Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Ah, fuck. He forced himself to put an end to the kiss, breathing hard, knowing that if he didn’t stop now, he would end up taking her virginity in the back of his limo. And he didn’t want that – not for her. Especially not for her.
When he looked back at her, she was panting, her eyes clouded and confused. Why aren’t we kissing anymore?
The sheikh wanted to laugh and groan. She was so damn innocent. He continued watching her, his gaze taking note of the way her green eyes darkened as reality slowly returned. He felt her stiffen as her face paled –
Any moment now, the sheikh thought.
When she suddenly scrambled off his lap, he let her go and reached for his trousers and briefs. He saw her head snap towards the windows as he dressed himself, and when he was done, he said softly, “We must talk.”
“I don’t want to.”
His lips pressed together to suppress his smile, knowing that if he hadn’t, it would only rile her up even more. Seeing that the limousine had reached the airport, he let the matter drop for now, and he kept his silence as they were cleared for immigration.
He could see the tension in his security team and the rest of his staff as they prepared for his sudden flight and made a mental note to apologize to them. It was not normal for kings like him to take off without months of planning in advance, but since he was king—-
Khalil glanced at the woman walking stiffly beside him, her chin up but her eyes not meeting anyone. The trouble he was causing his staff was unfortunate, but the ends justified the means in this case. Because it was as Tarif had said. He was running out of time.
Harper couldn’t help but find the sheikh’s silence suspicious. Sure, he was quiet most of the time, but not with her. Never with her. Whenever they spent time together, he tended to talk – a lot – mostly to bully her, so much so that she often found herself wanting to choke the sheikh as much as she wanted him to kiss her.
And in the end, Harper thought gloomily, she had ended up doing the wrong thing.
She had kissed him instead of choking him.
The sheikh’s private plane was again an unprecedented sight, starting with the elevator – oh my God, was this for real – that took them straight to the king’s private third-floor entrance. From there, the king excused himself to talk with his staff while an aide took over to show her around.
While the third floor was exclusively for the king’s use, the second floor consisted of six guestrooms and offices, alongside several types of recreational quarters. The first floor, on the other hand, offered a fully equipped kitchen to dish out a ten-course meal at a moment’s notice, a grand dining room, a library, and a viewing room.
“What’s a viewing room?” Harper couldn’t help asking. Weren’t those what windows were for?
“I’m glad you asked,” the aide – Melina – answered with a smile, “but I believe it is better to show you, anisdi.”
And so off they went to the viewing room, with Melina opening the door with flourish. “Your magic carpet, anisdi.”
Oh!
The room was small and sparsely furnished, but it was the floor that took her breath away. It was completely transparent, allowing passengers to view what the plane would be flying over. “For security reasons, we press this button here—-” Melina gestured to the switch panel behind a glass cabinet. “And a secondary layer covers the glass floor. It will be available to use as soon as we’re airborne.”
The pilot then announced via the PA that they were readying for takeoff, and Melina escorted her back to the third floor. Khalil was already in his seat, and Harper hesitated by the doorway. “I could just, you know...” She shrugged uneasily. “Downstairs?” After everything she had seen, it just didn’t feel right to stay next to the king. The palace was the palace, but it had never really sank into her mind that it belonged to Khalil. In her mind, it was like a museum that belonged to the people of Ramil, and Khalil simply happened to live in that museum.
But this plane...
This plane was reality, and it gave her hundreds of millions’ worth of reasons why she should not have anything to do with him.
Harper looked at the sheikh. “So...can I?”
Despite the vagueness of her earlier words, the sheikh had understood her perfectly. He smiled, and just as Harper started to tentatively smile back at him, Khalil said pleasantly, “Your place is with me.”
Harper scowled.
He crooked a finger at her.
Her face flamed. She wanted to bite that finger and break it at the same time.
Through the PA, the pilot repeated his request for passengers to take their seats, and Harper stalked to the seat next to Khalil. “Bully,” she hissed at him under her breath.