"Are we going to argue about fractions?" But she smiled. "Maybe sixty percent."
He wrapped his arms around her again. "I'll accept sixty-five, but I promise to work harder. Once my chest heals fully and I can make love to you again."
She held the warm promise of it to her heart and knew he would find making her fall for him an easy job. As if he understood what she was thinking, he kissed her thoroughly. She pressed her hand to the golden sphere he wore on his chest all the time now, reassuring herself the last week had all really happened.
He turned her and pressed his forehead to hers in the gesture she now knew so well. "Hayati, I don't know how to tell you this. I'd hoped you'd remember, but I don't want to keep it from you any longer. You know my heart does not beat without you, but I also love another. And you do as well."
Fear wrung her chest. "No." She shoved at him, the betrayal of it lighting a fire inside her. He had another wife. She should have known no happiness could be so perfect. "I won't listen to this."
"Be calm, Max." Sayd whipped out his phone, typed in her middle name and pressed it into her hands. When she held it, he tapped the screen.
A glorious photo appeared. Bittersweet love and loss and not a moment to lose in the future—even if she never remembered a single moment. Tears streamed from her eyes. She tasted them on her smiling lips. The date in the corner was three months earlier. There she was, looking exhausted and elated in a paper-thin hospital gown, propped up on pillows. Sayd, one arm raised to take the skewed photo, the other wrapped protectively around her shoulders, beamed his pride as if for the moment the Earth had been made for him. Cradled against her breast, she held a wrinkly red body, tiny fists raised in the air in protest against the world.
"Hayati," he said. "Would you like to meet our son?"
The End
#####
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More stories by Teresa Morgan:
A preview of Cinderella and the Sheikh, available now for your eReader.
Cinderella and the Sheikh (Hot Contemporary Romance Novel)
The happiness of one woman was a small sacrifice compared to the fate of a country.
Sheikh Rasyn ibn Bakr ibn Rahman al Jabar watched her tuck a stray strand of auburn hair behind her ear. Even from across the crowded lobby of Hotel Scheherazade, even separated from her by the glass wall that divided the café from the hotel, she drew his awareness to every move of her lush body. The busy porters and smartly dressed guests bustling around him faded like smoke as he watched her.
Even from here, Rasyn could see the gray-haired gentleman sitting at her table was dazzled by her too-wide smile. He snuck a glance down her generous cleavage when she set his meal in front of him, as Rasyn wished to do.
Rasyn folded the paper he'd been pretending to read across his knee, taking care not to smudge the ink onto his Alexander McQueen suit. She was lovely, he had to admit, even to his critical gaze. Lovely enough to tempt any man into making a fool of himself. No doubt she thought herself too fat, but who could explain Western standards of beauty, with their skeletal models and anorexic actresses? Her breasts would spill over his hands as he ran his thumbs over her nipples. Her lush backside would press against him as he gathered her to his hardened body.
A ripple of guilt threatened his resolve. Of course she had done nothing to deserve what he would do to her. However, for the good of all Abbas, he had to act. His cousin Imaran belonged on the throne, despite Uncle Anwar's inclinations.
And it had to be soon. His uncle's illness loomed over Abbas like a shroud. The threat of the country devolving into tribal factions fighting over the succession was very real. Securing Imaran's rise to power meant proving his own unworthiness. If that meant seducing an uninvolved woman, so be it. The alternative meant people would die.
He would ensure her pleasure, at least. And when they divorced, enough material compensation to ensure she never had to wait tables again. Perhaps even a degree of celebrity.
Across the lobby, she laughed at something the old man said. Her smile transformed her face from mere beauty to that of an exotic houri.
She was perfect for his needs. He'd come to Manhattan intending to find an ordinary woman to seduce. But as soon as he'd seen this one, with shining ruby glints in her hair and eyes as green as an oasis, he'd forgotten all thoughts of plain women. He knew that she wasn't immune to him, either. The second they'd locked eyes, nearly a week ago, she'd dropped a tray of drinks, scattering liquid and shards of glass across the floor.
That's when he'd chosen her. She was beautiful, tempting, and vulnerable to him. No one would wonder why he fell for her. Perhaps her clumsiness would become an asset.
And she resisted him. It had been too long since he'd had a challenge. By avoiding him and hiding behind her veil of politeness, she sharpened his appetite for her. He'd never had a problem convincing people of the rightness of his own point of view or convincing women to share his bed. If she'd fallen into his arms like other women had, he wouldn't have minded, of course. And he would have treated her with the same respect he'd treated them. But her refusal to acknowledge his charm showed strength of character he admired.
Yes. He smiled inwardly. She was perfect. Beautiful.
And oh-so common.
***
Valentine Vegas Gigolo Sheikh (Hot Contemporary Romance Novella)
Tall, Dark, and Paid For...
