Page 34 of Modern Romance November 2024 5-8

‘Can we stop talking about him?’ Sahir snapped, appalled at the thought of Violet with him. With anyone. ‘Were you going to sleep with him? Someone you’d just met online?’

‘I wanted it out of the way.’

‘It’s not a chore! It can actually be...’ He halted, perhaps for his sanity’s sake. ‘Well, you’ll find out for yourself,’ Sahir said, and then a little too hastily added, ‘Someday.’

Only that little addition didn’t help his sanity either. He didn’t want to entertain even the thought of her with another man—certainly not while holding her in his arms.

Violet wanted to find out.

And not just someday.

Today—or rather tonight.

With Sahir.

She wasn’t surprised at the sudden strain between them.

She was good at a little flirting, even if it was usually an act. Yet with Sahir it had been so natural.

‘I had a pretty wild family,’ she told him.

It was too much, and too hard to explain, but they were dancing more easily now, and he smelt so divine, andgosh, he was good to talk to—or was it that he simply didn’t say that much?

She was brave enough to lift her head and look at him now. ‘And in trying not to emulate them I think I went too far the other way. Became too cautious...’

‘Go on...’ he invited.

‘Now, when a guy finds out I’ve never slept with anyone, they seem to assume I’m saving myself for a reason. That I want a husband.’

‘You don’t want to marry?’

‘Absolutely I do.’ Violet nodded. ‘Not yet, though. I want a gorgeous life, with babies and...’ She gave a contented sigh, thinking of everything she’d never had. ‘But before all that I want to sort myself out. Maybe when I’m about thirty...’

‘That’s the age you’ll be all sorted?’ He smiled.

‘I hope so.’ She nodded. ‘How old are you?’

‘I just turned thirty-five, and believe me...’

Sahir paused, reminding himself that his future was more than sorted. It just didn’t feel that way right now.

Thankfully she didn’t notice his silence, just chatted on.

‘For now, though, I just want to date...have some fun while I work things out. The trouble is, I don’t think I’ve ever really wanted to...’

That pulled him out of his own head. ‘Have sex?’ he asked.

‘Oh, it’s far worse than that,’ she admitted. ‘I don’t even really like kissing. I’ve never wanted to...never felt compelled...’

Violet chewed her lip, because she’d been utterly honest with Sahir so far.

However, as of now, she was lying.

‘Never?’ he checked, his hands hovering near her torso and warm on her waist.

‘Maybe a little once...’

‘Possibly tonight?’

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