“You know you’re an extraordinary woman, don’t you?” Khaleel murmured.
Aurora started slightly but didn’t lose the beat in surprise at his words. “Because I can dance?”
“No,” Khaleel said, shaking his head slowly. “Because you are truly unlike any woman I’ve ever met in my life. You’re free; free in spirit, free in your thoughts. I don’t know anyone who would spend three months wandering through foreign lands on their own on a whim.” His hands tightened slightly on Aurora’s waist and she suppressed a shiver at the hot jolt of desire that crackled through her. “And in spite of all your jokes, I think you see me as a real person—not just a walking bank balance.”
“Well you didn’t just see a thief when you met me,” Aurora pointed out. “Why would I judge you for your wealth when you didn't judge me for being broke?”
Khaleel smiled again. “S
ee? That interest in fairness, in getting to know me as a person. I’ve never been with someone who would actually do that.”
“That seems kind of sad,” Aurora said ruefully.
“You have no idea,” Khaleel confirmed.
The music had ended, but they still continued to dance, the dinner at the table utterly forgotten. Aurora wasn’t sure how much the champagne played a role, but as she looked up into his eyes, she realized that in spite of only knowing him for two days, she was starting to truly like the Sheikh; he was playful, fun, intelligent, and obviously compassionate. If she really had been one of his employees, she thought he would treat her with the exact same level of respect that he had shown her from the beginning.
But she knew, too, that no matter how much she might like the man, her life was far too complicated to let herself fall for him. You can’t fly under the radar if you’re going after a billionaire Sheikh, she thought sadly. If Jon knew that she had met a wealthy man, the threats would only become more vicious. Aurora knew that she could never bring herself to ask Khaleel for help in solving her problems; she had learned from her situation with Brandon that she had to take care of her own needs.
Khaleel pulled her closer and she could feel the warmth of his body sinking into her skin. It was so tempting, the closeness and her intuition told her that if she wanted to, she could easily suggest to the Sheikh that they retire to his quarters. But it would be wrong—she couldn’t string the man along after he had shown her so much kindness.
“I need to go back to the mainland tomorrow,” Aurora said quietly, and Khaleel pulled back slightly, looking at her intently. “I think you can guess why.”
He sighed and nodded. “I understand,” he said. He pressed his lips together, looking resigned. “We can’t stay away from things forever, can we?”
“Unfortunately not,” Aurora said. She smiled sadly up at him, wishing with all of her heart that she could somehow find a way to stay on the yacht, in Khaleel’s arms, indefinitely. It was so tranquil and serene—so different from her life in Miami.
Before Aurora could react, Khaleel leaned in again, his hands shifting around to her back to press her body to his. He brushed his lips against hers, a feather-light touch at first, but gradually he deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding against her skin, silently asking entrance.
Aurora shivered against him, feeling the pent-up desire that had started the night before with her vivid dream. Before she lost the ability to think coherently, she thought briefly that he kissed so much better than even her dream had imagined.
Something deep down between her hips began to tighten as the kiss continued, and Aurora felt her body heating up more and more with every passing moment, her nerves tingling as Khaleel’s hands shifted on her body, never quite straying away from her waist.
He broke away from the kiss abruptly, leaving Aurora breathless and wandering, panting slightly as she tried to recover from the flood of desire that had washed through her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Aurora chuckled lowly. “No, but I’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep,” she said, shaking off the reverie that the kiss had thrown her into.
He cautiously released her, and Aurora stepped back, taking a quick, deep breath. A gust of wind caught her dress and Aurora struggled to keep from exposing herself as the yacht lurched in the water.
She felt something tug at the top of her dress and glanced down to see that, in their passion, she and Khaleel must have dislodged the flower she’d worn as her sole decoration. The yacht lurched again and Aurora fell back against the railing, her flower tumbling off of the front of her dress and into the water below.
“No!” Aurora looked down into the dark waves, trying to catch some sight of the bloom. The temptation to climb up onto the railing and jump after it flitted through her mind.
“It’s all right,” Khaleel said, taking her hand lightly in his own. “Don’t go in after it.”
“I won’t,” Aurora said, sighing as she pictured the flower—something she had come to think of as part of her—sinking into the murky depths.
“We’ll make landfall tomorrow afternoon,” Khaleel said quietly. “Do you want to finish dinner? I’m pretty sure I could send word to Lucas and he’d come up with the most thrilling dessert ever, guaranteed to make you forget all your worries.”
Aurora smiled and shook her head. “I think I just want to go to bed,” she said sadly. “Thank you so much for dinner, though. It was absolutely delicious, and the dancing was wonderful. I'll never forget it.”
Khaleel kissed her cheek softly and stepped back, and Aurora turned away from the balcony to walk back to her room.
Back in her quarters she slipped the sandals off of her feet and took the dress off, admiring it for a long moment before setting it aside.
Aurora sighed, thinking of the struggles ahead of her. You have to do it, so there’s no point in worrying over it, she thought firmly, putting on a pair of pajamas and crawling between the blankets on her bed. She just hoped that she could find some solution to the problem of paying Jon back.