The Sheikh's Bride Bargain (You Can't Turn Down a Sheikh Book 4)

by Holly Rayner

  The knock came again, insistently.

  “I’m coming,” Dakota grumbled, jamming her feet into her slippers and making her way to the door. She threw it open, prepared to go on the offensive and demand of her parents an explanation for bothering her so early on her day off.

  Instead, her knees almost buckled with shock. Majeed was standing on her doorstep. In one hand he clutched a piece of paper, upon which Dakota could make out some untidy writing. It looked as if he’d written out her address. In the other hand he held a bouquet of roses.

  His eyes lit up when he saw her. “I’m so glad it’s the right place!” he said. “It’s so good to see you.”

  “To see…” Dakota felt as if she’d missed a step going down. She couldn’t catch her breath. “Majeed, what are you doing here? How did you get here?”

  “I flew,” he said, as if it should have been obvious. He handed her the flowers. “These are for you.”

  “Thank you…what do you mean, you flew?”

  “I came in my plane. I flew to Tokyo first, and then took a break and went on to Honolulu. From there it was on to Los Angeles, and then here.”

  “That’s why I haven’t heard from you in almost a week?”

  “I would have called,” he said earnestly. “I just really wanted it to be a surprise, and I was so excited that I knew if I so much as talked to you, I would give something away.”

  “But what about the plane?” Dakota asked. “I know you didn’t leave a plane in the parking lot of my apartment complex.”

  “I found a hangar nearby. Dakota, is this really what you want to talk about?”

  “Oh God,” she said, feeling stupid. Majeed was here, standing right in front of here, and all she could think to do was interrogate him about his mode of transportation? What was she thinking? She wanted to grab him by the hand and take him straight to her bedroom. She wanted to throw her arms around him and beg him never to leave. “Of course, you can come in. I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said, crossing the threshold and pushing the door closed behind him. Ghost came running in from the bedroom to sniff at the heels of the newcomer. “I’m sure I’d be a little surprised if you had shown up unannounced at my house, too.”

  “That’s an understatement,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

  He took her hands and led her over to the couch, where they both sat down. “I had to see you,” he said. “I know you don’t want me to leave Baraq, and we said we would keep our distance from each other, but I couldn’t stand it, Dakota. I’m in love with you. I can’t ignore that. I can’t set it aside.”

  “I think we have to,” Dakota said. Her voice came out a whisper. “I talked to my brother—”

  “You told him about us?”

  “I didn’t mean to. He knows me too well. He got it out of me.”

  “It’s okay,” Majeed said. “Of course, you wanted to confide in someone. I understand that. What did he say?”

  “He said there was no way you and I could work it out,” Dakota confessed. “He seemed to think we were only hurting ourselves in the long run by pretending we had any future, and that the smartest thing we could do was to break it off before we got in too deep.”

  Majeed stepped back. “Were you going to do that?” he asked, searching her eyes. “If I had called you instead of showing up here, I mean? Were you going to tell me not to call again?”

  “I don’t know,” Dakota whispered. “I was trying to convince myself to do that.”

  “But?”

  “But I didn’t want to. I don’t want to. You know how I feel about you. How could I ask you to never call me again?”

  Somehow the distance between them had closed. They were mere inches apart now, still locked in each other’s eyes. Dakota could feel the warmth of him. She could almost smell the Baraqi sun on his skin.

  This is a very bad idea, she told herself. You’re in deep, Dakota Lee. You’re in way over your head. Stop, before it’s too late.

  But she couldn’t stop. Maybe she would have been able to end things with him over the phone, but she would never know. As he stood here before her, everything she loved about his country came flooding back to her. The beautiful landscapes, the ancient traditions, the gleaming modern city of Kezab. With a flood of sudden homesickness, she realized how much she longed to go back.

