by Lexi Blake
“This is private. It’s a Boeing 747-430, but you’ll find we have extensively redecorated.”
“This huge thing is going to take three people across the world? I don’t even want to think about the carbon footprint that’s leaving.” She was going to have to have a little talk with the sheikh when she met him. Politely, of course. But if he was about to become the world’s leading producer of green energy, he needed to start flying commercial.
“Don’t think about that. And do not judge before you’ve seen it. It is a very long flight. Fourteen hours. That is why we’re leaving so late. I want you to rest so you are ready to meet our brother.” Rafe gave her a reassuring smile with just the hint of even white teeth. Everything about the prince was polished, from his smile to his manners. He was smooth as silk, and Piper couldn’t help but wonder what his wife or girlfriend was like. Probably a model.
“What? Who is a model?” Rafe asked, stepping up to the top of the stairs.
She’d said that out loud? Piper grimaced. She’d spent way too much of the last couple of years alone in a library or going over data in lonely rooms. She was used to talking to herself. Come up with something clever to deflect the situation. Quick! “I was wondering if your girlfriend is a model.”
A brilliant smile broke over his face and he laughed. It was so nice to see the usually somber man chuckle that she forgave him for laughing at her. “I do not have a girlfriend, Piper. I date very little, in fact. The customs of my country are a bit unusual. I think many women would run if I told them what I would require from a serious relationship.”
“What do you mean?” She’d heard a whole lot about Bezakistani customs over the past two days, but nothing about dating or marriage. Piper found herself deeply interested.
He shook his head. “No, habibti. You will not tempt me into one of your long discussions. I promised my brother you would sleep.”
She frowned, but admitted privately that she was tired. The last several days had been amazing, filled with anticipation and a flurry of work. Two hours after she told Tal she didn’t have a passport, Rafe and Kade had delivered one to her. How was that possible, especially when she knew darn well that every government office had been closed at the time? She had no idea how and hoped it wasn’t forged. After assuring her the passport was indeed valid, the al Mussad brothers had taken one look at her ratty apartment and its street corner hopping with illegal activity, and insisted she come with them to their condo immediately.
They were really bossy and didn’t like it when she said no. Oh, they didn’t argue with her or get angry. They simply manipulated the situation until she’d found herself settling into the guest bedroom at their very posh condo with endless views of the city at two in morning, wondering when she’d lost control of the situation.
And their bossiness hadn’t stopped there. She wobbled on her new heels as she hunched through the doorway of the private jet. The three and a half inch Pradas with a square heel and a silver buckle were easily the sturdiest of her new shoes. But they were shoes she hadn’t bought herself. Rafe had insisted the shoes were necessary to her new position in Bezakistan. He’d told her he was simply making sure she followed his country’s customs.
She’d tried to call him on it. No country customarily wore Manolo Blahniks and Louboutin stilettos. She’d looked up the price of those shoes on the internet. If this was Bezakistani custom, then the whole country would be bankrupt very soon.
And still, she was wearing them. She didn’t want to offend her hosts…and she liked the appreciative gleam in their eyes when she donned the sexy shoes.
“Piper.” Kade’s warm voice washed over her as he stood. “Welcome. We’re so happy you’ve allowed us to escort you to our country.”
She wanted to frown at him, but he was so gorgeous and a bit earnest. She couldn’t bring herself to chastise him much. “Allowed? Somehow I don’t think you would have taken no for an answer.”
A little smile creased his perfect face. “Well, we are determined and persuasive. You know, the men in my country are legendary for stealing their brides. It is said in Bezakistan that a man who cannot steal his bride is a man who does not deserve a wife.”
She glanced back at Rafe. “Is this one of the customs you were referring to earlier?”
He nodded. “Indeed. But even as we steal our brides, we take great pride in bringing her pleasure, in protecting and cherishing that which we fought hard to take.”
