12. Rashad
CHAPTER 12
RASHAD
R ashad couldn’t believe that Nina had accepted his offer, but she had. Now, he had a brand-new business partner — and a very impressive one at that. He couldn’t regret his decision to offer collaboration instead of competition, but he also knew there would be a lot to work out once they returned to San Diego. Not least of all, his business partners probably wouldn’t be pleased that he’d made an agreement without speaking to them, but he could handle them.
“I’m hungry,” Miles said, startling Rashad out of his thoughts. There was no point in dwelling over the business plans now, not when he was reclining on a white-sand beach on a secluded island, a beautiful woman and two adorable kids by his side.
“Perfect timing, then.” Rashad pushed to his feet and retrieved the cooler bag he’d packed earlier. While Nina and the kids had gotten ready, he’d thrown together a few sandwiches, along with some chips and sodas from the back of a cupboard. Now, he handed out a sandwich to each twin, plus one for Nina and one for himself.
“Yummy,” Kate said happily as she tore off the plastic wrap and bit into her sandwich.
“Is this another recipe-free culinary delight?” Nina asked as she more daintily removed the plastic from her own lunch.
“Do you really follow recipes for sandwiches?” Rashad raised his eyebrows. “Because that would be going too far.”
Nina wrinkled her nose at him. “Fine, ignore the joke. This does look good, though.”
“It’s just ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. Oh, and a little garlic mayo.”
“Well, it tastes nice, and the kids seem to like it. I really appreciate that you thought of bringing something to eat.” She glanced at him, and for a moment, her smile was brighter than the warm sun overhead. In that moment, Rashad would have done almost anything to keep her smiling — like agreeing to a business deal that he never would have suggested to anyone else.
“What’s a day on the beach without a picnic?” Rashad shot a smile back at Nina, but she was looking down again.
“I just… well. It means a lot. As a single mom, it always falls to me to make sure everything goes smoothly and that the kids have a good time and that we all eat… It’s nice to have someone else looking out for us.”
Rashad’s heart went out to Nina. He’d seen her putting her kids first so many times over the last few days, including when she’d been sick but had still been willing to take care of them. It seemed that no one was putting Nina first, though. Someone should. She deserved that.
After all, Nina was an amazing woman. She was smart, funny, selfless, and gorgeous. She should have a partner by her side who told her that every day — and who always remembered to bring sandwiches during days out.
That caring partner could never be Rashad. He was just as busy as she was, they hadn't known each other for that long, and anyway, Rashad wasn’t cut out to be a husband or a father — at least not the kind that Nina and the kids deserved. Yet in that moment, as Nina looked down at the sand, a strange, unexpected part of Rashad wished he could be the man who supported Nina and put her first. He wished he could be a part of this sweet little family — and not just for the weekend, or just as a business partner.
Rashad put the unexpected realization out of his mind. His business was the closest thing he had to a family, and that was okay with him. Just because he’d had a lovely few days with Nina and the twins didn’t mean that he was ready to join their family. It had been a great weekend — nothing more. He’d enjoy working with Nina on their joint business endeavor — nothing more.
“I’m happy to help,” Rashad said, instead of any of that.
“Is there dessert?” Miles asked.
Rashad’s heart sank. “Sorry, there isn’t.”
“Aww.” Miles’s face fell, but Nina stepped in before things could spiral out of control.
“There’s no dessert now, but lunch was still great, right? Say thanks to Rashad for making it for us. And how about we have a little dessert after dinner, if everyone is well-behaved until then?”
“Thanks, Rashad.” Miles dimpled, suddenly the picture of angelic sweetness. “We’re very well-behaved. Right, Kate?”
“Yeah!” Kate grinned, and Rashad noticed that she had sand on her cheeks. It was adorable.
Everyone finished up their lunch, then the twins took another dip in the ocean under Nina and Rashad’s careful observation. Eventually, both kids grew tired. Kate fell asleep in her mother’s lap, while Miles insisted that he wasn’t sleepy at all. They took the dinghy back to the yacht, where Miles promptly flopped across a shaded lounge chair and fell asleep. Nina laid Kate down beside her brother, and Rashad fetched a thin blanket to cover the sleeping twins. Then he sat next to Nina on another pair of chairs.
“Do they always sleep so hard?” he asked. The twins looked as tired as if they’d run an iron man triathlon or gone three days without sleeping while working on an important project.
“They’re very tired from playing.” Nina smiled. “And from running around in the sun and water. Just wait, though. They’ll wake up in an hour or so full of energy and ready to play more.”
“Where does all that energy come from?”
“I have no idea. When they were younger, they always managed to run around all day after sleeping just a few hours and eating half a grape each. I could never understand how they did it — especially since I was exhausted from sleeping the same amount they did, even though I had coffee!”
“I guess we were the same way as children — we just don’t remember. Although how we lived without coffee, I’ll never know.”
“Me neither.” Nina grinned. “I can’t go a day without coffee now, but I suppose I must have gotten my energy from somewhere else when I was a kid. My parents always said I was very energetic. Did yours say the same?”
