by Leslie North
Rolling to the side, he held her as he rained kisses across her face making her giggle. Smiling down at her, he pulled the blankets around them as he leaned over her to turn out the light.
*****
When the morning light chased the darkness away, Tanya opened her eyes. She turned her head to see a naked Adonis lying in her bed, his eyes closed in slumber. James was just so gorgeous, with or without clothes, she thought as she recalled last night's events. It had been incredible. James opened his eyes and found Tanya looking at him as he gave her a lazy smile.
“Were you waiting for me to wake?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she replied.
“Because you want more.” James said with a wink, “Come here.”
“No, because I was waiting for you to get out of my bed,” she joked. She could not believe that she had just gotten caught staring at him and admiring his beauty.
“Yeah, right,” he said and got out of bed. Tanya laughed in response. He walked to the bathroom in all his naked glory as Tanya covered her face. She could not walk around naked in front of him like that. She was too shy but then again if you had a body like James, then you too would show it off. He reappeared a few moments later.
He sat on the bed and pulled his phone out of his trousers. Tanya had half expected him to join her back in bed, but he frowned as he looked at his message.
“Is everything okay?” she asked him.
“Joshua just messaged me about a meeting.” James placed the phone on the nightstand and started getting dressed. “I have to go,” he added.
“Okay,” Tanya replied. She sighed and crawled out of bed to get dressed. She realised that James had left his phone so slipped on a long t-shirt and her shorts before running after him to return it.
Another text message came in whilst she was holding it. It was not her intention to read his message, but his phone showed the message as it came in. She had assumed that it was Joshua again but it wasn't. It was from Hussain: “Did you sleep with Tanya?”
Tanya frowned. What did that mean? It sounded as if it was planned. James knew that he was going to sleep with her, and so he was determined to do so? Tanya could not make sense of it. She felt her heart sink into her stomach as anger sadness and betrayal hit her all at once. She needed to catch James and demand some answers.
Chapter 10
James felt weird as he walked out of Tanya's room. Since she had arrived at the palace, he could think of nothing but sleeping with her and now that he had, instead of feeling jubilant, he was unsettled. Quickly changing his clothes, he slipped on his shoes and left his room to meet his brother. He could not understand why he was not happy that he had accomplished his goal.
“James!” he heard Tanya call from behind him. He stopped walking and turned around. She ran down the stairs and approached him.
“You forgot your phone,” she said as she handed it to him. He gave her a quizzical look as he took it. Why was she looking at him as if she was about to smack him? He took the phone from her.
“Thanks.”
“You have a message...from Hussain.”
“Okay.”
“Read it.”
James raised his eyebrows. She seemed annoyed about something. They had just had a great night. She was supposed to be all over him and happy; however from the way she had told him about the message from Hussain, it definitely had something to do with the text message. He looked at his phone and swiped it to unlock it. He clicked on the envelope picture and opened the message.
“It's not like that,” he said to her after he had read the message.
“Like what, James?” she demanded. “Why would Hussain ask if you slept with me?”
James shrugged his shoulders. He did not like being questioned. It was not like they were together. She did not have the right to question him nor did she have the right to read his messages. “You read my message,” he said to her.
“Not intentionally. I was holding your phone to bring it to you when the message came in. That isn't the point though James,” Tanya replied. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him her best death stare.
“Hussain felt like there was some kind of chemistry between the two of us.”
“That would not explain him asking if you slept with me. He would ask if we were going to go on a date or even kissed. Something but not that.” James could see Tanya getting angry and angrier.
“Well, he did not actually come out and say it did he?”
Tanya's jaw dropped open. “You are a jackass, James!”
“Tanya, we are both adults. We both knew what we were doing.” He had not forced her to sleep with him.
“You used me. This was your plan from the moment I got here and that's why Hussain knew about it. Screw you, James!”
“I have a meeting to go to.”
Tanya turned on her heel and stormed off as James turned to continue to the office. He could not understand why he wasn't feeling the way he should have been. It wasn't the first time a woman had found out that all he had wanted was sex. He had not cared in the past. Why should he be bothered now?
James headed straight to Joshua's office. Joshua was sitting at his desk when James walked in. He raised his eyebrows. “You decided not to dress up today?” his brother asked.
“What?” James analysed his clothing. He was wearing black trousers and a light blue dress shirt with no tie. Frowning slightly, he realized how out of character it was for him not to dress meticulously, especially since Joshua had said that they had a meeting. “Oh, never mind that,” he replied as he made himself comfortable on the chair.
