Page 15 of Out of Office Nights (Royals of Cartana #2)

For the next three days they went through a similar routine.

She would sketch for hours. Teo would inspect her work in painstaking detail.

In complete silence. Then burn all but one.

Two if she was lucky. Each time she swung between anger and despair.

Each time he watched her with clinical expectation for several minutes, then retreated to the sofa and his tablet, where he would furiously resume sketching.

Gradually, Sabeen realised that there was a sort of catharsis in watching her precious work go up in flames. But if she was being reborn, it wasn’t without a ferocious struggle.

After burning her morning’s work, he would feed her lunch. After burning her afternoon’s work, she would pick where they ate dinner, and he’d drive them there on his motorcycle.

She would hang onto him, her front pressed to his back, feeling every shift and contraction of his muscles, feeling illicit lust steal through her as she slowly lost her fight against just experiencing it. Then she would spend the duration of their meal fighting her every wayward emotion.

The sound of his bike trundling down her alley on the fourth day excited far too many butterflies in her belly. But even as she dismissed them, she was striding to the front door, throwing it open with cringeworthy eagerness.

Expecting him to step off after turning off the engine, she withstood his usual searing scrutiny, his eyes lingering on her legs before meeting her eyes.

‘Change of plans today.’

‘What? Why?’ When he simply stared at her, she folded her arms. ‘I didn’t agree to a dictatorship.’

‘Is it one when I’m proposing that we take a break?’

She shook her head. ‘I’d rather not. I want to push on.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘And waste more paper?’

‘It needn’t be wasted if you don’t burn it. I don’t see you burning your work,’ she taunted.

The wave of savage disquiet rushed over his face before he expertly throttled it. But she’d spotted it, and her heart lurched. ‘For every one of your sketches I burn, I destroy a dozen of mine,’ he rasped, then his face closed tighter. Clearly he hadn’t meant to disclose that.

Her arms dropped, her heart pitching harder with a strange kinship at gleaning this flaw.

The perfect Playboy Prince isn’t so perfect after all.

‘You do?’

He braced his arms over the handlebars, his gloved hands dangling free. ‘It may not be as dramatic as sending yours up in flames but…yes. So you see, your fireplace is turning out to be a source of rebirth…for us both.’

She swallowed, the notion a little staggering and perhaps too soul-salving to digest right now. ‘Do you do that with every collection?’

He turned, presenting her with his profile as his gaze fixed in the middle distance. ‘No.’

Sifting through their previous conversations, she recalled a snippet. ‘You said this collection was important. Why?’

His nostrils flared, and his fists tightened for a moment before he exhaled. ‘I have a specific point to prove, carina .’

‘To whom?’

He redirected his gaze to her and pierced her with silver eyes that held deeper shadows. ‘Do you care?’

‘Of course I—’

He waved her away. ‘I’m beginning to think you enjoy me making you step out of your comfort zone just so you can blame me when you have a good time.’

His means of evading her questions was annoyingly effective. ‘Of course I don’t.’

Sensual lips twisted. ‘You wasted two weeks before I got here. I’m reclaiming one of those days so we can make better headway. Get your swimsuit, Sabeen. I leave in three minutes.’

She could stand there, arguing with him on her doorstep. Risk him riding away. Or she could pursue this path she was already on. And yes, the thought of watching him burn another load of her designs withered her spirits. So maybe a break was what she needed.

Still, she took her time packing away her work and washing her breakfast things before tossing the items she needed into her beach-bag. It irked her that only five minutes had passed but she took it as a win when she stepped out and locked her front door.

‘What am I supposed to do with this?’ She held out her wide bag.

Without taking his eyes off her, he gestured. A hovering guard stepped forward, took the bag and headed for the SUV.

She pursed her lips, knowing she’d run out of time. Knowing deep down her senses were already leaping with glee at the thought of riding with Teo once more.

Helmet in place, she took her seat behind him.

‘Are you going to tell me where we’re going, or is this another of those delayed gratification things?’ she asked as they hit the road.

His deep laughter filled her helmet. ‘Who’s dwelling now, tesoro ?’

Her mouth twitched, veering dangerously into a smile. She hurriedly killed it. She absolutely wasn’t enjoying this push-and-pull between them. He might possess other intriguing layers, but he was still the Playboy Prince.

