Chapter Thirty-Six
KHALIDA
Khalida tried to move, but Talik’s arm across her chest was surprisingly heavy.
The afterglow was quickly wearing off as reality abruptly intruded.
Sex, even mind-blowing sex, was not the reason she had entered Talik’s room.
She had intended to finish their conversation from the catacombs.
The memory of it had been running through her mind on repeat, and she had no desire to bring anything up in front of Kade.
But apparently all sense of survival skills and any logical reasoning had been blown out of the water when she had seen Talik in just a towel.
Trying to move her legs, she quickly remembered that she was still wearing her boots and her pants.
Having some form of dignity was also out of the window.
“Going somewhere?”
“I’m trying to at least get dressed properly,” she said as she finally pushed Talik’s arm off her, only because he had moved. Her shirt had risen, exposing one of her breasts and her ripped pants were halfway down her shins. And the bed was still damp.
She leaned back against the bed and counted to three.
“I like the view.”
Her eyes snapped open, and she glared at him, making sure that she kept her attention above his shoulders, lest she got distracted again.
Her stomach growled.
“Shower or food first?”
“Neither. I am going back to my room.” Where she was going to string two coherent sentences together and then have the conversation with Talik.
She was suddenly pulled under Talik as he leaned over her.
His obsidian eyes flashed with a hint of annoyance at her answer.
The sheet slipped from his waist and gave her a tantalizing view of his hardening cock.
It still glistened with his semen and her wetness.
Her pussy clenched in response, as heat pooled between her thighs.
“You came to see me because you wanted to talk. Shower or food first are your two options.”
“Shower,” she gritted out, despite the growing hunger pains. She needed space before they talked.
He held the position for a moment longer before he rolled over and dragged her to her feet. She grabbed his biceps as she steadied herself.
Her fucking pants.
Talik, naked, lowered himself to the ground and started undoing her laces.
“I can do it myself.”
“And here I thought you would like the servitude.” Talik looked up, eye level at her pussy, and winked.
She stilled, not wanting to give too much away.
Talik smiled, his eyes lighting up with amusement before he returned to helping her take off her boots.
He dramatically and slowly slid her pants off her.
She didn’t think a touch on her calf or a kiss behind her knee could make her wet, but she had been mistaken. Her cunt was drenched.
As soon as she was out of her pants, she spun around and stalked toward the bathroom, but not before she threw her shirt at Talik.
She stopped and stared at the oversized shower that took up one-third of the bathroom, and then at the golden antique porcelain bathtub with golden claw-feet.
It looked like something that belonged out of the British Regency era and not in an Atlantean villa.
She eyed the bath, but she had spent enough time underwater to last her a lifetime.
Shaking her head, she opened the glass door before turning the water to scalding and stepping under it.
The pressure blasted her, hitting her back at full force as muscles and knots she hadn’t realized were tight undid themselves.
In the quiet, she let herself just be in the moment and not worry about anything else.
Tipping her head under the water, she breathed in the steam, hoping it was cleansing her mind and body.
The last couple of days, if Kade were to be believed, were hard to erase.
So much had occurred, and she didn’t know where to start going through everything that had happened.
All she knew was the status quo with Talik had changed.
It wasn’t just the sex. Time and time again, he had shown he was always there, no matter what.
It was so different from the narrative she had convinced herself to believe.
She wasn’t an innocent, but she had probably laid more faults at Talik’s feet than she had to.
Anger and fear had been a driving force for a long time.
Grabbing the soap, she gently began lathering herself—this time, a small part of her disappointed she was washing away Talik’s scent.
Before the trip to Rome, she had thought she knew exactly where she stood with Talik.
But now, she wasn’t so sure. It had started with the first time she had seen him in person in Egypt.
After all this time, she wouldn’t have thought he could affect her.
Except the instant she had seen him standing on a landing strip in his three-piece suit in the middle of a desert, her heart had missed a beat.
And maybe she’d almost run him over because of it.
She had spent the first four days convincing herself that it was because she hated the sight of him, but clearly that was just a bold lie.
His presence was making her question everything.
It had been so much easier to hate him when he wasn’t in the same room.
When he wasn’t reminding her of why she had been drawn to him.
