IT WAS A very quiet Christmas Eve indeed.
Tired from the massages and time in the pool, Maggie was early to bed and Flo lay in hers with the drapes firmly closed. If she was right and Maggie was in early labour, at any time her phone could go off so Flo was more than happy to have an early night. But first she called home.
‘Flo, I can’t talk for long,’ her mother warned, which wasn’t exactly a great conversation starter. ‘I have so much to do.’
‘Tell me,’ Flo said, desperate to be a part of the celebrations, but her mother didn’t have time to indulge her suddenly homesick daughter. And so Flo lay on her bed watching a Christmas movie on her computer and eating chocolate.
It would be perfect, really, if it wasn’t Christmas Eve.
And if she wasn’t bracing herself for a broken heart.
She was all floppy and tired from her spa and she frowned when there was a knock at her door. But as she pulled on a wrap Flo was sure it was Kumu to tell her to come and see Maggie.
It was Hazin.
‘What do you want?’ she asked, and her voice was all surly, for she refused, yes, refused to jump to his tune.
‘I want you to come to bed,’ he said.
‘Excuse me?’ Flo checked, not sure if she was hearing things right. It would seem that she was! ‘Hazin, what happened to the thrill of the chase?’
‘You’re easy, though,’ he teased, and then saw her murderous expression and quickly amended with a slight triumphant smile, ‘Flo, I prefer the thrill of you.’
He melted her.
Her resolve popped in the same way she’d feared Maggie’s waters would until it lay in a puddle on the floor. Still, she did try to resist him, even if he had just made her smile.
‘I’m not your sex toy, Hazin. Anyway, I need to sleep.’ She went to close the door but his shoulder got in the way.
‘Sleep in my bed, Goldilocks.’
‘Ha-ha.’
‘We’ve managed to just sleep before,’ Hazin pointed out. In fact, it rather suited him not to have sex tonight, for he desperately wanted the air cleared between them before they did. He was holding onto a secret indeed. ‘You have to come to my apartment, I’ve got a surprise there for you.’
Flo was intrigued.
And she wanted to know what had been said between him and Ilyas, not that she could admit she knew he had just been in a meeting.
‘Bring your phone,’ he said. ‘You may be gone some time.’
She really was a pushover where Hazin was concerned, Flo thought as she quickly pulled on her robe and happily collected her phone.
Down long corridors they went and then they entered his apartment.
He led her towards his bedroom and as she opened the door to darkness, there was a familiar scent in the air. It wasn’t pitch dark, for there was a candle burning and he handed her a glass of warm mulled wine.
‘It’s a redcurrant candle,’ Flo said shaking her head in wonder, because it most certainly was.
‘Happy Christmas Eve,’ Hazin said.
‘This is the nicest thing you could have done.’ Flo beamed. She was very close to tears, for she could not quite believe what he had done! There was one problem, though. ‘I can’t have a drink tonight,’ Flo said, and told him the real reason she had to sneak in some sleep. ‘I’ve a feeling I’m going to be needed by Maggie.’
‘Really?’ He thought for a moment. ‘Well, you can have some tomorrow then.’
He took the glass from her and put it down and then turned on the side lights as she breathed in the lovely scent of a Christmas at home. Well, minus the pine and the mince pies and things, but quite simply he had taken her breath away.
‘Thank you for this, Hazin!’
‘You are so welcome.’
‘I was starting to feel a bit homesick.’
‘Then come here,’ he said, and lay on the bed. A moment later she had joined him. It was bliss to be in his arms and just to lie and chat and be held. ‘Do you really think Maggie will have the baby tonight?’ he asked.
‘Well, it’s not an exact science, but I think things are starting to move along.’
‘How come?’
‘She’s distracted, a bit irritable...’ Flo couldn’t really explain it. ‘I haven’t said anything to Maggie, of course. You just get a feeling about it, I guess, though I may well be wrong and I shall have foregone my mulled wine for no reason.’
‘There’s plenty whenever you’re ready.’
‘So you’re going to stick around?’ Flo asked, not so subtly fishing for information.
‘I think so,’ Hazin said. ‘I just spoke with Ilyas.’
‘And?’ Flo asked.
‘I don’t want to talk about it now,’ Hazin said.
In many ways she was happy not to hear his decision just yet.
Whatever he had chosen, it would hurt.
Still, there was a part of her that simply wanted more information.