“The oil well in Al-Hasa is not producing enough oil,” Joshua began. “Production should be moving up and instead, it’s been dropping and is already down thirty percent.” He started talking about the oil field and what needed to be done as James drifted off in his thoughts and returned to Tanya.
“James?” Joshua called out as James snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his brother.
“What?” he asked.
“Are you even listening to me?”
“Sorry, could you repeat that?”
“Is something bothering you?”
James ran his hand through his wavy hair. “No,” he lied. Joshua raised his eyebrow. It was obvious that he did not believe him.
“What is going on?” Joshua demanded.
“Nothing, I just need rest,” he said and got up from the chair. “Can we pick this up later?”
“Sure.”
James nodded and headed out of the office. That was the first time a woman had come between him and his work. He headed out of the palace and decided to go to Hussain's café. As he sat in the car, he remembered his time at the zoo with Tanya.
She had been so fun to hang out with. It was fun teasing her and making her laugh. All the times he had spent with her had been fun. She may be sarcastic and feisty towards him, but that was what gave her spice.
She was different from all the other women he had been around. She did not throw herself at him or care about his money and status. As the driver pulled up in front of the café, he wished that she had sent him the photo of the two of them together.
“Cousin,” Hussain said, as James entered the cafe.
“I can't stop thinking about Tanya,” he blurted out as he sat down. Maybe his cousin could shed some light on the situation.
“What happened?”
“I slept with her last night, and now I cannot stop thinking about her.” Hussain started smiling. “What are you smiling about?” he snapped.
“You like this girl.”
“I do not.”
“Then why are you thinking about her?”
“I don't know.” He did not know what to make of the situation.
“It's not a bad thing. As I told you before, Tanya is a lovely girl and the two of you would make a lovely couple.”
James rolled his eyes and hated to admit that Hussain had a good point. Tanya was not only be
autiful, but compatible with him. He had had more fun with her than he ever had with any woman. James frowned as he slowly realised that he actually did like her.
“Impossible,” he mumbled.
“So you slept with her and achieved your goal. Do you feel good about that?” Hussain asked.
“No,” James replied honestly. He felt as if he had done something wrong.
“That is because you need a woman like Tanya in your life.”
“Me? I need a woman?” James paused and shook his head. “I need a coffee,” he added. Hussain called over one of the servers and told her to bring James some coffee. She quickly did as she was told returning with the coffee and some baked treats. As she served them, she was overly smiling and trying to get James' attention; however, he was lost in his thoughts about Tanya.
“You are not going to invite her back to the palace?” Hussain asked James after she had left.
“Who?” James asked.
“The waitress.”
“Why would I?”
“Because that is what you do, and the fact that you did not even see her trying to flirt with you is more proof that you really like Tanya,” Hussain pointed out. James shrugged his shoulders. He had not even realised that she had been flirting with him. He turned to look at her scanning him from head to toe before turning back to his cousin. She was no comparison to Tanya.
As Hussain sipped his coffee, he looked at his best friend. “Not every woman is like Hessa. Maybe you are starting to understand that.”
Snapping his head up, “I told you that I do not want to talk about her.”
“Well, maybe it’s time, cousin. The reason why you are constantly dissatisfied with your love life is because you choose women who behave just like her and now that there could be someone in your life who is her exact opposite, you run.”
James stared at his friend as he thought about the palace maid's daughter. At sixteen, she was the most beautiful girl that he had ever laid his eyes on and he had fallen in love with her instantly.
However, Hessa was only interested in him because of his status as a prince and heir to the family’s fortune. He meant nothing to her other than the expensive gifts he showered her with. They were together for two years before he found out that she had another boyfriend. When he confronted her about it, she did not deny it and mocked him for his schoolboy crush. It broke his heart and he vowed never to trust another woman again.
“Do you still think about her?” Hussain asked.
“Who?”
“Hessa, of course. The girl who ruined you for all time.” Grinding his teeth, James nodded briefly, as he unclenched his jaw. “And?”
“And what?”
How does Tanya compare?”
“Oh, there’s no comparison. Tanya is nothing like her.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Hussain asked. James stared at his friend as he wondered about the same question.
