“Why don’t you talk to Sheik Alons?He seems like a fair guy.”She nibbled on a fry while waiting for his reply.
Zayn watched her lips, his body tightening painfully.He wasn’t sure if he was more turned on by the nibbling or that Azlyn knew about the issues between Ashtilla and Lativa.He wasn’t supposed to speak about his country’s concerns regarding the recent influx of troops along the southern border.He probably shouldn’t be speaking about it with Azlyn at all, since she was in the entertainment industry.But something told him that she wouldn’t reveal what he told her without his knowledge.
Zayn shook his head in response to her question.“My sister, Nahla, visited Sheik Alons a couple of months ago on a separate issue.She came back furious, for some reason.”
“But you didn’t ask her about her concerns?”Azlyn demanded.
“Haven’t gotten an opportunity to, yet,” Zayn admitted.“I was immediately sent out to do this publicity tour.”
She continued nibbling at the fry thoughtfully and he watched her lips, transfixed.He wondered what those lips would feel like, wrapped around his…!Zayn gritted his teeth and firmly evicted the thought.
“I think it would be amazing to have a sister,” Azlyn was saying, her blue eyes dreamy and distant now.“Someone to share secrets with and conspire with against our parents.”She tilted her head slightly at the odd look in his eyes.
He shrugged and set his iced tea down, leaning forward to lean on his crossed arms.“Nahla is eight years younger than I am.By the time she was old enough to speak sense, I was off working with my father, learning how to run a country.And by the time Nahla was interesting enough to have a conversation with, I was off at boarding school for most of the year.”
Azlyn tilted her head slightly.“How sad.I can’t imagine not being best friends with my siblings.”
“You don’t have siblings?”
She grimaced.“My mother is a lawyer with a big firm in Boston.She’s brilliant, but she knew from the beginning that she wasn’t cut out to be a mother.She and I get together once a year for an obligatory, boring dinner.She asks me about my life.I tell her nothing and ask her about her life.She tells me nothing.It’s always an awkward, tense meal.Afterwards, she flies back to Boston and I don’t hear from her until my birthday or Christmas, when I receive expensive, unnecessary gifts in the mail.”
“That’s…awful,” he said shaking his head slightly.“Nahla and I aren’t as close as we are with our cousins, but I still…,” he paused, looking startled.
“What?”
“I was about to say I know what’s going on in her life and that we talk.But I suddenly realized that wasn’t true.”
“Why do you think that?”she asked, lifting her drink and slurped the last of her soda, making that odd sound.Abruptly, she set the cup down.
“From what I was told, my mother and father got pregnant with me right after they got married, which,” he paused to chuckle, “was pretty amazing considering that both of my uncles and my aunt had their firstborns before they married.”
“That happens in a lot of families.”
He grinned, offering her that charming look that made her heart flutter.“But, we’re supposed to be role models to the world,” he said with a twist of his mouth that clearly explained what he thought about that.
“Why is there such a large gap between you and your sister?”
He pressed his lips together and for a moment, Azlyn wondered if he was going to tell her.She’d clearly struck a nerve.
“My mom had several miscarriages after me.I remember her being sad a lot when I was younger, but I didn’t understand why until I was much older.That’s when they told me.My mother was so sad and depressed after each miscarriage that my father declared that they weren’t going to have any more kids.”
Her eyes turned sad.“He must have loved her very much.”
“He did.Their marriage is like a fairy tale.Even now, everyone who sees them knows that they are wildly in love.”
He was silent for a long moment, then he seemed to shake it off.“Anyway, I was talking about Ashtilla.”He looked at her for a long moment, then shrugged.“I’m trusting you with this confidential information, you know.”
Azlyn straightened up and lifted her right hand, palm out in a silent vow.“I get it.Nothing will ever be mentioned by me.”
He watched her for another moment, then nodded.“Thank you.You don’t seem like the type to spread stories.”
Azlyn tilted her head slightly and pursed her lips.“I don’t know.You piss me off enough and I’ll tell the world that you are actually bald.”Her eyes twinkled with mischief.“Isn’t that every man’s nightmare?”
He laughed, a full bodied laugh that made her insides hum with delight.
“Noteveryman’s,” he replied, a smile still lingering on his face.
“What would be your biggest nightmare?”