He phrased it like he meant more than one groom for a bride. Okay, so English wasn’t his first language. But when he talked like that, she went all gooshy inside and lost the ability to breathe. What would it be like to be Rafe’s captive bride, bound to him by his will and the pleasure he gave her?
Piper shivered, then forced herself to stop staring. If they caught her, she’d only be embarrassed. But she’d never get used to being surrounded by such exotic, masculine beauty. It would be smarter to remember she had a job to do when she got to Bezakistan. Then it would just be her and Tal and a whole bunch of number crunching.
And her life would be exactly the way it was now. Same routine, just a different living space. She was a bit shocked to realize that she’d miss Rafe and Kade.
It wouldn’t matter. She needed to put them out of her head. When they got to Bezakistan, Rafe and Kade would go their way and she would go hers.
As she tottered deeper into the body of the plane, she focused again on her surroundings, still adjusting to her new contact lenses. And her jaw dropped.
The plane looked like something a movie star would own. She’d expected rows of narrow seats that had to be placed in an upright position for landing. This looked like a decadent living room. The walls were done in a sultry amber that caught the harsh overhead lights and softened them. There was a curved velvet couch in soft chocolate tones. When she sat, she’d bet it would be like sinking into a slice of heaven. A long table sat toward the front of the plane draped in white linens, all staged for the fine china she’d bet was securely stowed until after takeoff. Even an ornate chandelier hung overhead.
“Wow. This is not what I expected.”
“When we reach a good altitude, the staff will bring out our dinner.” Kade sat down, patting the seat next to him. “I’ve prepared a feast for you.”
Rafe snorted. She kind of loved it when he made the inelegant sound. It reminded her he wasn’t perfect.
She turned back to Kade. “You prepared the feast?”
He shrugged, a graceful movement of strong shoulders. “I told the chef what to cook.”
That was enough for her. Kade couldn’t know what the last couple of meals had meant to her. The difference between a homemade ham sandwich and a perfectly seared filet was infinite. “I appreciate it.”
His face lit up and he reached for her hand, pulling her down to sit with him. “It is my greatest pleasure. Now, tell me about your day. Did the movers finish?”
Rafe sat on her other side, both men far too close, but she felt so comfortable in the soft velvet, surrounded by their heat and the musky spice of their exotic scents. They seemed to like having her between them. Everywhere they went, they managed to maneuver her into the middle.
Piper smiled wryly at Kade’s question. The movers had been ruthlessly precise—and a little judgmental. “I don’t think they appreciated my design style. One of them asked if I wanted to throw it all away and just start over.”
Actually, they’d been completely horrified at her secondhand floral-print couch. She’d picked it up at a garage sale, telling herself that the extra stains were really just flourishes.
Kade froze, then jerked his phone from his pocket. “They were not paid to embarrass you.” He stood and walked toward the back of the plane, speaking in quick, angry-sounding Arabic.
Piper blinked. “What’s he doing?”
Rafe’s face had gone dark, his lips turning down. “He is taking care of the problem, habibti.” He settled back as a modestly dressed woman walked out
of the back of the plane and set a tray with a bottle of wine and three glasses on the table.
“Your Highness, we will be taking off in twenty minutes. Please let me or the staff know if there is anything we can do for you or your guest.”
“Thank you,” Rafe replied while his brother continued to speak into the phone in what she thought of as hyper-drive Arabic, able to slay a man in a hundred syllables a minute.
“Enjoy your wine.” Rafe passed her a glass of the golden fluid. It had become very obvious to Piper over the last few days that the al Mussad brothers weren’t practicing Muslims. When she’d asked, she’d been surprised to discover that unlike the countries around them, Bezakistan wasn’t very religious. It was open to all forms of faith and enjoyed a strictly held constitution that prized secular government. But not everyone wanted it to stay that way.
She took the wine to soothe her nerves. Flying for the first time made her more than a bit apprehensive. A few feet away, Kade continued his tirade.
“Why is he so mad?”
