The Sheik's Reluctant Lover Page 0,40
to say but he interrupted her.
“Rachel, let’s talk about this when I can see your face. I would love to see you in those dresses, or more specifically, I would love to take you out of those dresses, slowly and with a great attention to detail. But if you have something else you would like me to take off of you, I’m more than willing to compromise.”
She was about to contradict him before he ended in that manner. It was so typical of him that she couldn’t help but laugh despite her frustration with his high handed manner. “You’re incorrigible,” she came back.
“Yes, but you want me.”
She laughed again and wiped her eyes. “I’m promising nothing.”
“Promise me that you’ll spend the weekend with me again.”
“No. You deserve to wait and wonder after this stunt.”
“Why is giving you a nice dress or two a stunt?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes at his obtuseness. “First of all, because you delivered those dresses to my office and now everyone is gossiping about me, probably assuming that I’m sleeping with a client.”
“You are sleeping with a client,” he came back.
“I have slept with a client, but that might not ever happen again.”
His laugh was deep and sexy and she could just picture him leaning back against a big, leather chair like the one in his office at the main house, his feet propped up on his desk as he smiled that handsome smile of his that never failed to make her stomach quiver in anticipation. “I’d like to see you try and resist me now that you know what an incredible lover I am.”
That comment caused her amusement to dissipate. It reminded her that this man had a great deal of experience and she hated the thought of him with other women. Especially the women she’d seen him with in the past because they all looked like her.
“Let’s talk this weekend,” she said, all humor gone from her tone.
“That sounds ominous. What just happened Rachel?” he asked, much more alert.
She sighed and shook her head. “Like you said, it’s hard to talk when you’re thousands of miles away,” she replied.
He sighed as well. “Okay. I’ll get there as soon as I can. But next weekend, we don’t have any events, right?”
“You haven’t scheduled anything,” she replied cautiously. “Did you want something on the calendar?” She felt herself tensing, worried that she wouldn’t see him if he didn’t have a social obligation here. That didn’t sit well with her, even though she’d just been upset about him and the women he had been with in the past, and those he most likely would be with in the future.
“I was thinking that maybe you could come out to visit me this time around. I would love to show you my home.”
She laughed. “You mean your palace?”
“Whatever you want to call it. I only occupy a portion of the building in which I work. There’s more than a residence here.”
“But you’re the ruler so most of it is reserved for your personal use, isn’t it?”
He hesitated. “Why don’t you come out next weekend and I can show you everything.”
She thought about it for a moment, biting her lip nervously. “Rais…”
“Don’t say no. Just think about it. We’ll add it to the numerous other topics we need to discuss this weekend, okay?”
She released her lip and stared up at the roof of her car. This was a painfully complicated relationship. “Okay. I’ll see you Friday.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay. I lo….” She started to say something, then stopped herself, shocked at what she was about to say. “See you soon.” She pressed the end button quickly, not sure if he’d caught her comment. She stared at her phone, wanting to text him and tell him that she hadn’t been about to say ‘love’ but she didn’t want to get into that.
A moment later, she received a text from him. All it said was, ‘Back at you’. What did that mean? What was coming back to her? Was he teasing her about her almost ‘love’ comment or just about seeing her soon?
Her head fell back against the head rest again and she took a deep, calming breath.
Back up in her office, she sat down behind her desk and stared at all of her sticky notes. How was she supposed to focus when she knew she had sixteen thousand dollars worth of clothes in her car? She didn’t have time to drive to her apartment and be