‘If you’re ever back in London...’
‘Flo...’ He warned that the subject was closed.
‘I’m just saying we might bump into each other.’
‘Like we did the first night, when you just happened to be at Dion’s?’
Flo smiled. ‘No, maybe on the tube...’
‘I think we did cross paths once.’
‘Really?’
‘I’m sure it was you. It was winter and I specifically remember you were wearing jeans and boots...’
It took a second to realise she was being teased because half the women in London would have been wearing jeans and boots in winter.
Still, Flo smiled at the thought that their paths might have crossed one day and accepted that the subject of his chosen future was closed. And so she asked him another question instead. ‘Are you looking forward to being an uncle?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve never had anything to do with babies.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Ilyas seems happy, though.’
‘He does.’
‘And the mood at the palace has certainly improved since the last time I was here. It’s nothing like it used to be.’
‘What was it like when you came home at Christmas from school?’ Flo asked.
‘Well, it wasn’t Christmas, for one thing.’
‘But what was it like?’
She wanted to know.
‘I had nannies when I was younger and then from the age of about eleven I took care of myself. Really, I didn’t see anyone when I was here in the holidays, unless there was an official function. Ilyas was housed in the leaders’ wing or taken out to the desert and immersed in the teachings.’
‘Did you eat together?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘Well, we did on formal occasions.’
‘So where did you eat?’
‘I was served my meals in the dining room here.’
‘In the apartment?’ Flo said, and she swallowed and thought of a child virtually alone in this huge space.
You really can have everything and nothing, Flo thought.
‘I loathed coming home,’ Hazin admitted, and he gave her arm a squeeze. ‘But not this time.’
‘I’m glad I’ve entertained—’
‘You’re not the entertainment, Flo,’ Hazin said, and he meant it. So much so that it was then that he remembered she might soon have to work. ‘Let’s get some sleep.’
They undressed and slipped into bed. He turned off the lights so that all that lit the room was the scented candle.
He lay on his back with Flo curled up into him, her head on his chest. He smelt heavenly and the feel of his naked stomach beneath her fingers had her wonder if she might just have to change her mind about sex.
He was so unexpectedly romantic this evening.
But she must not get ahead of herself.
As nice as tonight had been, it was a glass of mulled wine and a candle.
Yet it was the little things he did that made her heart glow, and she could not help but hope that there was more to come, for he had made this night away from home so special.
She had assumed, right up to now, that the gesture had been a bit of a ruse to get her into bed.
Not that he had needed a ruse.
Yet Hazin didn’t seem to mind a bit that she needed to sleep.
But now she wanted a kiss.
Except Hazin really was asleep!
Not just asleep—his breathing had gone from deep to a gentle snore.
Flo lay there smiling as the noise from her less-than-perfect Prince grew louder.
‘Hazin,’ she said, and gave him a little prod.
It didn’t do the trick.
‘Hazin!’ she said louder, and this time he got a kick.
He awoke a little and disengaged her from his arms, then rolled onto his side so they faced each other. They shared a smile. ‘I don’t usually snore,’ Hazin said.
‘Liar.’
‘I don’t, I’m just wrecked.’
These last few days had been busy. Racing around to get things done and seeing Petra’s family, followed by the drain of relief at having given the speech.
And the guilt.
For Hazin had been busy making plans.
But he did not want to examine guilt now, for rather than speak their mouths met in a sleepy kiss.
There was just a whisper of resistance in him, for he wanted a clean slate, a clear head before he lost himself, but that whisper faded in the melding of their mouths.
Softly and slowly Hazin kissed her, his large hand lightly stroking her bare arm.
His calf came over her and she felt its heavy weight hook her in as they drank the intoxicating lust from each other’s mouths.
Hazin’s hand moved from her arm and stroked her waist, shooting arrows of desire to her centre. It was such an unhurried kiss yet it was the most sensual of her life.
Hazin had not brought her to his bed for this, yet there was no thought process now, just the sensation of being lost in a kiss.
Sometimes it had felt as if they’d been playing a game of cat and mouse, but not now.
Desire wrapped them closer. She opened her eyes to his and his gaze awaited her, and suddenly Flo remembered the first night they had met.
That moment when their souls had locked had felt the same as this, only this was deeper and this time they did not hide from it, or look away.
She was burning at his kiss and his touch, wrapped so tightly in his embrace. Flo freed her leg so that she could move it over his thigh, thus opening herself to him, for she had to have him inside, right now.
