being in Pathology class, taking notes, and thinking that just because I could do something wasn’t reason enough for me to do it.”
“Did your parents put a lot of pressure on you?” Khaleel asked.
Aurora took a sip of her cocktail. “Yes and no,” she said. “They definitely told me over and over again that med school would be the best option for someone as smart as me—their words, not mine.”
“Have you ever given any thought to what you really want to do with your life?”
Aurora shook her head. “I've sort of been avoiding the issue ever since,” she admitted. Aurora sighed. “I was so wrapped up in making my parents happy that I never gave myself the chance to think of what I might want to do instead of becoming a doctor.”
“Well, what are you good at? Other than sneaking aboard ships.”
Aurora chuckled and finished off the food on her plate as she considered the question. “I’m pretty good at art,” she said, pushing her plate aside. “I’m decent at writing, but not great at it. I’m good at throwing parties...” Aurora shrugged. “Other than that, I don’t really know.”
“And you love other cultures,” Khaleel pointed out. “You could study anthropology, maybe. Become a researcher, studying people all around the world.”
“I could do that,” Aurora said, faintly surprised. She remembered the one Cultural Anthropology class she had taken to fulfill one of the general education requirements when she’d been working towards her degree. “But you have to have like, a PhD to do anything with studies like that,” she said, shaking her head.
“That isn’t so terrible a requirement,” Khaleel pointed out. “You could get into a program at a school. I assume you got good grades for undergrad, to get into medical school.”
“I did,” Aurora confirmed. “But I have no money. I can’t even imagine trying to apply for grad schools, disappointing my parents with the news that I’m not going to be in the hard sciences.”
“Do you think it would be less disappointing to them for you to just drop out and disappear?”
Aurora smiled again. “I haven’t really told them,” she said. She looked out over the water. “I’ve been avoiding telling them anything about the situation. I think they probably know that I've dropped out—really dropped out, not just taken a sabbatical. But I haven’t told them that I’m not planning to go back.”
“You said you needed to run away,” Khaleel said after a moment’s silence. “Was there anything in particular? Or was it the situation with your parents?”
Aurora smiled, shaking her head. “It wasn’t the med school thing,” she said. She hesitated for just a moment before speaking again. “When I went traveling,” she began, licking her lips clean of the last traces of her cocktail. “I borrowed some money from an ex-boyfriend.” Aurora scrubbed at her face, remembering the way her dream had turned into a nightmare. “What I didn’t know was that Brandon had borrowed money from…kind of an unsavory person. When I came back a few weeks ago, he asked me to dinner, and introduced me to this loan shark who was after him, and by extension, me.”
“Ah,” Khaleel said, nodding slowly. “I take it this loan shark has something to do with your need to get out of the city?”
Aurora smiled ruefully. “Brandon sold my debt to the loan shark. In exchange for forgiving the loan he had—bigger than what I borrowed from him.” She sighed. “That asshole. I guess there was a reason he was an ex.”
“At least you weren’t in a relationship with him at the time,” Khaleel said. “I assume you’re not involved with anyone right now?”
“No,” Aurora said, shaking her head. “I’ve been trying to stay under the radar while I figured out how to pay back the money I now owe the loan shark instead of Brandon.”
“That's good to know,” Khaleel said absently. “Have you gotten any ideas about how you’re going to handle him?”
Aurora shrugged. “I spent the morning thinking about it. I’ve basically come to the conclusion that I just have to face him, and deal with the situation head-on.”
“Do you have the money to pay him now?”
Aurora shook her head. “No, but I’m hoping at least I can get him to agree to something. I can’t just keep running the rest of my life. Somehow I think that Jon would follow me for years to come.”
“That's very brave of you,” Khaleel said. He looked at her for a moment longer. “Let’s go swimming.”
Aurora chuckled and shook her head at the abrupt change of subject, but she was more than willing to go along with the program.
As they swam together, Khaleel asked about her favorite music, books, movies, and Aurora found herself opening up to him more and more—about more than just her troubles. She realized as they spoke that she was more at ease with Khaleel than she had been with any man she’d ever dated. Apparently, it takes almost stealing from a billionaire and sneaking onto his yacht for me to find someone I feel halfway comfortable with, she thought as they took a break to sip another cocktail.
“Why were you so nice to me about sneaking onto your yacht?”
Khaleel shrugged in response. “No reason to be cruel about it,” he said. “You weren’t doing anything harmful to me. You didn’t have any plan to hurt me or any of the crew.” He took another sip of his Rum Runner. “You didn’t seem to think I was that nice yesterday.”
Aurora grinned. “Trying to prank me into cleaning your entire suite by hand wasn’t very nice,” she pointed out. “But the fact that you haven’t called the coastguard to report me, that’s pretty nice of you.”
“The prank was just so that you would out yourself,” Khaleel told her. “Once you got to organizing my closet, I'd have told you the truth.”
Aurora chuckled, shaking her head. “I’ll admit I kind of deserved it,” she said ruefully. “Maybe someday I'll be able to laugh about it.”
“Hopefully sooner rather than later,” Khaleel said.
They went back to swimming and the afternoon flowed away as they talked and relaxed. Aurora sunbathed for a while, coated from head to toe in a low-SPF lotion so that she could tan without burning. Chris, the bartender, made sure she had cocktails and water to her heart’s content, and eventually the buffet table was cleared, and replaced with a selection of fruit and chilled sweets.
“It’s a wonder to me that you’re not fat,” Aurora said, watching Khaleel work through a big bowl of gelato.
“Really? I exercise, and most of the time I eat very sparingly,” Khaleel told her.
