When his hands lifted her higher, she had no choice but to open her legs, his knees pressing between her own and she arched into his body, needing the contact, needing more pressure, and as she straddled his hips, she was in a perfect position to get that pressure.
Then his hips shifted and she gasped, her body lighting up with the flames of pleasure. Unfortunately, that pleasure was short lived and she needed more. “You put yourself in danger as well,” she gasped when he moved his mouth from hers to her neck.
“Arianna, shut up,” and then he was kissing her again. His hands were everywhere, touching her and moving material out of the way. He lifted her up again, swinging her around as he lifted her onto the desk. She had no idea that her butt was now on top of secret plans for border security. But she was very aware of Rhys’ hands lifting what was left of her tee shirt up and over her head, tossing it onto the desk beside her.
“Aellena!” he groaned. “You are beautiful!” Shaking his head, he watched as his fingers drifted over her breast, his forefinger circling her nipple as it strained against the black silk. “I thoroughly approve of your lingerie choices, my dear.”
Arianna would have laughed, but the sensations hitting her were hard and unfamiliar. She’d had sex before, but nothing had ever felt this intense! “You can’t…I don’t know how to handle this,” she stammered and grabbed his wrist, pulling his fingers away.
With her words, he pulled back, sighing and making a visible effort to gain control. “Too fast.” He shifted again and she gasped when his erection pressed against her core, causing more of those flames of pleasure to hit her.
With a deep, husky chuckle, he pulled his hips away from hers, but it was obviously painful for both of them. “We will wait.” He stepped back, but didn’t allow her to close her legs.
He held her for several minutes, both of them getting their breath back under control. Neither moved because movement caused friction and Arianna wasn’t sure she could take much more.
Leaning against his desk, he kept her perched right there. “You were so brave today.”
“I wasn’t brave,” she admitted, thinking of the terror she’d felt when that guard had been shot. “I thought the man might have died and it would have been all my fault.”
His surprised look caught her off guard. “Why in the world would you think this was your fault?”
She looked down, ashamed of how selfish her motives had been. “If I hadn’t mentioned my father’s disappearance to you, then you wouldn’t be investigating anything. You would have been here, safe within the palace walls, and you wouldn’t have been shot at today. Your man wouldn’t have been wounded and everything would be fine. It’s my fault. I’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest and now you’re being targeted for it.”
He stared at her for a long moment, and shook his head while keeping his hands on her hips. “Arianna, a few things. We don’t know if the reason for the attack this afternoon was due to the questions I asked earlier while we visited the rig site. The men who attacked my convoy could have been bandits that had been waiting for a chance to catch me and my men off guard for months, years even. As a leader of this country, a leader of any country, we all know that we are targets. Our policies might be favorable to the broader population, but no matter what we say, we create enemies. Sometimes, just doing the right thing will create an enemy who is trying to stir things up.”
She stared at him for a long moment, absorbing his words. “That’s horrible!” she gasped. “How do you put up with that kind of ridiculous targeting?”
He laughed, thinking she was precious. “It’s just the way of life for someone in my position. It is why I always travel with guards.”
Arianna’s eyes went wide with horror. “You mean, this has happened before?”
He took her hands. “Arianna, threats on my life are a daily occurrence. Normally, my guards are more prepared, have a bit of advance warning, and are able to stop the attacks before they occur.”
She shuddered, wondering what kind of a life this man must lead. “I’m sorry that people try to do this to you,” she said and laid her cheek against his chest.
He lifted a hand, running a finger over her cheek. “You’ll get used to it.” Before she could ask him what he meant by that, he lifted her by the waist and set her feet back down on the floor. “Now,” he began as he took her ripped tee shirt, dumped it over her head and helped her find the arm holes, “I need to appear in front of the cameras, to show my people that I am unharmed, and I need you by my side. Do you think you can convince the world that you aren’t as shaken up as you look right at this moment?”
Arianna laughed, pulling her hair out of the tee-shirt material and tossing it behind her. “No,” she told him honestly. “Between what you just…did to me here on this desk,” she admitted, “plus the events of this afternoon, I think I need to just slip into a warm bubble bath with a glass of wine and hibernate for the rest of the…week.”
He laughed, but chucked her under her chin. “If I hold your hand, think you can handle the crowds?”
She blinked, understanding finally that he was serious. “You want me to go in front of the crowds with you? But…why?”
“Because you are being hailed as a hero,” he told her. “You saved two of my guards this afternoon. One because of your quick thinking in putting pressure on his bullet wound. You staunched the flow of blood and most likely saved the man’s life. And the other one told me how you figured out how to shoot a gun and just started firing at the assassins. That was amazingly brave of you!”
She stood up and backed away, already shaking her head. “I wasn’t brave, Rhys. I was terrified.”
He stood up as well and took both of her hands in his. “That’s courage, honey. Doing the scary thing even when it terrifies you.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’m so proud of you.”