Rafe’s head cocked slightly. “Surely you must know that he will not allow anyone to upset you, habibti.”
The more he spoke that word, the more it felt like an intimacy. She’d thought it was simply an offhanded endearment, but the way it rolled off his tongue felt so personal. “They didn’t.”
A lie, but she wasn’t going to let them know how much it hurt to have someone look down on her.
“Yes, they did. And it is not allowed.”
It must be nice to throw edicts around and expect them to be followed. “It wasn’t a big deal. I shouldn’t have complained. It’s stupid, I know. No one’s opinion should matter but mine, but it hurts when someone looks down on what I worked really hard for. I know that couch isn’t worth much, but we had to sell our ranch after my dad died and we were so far in debt that everything had to go. I managed to keep our clothes and some of Mindy’s things, but I agreed to auction off everything else. We went from a three bedroom house with acres and acres of land to a studio apartment with nothing but a suitcase each.”
“Your childhood things were sold?” He sounded horrified and more than a bit angry.
She soothed herself with a long drink. “I don’t miss most of it. Just one thing, really. I had a copy of Charlotte’s Web, but it was signed and it was a first edition, so the bank sold it.” She’d read that book a hundred times. Even long past childhood, she would turn to it, the story of a little runt pig who didn’t belong calling to her. She’d never fit in her small town. She hadn’t found her place in the city, either. She often wondered if there was anywhere she would belong.
Rafe’s warm hand cupped her cheek. “I wish I had been there to help you, habibti.”
Oddly, Piper wished he had, too. She’d been so alone. She was still alone for the most part, but she had a few friends. And now she had this adventure. Mindy was safe, and that was worth the world to her. “It was a hard time, but I made it through.”
“You were very young to be responsible for a teenage girl.”
She sighed, the weight still so close to her shoulders. Back then, she’d felt more like Prometheus than Pandora. “It was so much worse because my town was small and closed minded. They watched my every move like circling vultures just waiting for me to step out of line so they could take my sister from me. Then I ended up dating Johnny Tyler, the mayor’s son. Mr. Tyler asked me to tutor Johnny in economic affairs. Then his dad decided I would be a political asset, so Johnny asked me to marry him.”
Rafe sat back, seeming to grind his teeth together. “It is good to have a smart wife. Many men would find you an asset to their careers.”
“I didn’t want to be an asset. I wanted to be loved. And Johnny did, too. Except he wanted to be loved by a stripper named Starlight. I rather suspect that wasn’t her real name.”
Rafe didn’t find her joke funny. He simply stared down at her, his dark eyes so intense that she thought she might drown. Wow, he was so beautiful. He and his brother were far more attractive than Hollywood heartthrobs. And they both had larger-than-life presences that made her sigh wistfully. If only…
He curled a soft touch around her chin, tilting her face up so she had nowhere to go. “He was a fool to allow you to escape. When the right men come along, they will not be so foolish. These men will never let you go. They will be clever. They will catch you and tie you to them so tightly that you will never wish to leave.”
She might be waiting for that man forever. Wait. Had he said men—plural?
Piper didn’t get to ask her question because he shocked her by leaning forward and brushing his lips against hers once, then again, his mouth warm, gentle, coaxing. Her breath caught, and her skin started to hum. The world tilted on its axis, and she kind of liked where she landed.
“We’re about to take off. She should put on her seatbelt.” Kade’s voice broke the moment. He stood over them, his face full of thunder, but it seemed directed exclusively at Rafe.
God, she’d just been caught kissing his brother. And she’d wanted more—far more. The minute Rafe kissed her, Piper had felt something deep inside her open. This really was an adventure. There really was a whole world out there, and she’d been tiptoeing through her postage stamp-sized patch of it like a scared little mouse.
But she didn’t have to be that girl forever. She wasn’t in some tiny Texas town anymore, and she wasn’t dependent on the good thoughts of others to keep her family together. Her sister was grown and happy. No one could judge her now. She was free. Was she going to spend her freedom hiding, or was she going to finally experience life?
