Chapter 10 #2
Tabitha stopped walking. Her body stilled, frozen in place. Then she glanced up at him with something like hesitation in her eyes.
“If I tell you something…promise you won’t tell my parents?”
He lifted his hand, palm out. “Promise.”
“I was relieved,” she admitted in a rush, her voice hushed. “I’ve never told anyone that. Not even Stacy.”
They reached a small clearing. A slender waterfall spilled over rocks, tumbling into a shallow pool below.
The whole place felt suspended in stillness, like the trees had bowed inward to shield it from the world.
Sunlight trickled down through the branches, dappling the moss and water in golden patches.
Ramzi’s attention never left her. “Why?”
She waved toward a flat boulder that was mostly free of leaves and dirt. They sat. She pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them as if she needed the barrier.
“I don’t know. I just… I think I was already doubting everything.”
“Tell me what happened. Before. After,” he said, keeping his tone easy even though the request was anything but.
She gave him a sidelong glance, saw right through the calm act, and smirked. But her eyes turned back to the water.
“Well… growing up, the expectation was always the same: graduate, get married, have kids. End of story.” She tucked a loose curl behind her ear. “I worked at my dad’s accounting firm during breaks from college—bookkeeping, payroll, taxes. I was good at it, but I hated every second of it.”
She leaned back on her palms, the curve of her spine graceful against the rock. “He wanted me to take over the business eventually. I think he assumed it would happen without question.”
Tabitha glanced over at him, studying his expression. “I know you’re under pressure to take over your father’s role as well. But it’s different for you.” She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. “You’re eager to take charge, aren’t you?”
He chuckled softly, leaning back beside her. His gaze flicked toward the waterfall, but it didn’t linger. “You’re right. But I understand the feeling.”
She nodded slowly, her voice gentler now. “I know you don’t have a choice. You’re expected to step in when the time comes.”
“True.” He turned slightly toward her. “But right now, this is about you. So…how did you and Martin meet?”
“High school. We met at a party—I can’t remember whose.
Someone’s house when their parents were out of town.
Or maybe a barn on someone’s farm.” She shrugged, her voice a little distant.
“There were a lot of places my friends and I went to get away from our parents.” She glanced over at him.
“I guess you didn’t really need hideouts, did you? ”
He gave her a dry smile. “Oh, we had ways of finding privacy. My cousins and I were…” He flicked a glance at his nearby bodyguards. “Creative. Visiting them in Lativa was always an adventure. They came up with all sorts of ways to ditch guards, nannies, tutors.”
“That sounds… terrifying,” she said with a laugh. “I can’t picture it. You and your cousins…” She tilted her head. “Wait, isn’t one of your cousins the crown prince of Lativa?”
“Yes. Zayn.”
“Are you two close?”
“Yeah. He’s solid.” Ramzi tossed a pebble into the water. “But we were talking about you—and how you ended up engaged to someone you didn’t really want.”
Tabitha’s smile faded. She stared at the creek again.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be engaged to Martin specifically.
I just didn’t want to be engaged, period.
Martin was… fine. But I didn’t feel anything strong for him.
And then…” She paused, flicking a glance at him.
“Well, the moment I walked in on him and Leandra in the coat closet, I knew for sure.”
Ramzi blinked. “You figured out you didn’t love him—right then?”
“I almost laughed,” she admitted, shaking her head. “His slacks were around his ankles. His dress shirt made him look like ‘pooh bear’ since it barely covered anything. And the noises he was making…” She grimaced, suppressing another grin. “It was a whole scene.”
“You almost laughed at your fiancé cheating on you?”
She nodded. “In my defense, the visual was… absurd.”
Ramzi studied her face, then asked, “So why do your mother’s friends think you were devastated?”
She clapped her hands lightly to brush away the grit and dirt. “Because I left town as fast as I could. Got a paid internship with RAS Industries, and… well, I haven’t been back since.”
“That doesn’t answer the question, habibi.
” His voice had softened, but the question remained firm.
“I knew you’d worked for my company for five years.
And I’ve known you personally for several of those years.
I thought it was two years since you’d been home.
Now I find out it’s been since the breakup.
” He gave her a slow, knowing look. “Even I might assume you were still heartbroken over the one that got away.”
She groaned and rolled her eyes, then stood and extended a hand. Ramzi eyed her hand for a moment, his amusement obvious, before taking it. She leaned back slightly to help him up, but when he rose so easily under his own strength, she overbalanced and tumbled forward—right into his arms.
“Why haven’t you come back before now?”
Tabitha didn’t answer. Her gaze landed on his chest, and for a moment, she forgot how to move. His hands rested lightly on her hips, anchoring her. Everything felt still—her breath, the wind, the birds above.
“Ramzi, we should…” she began, but the thought vanished. She licked her lips, her eyes locking on his mouth. The memory of that kiss by the SUV slammed into her, overwhelming everything else.
She didn’t step back.
And she didn’t want to.
“We should kiss,” he said, his voice low and rough. “Just in case there are other people out here.”
Tabitha hadn’t been thinking about possible witnesses, but if that was the excuse he needed to kiss her again, she wasn’t about to argue. “Yeah,” she said with a small nod, her gaze locked on his.
He leaned in and kissed her—soft at first, just the lightest brush of his mouth on hers. It was sweet and tentative, but it left her wanting more.
She remembered how she’d pulled him down earlier, remembered the way he’d responded.
This time, she didn’t hold back.
Her hands slid up his chest, slow and deliberate, before curling around the back of his neck. And then—!