There was a commotion outside in the hallway and a sharp knock.
Rhys looked at the door sharply, then down at her. “We’re not finished with this conversation,” he told her.
Arianna watched with growing unease as he walked over to the door. A rapid conversation followed and she had a bit of trouble following the words. But she heard “father” and “dumped”. Immediately, her stomach clenched in horror and fear.
“What’s wrong?” she demanded, walking over to the doorway. “What’s happened?”
Rhys turned around, his hands holding her upper arms. “Your father has been found,” he told her. “But he’s…”
She covered her mouth as she cried out, shaking her head. “No!”
“No,” he told her, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly. “No. He isn’t dead, Arianna. But he’s hurt.” He pulled back and looked at her. “I’ll take you to him.”
She started moving towards the doorway, eager to see her father, no matter what condition he was in. But she pulled back and stopped. “You can’t go,” she told him firmly.
He looked at her as if she’d gone nuts. “Honey, I’m escorting you to the hospital to be with your father.”
She pulled back. “No, Rhys. You can’t go. Just…let me go by myself.”
He shook his head. “Your father is badly hurt. He was beaten. You’re going to need me.”
She closed her eyes briefly with that news, but then opened them and looked up at him. Placing a hand in the middle of his chest, she pleaded with him. “Rhys, you just survived one attack. Please, let me go alone to be with my father. If he’s hurt, then I’ll need to be with him. And I won’t be able to focus all of my attention on him if I’m worried about you.” She waited, watching the emotions cross his handsome features. She knew the moment that she’d won, and her heart melted even more for this man.
“Fine. But I’m sending guards with you. You’re not to be alone for any reason.”
She didn’t care about that, thinking that the threat this afternoon had been focused on him. “Guards would help speed my way there,” she told him, thinking the gua
rds would leave once she’d seen her father and knew that he was okay.
“And you come back here tonight.”
“Tonight,” she promised. If she’d thought about her next move, she would have stopped herself from doing it. But she didn’t think. She simply stood on her toes and kissed him briefly. “Thank you! I’m sure it was your questions today that scared the people doing this into releasing my father. Thank you!”
She hugged him, feeling his strong arms wrap around her for a moment. But as soon as she pulled away, he let her go. “Thank you!” she repeated, then hurried out of the room, following the man waiting to guide her to a waiting car. Two guards were in the front seat and another team of guards followed the SUV behind her as they raced through the streets to the hospital.
Once there, a doctor was waiting for her at the door. “Ms. Callas?” he asked, extending his hand to greet her.
“Yes. How is my father?” she asked.
“This way. I’ll explain on the way to his room.” They walked quickly through the long corridors as Arianna listened to the doctor explain how her father had lacerations and deep tissue bruising, but no internal bleeding, three broken ribs, a concussion, and a broken finger.
Before she stepped into the room, the doctor put a hand to her arm, stopping her. “He looks much worse than he is. He’s been beaten over a period of days, so there are old bruises that are yellowed and newer bruises that clash. But he’s going to fully recover. He’s fine.”
Arianna’s chest ached for what her father had endured, but with the doctor’s assurance, she felt better. “Thank you,” she smiled and meant it sincerely.
When she pushed open her father’s door, she was glad for the doctor’s warning. Her father’s face was almost completely purple and badly swollen. One eye was swollen completely shut while the other looked to be recovering from the same treatment. His hand was in a cast and there were so many monitors beeping and blinking, it was amazing that the doctor had such faith that he would survive.
“Dad?” she whispered. His “good” eye opened and she sensed a smile, but wasn’t sure. Rushing over to the side of the bed, she gently took his undamaged hand in hers, running her fingers over his arm. “I’m here, Dad. The doctors are taking good care of you.”
“Rhys,” he whispered through swollen, cracked lips. “Help him.”
She nodded. “Yes. I went to him yesterday. He’s been helping me to find you. His security team is looking into everything.”
With that, he seemed to relax, his eye closing once again and Arianna knew that he’d fallen back to sleep.
She sat by his bed, holding his hand for the rest of the afternoon. Her phone rang and she saw Hayden’s name come up on her screen. “Hey there,” she greeted her friend.
“Where are you?” Hayden demanded. “You’ve been gone for over a week and we haven’t heard from you!”
Arianna sighed, her thumb rubbing back and forth over her father’s fingers. “I’m in Triar. My father disappeared and I came to look for him.”
There was a long silence as Hayden took in this information. Then Arianna heard Hayden repeat her words to someone else. “I’m going to put you on speaker,” she informed Arianna.
A moment later, Katia and Natalie were both asking questions at the same time.
Arianna laughed, feeling almost light-headed with relief and happiness now that her father was back. He was safe and, even looking at his bruised features, the doctor’s words kept ringing in her ears.
She explained what had gone on over the past several days, ending with, “Rhys helped and my father is now in the hospital.”
Another long silence and Arianna suspected that she’d said something wrong.
