Hot? Zara wanted to ask him if he’d really said the word. Did Rafe think she was hot? Her? She’d never really developed breasts, not serious ones like Cleo’s. She was tall and skinny, not short, curvy and irresistible. She must not have heard him correctly.
“So what happened when he told you?” he asked.
It took her a second to figure out what he was talking about. “I was crushed,” she admitted. “And humiliated. The university is in a small town. Everyone knew, and it didn’t take them long to find out why. When I was ready to start dating again, I felt like every guy worried that I’d turn him gay.”
Rafe chuckled. “Not likely.”
“I guess, but I’d also reached an age where being a virgin was strange. The situation is only getting worse with time. The last two men I went out with disappeared when I confessed all. What if I really am Hassan’s daughter? I’ll never get a date again and if I do, no one is going to sleep with me. Being a virgin princess is not my idea of a good time.”
Rafe laughed. He threw back his head and enjoyed the moment, ignoring her sniff of indignation.
“Easy for you to have a good chuckle,” she grumbled. “You aren’t the one who could live her life in a fishbowl. You aren’t the one who has to explain this after a few dates.”
“You know, you could just wait for marriage,” Rafe offered helpfully.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to get married,” she said. “Not if I don’t date, which is getting more and more difficult. It’s only going to be worse, now. Besides, I thought it might be nice to have a little experience. I’m not interested in sleeping with an entire football team, but I would like to see at least one guy naked before I die.”
Rafe couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. For one thing, he didn’t think there were any more twenty-eight-year-old virgins left. Which proved Zara’s point—not that he was about to tell her that. For another, he was damned tempted to volunteer his services. She was welcome to see him naked anytime she wanted. She could even touch. Of course then he would want to touch back, and that was only going to lead to trouble.
“You have the strangest look on your face,” she told him.
“I’ll bet.”
Just thinking about her looking at him was making him hard. This whole situation was going to be nothing but trouble. He could feel it down to his bones.
“You’re going to have to be careful,” he said. “Once word gets out that you’re Hassan’s daughter, everything is going to change.”
She turned and faced the water. “We don’t know that I am his daughter.”
“Do you really have doubts?”
She slowly shook her head. “I want to, but I know it in my heart.”
“I agree with you on that one. Which means the media is going to be all over you. You’ll become the flavor of the month, and that’s going to bring out all kinds of men. They’ll want to take advantage of you.”
He winced as he spoke the old-fashioned phrase, but didn’t know another way to say what he meant.
Zara smiled. “I have nothing to offer. Being Hassan’s daughter isn’t going to change that.”
“You’re wrong. You’ll have connections to the royal family. Your father is a king, you’ll be a princess. I’m sure Hassan will make you rich in your own right.”
She rested her forearms on the balcony and leaned forward. “It sounded better from half a world away. Back home I could dream about the possibilities. Now it’s all just scary.” She turned her head and glanced at him. “I don’t suppose I could persuade him not to give me any money.”
“I don’t think so. The king is pretty stubborn.”
“Great. So I get to be popular for all the wrong reasons. How am I supposed to know if the people I meet like me for me or because I’m Hassan’s daughter?”
“I can’t answer that.” He would be far better at planning a kidnapping or taking out a foreign government.
Zara nodded. “It’s really late, and we should both try to sleep. You’ve been really sweet to stay out here and talk to me, but I’m sure you’d rather be in bed.”