by Lynn, Sophia
Sheikh’s Unlikely Desire
By: Sophia Lynn
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2015-2106 Sophia Lynn
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
EPILOGUE
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CHAPTER ONE
Even from the air-conditioned interior of her Mercedes, Leah could see the glimmer of heat rising off the pavement nearby. It was another scorcher of a day in Los Angeles, and anyone who was smart was spending it indoors and comfortable or by the side of a glimmering blue pool, wearing shades and dipping into the water whenever the heat got to be too much.
Leah sighed. At least, that was the image she’d had of Los Angeles when she first came out there. It was even true for some of her firm's clients. However, as an up-and-coming lawyer in the entertainment field, her hours were long, her work was often taxing, and many of her luxuries, like her beloved car, were acquired second hand from people who were far better off.
She exchanged glares with one of the security guards who was walking up and down the pavement. They had already had words about how long she was allowed to wait in the airport’s guest pickup area. She wasn't moving. This case could make her career, and the last thing she was interested in doing was blowing it by keeping Sheik Zayn al-Fasi waiting. She was just bracing herself to have another shouting match with the guard when there was a tumult at the doors.
There were a number of men dressed in formal dark suits. They may have been impeccably dressed for New York or Boston, but in the heat and casual atmosphere of LA, they looked hopelessly out of place. Despite the heat, none of them seemed to wilt as they moved from the air-conditioned airport lounge to the sunbaked pavement outside.
Leah was just beginning to wonder if they were the people she was looking for when the bodies parted and she saw the man standing at the center of it all.
He was enormous, easily half a head taller than most of the men around him, broad through the shoulders and with the lordly patience of a lion venturing among lesser animals. He was dressed all in white, his tunic and trousers cut to fit his large frame, and the shocking white set off his dark skin, his jaw-line beard and the absolute darkness of his short black hair.
For some reason, Leah felt a frisson of tension run through her body. Something about this man made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
Almost as if he could sense her gaze, he turned to face her. Now she could see that his eyes, which she would have guessed to be as dark as his hair, were actually a shocking light green. It made it look as if he could see right through her. Perhaps in that moment, he did.
His face in repose was calm, but the moment they locked gazes, something passed between them. He went from repose to a kind of hunter's avidity that made her heart beat faster. Was this how gazelles on the savannah felt right before they made a desperate sprint for survival?
The approach of the security guard woke Leah from her reverie. Suddenly she realized two things. The man in white was likely exactly who she was waiting for, and the security guard was not going to stop her.
With a muttered curse, she swung out of the car, snapping to her feet and facing the guard. She was not a tall woman; her sharp black heels put her at just under five feet, five inches. Her deep auburn hair was pinned in an intricate bun, and she wore a smart cream blouse and dark trousers that she hoped helped her look a little taller.
“Hey, I told you that you only get ten minutes before you have to move on,” the guard said.
“Fifteen,” she snapped. “I read that sign, and I have fifteen. I am picking up my passenger right now, so just back off.”
The guard's face darkened, and he started for her. “You got a lot of lip on you,” he growled.
At another point, perhaps Leah would have been intimidated or given the situation up for a bad job. Right now, however, she was on a mission, and she couldn't be distracted by people who thought they could simply throw their weight around.
“All right,” she snapped, pulling out her smartphone. With a push of a button, she turned it into a high-tech, sharp-imaged recording device, and she focused it on the man approaching her.
“You want to say anything for the camera?” she growled. “Is there anything you want to say to your bosses, who will be receiving this if you come one step closer to me?”
The man looked like he was going to argue, video evidence be damned, but then he shook his head, obviously thinking better of it.
“Just move along quickly,” he snapped, and went to harass people parked behind her.
Leah scowled after him, but then abruptly, she remembered that she had been getting out of her car for a purpose. She spun to find the mysterious man in white looking at her, and the look on his face was one of open approval and humor.
In a moment, her victory turned to humiliation, and if a hole had opened up in the hot pavement, she would have happily stepped through it. Instead, she had always been a woman who knew when she had to simply step up to face the music, so she forced herself to walk forward.
“Sheik Zayn al-Fasi? I'm Leah Montgomery from Hiller and Hiller.”
His grin didn't change at all, and he came forward to meet her. “I am Sheik Zayn,” he said, his voice low and surprisingly smooth. “You are my escort, then.”
“I am, but I was not told about your entourage,” she said, glancing back at the men in black. Now that she was closer, she could see that they were not businessmen at all, or even the assistants that the wealthy and powerful seemed to acquire in LA. Instead, the men moved with the calm assurance and watchful presence of bodyguards.
Zayn waved a hand negligently. “They are hardly an entourage, and they can find their own way, I am sure,” he said pointedly, turning to a tall, hawk-faced older man who stood by his side. “Can't you, Azim?”
Azim scowled. “It is not the safest...”
“Nowhere in the world is safe, old friend,” said Zayn bluntly. “After all, can you disagree with the fact that I will have a fine protector in this one?”
