Page 42 of Dirty Wild Sultan

Zain’s silence was my answer. I kissed his knuckles and whispered, “Give her your love and the freedom she needs.”

He gazed at our entwined hands and pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around me, giving me a hug. I heard him take a deep breath as I caressed his back, feeling him relax.

“I wish you had been there with me this morning. We raised our voices in front of her, Nasrin,” he said, and I could hear the hurt and the guilt in his soft voice. “For the first time, we raised our voices towards our little sister and I saw how much pain we caused her. Not even listening to what she had to say.”

I pulled away to look at him and saw how tired his eyes looked. It hurt me to see him that way. “Apologize when she is ready. Listen to what she has to say and then try to understand her, okay? I will be with you if you want me to.”

“I would like that.”

I smiled at him as he led me to the stables, my eyes trailing over the gorgeous horses, their coats shining as some of them snorted at us.

“You went to London for your degree when you were the same age as her,” Zain said. “Were you like her?”

I chuckled at him and remembered my university days. “I was not a rebel like her, nor did I sneak out. I used to stay in the dorms and on the weekends we would party, get drunk and…”

“And?” he asked, raising his eyebrow.

Say it, Nasrin, he is your husband and the Sultan after all.

“And sleep around,” I finished, confused by the shocked look on his face, which he quickly recovered.

“You have had lovers before,” he said, more to himself than me.

“Yes, Zain.” I asked, patting the muzzle of the white horse. “It doesn’t bother you, does it?”

He shook his head, checking the reins and the saddle, making sure it was comfortable. “No, it doesn’t bother me.”

“Right, it shouldn’t.” I chuckled awkwardly. “I mean, you are a sultan, so you must have had many lovers as well.”

Zain didn’t reply.

“Zain?” I asked, peering at his face.

He held me by my hips and settled me on top of the horse, making sure I was comfortable. “I didn’t have any lovers. Other than you,” he said in a clipped voice, his neck flushed when he took hold of the reins and sat behind me in one graceful sweep.

I was glad he couldn’t see me because I was gaping and clutching the leather tightly after hearing his words. He didn’t have any lovers? He was not someone I was imagining him to be.

But how? The way he had touched me and had sex with me that night. The way he had made me come apart in the bath, the way he had guided me over his length… I thought—

He was a virgin? The Sultan of Azmia was a virgin, and he slept with me, a stranger, that night. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Not once did I think he would be inexperienced by the way he had acted that night. I had confused his blushing and fumbling hands for excitement and nervousness. Not inexperience.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

Oh God.

I am a terrible person to ever think that Zain was a terrible ruler like my father, a man after his own selfish needs and never once caring about me. I thought he had been with plenty of women and I was so, so wrong. He was never that. He was just Zain. My sweet, handsome and a little wild husband.

20

Zain

The sound of the royal horse galloping in the golden sand surrounded us. Even with the loud wind blowing against us, I could hear Nasrin thinking after knowing that I was inexperienced the night we met.

I wasn’t ashamed of it, but seeing my wife tense around me made me feel embarrassed. Just for a moment, I wished I had taken heed of Khalid’s advice and had some experience in pleasuring women so I could ease whatever Nasrin was overthinking about.

With a clipped voice, I told her to cover her nose when the sand of the desert started flowing with the wind. I wrapped thekeffiyeharound my nose, covering my mouth and neck, watching Nasrin’s finger fumble with the knot.

“May I?” I asked, speaking for the first time, knowing full well she was panicking over my virginity.

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