Trapped in His ocean

Chapter 8

She pulled things out of her backpack, unzipping zips, rummaged around frantically, and was sick with fear the whole time. And just as she was accepting that she’d have to report to Reception that someone had been in her room, she pulled a pair of sneakers from the bottom of her backpack and rolled the bracelet inside out onto the bed. Relief washed over her as she lunged at it, holding it tightly to her chest and remembering that she had stowed it safely before leaving this morning. It was a

gem, nothing more, but it held sentimental value for her. I would never forgive myself if I lost it.

And then, since Nabil was waiting for her outside and it had taken her much longer than she intended, she returned everything back into her bag, slipped the bracelet into an inside zipped pocket and closed the door of the cheap Hostel bedroom. At least for one night. And what a night it promised to be. A night with a man who could make you tremble and tremble with just one look, wanting something you never knew you missed. Until now.

She left the hotel with countless questions running through her mind. Had her great grandmother met such a man? The family story whispered behind the hands was that Nicole had been kidn*pped for white s*****y, but had she voluntarily chosen to stay so long? Because she had met a man like Nabil with burning eyes and seductive words? After today I could almost believe it was possible.

Not that it explained why she had returned to England. So many questions I would never know the answer to. But at least she was here, walking the same alleys and seeing the same sights that Nicole must have seen a hundred years ago. How amazing must these sights have been to her growing up in the rolling green fields of Hertfordshire. Nicole wouldn't stay either.

She would be leaving tomorrow morning. And given the time she'd spent unpacking and repacking while fearing losing her great grandmother's bracelet, it would be a miracle if Nabil and his stinging eyes were still out there waiting for her. She left the hostel and looked around. , heart racing, nowhere to be found on the busy street, suddenly afraid she had taken too long and he had either lost interest or found another stray to adopt for the night.

But no, he wouldn’t leave her, she remembered. Because he’d made a vow to the police he would keep an eyes over her until she joined her tour group. It was only then, when she’d calmed down, that she saw him standing away to one side a little further away, in the shadow of the ancient wall, busy making some calls with his mobile phone.

She need not have to wait to let him know she was ready. Nabil looked up almost as if he’d sensed her watching him, pocketing his phone in the next instant.

And perhaps she was imagining it. Maybe she was making castles in the air, but the look he sent her across the street as he pocketed his cell phone was nothing short of pure lust and enough to make her body hum and her throat purr.

She’d accused him during lunch of stroking her with his words. Now, as he strode a path between cars across the street, he was as good as stroking her with his eyes.

And she loved it

Even under her leather jacket, her breasts plumped and firmed, her n*****s peaked, the rub of her jacket against her flesh like a sensual caress. Under her jeans, her thighs clenched at the anticipation of spending the night with this man.

For a girl who’d only ever thought and believed she could make love to a man that she was in love with, her actions were strange to her. Careless , even.

She was about to have s*x with a stranger and her body was already humming in anticipation of it

How did that work?

It was all but a mystery to her. She couldn’t figure it out. All she knew was that she wanted this night and she would have it, to take away as a souvenir of this exotic and thrilling journey to a foreign land. Maybe just a taste of what her great-grandmother had experienced in time in memorial before her.

‘All set,’ she announced a little nervously as he walked towards her, her pack looped over one shoulder.

Nabil removed the bag from her arm and took it from her. ‘This is all you have?’

She shrugged. ‘I travel light.’

His eyebrow raised at that. ‘Which makes you an unusual lady,’ he said, and she smiled, but it was only half a compliment he was offering, because inwardly it only buttressed what he’d already decided about her. He was in no doubt her bag would be a good deal heavier on her return journey, and not just because she would return home with the requisite amount of cushion covers and scarves. He didn’t believe for a moment she was an innocent as she made out and there would be plenty of passing street vendors and the trinkets that were on offer to take advantage of before she went home.

Not that he was worried.

If Nicole ventured on the side of illegal again, as he was sure she would before she was done, she’d be someone else’s problem.

They made small talk as they move through the streets and , past tiny colored timber houses clustered together in the narrow laneways, past stone relics and foundations of more ancient times. And he wasn’t Iranian, but he’d stayed here long enough that he could provide full history of the area and the stories of Tehran’s long and colorful past. Nicole listened, though he wondered how much she was taking in, because he could sense her nervousness in the brightness of her eyes, and how excited she was in her breathless responses.

It surprised him. The little rabbit was out of her depth and was trying desperately not to show it, but every time they swayed towards each other and their arms brushed, she would jump and catch her breath and lick her lips and pretend nothing had happened.

He smiled. He’d never felt the urge to brush his arm against another’s

By the time they reached the entrance to the nineteenth-century building where he lived, she was breathless.

She turned her eyes upwards, taking in the double-level entry with its columns and grand doorway and high arched windows. ‘is this where you stay? She asked

‘I have an apartment here, yes.’ There was no need to tell her the entire building belongs to him. She hadn’t demand the details and he see no reason to tell her. She also hadn’t asked him what floor his apartment was on.

So it was a surprise to her when the small lift clunked to a stop on the top level, the door that greeted them leading to a spacious and light-filled apartment decorated in rich colors with floor-to-ceiling windows.

‘Oh, my Goodness,’ she said as she tugged off her scarf, drawn inexorably to those windows and a view of Tehran the likes of which she’d never seen before. At ground level they’d been surrounded by the streetscape, buildings and trees and traffic. Six levels higher and the streetscape was far below and it was the ship-dotted deep blue Sea of wathana that was before them.

‘Please,’ Nabil said, unlatching and sliding open the glass door. ‘Be my guest dear.

She stepped out onto the wide terrace, and saw that it wrapped around the apartment. Before her and to her right lay the busy shipping lanes, while viewing to her left, she saw a sweeping panorama over the ancient city and across the Golden Horn. A panorama of red-tiled roofs and minarets and sea and sky. From far below came the sounds of the street, the beeping horns of taxis and the rumble of vans and buses along the street which is narrow. And as she watched everything bathed in a rose-colored glow by the setting sun. Which turns minarets and clouds alike pink, and when the call to prayer came, the birds rose and fly, they too turning pink as they wheeled and soared in the glowing sun..