Whatever she was feeling, it wasn’t a rekindling of what she had felt about him in the past. It was different, stronger than before.
The recent near-death experiences had added to her confusion, as had his confession of guilt.
She looked up at the skylight. The moon shone down, silver beams danced along the dark tiles, creating the illusion of a magical atmosphere.
It wouldn’t be long until dawn’s rosy fingers streaked through the sky.
Sighing, she turned, ready to scald the other half of herself when she saw Talik.
Dressed in nothing but dark sweats that left nothing to the imagination, he watched her with an inscrutable gaze.
Leaning against the doorway, he crossed his arms; his messy hair was once again in a bun.
The tricolored strands begged to be touched.
In the moonlight, she could see his stubble.
“Stalking?” she asked, her voice breathier than she had expected. It almost sounded like an invitation.
It was because of the steam.
“Kiki, I would love to join you, but I assure you, showering is not what we would be doing. And you wanted to talk.”
She grabbed the shampoo bottle she had spied when she entered the shower. The smell of warm spices was enticing, and it reminded her of Talik. “I don’t recall inviting you.”
He laughed. A roguish smile tickled the edge of his lips. It made her heart flutter.
“Your scent tells another story.”
She began to scrub, hoping he would take the hint. As she lathered her hair, she tried to focus on what she was doing and not that he was watching her every move.
He slid the door open behind her. She stiffened before Talik started to help her. His nimble fingers massaged her scalp.
“Let me.” Softly spoken, it was an order she couldn’t quite refuse.
Khalida held her position for a second longer before she relaxed and leaned into Talik’s hard chest and closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of Talik and the shampoo.
She let her mind wander, and for the first time in a very long time, contentment rolled through her.
It was the peace she was always looking for, but she knew it wouldn’t last. It never did.
She had learned the hard lesson that it was always quietest before the dawn.
But she would take this peace offering in a heartbeat.
“Tip your head.”
He helped her rinse her hair before applying the conditioner and repeating the process. Talik hadn’t touched her anywhere else, yet somehow there was a deep level of intimacy in his actions that would stay with her for a long time.
Her stomach growled again.
Talik reached over, turning the tap off before he grabbed a soft gray fluffy towel and handed it to her.
“If I touch you, you will end up against the shower wall.”
She hesitated for a second before she took it from him, wrapping it around herself and turning around. Talik looked down at her. His messy bun was damp, with loose strands of soft curls hanging over his face and along his torso.
Shirtless, he still wore his sweats. Damp against his skin, they did nothing to hide his erection.
“Come on, before I change my mind and decide not to be a gentleman.”
Khalida snorted, the sound not very aristocratic as she walked out of the shower, hugging the towel closer to her. The cool air sent goose bumps along her exposed flesh as she entered the room.
Talik placed his hand on his chest in mock outrage. “You wound me.”
Stopping at the bed, she eyed her clothes rumpled on the floor. She did not want to put them on again, but she also had no desire to wander back to her room wearing only a towel, no matter how much it covered.
“Here.”
She accepted the clothing without looking at it, slipping the dark T-shirt over her head before she dropped her towel. The shirt was barely mid-thigh, but it would do.
“Talk, Khalida,” he softly demanded as he found the tray of antipasto that had been placed in the fridge while he had been in the shower.
She hadn’t noticed what was on it when she slipped into Talik’s room, but the platter was identical to the one delivered to her room.
Warmth spread through her at Talik’s consideration.
She waited until he had placed the tray on the small circular table next to the only other furniture in the room, a large plush dark-green two-person sofa.
When she had first visited Talik’s room, she had noticed the marble fireplace, but she hadn’t paid attention to the wooden star carvings that were haphazardly scattered across it.
She picked one up, tracing the outline of the shape, recognizing it instantly as the North Star. It had been Sidra’s favorite star.
She tore her gaze from the handmade ornaments and looked for Talik.
He had moved to the window. The moonlight cast his face in shadows, obscuring his expression.
The reason she had originally come into Talik’s room was to get answers, and now she was about to get them.
A small part of her wondered if she was ready for what he would say.
Waiting would not make it any easier.
She took a breath and forced her shaky hands to her sides. Without her swords, she felt even more vulnerable and open. “What was your fault? And don’t give me the bullshit excuse that it was throwing the grenade.”