‘Baby, talk dirty to me,’ he growls out playfully. ‘You know how much I love your pretty mouth full of dirty words.’
‘You’re impossible, you know.’
‘Habitual,’ he exhales with a sigh. ‘And you didn’t miss much, nothing you can’t see on the way back. A couple of abandoned villages, some camels on the horizon.’
‘Bugger. I could have brought my camera. I haven’t seen anything Aladdin-y since I got here,’ I grumble.
‘Arabia not Arabian enough for you?’
‘Funny you should ask, but the lack of flying carpets has been ahugedisappointment.’
‘Yes, Niamh had mentioned you’d said as much. That’s why I thought of this place rather than going away to Beirut or wherever. And there’ll be lots of time for shisha and camels in the future, I promise.’
Lots of time for me and my boyfriend. That sounds heavenly and I must remember to thank Niamh, too.
‘And hopefully, we’ll make memories here.’
I reluctantly turn my eyes from Kai’s smiling profile, following the slight incline of his head. In the distance, a large sand coloured building glints in the sunlight. Fortress is the first word that springs to mind, but on second glance there isn’t anything ancient looking about the cluster of buildings, despite being walled and turreted. Could it be a small town, like an oasis outpost? And, for the first time since waking, I notice the sand. On either side of the car, apricot coloured sand dunes shift minutely, twisting in the breeze.
‘Is that a fort? Where are we? Where did all the sand come from?’
‘A, no, it’s a hotel. B, in Liwa, and C, from the desert.’ His voice is full of warm humour and he looks pretty stoked.
‘A hotel?’
‘Yes. We’re staying here, on the edge of theRub’ al Khali. The empty quarter.’
‘In the desert? Wow!’
What starts as a chuckle develops into a deeply distinct laugh as I stare at the cluster of buildings drawing ever closer. I probably look like a kid at the gates to Disneyland. The buildings look more like a citadel than any hotel, though definitely more modern than ancient. NowI’mstoked!
‘What’s the empty quarter?’
‘It’s the largest sand desert in the world, bordering the UAE, Saudi and Oman.’
‘Now,thisis very Aladdin,’ I reply as we drive through the entryway and into the hotel grounds.
Pulling up to the entrance, Kai hands the keys to the valet-check and we head into the cool interior. Carrying the small leather holdall Rashid dropped off earlier, Kai assures me he has everything I need for our overnight stay. I neither ask, nor care, if this means everything, as in a stack of new clothes hanging from a luggage cart in the room like before, or if he’s spent time this morning raking through my drawers, so to speak. I’m too busy being overwhelmed by the expanse of nothingness surrounding the hotel. Sand dune after sand dune shimmers in the afternoon sun. A sight stretching all the way to the horizon, evoking images of princesses and sultans, camels and carpets.
‘Habibti?’ Kai brings me back from my visions of a Disney-fied Arabia. ‘This way.’ We head outside once more to the waiting oversized golf buggy. Not quite a magic carpet but it gets us to our villa, all the same.
I wander through the interior, touching the expensive looking furnishings, finding myself at a wall-sized window leading onto a terrace and pool. It’s achingly stylish, but it’s the view beyond that has my full attention. A sea of sand, dunes as far as my eye can see. Some in the distance seem to tower hundreds of feet in wave after wave of fine sand, interrupted by nothing, not a shrub, nor flora or fauna of any kind. It’s strange, but the desert doesn’t need the distraction of colour. It has enough on its own. Hues of apricot and khaki meld into gold and rose as the sun glistens in a cloudless sky.
‘It’s so beautiful.’
I turn my head over my shoulder to where Kai leans casually against the wall behind, his expression unreadable in the shadows.
‘Like you.’
Biting back a smile, I turn back to the window, pink with pleasure. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hearing him say that I’m beautiful or that he wants me. That he feels the same. Happiness bubbles inside me, exuberance pushing me from the view. I feel like twirling around and around the room. Instead, I throw myself dramatically into the centre of the huge bed dominating the room.
‘I love it! All of it. I love that you’ve brought me here.’ His heated gaze crawls up my body, as a small burst of warmth explodes in my core. I can so tell what he’s thinking; I like the lines of his thinking, too. Propping myself on my elbows, I stretch out my legs languidly, drumming my fingers against the covers at my hip. ‘Come here,’ I purr, rubbing the coverlet with the tips of my fingers.
Kai pushes himself from the wall with an indolent air, stalking towards me and laying with his head level with my own.
‘Thank you for bringing me here,’ I whisper, my heart rate spiking as I inhale his familiar cologne. I want to run my fingers through his hair, pull him to me, kiss him until our lips are swollen and tingling. ‘I so want to kiss you.’ My words are thick, rasping with want and, as though in acquiescence, his body relaxes into the bed. His eyes follow as I lean towards him, aware of every breath leaving my body. I tilt his chin, his movements pliant in my hands. ‘You have the most beautiful mouth.’
Instinctively, he sucks in his bottom lip. Breath catches in my throat: I long to kiss him hard, mash my lips against his with the craze that has suddenly flooded my veins. Hot, frenzied kisses until our clothes and restraint fall away. But I don’t. I find I can’t, frozen by the prospect of letting him see this need. I rein in my ardour, desire stinging the back of my throat, and instead, draw my tongue against his full bow.
