She chuckled. “You’ve pretty much always lived in cities, right?”

He shook his head. “No, not really. Yes, in Dar es Salaam, and in London, but my private school was in the English countryside. And, of course, I had holidays and such.”

“Do you think you always would want to live in a city?”

“Not sure. I used to think so.” His arms tightened around her. “I wanted the fast life. Wild parties and free-flowing drinks.”

And hot women. And yachts. Night and day from his life now. Reena wiggled free of his grip and went to open her bag.

“Why did you want that from your life back then?” she asked slowly. She regretted saying it almost immediately. She looked at him, but his facial expression was closed. He didn’t want to talk about the past, not now.

He removed his T-shirt and walked toward her, close enough that she could feel the heat radiating off his bare chest even through her sweater. He grazed a kiss on her neck. He took a step back, and achingly slowly pulled her sweater up and off. “I was looking for home, I think. I wasn’t finding it, though.” He turned her around and nudged her forward, positioning her so her arms were outstretched above her head and resting on the wall. He kissed the back of her neck as his hand trailed down her spine. “My soul knows when I’m home,” he murmured.

His hand trailed lower to unhook her bra strap, guiding her arms down to let her bra fall to the floor.

She shivered as the cool air kissed her naked chest. He finally turned her around and engulfed her body in his, sharing his warmth, and kissing with what felt like every muscle in his body.

The sex felt different that night. Slower. Agonizingly tender. She lost herself in the sensations. The smells, the sounds, the feel of his body around her, under her, in her. Just him. This man, who had been dropped into her life at the wrong time in the wrong way, but who ended up being everything she needed.

It wasn’t until afterward, when they still lay clutched together, still joined and floating back to the world, that she untangled her thoughts and emotions enough to see the truth. This was real. No matter what he said. And she was in love with him.

And it was high time to figure out if he felt the same way.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Reena was feeling weirdly optimistic on the drive back to the apartment Sunday morning. It was early—she hadn’t been able to get out of Sunday brunch with her family, but she and Nadim planned to make dinner together later. She was ready to talk to him. To tell him she was in this relationship deep and she didn’t want there to be secrets between them anymore. And she wanted to go fully public with it, even bring him to brunch next weekend. It was time to fight past her instinct to deflect and distract, and live her life.