She smiled at that thought. Anything was possible. “What will you do there?”

“I don’t know. My old friend Jabari owns some luxury hotels, and he’s approached me to work for him before, so maybe that. I don’t need anyone buying me opportunities.”

She respected that. She couldn’t steal his chance to stand on his own two feet.

Long-distance relationships were torture, but a long-distance relationship with someone who lived in freaking Tanzania bordered on impossible. It would be preposterous to try to continue this relationship.

She bit her lip.

The stupid gap in the door that she thought would protect her hadn’t done a thing. His eyes were deep. And they held so much hope for a future. But for him to stand on his own feet, they couldn’t be together.

“Open the door, Nadim. Let’s say goodbye properly.”

He grinned, no doubt pleased she seemed to understand him. This was a goodbye, but without regrets. After a final squeeze of her hand, he let her go and she stood. She heard him unlatch the chain, and seconds after the door was opened, she was pulled into the most enveloping, worshiping hug of her life.

He squeezed tightly as she buried her face into his neck, inhaling his clean manly smell for maybe the last time.

His hands rubbed her back for a second before trailing down tantalizingly slowly, until she was completely in his arms.

She inhaled into his chest, and then used one hand to clutch at his shirt while the other pulled his neck down to capture his lips in a deep kiss.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Reena had some vague ideas from books and movies of what goodbye sex would be like. She expected it to be bittersweet. Sensual. Lingering looks and worshiping hands, searching over every inch of their bodies, slowing down to memorize every sight, every touch, every sensation to capture the memory, forever. It was supposed to be an intense, transcendent experience.

Instead, Nadim ran away for a second to get a condom before fucking her senseless against his front door. The same door she’d sat against for half an hour, listening to him tell her she felt like home. But just like everything else that had happened with Nadim, their final night together didn’t abide by anything as mundane as expectations. It was playful. Exuberant. Exactly perfect in every way.

Sweater still on one wrist and bra hanging off her elbow, Reena held on to his shoulders as she caught her breath.

“Wow” was all he could manage, head resting against hers.

“I can’t believe you did that,” she said. “What’s wrong with a bed?”

“Nothing’s wrong with a bed. I love beds. Especially pink four-poster beds with ‘I heart Spike’ carved into the headboard. But we have so many surfaces we haven’t made love on.”

“How many surfaces are we talking, here?” She lowered herself to the ground and attempted to replace most of her clothes.

Grinning, he pulled her to his sofa before she could put her sweater on. “Hoping you had a good dinner; you’ll need the energy.” He kissed her again, kneeling in front of her. “No more secrets?” he whispered in her neck.