Nathan Gray shattering her trust and her emotions had taught her never again to become a slave to them.

She was playing that reminder on a loop when they passed through cast iron gates and up a long driveway.

The property was ten times the size of her grandmother’s.

Flat-roofed and single-storeyed, like most dwellings in the area, it sprawled wide in intriguing squares, rounded layers and coloured Moorish windows both small and large.

Towering date palms, begonias and bougainvillea swayed in the breeze, offering refreshing pops of brightness against the backdrop of the terracotta villa.

Swinging off the bike, she pulled off her helmet and followed Teo to the open front doors. No staff greeted them—intentionally, she suspected.

It freed her to absorb her surroundings to her heart’s delight.

A wall of shelves made of uneven-sized stones pulled at her to inspect the artefacts displayed there. Small pots and Moroccan-made statues vied with other gorgeous pieces from sub-Saharan Africa.

But what really drew her attention and delighted her senses was the dome in the middle of the living room.

Built in the shape of a sphere with rough walls, its summit was a glass opening the size of a bathtub, drawing the gaze up to the gorgeous blue sky.

It would be a spectacular thrill to lie beneath it at night, staring up at the stars through it.

Sabeen had visited countless luxurious residences in the world but hadn’t felt as restful as she did when she stepped into the large foyer.

It took several moments to realise why. It wasn’t the two giant vases filled with long-stemmed white lilies she knew cost several thousand dollars a bunch. It wasn’t even the faint hint of the ocean or the mint tea and culinary delights happening out of view.

She didn’t want to freely admit it, but Teo’s presence in her grandmother’s home had layered tension on her she thought she’d reasoned away as professionalism. But being here now, with no need to be on her emotionally fraught guard, she breathed freely for the first time in…a long time.

Setting her bag down, she toed off her flats, eager to feel the cool tiles beneath her bare soles, unable to contain her deep sigh.

She turned to find Teo watching her, as he’d done so many times in the last several days. As if he was attempting to decode her. And effortlessly succeeding.

She turned away sharply, fearing what he would see: a woman shattered and still bearing scars from her one and only serious attempt at a relationship, flailing to hang on to her professional lifeline while dealing with grief.

Open French doors drew her outside to a wide terrace, a long dining table easily seating twenty and wooden lampshades that would be glorious at night too.

Light and dark green tiles lined a sparkling, inviting pool, reminding her that she hadn’t gone for her customary ocean swim since Teo had arrived on her doorstep.

‘There are two things on your agenda today. The first is relaxation,’ he said from just behind her right shoulder.

She glanced over, meeting his imperious silver gaze and the imposing aura that easily eclipsed even this spectacular place so that he was the only thing she saw.

‘By order of the prince?’ she tried with a little heat in her voice.

His face shadowed momentarily then shrugged. ‘If that’s what it takes.’ He nodded at the view. ‘Swim first. Pool or sea?’

She forced her gaze away, to the sea then to the glittering pool. If she was doing this, she was doing it wholeheartedly. ‘Why choose?’

She caught his flash of surprise before she went back in to retrieve her beach-bag. ‘Is there somewhere I can change?’

Still watching her, he pointed down a long hallway.

Walking away, she felt a punch of satisfaction that she’d surprised him. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t much. But considering she was the one constantly on the back foot, it felt good. A change from the self-esteem shredding she’d felt when she was with Nathan. And…she wanted more of it.

In another stunning masterpiece of a bedroom, she changed into her all-white bikini, knotting a matching short sarong around her hips. Snapping up her sunglasses and sunscreen, she was back outside and halfway to the beach in minutes.

The tingling in her shoulders when her feet sank into the warm sand said Teo was right behind. Two muslin-draped cabanas were set up on the sand, complete with towels and refreshments. Tossing her glasses into the nearest one, she untied the sarong.

His sharp inhale peppered her skin with tingling awareness and not an insignificant layer of desire. Wanting to distract herself, she raced down the sand and threw herself into the incoming waves. Two Jet Skis were tied to a buoy about a hundred yards away.

She beelined towards them.

Barely twenty strokes in, she heard his faster ones. He overtook her easily, cutting through the water with streamlined prowess that was insanely beautiful to watch. She arrived at the skis as he straddled the first one. He held out his hand and helped her onto the other.

The second she was astride it, she flipped the ignition.