Leah blinked when she realized that they were referring to her. Suddenly she was pinned under the dark eyes of half a dozen men who seemed to be inspecting her as if for the safety of the sheik. Azim started to speak again, but Zayn waved him off.
“Meet me at the hotel. I will have Ms. Montgomery take me there, and we can discuss our strategy once we have settled. That is my final word on it.”
She had thought that Azim would argue further. She had been on the sidelines of many different arguments between talent and security, but apparently, Zayn commanded more presence than a spoiled rock star or feisty starlet. Once Zayn made his pronouncement, Azim nodded shortly.
“At the hotel then, my lord.”
As Azim stepped away to deal with their own transport, Zayn turned to her.
“Shall we, Ms. Montgomery?”
She knew in her head that it could not have been so long a moment where time stood still and she simply stared at the man who towered above her. It was likely less than a few seconds, but still she had to make herself straighten up.
“Yes, we shall,” she said decisively. “Come on, and I'll get you settled at the hotel.”
The first hitch came when they both came to the driver's side of the car.
“Well?” Zayn asked, and she glanced at him curiously.
“
Is... there something wrong with the passenger's side door?” she asked.
“No, but if I am to drive us, I am going to need those keys.”
Leah's parents had always said that it was a wonder she could make her living as a lawyer when her mouth simply said whatever her mind thought first. This time, it wasn't even words, but a bright laugh.
“Ha, that's funny. You're not driving my car.”
He raised an eyebrow at her, opening his mouth to speak, but sheik or no, she’d had plenty of men trying to tell her what was right and what wasn't at the moment.
“Look, no. I've lived in Los Angeles for six years. Before that, I was in New York. I've had to drive in Beijing and Calcutta, and let me tell you, those were hilariously terrible places to be in a car. So unless you can show me a comparable resume that means you can handle LA streets, there is no way in hell I am letting you behind the wheel of this car.”
For a long moment, he simply stared at her, eyes narrowed. It gave her the time to mentally review her words and to realize exactly how she sounded. Her stomach sunk.
Oh god, I'm going to get fired and disbarred.
Then the sheik shrugged, a slight smile on his lips. “Very well, I defer to your judgment, Ms. Montgomery.”
Somehow, he made it feel as if he were doing her a favor when he climbed into the passenger's seat. She was stunned for a moment, but then she hopped into the driver's side, grateful for the sudden cool burst of air.
There was something a little unnerving about the way he watched her with those cool, amused green eyes as she pulled out of her space and joined the flow of traffic. She remembered that sudden feeling of being stalked, of being a prey animal that had been sighted by a predator. She wondered why that made her heart beat a little faster.
“Welcome to the United States, Sheik al-Fasi,” she said, clearing her throat. She was an old pro at silence when it came to sweating out people on the witness stand, but when it came to people who were simply watching her while she tried to navigate rush hour traffic, it was apparently a different matter.
“It is properly Sheik Zayn,” he said, an amused note in his voice. “That is how I would be addressed in Almira.”
“Is... Is there something different I should call you?” she asked hesitantly.
“When it comes to court records, I will be referred to as Sheik Zayn or Sheik Zayn al-Fasi. You however... you should call me Zayn.”
The deliberate note of sweetness in the last sentence made her risk a quick glance at him. He looked out of place in her car, as if she had simply looked over and seen a lion lounging in the comfortable leather seat. It was beautiful, it was simply watching her, and at any moment, she felt as if she was going to get pounced. What happened after that...
“Zayn...” The name felt strangely sensuous on her tongue. She forced herself to watch the traffic. The freeway was fast and wild, and it needed the attention, but more than that, she also wanted to make sure that she didn't focus too much on the way he was making her heart beat faster, the way she could feel an unaccustomed blush come up through her cheeks.
“Mmm. And you are Ms. Montgomery?”
Leah laughed a little. “We're pretty informal about things here on the West Coast,” she said. “Just Leah's fine.”
“Leah. Pretty.”
She started to reply, but then a semi came barreling out of nowhere, making her change lanes with a quick jerk of the wheel. An echoing horn told her what the people behind her thought of her maneuverings, and she resisted the urge to flip them off in deference to her company.
Another quick glance at Zayn reassured her that he wasn't horrified by LA traffic, but instead grinning widely at her skill at getting through it.
“So you were speaking the truth when you said that you had skill,” he said.
“Yeah, and, well, this is my baby,” she said a little guiltily, drumming her fingers on the wheel. “You could be a NASCAR driver, and I likely wouldn't let you drive.”
Zayn shrugged. “I like to drive well enough, but when it comes to getting from one place to another, I prefer horses. I give my driver at home in Almira plenty of work, but at the end of the day, I'd rather be on horseback. That is the only way to see the desert.”
Something about the idea of Zayn on a desert stallion made her blink a little, and she coughed to hide it.
