The Royal Elite: Ahsan (Elite, Book 2) by Danielle Bourdon

tall windows overlooking either the desert or the airstrip. Doors led off this main room where employees came and went. No one bothered Ahsan however as he led her across the floor to an opposite set of doors and out to a waiting limousine.
    Handing her inside, he followed and sprawled on the seat, long legs stretched out before him. Here, too, the white-and-gold theme continued. Tufted seats ran the back and up both sides, able to accommodate perhaps six or seven people comfortably. A little bar with glasses and drinks sat near the door, though Ahsan didn't reach for any.
    Departing the private airport, Sessily got her first real look at Ahsan's homeland. All she saw was...desert. Sand, in small rising and falling dunes, stretched as far as the eye could see. Bashir had brought her to Afshar under the cover of night, and she'd left for Dubai the same. But now she could see the far reaching dunes, not a tree in sight. Raised in territory where trees were abundant and striking, she wasn't sure what to make of this nothingness. Several times she caught a glimpse of the road they traveled weaving off into the distance, disappearing behind a curving dune or the horizon.
    How far did they have to travel?
    Hyper aware of him next to her, Sessily tried not to be affected. He'd worn suit slacks of black and another white shirt, the sleeves already rolled away from his wrists. The boots were the same, with the silver at the tip and heel. She had the impression that these were not the clothes he was most comfortable in, but the clothes acceptable to wear coming and going from places like Dubai.
    He took a few calls on the way, switching to his native language. Sessily couldn't understand a word of it, and had a hard time deciphering his tone.
    Some minutes later, a pale shape beyond the windows drew her attention away from the Sheikh. It was the first hint of a structure for miles, and they were too far for her to make out what, exactly, it was. A curve in the road put the building straight ahead, half obliterated by a tinted dividing window, the driver and passenger of the limousine, and the rear view mirror. She couldn't see much, which was frustrating and intriguing at the same time.
    She needn't have worried. The immense palace solidified as they drew closer, a behemoth that looked as big as twenty houses. Bone white against the golden color of the desert sands that surrounded it, with arabesque archways and exotic architecture, the palace sat square in the middle of nowhere. The desert stretched as far as the eye could see in any direction, with a single road—the one they were on—leading in and out.
    The limousine slowed as they pulled up under a large breezeway in front of the tallest arch, and moments later cruised to a stop. Attendants headed to the limousine, unloading both her and Ahsan's luggage from the trunk.
    “We're here,” Ahsan said with a teasing wink, and disembarked when someone opened the back door.
    “This isn't a home, it's an entire city block,” she retorted with a quiet laugh. She followed suit from her side and met him before the archway, staring up at the facade with no small amount of wonder. It was impossible to her that someone actually lived here, that it was one person's home. Well—one person with an army of employees.
    When she glanced aside to see his reaction, she discovered Ahsan looking at the entrance as if seeing it for the first time, and finding it lacking. He seemed unimpressed.
    “You ready?” he asked, gesturing with a hand. Rather than play gentleman, he stepped forward whether she was ready or not, walking tall with brisk strides through the twin columns supporting the arch.
    Following, because she wouldn't stand there and gawk when he was clearly ready to move on, Sessily's wonder grew into disbelief. A domed ceiling patterned in turquoise and gold rose above a sprawling foyer, with hallways stretching to each side. 'Hallways' wasn't a proper term for such grandiose space. It