The Sheikh's Stolen Bride-To-Be

“I loved it. The things the human body can do are incredible.” I grabbed his hand. “Thank you so much for bringing me here.”

Jalaal raised my hand to his lips and kissed it gently. Even after spending all night and all day with him, every time our skin touched I felt like somebody had tasered me, and I meant that in the best way possible.

“You’re more than welcome,” Jalaal said. “But we’re not done yet.”

“What?”

He grinned. “Don’t you want to go to the after-party?”

I gaped. “After-party? You mean with the performers and stuff?”

“A few celebrities generally show up as well,” he said, shrugging. A tiny smirk was the only indication he knew exactly how crazy that all sounded.

“Yes, I want to go to the after-party!” I declared. “This is amazing. I’m so lucky.”

Jalaal ran his hand along my cheek. I stared into the depths of his eyes, which were so dark they were almost black.

A girl could get lost in those eyes.

Who was I kidding? I was already lost in them.

“I’m the one who is lucky,” Jalaal murmured. “I’m so lucky to have met you, Skyler.”

Time might as well have stopped. I blocked out the hustle and bustle of the theater around me, the chatter, the lights, the music in the background. For one perfect second, there was nobody else. Just us.

But the sights and sounds came back, as did the realization that it wasn’t just us. Not in this theater, not in this life. I had a son, and I still had no idea how to tell Jalaal that. Did I have to? This was just a crazy weekend in Vegas, right? I didn’t need to toss all my cards on the table for Jalaal to rummage through at his leisure; nor did I need to sort through his.

Jalaal, unaware of the dialogue running through my mind, led me out of the theater and down the hall. We passed some hefty looking security guards and entered a conference room. Or what was usually a conference hall, at least. Tonight it was where the party was.

String lights in shades of gold and silver hung in random rows from the ceiling. People were already milling about under the effusive glow of the lights. Some were dancing, some were chatting, but all were drinking.

Jalaal took me around the room and introduced me to a score of people, including a few actors and musicians. I recognized a couple of them, and had to force myself to act calm around one in particular. And, the more people I was introduced to, the worse I felt about not telling Jalaal about my son. Now, more people knew me as just Skyler, the nurse from San Diego. Nobody knew about Sam.

Jalaal had been upfront about who he was. Some would argue that introducing yourself as a fabulously wealthy sheikh was different than introducing yourself as a dirt-poor single mom. But I wasn’t ashamed of Sam. I was never ashamed of Sam.

So why not say anything?

I could tell myself it was because I wouldn’t know him much longer, but that would be a lie. I whipped out pictures of Sam to show to people I talked to on the bus sometimes. I was damn proud of him.

But I was afraid.

If Jalaal knew about Sam, would he still want me? Or would it ruin whatever fantasy he’d constructed in his head that made him want me in the first place?

“Everything okay?” Jalaal asked as I stared into my glass of champagne.

I blinked up at him. “Fine.” With a smile, I added, “Just thinking about going back to work and how much that’s going to suck.”

“There’s a simple solution to that.” Jalaal took the glass from my hand and placed it on the tray of a passing waiter. I didn’t mind, since I knew all I had to do to get another was put my empty hand in the air and wait for it to be filled. He pulled me over to the dance floor and wrapped his arm around my waist. His other hand clasped mine and held it level with my shoulder.

“What’s your simple solution?” I asked, giggling. Being in his arms was making me feel giddy.

Jalaal’s smile lit a fire deep in my belly. “Quit. Stay in Las Vegas forever. Every day could be like this.” He screwed up his nose. “Well, not every day. That would get boring and I do have work I have to do. But lots of days.”