Sheikh's Ex-Girlfriend (Khayyam Sheikh Series #1) by Sophia Lynn Read Free Book Online

of Dalal. Let me show it to you, and in return—well, in return, I get the joy of showing you my home.”
     “Nasim, I don't want to hurt you …”
    “Trust me when I say that hurt is the last thing that I am thinking about right this moment,” he said firmly. “Let me give this to you. At worst, I promise you a Dalal that you will never see otherwise. At best … well, at best, perhaps we learn each other all over again.”
    Ella felt frozen. She wondered if Eve felt like this, the bright red apple in front of her, the promise of a world she could never imagine hers for the taking. She knew that she should shake her head, back away. She was in Dalal on business, but more than that, she was in the Middle East for herself, for her dreams. If she allowed Nasim to be a part of it, she might lose it all.
    She started to say no, but then she felt Nasim's hand around hers. She felt the way he held it, as if it were something precious to him. She could feel the tension that ran through him, and though she knew that he would withdraw if she told him no, it would do something terrible to him.
    In the end, that was not something that she could deal with.
     “All right,” she said softly. “All right.”
    He broke into a wide grin. For a moment, it looked as if he was going to kiss her, but then he squeezed her hand instead.
    “Thank you,” he said, his voice deep with emotion. “I swear, you will not regret this.”
    She smiled at him instinctively. Her whole life, she had always felt that being true to herself was important, essential to her way of life. Sometimes, she could tell that she was not being true to herself. With a faint surprise, she realized that holding herself back from Nasim felt unnatural. Smiling at him, accepting him, felt like the most natural thing in the world. She wondered if she should be worried about that, but at the moment, it felt more right simply to smile.
    “All right, that's enough time back here,” she said. “I need to get back to the party and mingle before they think that I've retreated to lick my wounds over not signing Yusef. Do—will it be all right for you to come join me?”
    He waved dismissively before offering her his arm. “One thing I have found about being in this position is that no one expects to see me, so they don't. I will simply be your mysterious companion.”
    She was relieved that the man who had imposed upon her was nowhere to be seen, and once she relaxed about someone recognizing Nasim, she found herself actually enjoying the party. When she wasn't actively engaging with her peers on the state of literary progress in the world and in Khayyam, she was murmuring with Nasim regarding what she had learned since coming to Dalal.
    There was something deeply familiar about it, but there was more to it than that, Ella realized. It wasn't just the passage of time. Nasim was serious in a way she had never seen before, and with a faint flutter of excitement and nervousness, she found herself deeply looking forward to seeing what came next.
    He offered her a ride home, which she gratefully accepted. The storm had died down to a steady patter of rain, and as they navigated the dark streets, Ella found herself thoughtful.
    “Do you ever wonder what would have happened if …” Ella trailed off, not sure how to continue, but Nasim knew.
    “If we hadn't parted ways five years ago? I'm afraid I do. I imagine that you would have continued to be a bright, bold, and passionate woman, and eventually, I would have driven you away with my selfishness and my demanding nature.”
    “Nasim?”
    He laughed. There was a self-knowledge there, and it had been hard-won.
    “No, this is something I now know about myself. Five years ago, I was content to simply let things happen, assuming that they would go right. When I introduced you to my family, that was the first time that things hadn't simply fallen into place for me, and it was stunning. It taught me a hard lesson, one I kept on