What she really wanted, at that moment, was to stop worrying about everything for a few hours and just enjoy herself.
After their visit to the palace, Khizar took her to the national history museum, where they got a private tour from the head curator. Jacqui enjoyed learning more about Nudushan; it would be her home as well, one day.
They ate lunch at one of Khizar’s favorite places, where Khizar was greeted enthusiastically by the owner when they walked in the door. Jacqui noted that everyone who knew Khizar seemed comfortable around him and genuinely happy to see him. She loved that he was as gregarious and generous at home as he was in Milwaukee.
She also liked that he seemed to be more willing to answer questions here.
“How often are you here? You said you travel a lot.”
Khizar nodded. “It depends, really. There are a few times during the year where I’m gone for weeks at a time. Industry conferences, trade shows, things like that—I might make it back for a night or two here and there, but not much. The rest of the time, I’m gone when I want to be.”
He put down his fork and gave her a thoughtful look.
“You know, from Nudushan, you can fly to just about any location in Europe, Asia, or Africa in a matter of a few hours.”
“And have you visited all of them?” She wrinkled her nose at him, like she already knew the answer.
“Actually, no,” Khizar laughed. “I’ve been to all the places with good parties and hot clubs, but there are a lot of things I haven’t seen.”
“Why not?”
Khizar gave her a look that made her blush.
“Maybe I was waiting for the right person to see them with.”
Jacqui looked down, pleased at his answer. She was starting to feel better about the idea of moving so far away from her home.
She asked for a few hours of downtime before dinner with his parents, so Khizar took her back to his penthouse. Jacqui collapsed on his couch, where she wanted nothing more than to sink into the cushions and stay there for a little while.
Khizar watched her, a little amused, Jacqui thought.
“You don’t have to hover, you know. I’ll be fine on my own if you have things you need to take care of,” she said.
“Are you sure?” he asked, and she nodded.
“Honestly, I know I slept on the plane, but I think the last few days are catching up with me. I might just take a nap.”
Khizar dropped a kiss onto the top of her head.
“In that case, I’ll run to the office for an hour. Make yourself at home.”
Jacqui curled her legs up on the couch and found a comfortable pillow to rest her head on.
“Done.”
She could hear laughter in his voice as he said, “You know, there’s a perfectly good bedroom down the hall.”
“Mm-hmm. This is a perfectly good couch. I can tell it was made for taking naps on.” Jacqui waved one hand at him. “I’m fine. Go on, and I’ll see you in a bit.”
She heard him move and then felt a soft blanket cover her. Khizar tucked the fabric around her, and then kissed her head again. Jacqui thought as she fell into sleep that he had done little things like that more over the past few days. It was something she could get used to.
Chapter 17
Jacqui
When Jacqui woke up almost two hours later, Khizar sat in another chair, where he typed quietly on his laptop. He looked up as she lifted her head off the pillow.
“Hey, did you have a good nap?”
Jacqui rubbed her eyes and stretched.
“I did, thank you. Did you get some work done?”
He nodded. “I did.”
“How long do we have until dinner?”
“Just under thirty minutes.”
Jacqui was sure she hadn’t heard him right at first, but the look on his face showed that he wasn’t kidding.
She jumped up from the couch. “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”
“You looked too adorable sleeping to wake you up.” He shrugged. “Also, I tried, and you pushed me away.”
He wasn’t kidding about that either; Jacqui could tell. She must have been more tired that she thought.
“Sorry,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
He chuckled. “It’s fine. You needed the sleep. And the restaurant is just around the corner.”