Chapter 10
Mandy woke with a start, not sure where she was. Again. But as soon as her eyes opened, memories from the previous night came rushing back. Every wild, lust-filled moment of the previous twelve hours replayed behind her eyes.
Including Zahir’s proposal!
“No!” she whispered, shifting and stretching her legs out. Every part of her was sore, but not in a bad way. She felt as if she’d just gone through a luxurious work out and all of her muscles, muscles that she wasn’t used to working, were crying out in response to even the slightest movement.
Zahir had made love to her so many times over the past several hours, she wasn’t exactly sure when one session with him ended and the next began.
Wait, no, that wasn’t right. She knew exactly how it had ended. Every time. Every mind-bending, heart-melting climax had been brought from her body. Even now, her hand trembled as she lifted her arm, pushing her tangled hair out of her eyes.
Looking around, she realized that she was in his bed. Again! Hadn’t she done this yesterday? Was every morning going to be like this? It was like a lust-filled Ground Hog Day!
Not that she was complaining.
Wait, should she complain? Last night…he’d proposed to her! Zahir had demanded that she marry him! He hadn’t stopped teasing her, driving her wild, until she promised to marry him!
Looking down at her hand, she realized that there was an enormous diamond twinkling in the sunshine. Was it real? “Impossible!” she whispered. “This can’t be real.”
“It’s real,” Zahir’s deep, sexy voice announced as he strode into the bedroom looking fresh and alive. He came around the bed and sat down. Mandy shifted her legs out of the way only moments before he sat down next to her. “How are you feeling this morning?”
She bit her lip, her hand still holding the sheet against her nakedness. “Vulnerable,” she finally answered. “Confused.” She lifted her eyes, staring straight into his. “What happened last night?”
Zahir’s mouth twisted into a grimace. “I…uh,” he started to explain, then stopped, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was a bit possessed, I think.” Shaking away his amused confusion, Zahir moved forward, gently kissing her. Thankfully, it was just a soft brush against her mouth before he pulled away. “I…needed your acquiesce.”
She pondered that reply for a moment, then shook her head. “I thought that I was here in Sidrina to help you narrow down the choices for your fiancée. Raven and I were hired, by you, I might add, to help you investigate other women.”
He smiled and brushed his fingers over her forehead, brushing her tangled hair out of her eyes. “That’s true. I hired you for your professional expertise.”
“So…shouldn’t you be looking for someone else?”
“I was,” he replied honestly. “But then I got to know you.” He took her hand, his thumb rubbing over the diamond ring. “Admit it, you were attracted to me from the beginning.”
She bit her lip, not wanting to admit anything. She was too confused and, if she were being honest with herself, and him, she felt a little…betrayed. “I admit I find you attractive, Zahir.” She put a finger to his lips before he could speak. “But don’t you see what you’ve done?” Mandy pulled her finger away. “You manipulated this situation to suit your own needs.”
“How did I do that?” he asked. “By making love to you? By challenging you to admit that you feel something more than just professional courtesy for me?” He tilted his head slightly. “I don’t think that was manipulation as much as it was asking you to be honest with yourself and with me.”
She sighed. “That sounds…like you’ve tied everything up with a nice, pink bow, Zahir.”
“Are you denying the attraction?”
“No,” she grumbled and looked around. The bedroom truly was magnificent. And decadent. The man had a bedroom that would have fit into any erotic dream. “No, after last night, I can’t deny that I am very attracted to you. In fact, I’d offer that it’s significantly more than mere attraction.” Mandy wasn’t sure about her feelings for the man, but she hadn’t had time to evaluate what she was feeling. “However, please don’t dismiss my other feelings.”
“You feel betrayed.”
Mandy tugged the sheet higher over her nakedness. “Yes. I think so.”
He nodded as if contemplating her response. “What else?”
She sighed, leaning back against the pillows. “I…I’m not sure, Zahir. Confusion? A sensation of being overwhelmed? I’ve only been here in Sidrina for two weeks. Last night you proposed to me, and yet, you’re still a mystery to me.”
Thankfully, he wasn’t offended by her comment. In fact, he nodded as if she’d just relayed something very wise. “So, we will spend more time with each other and get to know one another more thoroughly.”
Mandy bit her lip, worried about her next statement. But it had to be said. “I think I should head home. Give these feelings some time to simmer, and give me some time to process what’s going on.”
“No!” he snapped and stood up. Zahir took several steps away from the bed, then ran a hand through his hair with obvious frustration. “Mandy, I know that this,” he waved his hand in the air, “is all…a bit much for you.” He paced a bit, then turned to look at her again. “I didn’t bring you here under false pretenses. I genuinely believed that you and Raven could help me find someone that would eventually become my wife.”
“And?”
“And that’s exactly what both of you did for me.” He turned to face her, fisting his hands on his hips. “I can’t date, Mandy. I can’t just go on dating sites and meet other women. They have to come to me. I meet thousands of people every year. Beautiful women throw themselves at me, not because of who I am, but because of what I am. Those women don’t want me, they want the wealth that will make their lives more comfortable.”
“I understand that,” she replied, her heart aching for the outraged man standing in front of her now.
“Do you?” he challenged. “Do you really?”
“I think I do.”
“So when I tell you that I have…feelings for you. That you are the woman that I want to spend the rest of my life with. That I want to make you happy and give you as much pleasure as you will allow me to provide, do you understand what that means?”
She swallowed, startled by this declaration. “I don’t think that I do.”
He glared at her for a long moment, then his anger melted away. “My life isn’t what you think it is, Mandy. And you don’t understand that. You can’t even grasp what it is like to be in my world.”
“That’s true enough.”
“So, why don’t we compromise?” he offered, coming closer again.
“What are you offering?” she asked, tightening the sheet over her body.
