…
He had arranged to take Olivia out on the glass-bottomed boat belonging to the research center. Out here among the international group of scientists, no one batted an eyelid at the two of them spending time together. She packed her swimming things into a small backpack and slathered sunblock all over her fair skin. They anchored out in the water and Khaled left his post at the helm. He lay down and invited Olivia to join him, watching through the viewing window in the boat. If she had been amazed by his knowledge and enthusiasm back in London at the museum, she was overwhelmed listening to him out in the boat. It was like seeing the whole world through new eyes, with Khaled to point out the tiniest details and help her to understand the way that the different species related to and depended on each other.
Eventually, he paused. Olivia looked up at him with a question in her eyes.
For an instant, she thought he was going to kiss her. Her mouth went dry and she parted her lips encouragingly. His deep, dark eyes narrowed and a crease formed in his brow. He wasn’t going to make it easy for her, but this was the last time they would have together and their final chance to be alone. She wasn’t going to waste it all on viewing the marine life, fascinating though that was.
He rolled away and jumped to his feet. “Would you like a drink?”
Olivia sat up more slowly. “Please.”
While Khaled went to the coolbox, she headed into the small cabin where she changed into her bikini. He’d told her to bring it, so it was his fault that she was going to wear it. It was a perfectly respectable swimsuit. She wasn’t the kind of woman to parade around in three miniature triangles of fabric strung together with dental floss. Admittedly, the scarlet polka-dotted top revealed a whole lot more than her T-shirt did, and the bikini bottoms were significantly smaller than her shorts, but there was no one out here to see her except Khaled, and he’d seen it all before, and more. She grabbed her sun lotion and went back out to join him.
“I need your help.”
Khaled glanced over his shoulder and froze when he saw her.
She held out the bottle of sunblock. “I can’t reach my back.”
“Olivia…”
“Khaled,” she said, mimicking him.
He shook his head. “I can’t. I shouldn’t have told you to bring that. I was teasing. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Olivia stepped closer to him. “I’m not.”
“I really don’t think this is a good idea. We can’t…”
“There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of foolishness. Your bodyguards know not to look, don’t they?”
“Livvy, you know how things are. I have to do my duty—”
She laid a finger on his lips. “Let me tell you what I think. I think you still want me as much as you did in Scotland. I think you like the way I look in my bikini. I think you’d like nothing better than to rub this sunblock all over my back, to touch my skin with your bare hands. I think you’d like to do a lot more than that.”
Khaled took a long ragged breath and opened his mouth as if to speak, but Olivia hadn’t finished.
“I think we’re out here alone. None of your students at the research center care about traditional Saqati expectations. No one at the palace will ever know. No one except you and me will ever know. So I think we should enjoy ourselves. A little bit of recklessness won’t hurt anybody. We need a last little bit of fun.”
He turned away from her. “My betrothal is being announced tomorrow.”
“Shh.” She slid her arms around his chest and pressed up against his back. “I don’t want to talk about that. All I know is that you’re here and I’m here, and I’d like you to put sunblock on my back.”
“I can’t. If I touch you I’ll explode.”
She grinned and put the bottle of sunblock on the ledge beside him. “Dare you.” She turned and went to lie down on her stomach, her bare back fully exposed to the powerful, dangerous rays of the Arabian sun, with only the flimsy bikini ties for protection. Under her breath, Olivia counted. Before she reached number four, a cold shiver went down her spine. Then another. And another. And then she let her breath go as the warm, gentle touch she had been longing for began to spread the cold cream across her heated skin. Khaled was measured and thorough, rubbing the protective lotion into every inch of exposed flesh.
“Turn over,” he muttered.
Olivia obliged him, biting back her triumphant smile. Khaled’s expression was grim, but his hands were as tender as any lover’s, working across her body with exquisite competence. She shimmied a little, arching her breasts towards him.
“Stop that.”
Olivia ignored him and continued to demonstrate how much she was enjoying his touch.