Rashad hesitated. Perhaps it was time to be honest — at least a little. “I wasn’t around my parents much as a kid. Nannies did most of the work of raising my brother and me.”
“Really?” Nina bit her lip. “That sounds difficult.”
“It was all right, because I didn’t know anything different. We saw our parents for weekend dinners sometimes, but they were always busy with the work of running a country, and they didn’t have a lot of time for us.”
“I’m sorry.” Nina reached out and took Rashad’s hand in her own. Warmth spread up his arm from the places her fingers touched. “I know I’m busy, and I leave my kids with babysitters sometimes, too, but I never want them to feel like I don’t care about them.”
“They clearly know that you love them.” Rashad smiled at her as he threaded his fingers between hers. Her hand was smaller than his, softer, too, but they fit together perfectly. “It wasn’t the same with my parents — we always felt like a burden.”
“You should never have felt that way.” Nina shook her head. “No child is a burden. And I’m sure you were a little angel.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. My brother and I got up to plenty of mischief when we were young.”
“Like what?” Nina leaned closer, her blue eyes gleaming at the prospect of a story of childhood mischief. Not wanting to disappoint her, Rashad selected a story carefully.
“Well, once, we swapped out all the candles at a formal dinner for fake ones. It might sound silly, but it caused quite a commotion. Another time, we sneaked out of bed because we wanted to get cake from the kitchens. The whole palace was in an uproar until one of the cleaners found us, covered in chocolate frosting and sitting under one of the kitchen tables.” Rashad grinned at the memory.
“I can imagine Kate and Miles doing something like that.” Nina glanced at her sleeping children, a smile playing across her rosy lips. “Are you and your brother still close?”
“Not really. We were close as kids — after all, we were only two years apart. But as we grew older, and Khalid was trained more and more to be the sheikh, we grew distant.”
“That’s too bad.” Nina bit her lip. “I always hope that Miles and Kate will stay close, but I can’t imagine what it would be like for them if one became the ruler of a country and the other didn’t.”
“That’s a good thing about not being the ruling sheikh,” Rashad told her. “If I do ever have children, I never have to put them through that. And I don’t have as much pressure to marry or have children as Khalid did.”
“Does your brother have children?”
“Yes; he’s married with an eighteen-month-old son.”
“So, you’re an uncle.”
“I am, but I’m not very close with my nephew.” Rashad could see this conversation going down a difficult path, so he quickly changed the subject. “Do you want more kids?”
Nina released his hand and sat back in her chair. “That’s a difficult question. In theory, I would love more kids, but I think it would be almost impossible to raise more than the twins as a single mom and do a good job. If I ever have more kids, I’d want a partner by my side.”
“That makes sense.”
“Anyway, I don’t have enough time to think about more kids. I barely have time to work and look after the twins.” Nina grinned and laid her head back against the reclining chair, her hair pooling around her as her eyes fluttered shut. “My friends all sew or go bowling or watch movies, but I have time for exactly none of that.”
“I’m the same way.” Rashad grinned. “The only hobby I have time for is running, and that’s more about exercise than fun.”
“I used to run, before I had kids.” Nina’s face took on a dreamy expression, though her eyes were still closed. “It was lovely.”
“I wouldn’t describe running as lovely. It’s always hard work, and it isn’t exactly fun.”
“It was for me. My aunt Katherine was a runner — she was the one who inspired me to take up running. She always made it into a game for me. We’d do a scavenger hunt while running, or play prediction games, or go on routes that looped around to make letters and spell out words. Once, we even dressed up in reindeer costumes on Christmas Eve and dashed through the neighborhood.”
“She sounds like an amazing aunt. I bet the twins would have loved her.”
“Definitely. She was great with kids.” Nina smiled.
“Mommy?”
“Oh.” Nina opened her eyes, sending a knowing smile at Rashad. “Guess who’s up?”
The twins came over, hand in hand, looking adorable and sleepy. As one, they climbed onto Nina’s chair with her, one on each side, and she wrapped her arms around them, kissing their blond heads.
“How did you sleep?” she asked.
“Good,” the twins chorused.
“Can we play hide-and-seek now?” Miles asked. “Or Uno?”
“Wouldn’t you like to rest a little more?”
Both blond heads shook no , and Nina chuckled.
“All right, then. Let’s play some hide-and-seek. Rashad, if you’d like to rest more, you absolutely can.”
But Rashad shook his head too. “I’ll play.” After all, in a few days, he would go back to his normal life of work with little time for enjoyment or rest. He might as well enjoy a little childlike fun while he had the chance.
“First, a quick shower for each of you,” Nina suggested. The twins groaned and grumbled, but she expertly lifted them into her arms and carried them off to the cabin. Rashad took advantage of the break to shower as well, and about twenty minutes later, they were all back on deck, clean and dressed in new clothes. Nina had showered, too, and changed into a flattering black-and-white sundress. Her hair was wet and loose around her shoulders and she looked all the lovelier for her lack of jewelry or makeup.
“Mommy, you count first,” Miles suggested.
