Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
After practically ignoring her the entire week, acting like he had completely forgotten her existence, and his desire for her was but a figment of Anisah’s imagination -
She glowered at the sheikh. The gall of you, to look at me so after the way you had treated me!
But the sheikh’s eyes only smirked at her. Is that your way of saying you missed me?
Her hands flew to her mouth just in time to keep herself from gasping. Cursed, pompous man!
His lips moved, the sheikh mouthing his words, and despite her better judgment, Anisah found herself working hard to discern what he was saying.
Don’t...worry...I...missed...you...too!
Wait.
What?
No!
Argh!
“Tarif? Are you coming?” Rayyan called out impatiently to his cousin from the other end of the floor.
Tarif cast one last amused look at the direction in which Anisah had stomped away before turning around to follow his cousin out of the hall.
Anisah was still shaking in a mixture of embarrassment and outrage even by the time she slid into the backseat of a cab. She wrapped her arms around herself, hoping it would help calm her down, but instead it only made her excruciatingly aware of the lingering impact of the sheikh’s words. Her breasts still felt heavy and swollen against the cups of her bra, her nipples were painfully erect, and her hot, moist core was aching and begging for another taste of his hardness.
She squeezed her eyes shut in a futile attempt to block the memories out, but it was impossible. They came back to her in a flash, vividly erotic, and the triangle between her legs became wetter and wetter – oh dear heavens, but her panties were wet beyond redemption now.
Tarif Al-Atassi was not the kind of man she should want, and yet –
Anisah slowly placed a trembling hand against her chest, and the terrifying truth of her reality readily made itself known, her heart drumming hard and fast in its wild clamor for something she dared not name.
Chapter Five
An equal mix of men and women cheered as the all-black Land Cruiser blazed down the desert, racing up and down to bash the first dune on its path. The men were there purely for the love of sport, all of them professional drivers, with ‘sand dune bashers’ as their official job title. The women, on the other hand, were also there purely for love – for the man behind the wheel.
The trail set for the day’s main event was filled with dangerous twists and turns, precipitous slopes, and narrow passageways, all of it strategically incorporated into the route to mimic the thrills of a roller coaster ride and provide paying tourists with an unforgettable desert experience.
Binoculars went up in unison as the crowd of onlookers eagerly followed the vehicle’s progress, and breaths were collectively drawn as the powerful 4x4 raged up the tallest of the dunes, a hundred-foot behemoth with the most vicious of angles, steeper than anything that could be found in Dubai’s own slice of the desert.
The crowd gasped as the off-road monster shot straight up in a burst of speed, and the crowd inhaled sharply as the vehicle practically flew straight down...down...down...
The vehicle landed sideways before immediately righting itself with an impressive maneuver of the wheel, and the crowd went wild with thunderous applause just as the 4x4 spun back to the main path. The force of its turn created a spectacular tsunami display of sand in its wake, and a wall of coral pink sand rose in the air like a rising ocean wave set against the desert’s crimson sunset.
There was a moment of stunned, awed silence – and then a moment of pure, delirious joy as the men roared their approval and the women screamed their hearts out. Such was their love and admiration for Tarif Al-Atassi, a man whom the world thought of merely as a carefree billionaire but was a hero in the eyes of his people.
Malik waited until the 4x4 slowed down to a safe cruising speed before reopening the communication channel between him and his older cousin. “Good work, brother.”
“Thanks.” Tarif’s tone was uncharacteristically brief and business-like, or at least it would have sounded so to most of the world, whose idea of the sheikh was that of a work-allergic playboy. “We both know, however, you’d have enjoyed this P.R. stunt more.”
“That’s true,” Malik acknowledged with a grin. Extreme sports such as this were more his element, and although evidence suggested the contrary, Tarif abhorred being in the limelight more than any of them did. “You know I’d have done this in your stead if you asked.”
“And have little Kyria biting my head off,” Tarif scoffed, “because I allowed the father of her future babe risk his life needlessly?”
Malik’s grin widened. Tarif’s words were also true, with pregnancy turning his normally gentle wife into an adorably spoiled, moody termagant. Of course, he also knew that he might be the only one who found the change adorable and so said by way of consolation, “Cheer up, brother. Fate has already delivered the reward for your good deed.”