Paper-pushing cubicle jockey Stacia Keating has never had problems with guys or relationships. Only sex. Fueled by public humiliation from her useless ex-boyfriend and three too many mojitos at a rehearsal dinner for her best friend's Vegas wedding, she decides it's time to put herself in expert hands. But when reason—and sobriety—returns, she realizes her bonehead mistake. Only problem is that Mr. Tall, Dark, and Paid For seems hell-bent on fulfilling his end of the deal.
Never before in his regimented, predictable life has Prince Zaqwan el Behar of Ittar been mistaken for a male escort. But when the intriguing blonde maid of honor at his friend's wedding offers him money for his sexual services, he can't help but play along. And the more he finds out about her, the more he begins to think that her pleasure is his business...
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Sheikh With Benefits (Hot Contemporary Romance Novella)
What's a little seduction between friends?
Arya Mokri, the ultimate wallflower, has to stop dreaming of His Royal Highness, Sheikh Javad Shirin, or she's going to lose her mind. She's been crushing on him for months and it's time to move on. If he won't have her, she'll find someone who will...
A consummate diplomat, Sheikh Javad would never dream of sleeping with the woman whose friendship he values so much. But when she arrives at an event in a dress showing too much skin and even more poor judgment, he finds himself wondering what it would look like on his bedroom floor. Worse, his suddenly sexy friend plans an affair with his own brother.
Tonight, he vows, her plans will change. Whether she wants them to or not.
***
Also by Teresa Morgan, writing as Teresa Wilde
Strange Academy (Hot Paranormal Romance)
"I love this book. If Jane Ann Krentz and Harry Potter made a baby, it would be this book." U.S.A. Today Bestselling Author, Sharon Page
For fans of Katie MacAlister, Julie Kenner, and MaryJanice Davidson, a funny, sexy paranormal romance set at a school for superheroes.
Determined to uncover the secret behind her eccentric aunt's mysterious death, Sadie Strange, a quirky substitute tea
cher with a Master’s degree in comic book superheroes, takes a job at isolated private school Strange Academy. Her biggest obstacle? Haughty hottie Lorde Gray, the chemistry teacher who looks down his Roman nose at her as he tries to get her fired.
Undercover demon hunter Gray vows to use his spell-brewing powers to protect Strange Academy's true purpose—educating extraordinary children with paranormal gifts. If the world knew the school's secret, it would start a war that would destroy humanity. Gray won't let a feisty mortal threaten that, no matter how much she swishes her heart-shaped ass.
When fate throws them together, strange allies Sadie and Gray seek to uncover the hidden forces behind her aunt's death before they destroy Sadie—and the school. But when the demon hunter forbidden from associating with mortals and the mortal woman who can't trust her own judgment around alpha males find themselves falling for each other, love is going to get a little strange...
***
Over My Dead Body (A Teen Urban Fantasy)
Merit Boatman has gone to a better place. Or has she?
When sixteen-year-old workaholic and Tic Tac addict Merit Boatman bites the dust in a freak traffic accident, the last thing she expects is evil Viking god Loki to show up to threaten her afterlife. According to Loki, she’s the only one who can figure out why souls are disappearing before getting to their final destination, and if she doesn’t do it in seven days, he’s got a special place in Hell reserved just for her.
This wasn’t exactly on her To Do list.
Neither was working as an undercover ghost in an office of Death Gods whose job it is to transition souls to the After. Or falling for a certain three-hundred-year-old samurai with a talking dragon. Or making best friends with a valkyrie determined to send her off to Valhalla.
With Loki’s deadline looming, Merit has to face the ultimate challenge—putting her afterlife on the line for her friends, and for everyone on Earth, by facing down an invisible monster who considers her soul a tasty afternoon snack.
Life’s a bitch. But for Merit Boatman, death might be even bitchier.
***
About Teresa Morgan
Teresa Morgan is the author of Cinderella and the Sheikh, Handcuffed to the Sheikh, Sheikh with Benefits, Valentine Vegas Gigolo Sheikh, and the anthology No Sleep For The Sheikh.
By day, she's a mild-mannered technical writer, but by night (and lunch hours, and weekends) she's a digital Scheherazade, weaving tales of sexy Sheikhs and the strong-willed heroines who love them.
Teresa is fascinated by the Middle East and has been to Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and Morocco. Sometimes her adventures end up in her books.
"Sheikhs break all the rules," Teresa says. "Including 'i before e.' After three books, I still have to concentrate every time I spell it."
Teresa also writes paranormal romance and YA under the pen name Teresa Wilde. Her paranormal debut is Strange Academy, a hot, hilarious paranormal romance set at a school for budding superheroes. Check out her first teen urban fantasy, Over My Dead Body.
Email Teresa at [email protected].
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Epilogue
About Teresa Morgan
Handcuffed to the Sheikh (Hot Contemporary Romance Novella) Page 5