The Sheikh’s Tempted Prisoner by Holly Rayner Page 0,44
you can. What is your name?”
He told her his name, and she wrote it down.
“That’s great, Adil. Why don’t you join us next week? It’s a little deep into the semester, so you’ll have some catching up to do, but we can do our best to get you there, okay?”
The boy’s eyes lit up with joy, and Lily was reminded of why she loved being an educator.
“Thank you, Miss Hawthorne! You won’t regret it. I will be the hardest working student in the class!”
“I look forward to seeing your progress. Have a good afternoon.”
“Yes! And you!” he said, bowing as he turned and nearly skipped out of the room.
Lily chuckled to herself as she slung a bag over her shoulder and headed out of the English department building, which was fashioned of red brick and contrasted sharply with the woods surrounding them. She pressed the button to unlock her car, which was a sleek four-door sedan.
Atnan had insisted on giving her one of his cars. He had led her to every sports car, every enormous SUV he’d had in his little lot. In the end, Lily had chosen a simpler vehicle.
“Atnan, I do not need to plow through these streets in one of those monsters! I also don’t need anything flashy. I’m a practical girl. Give me something that goes from point A to point B, and I’ll be happy.”
Atnan had had a hard time understanding that mentality, but he’d relented, handing her the keys to a little silver car that had been just perfect. She’d winked at him.
“There now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“I just want you to have the best of everything life has to give.”
“Who said that this isn’t the best life has to give? Everyone has different likes and preferences, Atnan. I simply enjoy something different. This car will bring me far more joy than that one,” she said, nodding at a yellow sports car.
Atnan’s smile had been imperceptible as he’d wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Then that car it is,” he had said, kissing the top of her head affectionately.
Lily smiled at the memory as she turned on the engine and turned her car back toward their apartment. She didn’t know when she’d really started thinking of it as theirs and not his. Possibly when they’d renovated the space together, adding little details that meshed perfectly with Atnan’s style and made it feel a little more like Lily. She pulled into a parking lot near the local farmer’s market, right next to a flashy sports car.
One thing she could say was that Atnan was much easier to find now that his reputation had been restored. Lily pulled a few bags from the back seat of her car and stepped into the humid air, casting her gaze around for Atnan. She saw him deliberating over a selection of cheeses.
“I’ll take four of these, please,” he said in his native tongue.
“And an extra one of those,” Lily finished in the same language, pointing to the almond cheese he had cooked her for their first meal together.
Atnan had worked with her on learning the local dialect, though many of Al Yibri’s residents did speak fluent English. It was an interesting transition, and Lily had found herself to be a quick study. One of her biggest challenges was that everyone she met wanted to practice their English, so she almost never got a chance to speak the local tongue. Atnan worked with her every day on it, and after a year, she was nearly fluent.
Seeing her walk over, Atnan’s grin was wide.
“I didn’t expect to see you here. I figured I’d meet you at home.”
Lily shrugged.
“I knew where you’d be, and I thought I could help with the shopping. What do we need?”
“Extra beef and vegetables for tonight. Kaveh is bringing over his new girlfriend for us to meet.”
“New? Hasn’t he been dating her for several months now?”
“Yes, and apparently it’s serious enough for us to now be introduced. I can’t wait to embarrass him.”
Lily’s eyebrows furrowed as they headed in the direction of the butcher.
“Now, now. He’s sensitive enough as it is. We need to be supportive. I’m sure she’s a wonderful girl if he’s brave enough to introduce her to us now.”
“I’m sure,” Atnan replied, his eyes filled with mischief.
The relationship between the brothers had taken a turn for the better. They enjoyed playing pranks on one another and generally seeking the last laugh. Lily found herself feeling grateful that the pranks were small-scale things and