I’d disapprove of?”

“No, he’s not, but until I’m sure of him, I’d rather keep his identity a secret.” And then she quickly slipped out of the apartment, not wanting to risk having Anisah give her the third degree, which her sister was exceptionally good at.

“Hello?”

“Marhava, anisdi.” Hello, milady. “You sound breathless.”

“You’re imagining things.”

The sheikh’s low laugh had her toes curling hard. “Am I?”

Shit. “Just tell me why you’ve called,” she muttered. This guy was just too sexy for his own good – and the cocky bastard knew it.

“I just had a look at my calendar…”

“Oh?”

His lips twitched at her deceptively casual tone. “Is that supposed to fool me, little one?” He expected her to laugh or say something snarky, but instead the silence deepened, and his smile faded. “Hyacinth?”

“Don’t call me that,” she said sharply.

“Maehdina.”

She heard the faint coolness of the sheikh’s tone and knew she only had herself to blame for it. She also knew she was acting like an idiot, but even so – she just couldn’t help it. “Anisah’s calling me,” she heard herself lie. “I should go.”

She ended the call before the sheikh could say another word, and she glared and glared at her phone, knowing that the moment she stopped, she would begin crying.

I’m trying so hard here, God.

I really am.

So can’t there just be one day I’m allowed to pretend You don’t want someone else for him?

Hyacinth was about to return to the apartment when her phone suddenly vibrated against her palm, startling her into a stop. It was a text message from the sheikh.

Rayyan: If that wasn’t PMS talking, this might be my most short-lived relationship yet.

She bit her lip hard, torn between smiling like a fool and bursting into tears – like an even bigger fool. She knew, oh, of course she knew that the sheikh was speaking the truth, and if it had been most other women, the sheikh wouldn’t have bothered with a text. Her number would have been blocked, and her face and name relisted in his memory under Bitches He Didn’t Give a Fuck About.

Hyacinth: My bad. Totally my bad. No argument here.

Hyacinth: It just took me by surprise.

Hyacinth: She used to call me that, too.

Upon reading her messages, Rayyan had to let go of his phone before he accidentally ended up crushing it in his hand. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He should have known the inexplicable change in her attitude would have something to do with Cecile.

While Hyacinth wasn’t exactly surprised when her phone rang again, she still couldn’t keep her voice from turning into a panicky croak when she answered his call. “M-Marhava.” Hello. And just because she would rather be naughty than teary, she added huskily, “I’m sorry, alsyd.”

Rayyan leaned back in his chair, his eyes closing as the teasing sweetness of her words laced his senses with honey and wine. “Whenever you call me that,” he murmured under his breath, “the word never sounds the way it’s supposed to be.”

“Is t-that so?” She choked back a nervous giggle, her senses reeling and her body growing heavy and pliant in a whirlpool of heat at the hint of innuendo in the sheikh’s voice.

“Nem.” Yes. “I’ve done my best to ignore it in the past, but now that you truly are my woman…”

She swallowed hard at the sheikh’s meaningful pause. How the fuck was it possible that just hearing him breathe from the other end of the line was making her insides twist in acute sexual awareness?

“You make the word sound dirty---”

Her lips parted in silent shock.

“And it’s making me want to do equally dirty things to you.”

A full minute passed before Hyacinth could finally make her vocal cords work again. “Who the fuck are you, and what did you do to the prudish Sheikh Rayyan?”

The sheikh smiled. “I have always been like this, majamira.”

She pouted. “But just not with me. Is that it?”

“Nem.” Yes.

“Until now.”

“Until now,” he agreed.

“Because---” Don’t say it, don’t say it. But the words came out anyway. “You’ve given up on Mrs. B.?”

The sheikh didn’t answer right away, but the silence didn’t hurt. It was silly, but she really did feel like she could hear his thoughts, could sense exactly what he was thinking of –

Because more than anyone else in the world –

I want it to be with you.

“Rayyan?” It was all so suddenly clear, and even though the thought of it frightened her to death, she also knew it was what she truly wanted.

“What is it?” he asked right away, protective instincts kicking in at hearing the sound of uncertainty in her voice.

She took a deep breath.

Right or wrong, she wanted this.

And so she simply blurted it out.

“No more excuses, no more delays, no more arguments---”

“Are you asking me to marry you?”

“I’m asking you to fuck me.”

Rayyan choked.

“Now.”

He fought for control – and failed, her words devouring his sanity until all that was left were her words.

I’m asking you to fuck me.

“Goddammit, H.”

But she had already hung up on him.

FUCK.

FUCK.

FUCK.

He shot to his feet with a muttered expletive as his throbbing cock instantly sprang into full arousal.

The way his body hungered for her now, it almost seemed as if he had always found her irresistible – but could that really be it?

Had he only been unconsciously waiting for the right time to make her his – or was this guilt taking yet another form, a subconscious attempt to make it up to Hyacinth by giving her his body since he couldn’t give her his heart?

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Nothing made sense anymore.

Nothing.

But one thing he was certain of -

The doors to his office slowly opened, and a trembling, flushed Hyacinth came walking in.

He would never do anything to hurt her again.

Big, dark eyes sought his as her back fell against the doors, forcing them shut behind her weight.

A smile wavered over her lips. “Well?” Her voice said it all. Shy but impish, proud but uncertain, and most of all – it was the sound of a girl who was in love…with him.

In three strides, the sheikh had already reached her, and in the next second, he had already swept her up in his arms.

His handsome face was hard and serious as he gazed down at her. “I will only ask you this once. Are you certain---”

She didn’t even wait for him to finish his question, her arms going around his neck as her mouth covered his.

It was the most explicit answer she could give, and they both knew it.

The sheikh closed his eyes.

So fucking be it, and to hell with everything.

She wanted him, he wanted her, and right now it was all that should matter.