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you should never be with a strange man, let alone offer to drive him home.”
    Oh, man. He was going all protective and disapproving on her. As if she needed to find him any yummier.
    “You are strange—” in a uniquely and incredibly exciting way, her grin told him “—but not a stranger.”
    That majestic head inclined in delicious curtness. “Not a total stranger, granted, but still one.”
    “Oh, come on, Rashid. Next you’re going to say I need a mehrem. ” In other words, an adult male of her kin whom she couldn’t marry to chaperone her in the presence of males she could. “How about you stop behaving as if we don’t know each other?”
    “We don’t.”
    A huff of incredulity burst out at his emphatic declaration. “Yeah, right. I’ve known you all my life.”
    “You’ve seen me from afar for a portion of it.”
    “Yeah, a portion comprising its first seventeen years. And the ‘from afar’ bit was your doing. It sure wasn’t for lack of trying to come closer on my part.”
    There. Her crass candor was getting into gear. But boy, had she tried to come closer.
    She’d tried to be everywhere he was while he’d been in Zohayd, had found every reason to be in Azmahar when he’d been there, striving for a chance to talk to him. Yet no matter her ingenuity, she could count on one hand the quasi-exchanges they’d ever had. The one thing ameliorating her disappointment had been that Rashid was like that with everyone. Not that he’d been that reserved with others. And not that she’d ever given up.
    After he’d joined the army and his appearances had become more sporadic, she’d obsessively done everything she could to be around for the rare visits. But war between Azmahar and Damhoor had erupted mere months after he’d enlisted. Then he’d been reported missing and thought dead....
    Ya Ullah, she’d never known such desperation. Or such relief when he’d turned up weeks later, alive and leading his squad back to civilization. She’d almost died of frustration when she hadn’t been able to go with Haidar and Jalal to greet him at his return. But she’d gone to the ceremony where he’d received Azmahar’s highest medal of valor. She’d still had to ambush him to congratulate him, tell him how thankful she’d been for his safety. But he’d been more aloof than ever before.
    He’d drifted farther away from then on until he’d seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. He’d resurfaced almost three years ago, just as the upheaval in Zohayd had erupted, as her closest cousins’, Haidar’s and Jalal’s, enemy, and subsequently the enemy of her whole family.
    No one knew what had happened between the former best friends to tear them apart so viciously. She didn’t even know if it was the same thing that had alienated Haidar and Jalal themselves. All she’d known was that she had to be resigned that she would never see him again. That she’d never had any chance with him, anyway.
    Now fate had brought him exploding back into her life, only for her to find he’d become this exhilarating delight of a man who was still making her struggle for every inch closer...
    The GPS announced that they’d arrived at their destination.
    Bringing the car to a stop, she squinted up through the windshield.
    He lived in a...warehouse?
    His next words confirmed it. “Now that you’ve driven me home, I’ll have someone tail you to yours.”
    She took the key out and handed it to him. When he wouldn’t take it, she placed it on his lap and took off her seat belt. “Which part of ‘I’m taking care of you tonight’ didn’t you get?”
    His gaze bathed her in such calm contemplation it had blood fizzing in her ears. “This comes from being one of the two prized female Aal Shalaans, right?”
    “Uh...what does?”
    “The expectation that men will do your bidding. You’re used to saying ‘jump’ only for your male kin to ask ‘how high?’”
    One thing for sure, she’d jump if only he