It didn’t make sense. She wasn’t like that. She wasn’t into what Suki called “hooking up.”
It drove Suki crazy
“My sister, the saint,” she’d sneered when Rachel had caught her drinking Southern Comfort after she knew she was pregnant. “Such a good girl. Always flosses. Always eats her veggies. Never gets laid.”
Rachel had snatched the bottle from Suki’s hand and dumped the whiskey into the sink.
“A little screwing would make you more human,” Suki had yelled after her.
No, Rachel had thought, it wouldn’t. It would just mark her as her mother’s daughter.
Sex had been her mother’s addiction. Her sister’s.
Not hers.
Sex was a trap. It robbed you of common sense, and for what? A few minutes of pleasure, or so she’d heard women say. She had no idea if that was true or not. She’d tried being with a man once or twice and all she’d ended up feeling was even more alone.
She didn’t need men, didn’t need sex, didn’t need anything or anyone. Well, except for Ethan. Other than the baby, she was content to be alone.
She was a cool-headed woman who thought things through. A pragmatist. A survivor.
And that was why she’d defeat the Sheikh at this game.
She was not handing control of her life to him.
She was not giving up her baby.
Rachel rose to her feet.
Half a dozen steps took her to the alcove where Ethan slept in his carrier. The flight attendant was sleeping, too; she sensed Rachel’s presence and jerked awake.
“What can I get you, miss?” she said quickly. “Something to eat, perhaps? There are sandwiches, fruit, coffee—”
“Nothing, thank you. I just wanted to see how my baby’s doing.”
“Oh. He’s fine. I changed him a while ago, fed him—”
“Yes. That’s great. I’m just going to take him back to my seat with me.”
Rachel picked up the carrier, took it down the aisle. It was impossible not to see Karim but her gaze swept over him without their eyes making contact.
He didn’t even know she was there.
He was talking on his cell phone. She heard a couple of words. “Suite.” “Accommodations for an infant.” Nothing more than that.
She sat down, put Ethan’s carrier on the seat next to hers, took a soft throw blanket from another seat and draped it over her lap.
She was cold. And, yes, she was hungry. But she didn’t want the Sheikh’s food.