Her hand stretched down and felt him, hard and strong and ready. Hazin’s hand encircled hers, and together they stroked him until they could bear it no longer. She guided him there but one of them at least was sensible, and his hand released hers as he went to reach for a condom.
‘I’m on the Pill, Hazin.’
Those were words Flo had never said before, but to break contact now would feel criminal.
They were words that Hazin had always ignored.
Until now.
Hazin entered her slowly, relishing the feel of her tight, warm grip and he swallowed her sigh of pleasure.
Utter pleasure as he stretched her completely and their mouths met again. There was a delicious daze at his tenderness as they moved together, slow and unhurried.
Those strong arms were Flo’s to explore tonight and she felt the silky skin that sheathed his muscles, while his tongue stroked hers in enticing circles. The heat they made could surely light the dark desert sky.
He rolled her onto her back and kissed her in a way Flo had not known existed until now. She found out first-hand how that rough, unshaven face felt when it rubbed against her soft skin.
He took her hands and held them over her head, their fingers laced.
Her legs wrapped around him and Flo arched into him. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was making love to her.
Hazin was drowning in the intimate embrace of her and he swallowed down the soft moans that came from her throat.
He freed her hands so she could explore his face, and he drew up on his hands so he could watch her and kiss her. He took her in rapid, measured thrusts that had her grit her jaw together at times and had her stretch up for a kiss at others.
Hazin took her harder, holding nothing back. He watched as she helplessly grasped at pillows to anchor herself, then give in to the absolute force of his thrust. He felt her climax gather and the zip of tension in her made his stomach lift.
The room felt like a vacuum that sucked the air from him as he shot into her. He released with a breathless shout, and this was how it should be, Hazin knew.
This, he thought as he felt her release beneath him and revelled in the softness of the air in the aftermath of lovemaking.
His eyes opened to darkness and there was a shiver of guilt that ran through Hazin for the love Petra had never known. The defences inside with which he had walled that regret were temporarily down and Hazin wished, how he wished, that she had known love. In the still of the night, his soul spoke and he voiced that regret out loud. ‘Oh, Petra.’
Flo froze beneath him.
Lost to her orgasm, utterly gone, she was hauled back as her lover said his late wife’s name while still inside her.
It was like being sluiced with filthy water.
Lost in bliss, about to float gently back to earth, she was instead hurtled into high alert and her eyes snapped open. There was no denying what she had heard and Flo shoved him off her.
‘Flo...’ he attempted, but she was already half way out of the bed. His hand reached for her and came down on her shoulder but she shrugged it off.
‘Don’t touch me!’ she told him through tense white lips.
She could not believe what had just happened and what she had just heard, but knew there could be no coming back from this.
She flicked on the light and then scrabbled on the floor, trying to find her robe, desperate to get out and feeling as if she might well throw up, when her phone rang.
Not now! Flo thought.
Please, please, not now.
But she looked at her phone and, yes, it clearly wasn’t Flo’s night for it was Maggie.
Flo couldn’t even bear to sit on the bed as she took the call, she just turned her back on Hazin.
‘Hey,’ Flo said, and tried to keep her voice as upbeat as possible.
‘Flo, I’ve been having contractions. I think the baby’s close.’
Flo asked a few questions and told Maggie she would be along very soon. First, though, she had to have a shower.
‘Is she having it?’ Hazin asked. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.
‘What do you think?’ Flo sneered.
‘Can we speak for two minutes?’
‘You don’t get another moment of my time,’ Flo said, and grabbing her clothes she headed into his bathroom and slammed the door behind her.
Flo was very used to quick showers but this was the quickest of her life.
She felt as if she had been beaten all over and she was desperate to cry but there was no time to.
Hazin tried to speak to her, though.
He went into the bathroom just as she was turning off the taps and stepping out.
‘Please, Flo. Let me explain—’
‘Don’t even try,’ she said as she dried off and dressed with lightning speed. ‘I’ve been made to feel bad in my time, but what you just did to me...’ She picked up his comb and quickly ran it through her hair. In the mirror she could see the redness of her face as she practically glowed with humiliation and pain. ‘Why don’t you go back to bed, Hazin, and get off to your late wife.’
It was nasty but, hell, it was merited and Hazin closed his eyes as she brushed past and walked out.
They were done.