Chapter Thirty-Six
‘Kate, wake up. You’ll be late for school.’
Sleep disorientation aside, I’m pretty sure I haven’t been transported into the past. That’snotmy mum’s voice and those definitely aren’t her teeth pressing delicately against the lobe of my ear.
‘Five more minutes, please.’ I groan through a badly hidden smile, stretching out along the bed.
‘You can stay here all day,habibti, I’m just trying to do the responsible thing.’
‘Then why is your hand between my legs?’ Eyes scrunched closed in defiance, I pull the sheet further up my body, grasping it between my teeth.Hello, Miss Morning-Breath.
‘Because I can never resist,’ he purrs. ‘Better than an alarm clock, no?’
‘Oh, isthatwhat this is?’ I giggle, reaching out with my hand.
‘Don’t they teach anatomy in Catholic schools?’ he asks huskily, adding a further, ‘Ouch!’ as his body jolts in response to my less than tender fingers. ‘Be gentle, that’s averyalarmed cock you have there.’
Releasing him with another giggle, I clamp my legs together over his hand. ‘How long before we need to leave?’
‘We have a little while,’ he says, pushing the mass of hair away from my eyes. ‘I wanted to talk to you first.’
Turning my head, I open one apprehensive lid. ‘What about?’
‘Us.’
‘Then you’d definitely better move your hand.’
With a reluctant smile, his hand slides to my hip. One hand propped under his head, he lies on his side, facing me.
‘What’s up?’
‘I thought we should discuss Essam.’
I shiver without meaning to appear theatrical. ‘Talking about him at the best of times makes my skin crawl. Naked in your bed, talking about Essam doesn’t do it for me at all.’
But I get it; he wants to avoid guilt by association. His cousin is a man with a wife and childanda girlfriend on the side. Oh, and he has his family fooled into thinking he’s the pious type.The scumbag.
‘I know, but the girl he has the apartment for,’—he pulls himself up against the pillows—‘do you know her? Does she have a place of her own? A job?’
I take a moment to answer, my fingers worrying the edges of the sheet. The last time this was the topic of conversation, it ended with me ordering him out of my bed.
‘As far as I can tell, she gave up her job to move in with him, so no. And she doesn’t know he’s married, obviously.’
‘I can exert enough pressure for him to get his house in order, but I doubt he’ll give a thought to the girl.’
‘Sarah,’ I say, bringing his attention back from his frowning thoughts. ‘She has a name, and what does that mean?’ I don’t know her, but she could’ve easily been me: an exotic and new country, a handsome man sweeping you off your feet. Maybe I’m just lucky in my choice of man.
‘It means I recognise that what he’s doing is wrong, on so many levels. I can make him stop.’
‘What can you do? Lock the dirt-bag up?’
‘He has too much to jeopardize, both work and family, especially now that he’s been found out. I can’t imagine he’d risk losing face or his standing in the family. And let’s face it, he’s not very invested.’
‘He’s got her a flat but he’s not hot on the girl?’ I ask, incredulous.
Kai’s response is blunt in the extreme. ‘You know he’s still fucking around. Remember, he asked me about Sofia.’ He speaks her name softly.To soften the blow?
‘Asked you...Oh.The conversation in the gallery, he was asking about her availability, wasn’t he?’Eww. Sloppy seconds.‘Maybe he should’ve asked her husband, not you.’Does she have a magic muff or something? Do tricks? Double jointed? Give awesome head?
