Chapter One

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Pulling up the collar of his jacket and sunglasses firmly in place, Saleem walked the pavements of Melbourne, without an escort, just to be. Lost in the crowded streets, unrecognised, that felt so remarkable.

The premier was showing in a week.

He had landed early, alone.

The skies were a splendid clear blue yet the air quite brisk. Roads were heavy with congested traffic. The streets, alive with activity, settling his troubled mine. Choices that need decisions. Proper choices would change his life permanently. The world he had been enjoying, was lost to him forever, something he had fallen into by accident.

A bit of fun and a laugh, finding out he was very good at what he had done and loved it. The side effect of his chosen profession was his family. A phase his father would remind him of at every opportunity was over the top sometimes. To be truthful, he was sick of hearing about it. The life his father had mapped out for him wasn't the one he had planned or wanted.

He was healthy, and had a secure future as one could have in the biz. There was recognition, fame, and a small fortune that was his own money, not the family's. Until now, he had always kept the two worlds apart. Neither side knew about the other, apart from the intimate family, just as his father had wanted it. 

The condition of his phase. 

He had given into that one compromise that had made it easier for him.

At home, he became someone completely different, yet still in the public eye, in a diverse capacity. As on cue, his phone rang, his fingers curled around deep in his jacket pocket. If he didn't answer, he would pay later. As he removed the phone, Saleem sidestepped around people standing in front of a window shop, staring at wedding dresses.

The last thing he wanted to view, mocking him. Time to settle down, son, his father's voice echoed in his head.

"Hello Father," he answered in English, rather than Arabic, wanting to mingle more than bring attention to himself in his native tongue. After all, he was in Australia, not Arabia.

"You need to come home," he demanded impatiently, and it was getting worse his demands.

"I cannot. I have commitments. Ones I cannot get out of." He took a deep breath. After the premiere, he was heading straight into another film shoot.

"This rubbish has to stop now, son or..... or I would disinherit you!" he blustered, knowing no such thing would happen.

"Go ahead," he challenged, fed up. He'd go home when he was good and ready, not ordered home by his father, like a naughty child. For heaven's sake, he was thirty-three, not some phase he was going through. He had been doing this now for ten years. One small bit part, becoming one of the biggest action stars on earth. More than Norris, Van Damme, and others. He had left them all in his dust.

The line shut down.

That was a first. Replacing his phone, Saleem stared at the wedding dresses in the window, slipping his hands into pants pockets. There laid the problem, father wanted him settled and married. He wouldn't mind settling down. Alas, it was hard to find anyone who didn't know him or wanted anything from him financially or fame, from both sides of his world.

He had broken away from the world of duty and privileged.

The tingling of a door opening turned his head as a curvy, tall, dark-headed woman raced out laughing, finishing up with an oomph as she tripped, eyes widened in shock and surprise. 

Saleem moved before he knew it, catching her before she hit the ground. Arm around her waist, swirling around in a dance movement, keeping them both on their feet, her body slammed against him that zapped heat through as they came to a standstill.

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