“Okay. I’ll count to twenty.” Nina relaxed back in her chair and covered her eyes as the kids scrambled to their feet. “One, two, three…”
Rashad and the twins hurried into the bowels of the ship. Kate slipped into a cupboard that seemed far too small for her with an expert ease, while Miles held up his hands to Rashad.
“Will you help me hide?”
“Sure.” Rashad picked Miles up and helped him settle into a hiding spot behind the pillows on one of the guest beds. There wasn’t much time left for Rashad to hide himself, so he quickly stepped behind a door and hoped he wouldn’t be too obvious.
As Rashad waited in the semi-darkness for Nina to find him, his thoughts drifted back to the last time he’d played hide-and-seek. It had been nearly two decades ago, when he and Khalid were both young. They’d played numerous games of hide-and-seek in the palace, always trying to one-up each other with a better hiding place. Rashad had always waited, brimming with anticipation, but absolutely certain his brother would find him.
The last time they’d played, he’d waited for what felt like hours, and Khalid had never come. It turned out that he’d run into one of their tutors in the hallway, who’d told him that heirs didn’t have time for frivolous, childish games. Chastised, yet seeing the truth in the tutor’s harsh words, Khalid had gone to study, leaving Rashad unfound in his hiding place.
“Hey, there.” The sound of Nina’s sweet voice startled him out of his reverie. She was peeking around the door, her eyes crinkling in a smile. “What a good hiding place.”
“Thank you.” Rashad stepped into the light, feeling a little too happy to have been found. “Did you find the kids?”
“Not yet,” Nina said in a louder voice. “Wherever could those kids be?”
There was a giggle from the bed. Nina winked at Rashad, held a finger to her lips, then made a show of looking under the bed and in the closet before finally pulling the pillows off the bed to reveal Miles. She found Kate in her cupboard soon after.
“Again! Again!” the twins chorused. This time, Kate counted while the other three ran off to hide. Rashad found a good spot in a linen closet and, just as time was almost up, the door opened, and Nina leaped inside.
“Hey, find your own spot,” Rashad said in a hushed voice, even as he moved over to make room for Nina.
“I couldn’t find one. Now shush.”
In the small closet, the two of them were pressed against each other. Rashad’s arm was around Nina’s waist, and her head was against his shoulder. She moved away just enough to look up at him, her blue eyes glowing warmly in the semi-darkness. Rashad tried not to notice how good it felt to hold Nina in his arms like this. She was truly a remarkable woman, and the more time he spent with her, the more he noticed that. Her fragrant coconut shampoo smell floated through the closet, mingling with the scent of fresh linens to be quite intoxicating.
Nina looked up at him and smiled. She was a head shorter than him, which meant that she was looking at him through her long eyelashes.
“Close quarters, hmm?” she asked. “Do you think this counts as team-building for our upcoming partnership?”
Rashad chuckled softly. “Definitely. As long as you count Kate and Miles as part of our team.”
“Of course. Are you regretting your offer to work together yet?”
“Not at all. This is the best team-building I’ve ever participated in.”
“Same here.” Nina tilted her head, still looking at Rashad. Then she lifted onto her tiptoes. For one heady moment, Rashad thought that she might kiss him, but she just swept her thumb over his cheek.
“Sorry, you had an eyelash on your cheek. The kids like to make wishes on them.”
“How? We don’t have this tradition in Al Soub.”
“You just think about what you want, then blow the eyelash away.” She lifted her finger, the eyelash balanced on it, towards his lips. Rashad knew what he was wishing for right this moment. He wanted to lean into her touch. He wanted to wrap his arms around Nina and pull her to him, capture her lips with his own, and whisper into her ear that he found her irresistible. He wanted to murmur her name like an incantation or the final lines of a story.
Rashad brought his lips towards Nina’s fingertip, ready to blow the eyelash away. Could he let himself wish for more time with Nina?
“There you are!” The door flew open, and Kate looked up at them with her sweet, innocent face. “Why are you hiding together?”
“I couldn’t find a spot.” Nina extricated herself from Rashad’s arms, the eyelash and the wish forgotten. “Did you find Miles already?”
“Yeah, he was easy to find.” Kate beamed. “Rashad, will you count now?”
“Sure.” Rashad was glad for the chance to have a little space. The tense moment in the linen closet, when he’d been on the verge of kissing Nina, or at least wishing to, wouldn’t soon disappear from his memory. His life was already going to be complicated enough, now that he’d offered Nina a business partnership. It would be a mistake to further complicate things by introducing a romantic element into their relationship. Keeping his gaze away from Nina and her slightly pink cheeks, Rashad covered his eyes.
“One, two, three…” He heard footsteps skittering away as he counted.
It was a mistake to allow himself to grow so close to Nina and her children. Yet Rashad couldn’t help himself. He hadn’t enjoyed himself this much in years, not since starting Health Trackr. Perhaps not since he’d been a child, playing games like this with his own brother. And why shouldn’t he enjoy himself? He was with a beautiful woman and a pair of children who made him laugh. As long as he reminded himself that he wasn’t really part of this little family, and that he couldn’t kiss Nina, it would all be all right.
He just had to keep himself from making any wishes he couldn’t fulfill.