“Rhys?” one of them asked. Arianna suspected it was Katia since she was probably the first to figure things out. “You’re on a first name basis with the guy that you claimed to hate several months ago?”
It was Arianna’s turn for silence. But her friends understood and all three of them started laughing. Darn them! “Well…”
Natalie chuckled again. “Don’t worry honey. We completely understand. But are you okay now?”
Arianna wondered about that. “I’m not physically in danger.” She thought about the guards outside of her father’s hospital room. “At least, not that I know of.”
“Do we need to come out there? Do you need support?”
She laughed this time. “You mean, do you need to bring out cases of wine and have an excuse to drink?”
All three of then chuckled. “You know we don’t need any particular excuse, but…yeah. Do you need wine?”
Arianna’s heart warmed. “No. I’m fine, but thank you for the offer to sacrifice wine in order to help me.”
They chatted for several more minutes and Arianna laughed, relaxing with the knowledge that her father was safe and recovering and her friends had her back. She knew now that she should have told them where she was going, but she didn’t have the mental capacity at the moment to castigate herself for that omission.
They rang off, each of them demanding regular updates.
Over the next several days, she spent her time at the hospital, talking with her father, trying to make sense of what had happened to him. Thankfully, every day, her father got a little better. But since he was tired as his body healed, Arianna had a great deal of time to think. And she thought about that kiss. The way she’d thrown herself at Rhys that last time. Several times, actually.
What did it mean? Thinking back to their kiss months ago, she couldn’t figure out her current feelings versus the past.
Because she was so confused, she stayed at the hospital late and returned as early in the morning as possible. The guards never left her side though. In a way, they were a comfort after the scare the other day. But in other ways, they were a bit frightening. There were too many issues she didn’t understand.
Chapter 4
Four days after her father was found, Arianna had just finished packing up her suitcase when the knock on her door sounded. Opening it, she found Rhys standing in the doorway in another pair of black cargo pants and a black tee shirt, looking so amazing and so wonderful. She realized suddenly how much she’d missed him. And even that scared her.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, his eyes flicking behind her to the bed where her suitcase was laid out.
“I’m packing,” she replied shortly, pressing cold fingers to her cheeks so he wouldn’t see that she had been crying.
He pushed into her room and glared at the bed, his hands fisted on his hips. When he turned back to her, his eyes immediately changed from angry to concerned as he took in the obvious evidence of her tears. “You’ve been crying. Aren’t you happy to have your father back? And he’s recovering so well! I was told he was to be released today and I’ve arranged for nurses to help him at home.”
Arianna was startled by his assumption that she was sad about her father. Her father? No. She hadn’t thought about her father since…well, the doctor had told them yesterday that he would be released. His health was improving dramatically and his neighbors were ready to care for him, bringing him many of his favorite foods, spoiling him rotten.
Arianna was no longer needed here.
“I’m going home. I’m going to lose my job if I don’t…”
He lifted a hand to stop her words. “I will speak to Viktor Chenko and tell him that you need more time here.”
She was shaking her head even before he finished that sentence. “No, Rhys. My father is home, safe, and better, thanks to you. Now, I have to go.”
Moving closer, he gently gripped her upper arms. “There’s more to your father’s disappearance and you know it. I need your help here.” He watched her carefully. “Why are you really leaving?” he demanded, his eyes searching hers for the truth. “Is it because you are afraid of what we might find?”
She shook her head again. “No.” Not even close, she added silently as she looked up into his face, trying to memor
ize his features.
He waited for her to continue, but when she remained stubbornly silent, he laughed. “Okay, then it must be because you are either afraid of what happened before, or…” he moved closer, his hands siding down her arms to her hands, “you are trying to protect me.” Immediately, he recognized the truth in her eyes. “Ah. So that’s it. You think if you leave, I will stop investigating the inconsistencies in the reports and I will be safe.”
How could he guess it on the very first try? Was the man a mind reader? “Rhys. I need to leave.” She looked at his massive chest, remembering that first day and how he’d held her in his arms. It had been the first time she’d felt secure in a long time.
He squeezed her fingers ever so slightly. “You need to stay and help me discover what is going on at the oil sites,” he countered. “Even if you leave, I will still continue with the investigation. I must find out what happened. There is more to this issue than what happened to your father, Arianna. I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg and,” he moved closer, pulling her hands so that her arms were wrapped around his waist, “I think we make a pretty good team investigating together.”
Arianna wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t want to feel this way, she was too afraid of getting hurt again. But he was so incredibly close and smelled incredibly good – a hard combination to resist! “Rhys…”
Lowering his head, his lips tickled the skin just under her ear. “Don’t say no, Arianna. I need you. In so many ways,” his lips moved to her neck, his teeth skimming along skin that hadn’t ever felt quite so sensitive before. “I can’t even list out how many ways I need you.”
One Night With the Sheik (Friends Forever Book 4) Page 12