  But Majeed had come to her. In spite of everything, in spite of the restrictions placed on him by his family and his position as royalty in his country, he had found a way to her side. He had flown across the Pacific Ocean to see her, and now he was here in her apartment, his hands at her waist, gazing into her eyes…

  Later, it would be impossible to say who had initiated the kiss. They were both hungry for each other, and their passions deepened quickly. He crushed her against him, exploring her mouth, lifting her nearly off the ground, and she went willingly, forgetting everything but the press of his lips and reveling in the fact that he was here. He was here now. Everything would be all right.

  “How did you get away?” she asked, breaking the kiss. It was impossible to balance her thirst for information with her hunger for Majeed. Both were insatiable. “How were you able to fly all the way over here without your parents figuring out what you were up to?”

  “I told my father I had a job interview,” he said.

  “There’s no way he’d let you work in the States,” Dakota said. With all her heart, though, she wished it were possible. If Majeed’s U.S. job were real, it would solve all their problems.

  “No, he wouldn’t,” Majeed agreed. “I told him the corporate headquarters was here, but the job itself was in Kezab. He wasn’t happy with that either—he still wants me at Ayad Aviation—but he didn’t stop me. And here I am.”

  “How long can you stay?” she asked, taking his hand.

  “Not long.” He kissed her forehead. “Only one night.”

  “One night,” she whispered.

  It seemed like both the most beautiful stretch of eternity she could imagine and an impossibly short moment in time. She knew they wouldn’t sleep. Every second of this night would be savored like an exquisite wine. Always before, on her dates with Majeed, Dakota had been looking forward, contemplating everything they said and did in the context of their impending marriage and their future together. Now there would be no future. Everything they shared between them would be powerful and significant tonight, and then it would be left in memory. Dakota knew she had to live in the moment for the next twenty-four hours. When the sun came up tomorrow, Majeed could be gone forever.

  She took his hand and led him to her bedroom. They crawled into bed and, by unspoken agreement, lay still, holding each other. Dakota wound her fingers through his and thought of the honeymoon never taken. They had almost given in to their passion at her family’s home in Baraq. Would he want to finish what they’d started now?”

  As if he could hear her thoughts, he spoke. “We shouldn’t go too far,” he said softly, tracing his thumb down her spine and drawing circles on her lower back. “Who knows if we’ll be able to see each other again.”

  She squirmed under his touch. “You aren’t helping.”

  “Oh.” His hand flew away from her. “I’m sorry.”

  “No,” she whispered. “Don’t stop.”

  And for a long time—too long—he didn’t. They spent hours getting to know each other better than they ever had, and though their clothes stayed on, by the end they were pressed up desperately against each other, still kissing fervently.

  Finally, Dakota broke away. “I have to get out of this bed,” she said, rolling away from him and putting her feet on the floor. “I need to stop this now, or else I never will.”

  Majeed did not speak. He looked as though he might not be capable of speech. He stared up at her, eyes wide, expression begging her to come back to him.

  “I can’t,” she whispered. “Majeed, you know I can’t. You know we can’t.”

  “Or we could,” h
e said. He reached up and caught her hand before she could pull away.

  “You were the one who said we shouldn’t.”

  “I know what I said, but…Dakota. Don’t you want to?”

  She closed her eyes. “Don’t ask me that.” In that moment, she couldn’t think of anything she had ever wanted more in her life.

  “Then why not?” Majeed asked. “Come back to bed. One night. One time. What difference will it make?”

  “We’re not going to decide this while we’re half out of our minds with desire,” Dakota said. “You and I have always said no to this. We’ve always said we don’t want to go too far.”

  “That was when I thought we had a future,” he said.

  “You said it an hour and a half ago,” Dakota protested. As the words left her mouth, she felt a sudden cold awakening. An hour and a half of their day was already gone, whittled away in bed together on an activity that could never reach a satisfying conclusion. “Get up,” she said. “I want to show you my town.”