Chapter 11
Tanya paced the floor determined to return home. She would not stay in the palace a moment longer after the callous way James had behaved. Storming into the bathroom, she cleaned herself up and got dressed before dragging her suitcases out. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Opening it, she found Joshua standing outside. He smiled at her and showed himself into her room.
“Morning, Tanya,” he said to her as he walked in.
“Hi,” she said flatly and returned to her suitcase as Joshua frowned.
“Are you packing to leave?” he asked her. She nodded and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Why, what is wrong?” he asked her.
“Nothing. It’s just...time to go.”
“No, there is something wrong.” Joshua touched her arm. “Talk to me,” he said. His voice was gentle and filled with concern.
“I want to go back home, to the States,” she said, as she warned herself not to cry in front of him.
“Why so suddenly?”
Tanya sighed. “James and I...” she trailed off. She could not even say the words. “We slept together,” she said quietly.
“Okay, did he hurt you?” Joshua asked.
“No, he didn't.” Well not physically anyway.
“Then, what is the matter?”
Tanya took a deep breath and then sat down on the bed. She told Joshua everything that had happened. The shower incident, their date at the Zoo, what happened under the covers and then in her room. Joshua sat next to her and listened to her carefully. He draped his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder. Tanya was surprised at just how comforting and understanding he was. He knew that his brother had issues when it came to women, but he had not realised what had been going on between them.
“I am sorry that my brother acted that way with you,” Joshua apologised. Tanya shook her head.
“Don't apologise. It is not your fault.”
“My brother does not trust women in general. When he was sixteen, a girl, Hessa, broke his heart.”
“What happened?”
“Believe it or not, James was not always this cocky. He was actually quite shy growing up,” Joshua told her as she looked at him in surprise. As he talked, Tanya could envision James and wished that she could see that side of him again.
Hessa’s mother was the queen's chief maid and she would often come to the palace with her mother, which was where they had first met. “It took James months to work up enough nerve to talk to her,” Joshua said as he smiled. “She had him wrapped around her little finger and he would have done anything for her. They were together for two years before he found out that she had another boyfriend. She broke his heart.”
As Joshua talked, Tanya held her hand to her mouth in shock at how cruelly he was treated. No wonder, he did not trust women, she thought. Despite how bad she felt for him, it did not excuse his behaviour toward her. “It was very hard on him,” Joshua added.
“I hope that he can move past it. It is unhealthy to live the way he does.”
“And I agree with you.”
Tanya sighed and stood up. “I need to finish packing,” she said. She opened the drawer and started taking things out.
“I cannot convince you to stay?”
“No,” Tanya forced a smile. “I will be okay,” she replied as she continued packing.
“Does Rene know?” Joshua asked.
“She knows I am going back. She doesn't know the specific details because I do not want her to hate James. So I would appreciate it if you do not tell her,” Tanya replied with a sigh.
“Okay, I will not say a word.” Joshua stood up and his eyes rested on her sheets balled up on the armchair.
“What is that?” he asked her.
“What?” Tanya asked and followed his gaze. Her eyes widened when she saw the sheets. She had wanted to wash them before anyone saw them. “Oh, don't worry about that,” she added. Joshua was not listening to her. He walked towards the armchair, still staring at the sheets.
“Is this blood?” he asked her.
“Huh? What? No.”
“Tanya, this is blood. Did you hurt yourself?”
“No, I did not. Don't worry about it.”
Joshua whipped his head in Tanya's direction as he stared at her. “You were a virgin,” he said to her. Tanya cussed herself for thinking slow. She could have just said that she was on her period as that would have been believable. Now, it was too late.
“Don't tell James. Please,” was all Tanya could say. Again, she could have denied it and said she was on her period but she did not.
“What?”
“Please, do not tell him. It will only complicate things,” Tanya pleaded with Joshua. She really did not want James to know that she was a virgin and she did not want him to know that he had hurt her. She wanted to get home and move on. Tanya could tell that Joshua was in shock as he stared at her opening and closing his mouth but not saying anything.
Nodding his head, he pulled her into a hug. “Fine, I won't,” he said at last as he rubbed her back. He held her shoulders and
searched her eyes. “Are you going to be okay?” he asked her.
“Yes, I will be,” she lied.
“Let me know if you need something, okay?”
“I will, thanks.”
Joshua left her room. A few moments later, Rene walked in and gave her a hug. “I can't believe you are returning already,” she said.
“I know but it’s time. Stay safe and be happy,” Tanya said to her.