Page 44 of Dirty Wild Sultan

“Nasrin,” I breathed, pulling away and panting to catch my breath when she did the same. Her cheeks were flushed, her pupils dilated, and her lips… so tempting and inviting.

“Was that okay?” I heard myself ask, my voice deeper than before, my hands cupping her face, her fingers clutching my shirt tightly.

“More than okay,” she replied, and leaning up on her toes, she brushed her lips over mine. Her eyes peered up at me. “Can we do that again, Sultan?”

I smiled at her. “Your wish is my command, Sultana.”

We kissed again.

And some more.

I pulled her on top of me in the middle of the empty desert, the horse neighing as we laughed and kissed once again. Her hair tangled in my hands when she kissed me with sweet passion.

We had to stop because the sun had set, and the sky was slowly turning dark. I had held her close on our ride back to the palace, her hands entwined with mine when she leaned back against me.

“Why do you both look like you wrestled in the sand?” Khalid taunted when we walked hand in hand into the palace.

Our clothes were disheveled, hair mussed with sand covering us, but our faces were glowing. We must have resembled two kids who had the time of their life playing in the sand.

“Maybe we did, Khalid,” Nasrin answered with her chin high. “I tackled my Sultan in the desert and won.”

My Sultan.

My brother raised his eyebrow at her, giving me a look and smirking at both of us. “Sure, you did, Sultana. You have certainly made my brother speechless.”

I glared at his smug smile. “Excuse us, Khalid. We need to wash off the sand and letjadatiknow we will take our dinner in our room.”

“Just the dinner or tomorrow’s breakfast, too?” He teased.

Nasrin was hiding her laugh when my cheeks felt warm. “Get out of my sight before I punch you, Khalid.”

My wife held my hand and dragged me away from there, leaving Khalid to chuckle behind us.

“I apologize for my brother’s behavior, I will scold—”

“Zain.” Nasrin grinned at me, “It’s okay, Khalid was mocking us like all siblings do.”

I nodded at her, brushing my thumb over her knuckles. We were walking back to our room when someone rushed into us.

“I am so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going—”

Nasrin apologized quickly to the young woman with short hair…

“Zara?” I asked, bending down on my knees to look at her face. “Zara, what happened?”

Her hazel eyes were red and swollen as tears slid down her cheeks. I pulled her into a hug, squeezing my eyes shut when she sobbed into my neck, apologizing to me. I noticed she had chopped her hair off to her chin, and I knew something had happened, but I needed to make sure she was okay.

“Shh, sweetheart, it’s okay. I forgive you for everything,” I murmured, wiping away her tears as she heaved and drank the water that Nasrin had brought us.

“I am so sorry, Zain. I was being so stupid, sneaking away like that,” Zara said, her hazel eyes on the ground. “I wanted to go out of the palace and have some fun.”

I shared a look with Nasrin, begging her to help me with my eyes. Growing up, it was a rare sight to see Zara cry. Even if she fell and bruised her elbows or knees, sprained her ankle, she never cried. Just laughed it off. She only ever sobbed and cried like that once. For Khalid after he had killed our father.

“It’s okay, sweet. See? Your brother forgave you. He was not mad at you for wanting to go out. We can talk about it after dinner. Until then, let me help you with your hair, okay?”

Zara looked at me and then at Nasrin. She finally nodded, “Thank you, Nasrin.”

I stood up and watched Nasrin take my sister back to her room, talking to her in a soft voice. I had to find out why she was so hurt that she cut her own hair. For as long as I remember, Zara loved her long, wavy coal hair. She must have been furious and sad to chop it off.

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