  They spent the rest of the day touring Seattle. Dakota didn’t take him to any of the usual touristy spots. Instead, she took him on a Dakota-themed tour. They visited her old high school, which was currently in session. By lying to the receptionist and passing Majeed off as a foreign professor, she was able to obtain two visitor’s badges. Then, rather than show him the science lab and the auditorium, she led him to the band practice rooms where, as a teen, she had hidden with guys to make out.

  Majeed led them into an unoccupied room. “You came here to kiss boys?”

  “Once or twice,” Dakota laughed. “You make me sound like a harlot.”

  “I’ll make you feel like a harlot,” he said and pulled her close.

  That night, the two of them went back to Dakota’s apartment and stood on her balcony, gazing up at the stars. She had opened a bottle of wine that they passed back and forth between them, trading sips, exchanging cabernet kisses. He stood behind her, one arm around her waist, and she leaned back into him as she looked up at the sky. “Do you know the constellations?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he said. “My siblings and I were taught astronomy.” He pointed. “There’s Mars.”

  She followed his finger. “What does it mean?”

  “What?”

  “I mean, is it a good sign for us? Or a bad one?”

  “It doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “It’s just a planet, miles and miles away. It has nothing to do with you and me, Dakota. The planets don’t care if we fall in love or fall apart.”

  She pressed closer to him, shivering, and watched the horizon, dreading the dawn.

  “I miss Baraq,” Dakota said wistfully.

  The sun wasn’t yet peeking up over the horizon, but the sky had lightened considerably. Several hours before, Dakota had gone inside for a couple of blankets, and now she and Majeed sat huddled together, waiting out the last few hours. Although Majeed was flying his own plane and didn’t have to leave at any particular time, Dakota had come to think of sunrise as a hard deadline. She could tell Majeed was feeling the same way. As the sky lightened, he gripped her hand tighter.

  She leaned against his shoulder, burying her face in his neck. She didn’t want to see the sky. Better to lose herself in his warmth and in that smell, the scent of sun-soaked skin. “I miss the sun,” she said softly.

  “It does seem to rain a lot here,” Majeed agreed.

  “It rains, and it’s cloudy, and it’s cold and gray. Not like back—” Dakota cut herself off. “Not like back in Baraq. I used to wake up with the sun shining on my face.”

  “You would have if we’d married,” Majeed said. “Every day.”

  “And I miss the beach,” she said. “The beaches here are cold. I lived in Baraq for five years and never once did I take advantage of living near the shore. I wanted to get out there and swim. Remember that date we talked about going on, but never got around to? The one at the lighthouse?”

  Majeed nodded. She was too close to see it, but she felt the movement. “We could have gone swimming there,” he said. “The current is gentle, and the water is warm.”

  “Don’t the boats coming in to shore kick up waves?” Dakota asked.

  “No,” Majeed said. “The lighthouse is no longer in use. I wanted you to see it because it’s beautiful and because it’s a place I like to go to be alone. When we were younger, my mother would take us there to play, but as time went on we all got busy, and we went there less and less. I was looking forward to seeing it again with you.”

  “I was looking forward to seeing it too,” Dakota said quietly.

  The first orange rays of sunlight split the gray morning sky, blinding Dakota. She turned farther into Majeed’s neck to shield herself.

  “I can’t do this,” Majeed said. “I can’t go back without you. I’ve been going out of my mind, Dakota. I can’t get on that plane and fly home, not knowing when or if I’ll ever see you again.”

  Dakota laughed helplessly. “Now do you see why it’s for the best that we didn’t make love?” she asked. “How could we have walked away from each other after that?”

  “But how can we walk away knowing that…” he paused, and she could feel that he was swallowing, perhaps trying to control his emotions. “Knowing that we didn’t give ourselves the chance to explore our full potential?”

  “Do you regret it?” she asked.

  “I don’t regret anything,” he said fervently. “I don’t regret a single minute with you, Dakota Lee.”

