She wasn’t weak, she told herself, arguing against what her brother always said about her. She was strong, but kind hearted. Which was why she worked for a design firm who handled the business side of things instead of going out on her own. They collected the money, while she enjoyed the creative side of the business. Well that, and the fact that she didn’t have any clients! Having clients is pretty essential to her dreams, she thought with a smile. Ryan had to approve of that side of the issue at least.
She needed to call him. She hadn’t talked to him in about a week and they usually caught up with each other more often than that. He must be pretty busy because he rarely let a weekend go by without checking in with her. He’d raised her after their parents died and it had been pretty tough for a while. But he’d pulled them through that crisis at an age when he was much too young to be bearing the responsibility of a young sister to raise. She’d never forget him for that. She owed him a lot.
“You look exceptionally beautiful when you smile like that, Sidra,” a deep voice said as the man and horse walked quietly through the damp forest towards her.
Sidra quickly stood up, startled that the man she’d just been thinking about would suddenly materialize in front of her like that. “What are you doing here?”
He took several steps closer, watching her the whole time and uncaring of any little creatures that might crawl along the leaves. “Hoping you would come for a walk through these woods at the same time you drove into my life yesterday.” He halted and smiled, “Or more specifically, didn’t drive into my life.”
She couldn’t believe he’d actually said those words. Wasn’t he supposed to prevaricate and tell her that he’d only been coming on a morning walk like he usually did? “Aren’t you supposed to pretend that this was an accidental meeting?”
His horse stepped over the stream and came closer, allowing him to look down at her with a raised eyebrow. “Why would I do that?”
She looked around, shrugging her shoulders in confusion. “Because you’re a guy and men need to pretend like they aren’t interested until a woman shows that they’re interested?”
He chuckled as he threw his long leg over his horse and dismounted. “And are you interested? In me?” He walked up to her, leaving just a foot of space between their bodies as he looked down at her.
She thought about lying, or at a minimum, telling him that she thought he was handsome but not that she was interested. But there was something about the way he was looking at her that forced the truth from her. “Yes. Very much so,” she finally said, looking down at her hands that were clenched on top of her knees from the nervousness he generated within her. “You’re a very interesting man.”
He smiled and Sidra was glad she’d been honest. “What do you know of me?”
She laughed, pretending that her blush wasn’t so obvious and looked up at him. “I know that you have no mechanical knowledge at all when it comes to cars, but you’re very good at reading maps.”
“And is that all?” he asked, leaning forward slightly.
“And you’re very handsome.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “No one has ever said I was handsome before.”
She tilted her head to the side, considering his features. “You are. Not in the pretty boy kind of way, but there’s a harshness to you that’s very attractive. Very handsome.”
His eyes were intense, the blue coming out as icicles for some reason. She shivered with that intensity, wishing she could run and hide all of a sudden. “You’re a very kind person.”
She shook her head and raised an eyebrow back at him. “Are you trying to tell me that the ladies don’t throw themselves at you continuously? I won’t believe it at all.”
Rashid threw back his head and laughed, delighted with her honesty. She was partly right. Women did throw themselves at him, but he knew it was because of his title and his power or wealth. He wasn’t a handsome man but he took advantage of anything they were offering. He didn’t care that they were superficial women who wanted something from him. He knew their game and played it well. “Perhaps women find something in me that they want,” was all he would admit to at the moment.
She smiled and wondered why his laughter could make her heart skip a beat. “I think you’re being modest, but that’s a very kind thing I suppose.”
Now she was telling him he was kind? He could go for attractive perhaps, but no one would ever dare to call him kind. “In what way?”
She shifted on the rock so that she could face him more fully. She wished she could throw herself into his arms, but thought that would be just too forward. “Most men, in my experience, are braggarts that rarely live up to their opinions of themselves. You, on the other hand, probably have a great many talents hidden behind those pretty blue eyes,” she said and batted her own hazel ones up at him, “but are trying to convince me that women only pant after you for your physique.”
Rashid smiled and Sidra’s mind instantly conjured up a wolf about to eat her for dinner. It was quite breathtaking and she stared back at him, hoping he would break this tension that was slowly building between the two of them. “And what adjective would you use to describe my physique.”
She looked down and turned away, suddenly shy and knew that her face was once again suffused with painful color. “Don’t be coy, Rashid. You know that you’re amazingly well built.” She stood up and walked a couple of steps away from the rock, trying to put some distance between them. She was honestly afraid she might throw herself into his arms, just to feel him touching her like he had yesterday.
Rashid was looking at her very delightful derriere when she said that but her words made his eyes move upwards and he caught her eye. “I’m not sure that ‘well built’ is a good thing.”
“Are you fishing for compliments?” she asked, laughing at his aggressive expression. She knew she should probably be wary. She was alone in the woods with a man she barely knew who was possibly ten times stronger than she was. But this man didn’t scare her like some of her previous dates. Ryan would be furious if he knew she was here though.
“What are you thinking right now?” Rashid asked out of the blue.
Sidra blinked at the quick change in subjects and looked up at him. “I was thinking that Ryan wouldn’t like me being here alone with you.”