Aziza’s shifting gaze revealed her discomfort. She knew she’d crossed a line. “I went to my apartment.”
“Your apartment?” Ryan massaged his forehead and sighed.
The woman he loved more than anything else had no sense of self-preservation. “I’m still waiting for the rest of it. You know … the part where Akbar chased you.”
“I promised I wouldn’t leave, but—”
He stepped into her space, forcing Aziza to back up. “If I knew all the ends of this case were tied up, I would have told you so. But since I didn’t, I trusted you to keep your word.”
When he looked beyond her, Aziza turned to see what
captured his attention.
Sunita stood in the doorway, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her worried gaze slid between them, as if she feared the two adults would come to blows.
“It’s okay, sweetie. Go back to bed, we’re just talking,” Aziza said, turning sideways. “We’ll keep our voices down.”
While she spoke Aziza wore a reassuring smile, which fell away when Sunita moved out of range.
Ryan rubbed his jaw, which was itchy. His beard needed tending. “After promising me you would stay here, you left without even a note to say you were going out. I’m definitely not okay with that. D’you know the places my mind went to when I came back and you weren’t here?”
He waved one hand to encompass the space around them. “The only reason I didn’t start tearing this hotel apart was the fact that the room didn’t look as if someone dragged you out of it.”
Aziza flinched, then murmured, “I’m sorry.”
As his skin heated, he inhaled to calm himself. “I didn’t ask you to stay here because I wanted to restrict your movements. I wanted you here with me because I care about you.” He brushed past Aziza, walked to the sliding door, and stared into the darkness.
The blackness of the sky would be nothing compared to what life would look like if she hadn’t survived.
When he faced her and spoke, his voice was husky. “In case I haven’t made it plain to you, woman, I love the very ground you walk on. If anything happened to you, I do not know how I would make it without you.”
📖
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