  “Then take me with you,” she said, sitting up and putting her arms around his neck so she could look deep into his eyes. “Take me to the lighthouse. Like we talked about. Like we planned. Let’s give ourselves the chance to do that.”

  Majeed stared. “What are you talking about? The lighthouse is in Baraq, Dakota. You can’t go to Baraq. Your visa has been revoked, remember? You’re not allowed to enter the country.”

  “But you’re flying your personal plane,” she reminded him. “You’ll be landing on the tarmac at your family’s private hangar. No one is going to check my ID there.”

  “There are security cameras.”

  “So I’ll wear a headscarf. And a couple of sweaters, so I’ll look heavy. If anyone asks, you can say I’m a new business associate from America.”

  He blinked. “You’re serious. You really want me to take you back.”

  “Of course, I’m serious,” she said. “I’ve been missing Baraq since the minute I left.”

  “And is that the only reason? You’ve been missing Baraq?”

  “What are you talking about?” she teased.

  “You haven’t been missing anything else?”

  “Hmm…nothing I can think of.”

  He pushed her gently, and she laughed and shoved him back. “Will you do it?” she asked. “Will you take me home?”

  “Home?”

  “Baraq has been my home for years. I was planning to stay there forever, Majeed. I wanted to get citizenship as soon as I could. Of course, I would have become a citizen by marrying you, but I had my plan in place long before that. If I remained in the country long enough, I could be made a real Baraqi.”

  “I never knew that was something you wanted,” Majeed said. “Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”

  Dakota shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess on some level I thought you might worry that I was only marrying you for citizenship.”

  Majeed laughed out loud. “Royals don’t really have a problem with people marrying us to get citizenship. If anything, I would have worried about you marrying me for wealth and status.”

  “Except that my family is rich.” Dakota laughed with him. “No, I was going to marry you for the most unlikely reason of all.”

  “Love,” Majeed said.

  “Love,” Dakota agreed.

  He sighed, leaning back against the outer wall of the apartment. “What do you say when the girl you love asks you to smuggle her illegally into your home country?”

  �
��Yes, I hope,” Dakota answered.

  “You don’t have to worry,” Majeed said. “I don’t think I could say no to you for anything.”

  “So we’ll go?” She turned in his arms, excitement spiking within her. Already she could smell the warm sea air and feel the heat of the desert on her skin. Home, she thought happily. She would get a Baraqi meal. She would walk barefoot on the hot sand until the soles of her feet felt burned black. She would walk down the streets of Kezab and listen to the songs of the street musicians, and she would empty her purse into their caps.

  “You’ll have to hide,” Majeed interrupted her daydreaming. “You’ll have to stay inside while we’re there. And when we’re outside, while we’re at the lighthouse, we’re going to have to figure out a way to disguise you.”

  “Why?” Dakota asked. “I mean, I know I’m not allowed to be there, but it’s not like I’m wanted for something. Nobody is looking for me.”

  Majeed shook his head. “So soon you forget. You’re the runaway bride from the royal wedding, Dakota. Every Baraqi citizen knows your face. They all know what happened to you and your family. If even one person sees you, word could spread. Someone could notify the police.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  Suddenly, she was nervous. She still wanted to go—nothing could dampen Dakota’s enthusiasm for a return trip to Baraq—but suddenly the stakes seemed very real. She hadn’t thought about some of the things Majeed had pointed out. She was a famous face there, and because she was white, she would stand out in crowds. It would be hard to blend in, and if she was noticed, she could be in very serious trouble.

  Still, she wasn’t too worried. Majeed’s status as a royal would offer her some protection. In fact, didn’t he have just as much to lose as she did? His family would be outraged to know he was bringing Dakota Lee back into the country. And even so, she could see the excitement written on his face. He wanted to do this. He knew the risks, and he was willing to chance it.

  And they would have one more night together. Maybe more, even.

  She got to her feet and pulled Majeed with her. “I’ll get packed,” she said and headed off toward the bedroom.