Fighting With the Infuriating Prince Read Online Free PDF Page A

fingers trail in the cool water. But it still wasn’t enough. As her face flamed with color and she remembered what she’d done last night with Tasir, she wondered if she could just strip off all of her clothes and swim in the cool water. It seemed like such a great idea, to just purify herself in the water. She knew that it was a silly thought because nothing could cleanse her soul or get rid of the memories of how Tasir had made her feel. But the idea of swimming in the water, of releasing all of the strict rules that had been put upon her as she’d grown up, all of the etiquette that had been drilled into her over the years, gave her a sense of freedom.
    She and Ciara had often smuggled bathing suits to this place, swimming in the cool water on the hot afternoons when they’d spent weeks here during the summers.
    What would be the harm? No one else knew about this place.
    Surely it was safe. Wasn’t it?
    Jalayla stood up and looked around. She felt a little silly because, really, who else would be here? The only people that were around the fortress were her father, the Sheik of Lurasa, and Tasir. Well, and all of the servants. But there would be no reason for them to be stepping out of the fortress at this point during the day. Besides, none of them would actually come up into the mountains like this. This was a hidden trail, and a hidden water area.
    She was being ridiculous. If she wanted to go swimming, she should just take off her clothes and go swimming. There was really no reason why anyone would see her up here. And even if someone had a pair of high-powered binoculars, no one could see through the trees to this point.
    Again, she felt silly and decided to just go for it. It was a scorching hot day and she wanted to swim. She wanted to be free of her guilt over what she had done last night and her shame at how glorious it had felt.
    She resolutely stood up and started unbuttoning her shirt. Dropping it to the ground, she slithered out of her riding pants and folded them up on top of her shirt. Looking around one more time, just to be sure, she reached behind herself and unfastened the clasp of her bra. Down it fluttered to the growing pile of clothes and then her underwear as well.
    She didn’t stand on the rock too long, knowing that she was completely naked. Even though she had assured herself that no one was around, and no one could look at or see her, she still moved quickly into the water. As the cool liquid surrounded her overheated body, she felt the tension of the past twelve hours seep out of her. It felt so wonderful to just slide into the water, not having a care in the world.  At least for the moment.
    She swam back and forth, enjoying the water and splashing about. She remembered so many times sliding down into the water with Ciara, talking about what their futures were going to be like when they grew up. Never in her wildest imagination would she have thought that she would come to a point in her life where she was hiding from a man with whom she had done such intimate things and felt so ashamed.
    She was floating on her back, slowly kicking her feet as she stared up into the sky, peering at the clouds through the tops of the trees. Jalayla was completely unaware of the man standing on the rock right next to her clothes, watching her and enjoying the spectacle.
    “Are you doing this to torment me again?” Tasir demanded in a deceptively lazy tone of voice.
    Jalayla twirled about, sputtering as she flung her body around, trying to find the owner of that deep voice, praying that it wasn’t the one man she’d been avoiding all day even as she tried to hide her nakedness, all at the same time.  Not an easy feat, she realized as she accidentally swallowed a large mouthful of water.
    It couldn’t be.
    She simply wasn’t that unlucky in life, was she?
    She searched the edge of the water, her eyes widening as she took in the man standing right next to her clothes.
    “Go away. You’re not