Kade sat down beside her, his hand grazing her thigh. Piper shivered under his touch until he buckled her belt and gently tightened it. What was wrong with her, that she would kiss one brother and respond to another minutes later?
Kade frowned. “My brother is a terrible kisser. I apologize for his very selfish behavior toward you.”
“How would you know?” She couldn’t help but tease him and try to lighten the mood.
He smirked. “Because many women have said I am much better.”
And then they were off, arguing in rat-a-tat-tat gunfire Arabic. She really needed to learn the language because, even though they were arguing, the words had a cadence, an exciting musicality.
The plane started moving, smooth as glass. She picked up the wine. Maybe it was time to live a little. Maybe it was time to put aside all her fears about doing what was right and just do what felt good.
The plane shook suddenly. The hostess picked up the wine bottle, leaving the glass in Piper’s hands. The beautiful woman smiled at her, ignoring the two fighting brothers. “Enjoy your flight. It is an honor to serve you on your first trip to our country.”
Piper smiled back, warmed by the woman’s words. If everyone was so friendly, she was going to love it. She held the glass out. “I’m worried I’ll spill.”
“Don’t worry. If you spill, they will just buy a new plane.”
The beautiful woman winked as she moved away, but not before Kade grabbed a glass. The plane taxied down the runway, and Piper was ready for takeoff.
* * * *
Two hours and two glasses of wine later, Piper was certain what her next move should be in the big adventure she was determined to make of her life. She just wasn’t sure who to do it with. She looked across the aisle. The brothers were both gorgeous, both kind. Both unbearably sexy.
And after this flight, she would likely see very little of them. She would join her friend Tal and disappear into a world of numbers and PowerPoint presentations and arguments about implementation. Piper looked forward to the work. It was important to Black Oak, Bezakistan, and the world. But she hoped to have time to actually see the country, maybe even go on a date or two. But as her co-worker, even if Tal wasn’t married, he would be off limits.
Truthfully, her relationships hadn’t worked out. She’d barely dated in high school, and when she’d gotten engaged, Johnny seemed to los
e all interest in her. He’d barely kissed her, much less touched her more intimately. The sad fact was that Rafe and his probing kiss had been the most erotic experience of her life.
But she didn’t have to stay virginal. Rafe and Kade were obviously quite experienced and used to casual sex. They would give her a good time, never hurt her. And, if her instincts were right, they weren’t exactly disinterested. There had been many seemingly random touches when one or the other—or both—got way too close to be normal.
But could she just ask for what she wanted? She seriously doubted either man would really come on to her. The kiss aside, they had been very gentlemanly. After their scrumptious meal, she had twelve hours left with them. But how could she choose which brother and how could she look at one after she’d had sex with the other?
The hostess, Jasmine, picked up the now-empty tray that had once held a piece of honey cake. Piper had eaten everything, deeply enjoying both the full stomach and the Mediterranean flavors.
Rafe and Kade were speaking to each other in Arabic again. They had gotten some kind of call from the palace and, for a time, they passed the phone back and forth. Now, it seemed, they were simply conferring with one another.
“Where is the restroom?” she asked the hostess.
“Follow me. I will show you the way. And when you are ready for sleep, the bedroom is just past the bathroom.”
“There’s a bedroom?”
Jasmine frowned. “But of course. The sheikh’s room has been set aside for your use. His brothers will share the smaller one.”
Piper gasped. She would have to fix that since she didn’t need very much space and had even less need for opulence.
Mind made up, she opened the door to the bathroom. Naturally, it wasn’t some tiny space that better resembled an upright coffin with a toilet, like airplane lavatories she’d seen on TV. Of course not. The al Mussad brothers wouldn’t perform their bodily functions in anything less than a palace. The bathroom was spacious and elegant and offered a lovely shower made entirely of Carrera marble that she was pretty sure could hold a whole football team. A long vanity with double sinks lined the other wall.