“You looked a little startled when I wanted to drive,” she remarked. “Is... do women not drive in Almira?”
Whatever space she had been trying to fill with those idle words became charged with frigid cold and ice. She didn't even have to look in the mirror to see that his expression had frosted over.
“Of course women drive in Almira,” he said bitingly. “They also hold jobs, gain advanced degrees, and vote. They have voted since the 1900s, something that cannot be said for the United States.”
She could tell that she had tripped headlong into a touchy subject, and when she thought about it, she flinched. There was the instinctive urge to back pedal, to say that she hadn't meant what she said, but the problem was that however unheedingly, she had.
She was aware that in the space of a few words, she might have damaged this immensely powerful man's interest and willingness to work with her and her firm. There was nothing she could do except apologize.
“I'm sorry,” she said bluntly. “I spoke out of turn on a subject I know nothing about, and I added a dash of racism on top of it. I'll think before I speak again on the topic, I swear, and I promise that I will do better in the future.”
There was only silence from the other side of the car, but this time, there was a slow Corvette to maneuver around, and she couldn't take the time to look at him.
“How long until we get to the hotel?” he asked. She was at least a little gratified that he no longer sounded as icy as he had before, but it was far from his previous warm tones. This could very well cost her job, and she couldn't even say that she didn't deserve it.
“Twenty minutes or so,” she said, an inappropriate laugh coming up in her throat. She choked it back with a horrified look, but she knew she had to contain it. Still, she could tell she had caught his attention, and she knew she had to explain.
“Los Angeles is a twenty-minute town,” she explained. “I mean, in recent years, it might have become a thirty-minute town, but the point is that anything you want, anything you want to eat or go do, is about twenty minutes away. We have everything you might want to do, but you have to remember that it takes twenty minutes to get there.”
“Hmm. Many of the things I wish to do tend to take a lot longer than twenty minutes... I hope it's worth it.”
The words were uttered so blandly that Leah had to play them back in her head. Things that Zayn wanted to do... that took longer than twenty minutes.
Surely he didn't mean what she thought he meant. Surely not.
Swerving around a large furniture truck, she decided quickly that silence was golden. If she could just get him to the hotel without managing to put her foot in her mouth, perhaps that would be enough. Perhaps she could still save this, or perhaps one of the firm's partners would be willing to write her a decent reference on the sly after they sacked her.
Her mind was full of such grim thoughts when she finally pulled off the freeway and up to the Marseilles. It was a lavish hotel, white marble in all directions and surrounded by lush greenery that certainly was not native to the Los Angeles heat. She pulled up to the curb, where a man immediately showed up to take their bags, which, she quickly noticed, Zayn didn't have. The sheik saw her confusion and took pity on her.
“I wanted to make sure that I was properly attired for the West,” he explained. “I was going to have some clothes made before my meetings on Monday.”
“Oh, of course,” Leah said lamely. Sometimes, she was still caught off guard by the sheer wealth of some of Hiller and Hiller's clients.
“All right, someone's going to show you to your room.”
“You.”
Leah b
linked. “I... beg your pardon?”
“You are going to show me to my room.”
He stood on the grand marble staircase of the Marseilles, utterly calm and immovable. He spoke as if his pronouncement was law, not just of man, but of the universe itself.
“Yes...” she said after a moment. “Yes, let me get things taken care of.”
She hurried inside where she received the key cards from the front desk. She found Zayn looking around at the sheer opulence of the hotel, its extravagant waterfall and the high vaulted glass ceiling with calm acceptance. If Leah were on her own, she would have been much more inclined to stare around her in shock and awe. As it was, she simply muttered, “Right this way,” to Zayn, leading him to the elevator.
They had lodged him in the penthouse, of course. The enormous sprawling apartment took up the entire top floor of the Marseilles. As the elevator climbed and climbed, she felt slightly trapped, though strangely enough, she had no urge to run.
Zayn seemed to have no interest in speaking at all, and though Leah was grateful for the opportunity to keep her mouth shut and to make sure she didn't further embarrass herself, she wished she knew what he was thinking behind those cool green eyes.
If the lobby of the Marseilles was jaw-dropping, the penthouse was beyond amazing. The elevator opened to a gorgeous sunken living room, surrounded with couches facing an enormous state-of-the-art entertainment center. Beyond were two bedrooms and the bathroom, closed behind impressive double doors.
“Here you are,” she said as briskly as she could. “I hope everything is what you've been looking for—”
He started to speak, and she wanted to hear what he said, but his phone rang. He held up a finger to keep her there, and he answered the phone, turning away.
Now that she was out of her car and out of traffic, she could breathe a little. The floating hairs that always escaped her bun had run absolutely wild, and she distractedly shoved them behind her ears. She was just beginning to worry about what she was going to do when her own phone buzzed. She would never have usually answered a text when she was with a client, but it sounded as if Azim had caught up with Zayn, and they were occupied in a distracted conversation in their native Almiran.