was something in his dark eyes that made her think he hadn’t slept. The freshly shaved cut of his jaw made her want to slide her hands over his cheeks and pull him down for a kiss so she could taste the mint on his tongue and breathe in the spicy scent of his aftershave.
“Good morning,” she said instead.
He didn’t move to come in. “I know you have a morning lesson with Talif. But before he arrives, there’s something I want to show you. And I promise it will make up for your missed studio time.”
Her heart twisted and banged painfully against her ribs with how much she wanted to touch him. She’d fallen for him, and now everything was a mess.
And yet.
She should tell him to come back after her lesson, when she was free, but her soul fought to be closer to Zayid.
“Show me.” She stepped into the hallway, making him back up to give her the space to move, and she saw the way he raised a hand to put it on the small of her back then let it fall to his side. Touch me, she thought, hoping somehow he’d hear. And maybe he did, because Zayid offered her his arm. She took it, clinging tighter than she’d intended all the way out to the waiting SUV.
They drove into town, taking a series of roads she didn’t quite recognize, until the SUV pulled up in front of a gated compound. The main gate was a set of pillars painted a bright white, a chain-link fenced twined with ivy stretching between them. The driver jumped out and punched in a code on a keypad on the left pillar, and the gate rumbled open.
The compound itself was made up of low buildings, each built with wide bricks. They stopped in front of one of the buildings, and Zayid helped her out of the SUV and to the door. What was this place?
“I’ve been wanting to show you this,” Zayid said, his voice low. “But the timing was off.”
She heard his meaning clearly—that he hadn’t been able to find the time in his busy schedule. “But you finally located a spare moment,” she teased as they went through the glass door, which slid away and let them into a cool, dark space. A museum of some kind. Art hung on the walls in the wide entryway, illuminated by recessed lights in the ceiling. Laila’s shoulders relaxed. A museum. She couldn’t love this more.
Zayid looked her in the eye. “I made time. I cancelled all my meetings.”
A pleasant heat rose to her cheeks, and she reached for his hand. She had never dreamed that Zayid would put aside his official duties to do something like this for her—something that he claimed would be better than her private lesson with Talif. He had taken time for her. It meant as much to her as any jewelry, as any treasure, as any palace.
“Thank you,” she said simply.
A grin spread across Zayid’s face. “You haven’t seen them yet.”
“Them?”
“Come this way.” Hand in hand, Zayid led her to a smaller room off the wide main entryway.
Talif stood behind a low table of polished wood, waiting with a smile on his face. Laila’s mouth dropped open. “Talif,” she cried. “What are you doing here?”
He came out to shake her hand, exchanging a look with Zayid.
“Laila, I’d like you to meet the chief curator of my aunt Zein’s works.”
She stopped shaking Talif’s hand and held it tight in hers. “You?”
He nodded. “It wasn’t something I could reveal until the royal family signed off.” The royal family…until Zayid signed off. Laila could hardly string two words together in her mind. Talif kept watch over the most famous pottery pieces in all of Raihan. In all of the Middle East. Oh, she’d studied Zein’s work so many times, tracing the photographs of her work with her fingertips, wishing she could meet her—and this was as close as she could ever get.
Zayid smiled down at her. “All of my aunt’s most personal works are stored here. All the pieces she made to mark family events—births, deaths, birthdays, weddings—and to commemorate her own life are kept safe here. Members of the royal family can freely visit them here and enjoy them, any time they wish. Anyone in the family,” he said, looking deeply into her eyes.
Laila couldn’t shake off the hope that expanded like a balloon at the center of her. He wouldn’t be offering this if he wanted their