My Insatiable Sheikh - Marian Tee Page 0,33

no longer myself, and that wouldn't fucking do at all.

No matter what, I needed to still be myself or things would never work out between the asshole and me. I needed to believe what my instincts were telling me and ignore every Buzzfeed and Huffpost article I read that begged to differ.

I checked my phone for the nth time in the past ten minutes, but there was nothing. No call, no text, no email. Nothing to let me know if the sheikh had even read my message. But surely he'd come? He had to. If not, and I fucking find out he had seen-zoned my message?

I took a deep breath.

Stop being paranoid, Teller.

The sheikh would come the moment he saw my message.

Or at the very least, he'd text or call—-

RIIIIING!

I nearly ended up face-diving the length of his expensive rug in my haste to reach my phone. Finally! I knew he'd never have seen-zoned me, and relief had me breathless when I finally managed to answer the call. "Hello?"

"Story? Is that you?"

I couldn't answer, stunned to hear someone else's voice coming from the other end of the line.

"Story?"

I gave myself a mental shake and cleared my throat. "Um. Sorry. I just...um...finished working out."

"Is this a bad time then?"

"No, of course not." But this was a lie obviously, and Johnny had to know this, too. After the numerous times Dahlia had made my life hell, anything that had to do with my twin would always be a bad time.

"Great. I mean, I'm glad you have time to talk."

Johnny's voice was one of the things I used to find most attractive about him. I used to love the way he talked, the way he sounded confident without being cocky, but...yeah, obviously my tastes had changed since then.

And come to think of it, he didn't even sound confident at all right now. If anything, he sounded rather nervous. He had never sounded nervous when talking to me before, and I couldn't help feeling a little sad at how quickly things had changed between us.

"So...you've probably guessed it already, but I'm calling because of Dahlia."

"I see." And I really did. Dahlia definitely had something up her sleeve again, and whatever it was, it likely involved me and shit hitting the fan.

"This is going to come as a surprise..."

Mm. All of a sudden, I thought about my own surprise, and realizing that I had yet to tell Dahlia about the sheikh cheered me up immensely. It was so going to fuck her up for good, once she found out how wonderfully her plan had backfired, and it was all thanks to her I had shacked up with a gorgeous, rich-as-fuck sheikh.

And oooh, once she found out that I was in love with him, and he was likely in love with me? The look on her face would be priceless and—-

"Dahlia's pregnant."

And what the fuck had I just heard?

"Story?"

"Sorry, I thought you said my twin was pregnant."

"I did say that."

"And it's yours?" I couldn't help asking.

"Story." Johnny's voice was stiff. "That's beneath you, don't you think?"

No, I don't think actually, but...whatever. "Sorry," I said finally, "and congratulations." This...completely changed things, and I could practically see all of my plans for righteous vengeance crumbling into ashes.

Dahlia on any ordinary day was already a dangerous enemy to make, but Dahlia made crazier by pregnancy hormones?

The devil only knew what kind of trouble she'd cook up if I went on as planned and rubbed my good fortune in her face. The less she knew about my own situation, the better, and so I took care to make only all the right noises as Johnny, after being assured that I was going to be a very nice and welcoming aunt to his future kid, happily proceeded to share with me the latest of their #roadtopreggers journey.

"I'm not kidding, Story. We're really using that hashtag in every post. It's kinda cute, don't you think?"

"Totally." Not.

Over half an hour had passed by the time I was able to get off the phone, Johnny having been called away by Dahlia, whose voice had been extra loud in the background as she invited him to join her in the shower. She probably thought I'd be hurt and jealous as hell...and it was also probably better to let her think that. Dahlia resting on her laurels was always less trouble than Dahlia seeking to redress imaginary slights.

The thought of Dahlia and Johnny having a baby still lingered in my mind, and I found myself tucking