Master of the Desert

Ra’id strode across the beach, holding Antonia in his arms as if she weighed nothing, while she linked her hands behind his neck and snuggled her face against his chest. It was the easiest thing in the world to believe they belonged together, and that this was their island with no outside world to complicate or muddy the water.
There was no tomorrow here, no yesterday—there was only now, with the ocean lapping rhythmically on a sugar sand shore, and a sickle moon and diamond stars to light their way. There was just one man, one woman…
There was only this…