“Stay here with me. Stay here and get to know me. Let me get to know you.” He leaned forward, bracing a fist on the bed, on either side of her hips as he gazed into her eyes. “Run your business from here in Sidrina. Let me show you what we could have together. What it could be like between us.” He pushed away. “If you don’t want me after you get to know me, the real man behind the title and the power, then you can leave.”
She tilted her head, trying to decipher what he wasn’t telling her. There was more to his words, but he was a master of diplomacy. Plus, she could see something in his eyes. Something that warned her that there was a whole lot more to his offer than she understood.
And her heart ached. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to get to know the real man.
She glanced down at the ring, admiring the diamond, but shook her head. “If I stay, then I want to finish investi…” She stopped, her eyes startled. “The file folder I had last night,” she gasped. “Where is it?”
“There’s a file folder on the coffee table out in the living room,” he offered. “Is that more important than what we’re discussing now?”
She shook her head and looked around. “I need clothes,” she muttered.
“Why?” he asked. When she looked up at him, there was amusement in his eyes and those lips, lips that knew how to do things to her that, even now, caused her stomach to twist with need and desire.
When a dark eyebrow lifted, she pulled her thoughts back from the brink of need. Shaking her head, she tried to focus. “I need to put some clothes on so that I can tell you what I’ve found. I need to show you something.”
He stared at her for another long moment, then shrugged. Turning, he walked through a set of doors, then came back with a robe. “Will this do?”
She nodded, taking it from him and slipping her arms into the sleeves. “While I show you what I discovered, is there any way I could get something to eat?” she asked. She tied the belt and tried to shove the sleeves higher onto her arms. But the silk wouldn’t cooperate. “You made me skip dinner last night and I’m starving.”
He chuckled and pulled her into his arms. “Promise that you’ll stay and I’ll feed you.”
She rolled her eyes, but lifted onto her toes to kiss him. “You’ll feed me even if I don’t stay. You’re a good man, Zahir.”
He thought about that for a moment, then tilted his head. “That’s a good start.” He sighed and released her. “Show me what you discovered, woman. Then I’m taking that robe off of you and–”
“You’re keeping your hands to yourself, Sheik Man!” she warned him, lifting her forefinger to admonish him. “I don’t think my body can stand another round just yet. You’re a very physical lover.”
He chuckled again, then followed her out of the bedroom. Sure enough, the file folder was sitting exactly where he’d tossed it last night.
He sat down next to her as she flipped through the file folder, his arm moving to curl around her back. Unconsciously, Mandy leaned into him, snuggling against his side as she placed the folder half on his lap and half on her own.
“Yesterday, I was searching through several of your directors, as you asked me to do. I found something interesting.”
“Who is the culprit?” Zahir demanded, his voice low, lethal sounding.
“Well, I don’t know. Yet,” she said with her finger in the air. “Here are the oddities that I’ve discovered so far.” She pointed to one column of numbers. “Here’s this man’s house and a list of the renovations. Every time someone changes the structure of their home, they have to put in for a building permit.” She tilted her head. “Actually, it’s normally the contractor doing the work that submits the building permit. Most people have no idea how to submit the permits and if contractors waited for their clients to submit them to the right office, they wouldn’t get any work done. Plus, it’s an overwhelming task to submit permits. It’s an unnecessarily complicated process, but so far, no one has fixed the problem.”
“And someone in my administration has submitted multiple permits for changes to their home?”
“Actually, four of the top executives or directors, or whatever you call them, have submitted several changes to their homes but there doesn’t seem to be funding from their primary jobs to pay for those changes.”
“I pay my people very well. They have a great deal of responsibility.”
“Don’t get me started on CEO pay compared to the median income of the workers,” she grumbled. “But I’m not talking about large salary amounts. I’m talking about people who are spending four or five times their salary each year.”
His eyes narrowed and he started to say something, but she shook her head, anticipating his next comment. “Nope, they didn’t inherit any large sums of money. I always check that before I make assumptions. The other detail I check is if any member of the family is also working and if a dual income could have contributed the funding for the renovations. That’s not possible in these four cases. There is no additional funding coming in, and I’ve found secret bank accounts for all four agency heads.”
“That’s not good,” he grumbled and pulled her onto his lap. “Show me more,” he urged.
For the next half hour, Mandy explained her findings to him, showing him the bank accounts, the contracts, the estimates that she’d calculated based on the renovation permits. Zahir nodded his understanding, even asked several questions and suggested other areas in which she could investigate.
When he ran out of questions, he nodded. “You’re right. These four are suspicious.” He was rubbing her back now and she almost moaned. But before they could go down that pathway again, she jumped up and stepped out of reach. “I’m going to shower. After last night, I feel…I just need to shower.”
His eyes lit up, but he gave her a sigh. “I have a meeting that I need to attend, but I’ll have food delivered to you so that it’s ready when you get out of your shower.” He stood up as well, taking her hands in his. “Will you give me time? Will you give us time? We need to get to know each other and understand what’s happening between us.”
“Yes,” she sighed. “Although, I still have reservations.”
“Good. Then you’ll give me something to work on.” He moved closer and kissed her gently. “Dinner tonight?” he asked. “We’ll have dinner and watch a movie. And I promise to keep my hands off of you for the whole movie.”
She bit her lip and he laughed. “Or maybe I won’t,” he replied with a husky voice. “Until tonight, Habibi.”
And then he was gone. Mandy watched him walk away and she felt…happy. No, this wasn’t mere happiness. This was…beyond happy. She didn’t really have a word for what she was feeling, but Mandy was pretty sure that it had something to do with endorphins and the chemicals the body creates after incredible sex.
Whatever the reason, she felt extraordinarily good.
Now if she could only find some clothes!