“Except when you’re on your yacht,” Aurora said, gesturing around them. “Then you have food around constantly.”
“I'm on vacation,” Khaleel said with a shrug. “Why not indulge myself? I make up for it the rest of the year.”
“Well you definitely don’t look like you have any problems with your metabolism,” Aurora said, looking him over again.
Khaleel grinned slowly. “Neither do you,” he said. “Especially in a bikini.”
Aurora blushed and changed the subject, badgering Khaleel about his favorite foods and his own preferences for music and books. She was shocked to discover how well read he was, until he told her that his parents had invested heavily in his education when he was younger.
“I didn’t really have a choice. I was given my allowance based on the reports from my tutors. I read extra books to get extra marks.”
Aurora duly revised her opinion of the Sheikh, realizing for the first time that he was unlike any man she had ever met before, and that whatever happened next, she didn't want this journey to end.
ELEVEN
The breeze became chilly as night fell, and Khaleel and Aurora agreed to end their swimming for the day.
“Let’s have dinner in the real dining room,” Khaleel suggested. “Full service, the whole nine yards.”
“I’m game,” Aurora said, looking down at her bikini. “I have no idea what I’ll wear, though.”
Khaleel smiled slowly. “Check the closet in your room. T
here should be something there for you.”
Aurora shook her head and parted ways with the Sheikh, following the corridor down to the room he had given her. It occurred to her to wonder how it was possible for the man to have clothing that fit her onboard as a contingency, but as she stepped into her quarters on the yacht, she thought that a gorgeous billionaire like Khaleel would undoubtedly have more than a few women in his life.
“He probably takes models out on the water all the time,” she said, hearing the irritation in her own voice and wondering at it. She pushed aside the little rush of jealousy that came along with the thought of Khaleel wining and dining women on his yacht, telling herself that she had only met the man the day before, and that it wasn’t likely that she would ever have anything to do with him.
Following Khaleel’s instructions, Aurora looked in the closet and saw a dress—simple, black, but almost certainly her size—hanging alone on the rack. Below it were a pair of black strappy sandals, and Aurora smiled to herself, shaking her head. She couldn’t be jealous of whoever the dress had originally been purchased for; the tags were still on it, just as they had been on the bathing suits. “Maybe he just likes to be prepared in case he meets someone,” Aurora mused hopefully.
She stripped off the bathing suit and took a quick shower to rid her skin and hair of saltwater. She dried her hair and twisted it back and out of her face, securing it in a bun with some bobby pins.
Aurora saw that her own clothes had finally been returned to her, clean and dry, smelling of fabric softener. She put on her panties, but the bra wouldn’t work with the plunging neckline of the dress Khaleel had lent her. Aurora decided to work with what she had, rather than risk her bra being visible. She finished her preparations quickly, putting on a bit of makeup from her bag—which she'd retrieved from its hiding place the night before—and slipping into the dress and sandals.
When she looked at herself in the mirror, Aurora was almost surprised at how elegant she looked. Her sun-bronzed skin, her graceful neck, and the way the dress subtly emphasized the curves of her body made it impossible not to smile at her reflection. As a final touch, she found her flower and pinned it onto her dress, admiring it for a moment before realizing that Khaleel was probably waiting for her.
She walked quickly to the dining room, her heart beating faster in her chest as she strode through the corridors. As she reached the door she saw Khaleel standing next to one of the many tables—the only one in the room that was actually set—dressed in a beautiful black suit with a snowy white shirt and a white pocket square and a deep green tie that brought out the color of his eyes, the olive tones in his skin.
He smiled broadly as she came into the room. “I’m glad it fits you,” he said, looking her up and down appreciatively.
“So am I,” Aurora said with a smile. “If I’d had to wear jeans to have dinner with you dressed like that…”
“Oh it wouldn’t have come to that,” Khaleel said, shaking his head. “Though I have to admit, I was seriously considering asking you to wear the bikini.”
Aurora laughed and rolled her eyes, approaching the table with more nervousness than she would have thought imaginable. Khaleel pulled a chair out for her and she sat down, taking a quick, deep breath.
“You know, it occurs to me that I’ve told you everything in the world about myself and you haven’t told me next to anything about your own life,” Aurora said, as Khaleel took his seat opposite her. Aurora glanced at her place setting and counted the silverware. Her parents had taken her to a few higher-end restaurants for special occasions, but there were a few items in front of her that she wasn’t sure she knew the purpose of. Hopefully I won’t have to use any of them, and they’re just for show.
“What would you like to know?” Khaleel asked, as one of the crew members appeared at the table, bearing a bottle of champagne. “Oh—by the way, dinner is another fixed menu. No need to worry about what you want to eat; I’ve given Lucas the freedom to let his imagination run free.”
The crew member, a man who looked to be about Khaleel’s age—somewhere between thirty and thirty-five—poured champagne into their glasses and set the bottle in a bucket of ice before retreating.
“What was it like growing up so wealthy? I know I’ve taken a lot of potshots about silver spoons and stuff, but I’m genuinely curious.”
Khaleel smiled and took a sip of his champagne. Before he could begin to answer her question, another member of the crew came out with their first course, and Aurora took in the sight of the delicate, almost dainty food on her plate with more than a little appreciation.
“It wasn’t so different from your childhood, I think,” Khaleel said when the server retreated, leaving them alone once more.
Aurora took her first bite and closed her eyes at the explosion of flavor on her tongue—savory, sweet, complex.
Khaleel waited for her attention to come back and continued. “Your parents expected for you to grow up to become a doctor like them, you said.” Aurora nodded, taking a sip of her champagne without looking away