The Sheik's Baby Surprise (7 page)

But he doubted that Jina was the kind of woman who would lie and cheat to get what she wanted.  He sensed an innate honesty in her, a purity of spirit that he liked.  A lot! 

“Then we will become friends,” he announced, pulling his hand away. Malik stepped back, his eyes lighting up with a special message that Jina didn’t really understand. There was a triumphant depth to them, something that made her stomach muscles tighten in anticipation even worse than what she’d been feeling only moments before. How was it that he could be kissing her one moment and the next she felt the same intensity, but he wasn’t even touching her?

“I’m not sure...” she started to say.

Malik interrupted her. “I completely understand and respect your wishes to not enter into a strictly sexual relationship. This will be a new adventure for both of us.” He moved slightly closer, lifting his hand briefly to touch her cheek before pushing both of his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “I don’t think that I’ve ever been friends with a woman. Especially a woman I want to make love to.” The expression on his face indicated that he was just as surprised by his declaration as she was.

He leaned forward and gently kissed her on her cheek. “Sweet dreams, my beauty.” A moment later he was gone.

Jina heard the door close on his exit but she didn’t really understand what had just happened. He mentioned an adventure but what did he mean by that? What kind of adventure was he embarking upon?

Another shocking realization occurred to her. Malik was the kind of man that generated an enormous amount of energy wherever he was. While she was with him, she felt more alive than she’d ever felt in her entire life. Or at least more alive than she’d ever realized. With him gone, the exhaustion from being so alive seemed to overwhelm her. The tension dissipated and she felt like all of her bones were melting. Sinking into the sofa, she looked around and tried to understand why he could have such a strong impact on her.

Jina stared at the message on her computer screen. This had to be some sort of mistake. It was impossible that he was the man who had hired her. Not only had he reserved her services for several short time periods, all of them adding up to a crazy twenty-four hours, he was paying her an outrageous sum of money!  It was three times her normal hourly rate. No other client had ever paid that amount of money. Not for her services.  Not only that, but the man hadn’t specified exactly what she was going to be doing for him. 

Normally a client would give the social or political event, any words to look out for, what their ultimate goal was, if they could, and she would research the various guests and venues so that she could be prepared and help her client move more easily among the others in the room.  She also preferred to know which language she would be translating, but she was fluent in several, so she supposed she could wing it.  As long as he understood that it was sometimes hard to shift from one language to another quickly. 

Oh goodness, what could he be thinking? Why would he offer her such an outrageous sum of money? Did he think…?

No! Their last conversation together indicated that he would be more respectful of her wishes. That conversation had indicated that he was not going to do anything unsavory.

So why had he reserved her services for such an extraordinary amount of time? Most of her clients requested a two or three hour time frame. Sometimes longer if there was a big evening gala that was needed, but rarely longer than five hours.  Twenty-four hours was unheard of!

Her cell phone rang even while she was holding it, still trying to figure out what this agency request meant. As it rang a second time, she knew exactly who was trying to reach her. It was him. She knew that it was Malik. She didn’t even have to know his phone number, and there’s no way that she could have because he hadn’t given it to her. But this was him. Every cell in her body tightened with what she was describing to herself as fear, but she really knew that it was anticipation.

Was she going to answer it? She stared at the phone for a long moment, debating.  He was now a client. She had to answer it! She couldn’t simply ignore a phone call, especially after she’d received the news from her agency that this man had requested her services. But for 24 hours? How crazy was that?!

“Hello?” she answered as she lifted the cell phone to her ear, her fingers shaking.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Malik’s deep, sexy voice said through the airwaves. “Did you get the message from your agency?”

Jina took a deep breath and closed her eyes before she answered. “Yes, I received all the information.”  She was going to be perfectly professional about this, she told herself firmly.  No personal problems, no silly qualms about the man and how incredibly handsome he was.  She was going to treat him with courtesy and professionalism, just as she would any other client.

Letting her breath out slowly, she tried to calm down her racing nerves.  “Can you give me a few more details about what kind of translation services you need?” Her free hand reached out, gripping the edge of the countertop as she waited for him to respond. Please, please don’t say something horrible. For the past three nights, she had dreamed of this man and the way he made her feel when he’d kissed her that one time. She really didn’t want to lose the fantasy of this man, because everything that she thought of him would go away as soon as he said something horrible. She tensed as she waited for his response, praying that he wasn’t hiring her for services that she could not offer. Services that were illegal. No!  He wasn’t like that!

Was he?

Malik’s deep voice broke through her anxiety.  “The French Prime Minister is in town tonight and he has requested a meeting with me. I’m having dinner with him and several of his aides. I need you here tonight to help with translation services. Do you have anything to wear for an event like that?”

Jina let all of the air flow out of her in a whoosh. She was so relieved that he wasn’t asking her to do something that she couldn’t morally do. Not to mention, he was actually hiring her for a real, genuine job.

And then his words hit her.  Not just any job either! He wanted help with the French Prime Minister! She’d never had such a high-level client before. Well, actually, Malik would be the client. But Jina knew that one client led to another client. If she could do a good job interpreting in front of the French Prime Minister and his aides, the French Embassy might hire her for additional jobs. Of course, each embassy and government had its own translation departments. There were people that were specifically trained in specific cultures and were cleared through their own governments. 

The excitement that she was feeling at something so wonderful welled up inside of her and she had trouble speaking for a long moment. When she realized what was happening, she stammered out a response.  “Of course! I would be more than happy to help you with any event tonight or in the future. The Prime Minister is a very nice gentleman, from what I hear.” She took a breath, trying to calm down. She was rambling, and sounding a little bit too eager.

A moment later, a thought occurred to her.  Was she eager for the job? Or was she eager to see Malik again? Either way, she felt more than a little silly. Her hand fluttered over her stomach as she tried to relax a little.

Malik’s deep chuckle sent one of those crazy thrills through her body, making her heart pound so loudly that she was afraid he might be able to hear it through the phone.  “I’ll send over a dress for you anyway because I suspect you’ll pull out yet another black dress and that simply won’t do.  Not for tonight.  I think that you already have the shoes, don’t you?”

Jina’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink, and she was glad that he wasn’t around to see it. That the deep chuckle that came across the phone told her that he knew exactly what was happening. “I have a dress, but I can’t wear the shoes.”

“If you’re talking about the dress that you wore to that other event, I’m sending over something different. And if you don’t wear the shoes, I will be very unhappy with you.”

Jina laughed. “I’m not afraid of your displeasure,” she said to him.

The soft murmur of his deep voice echoed in her ear once more. “Oh, I actually hope that you will disobey me. I’ll take great pleasure in showing you exactly what happens to a beautiful woman who doesn’t wear appropriate shoes.” He hesitated for just a moment before he said, “Wear the black shoes, and let me see your beautiful legs ending with those shoes. Or I will put them on you just like I did the last time. If you aren’t wearing them, I will consider that to be your requests for me to do exactly what I’m threatening.”

Jina rolled her eyes. “That isn’t a fair threat, Malik.” She tapped her finger on the outside of the cell phone as she considered what she could say to change his mind. “It is unethical for me to accept a gift like that.”

“Whoever sent those shoes must not be very concerned with ethics. I have no idea who sent to the shoes, but if you aren’t wearing them on the ends of your very beautiful legs, I will put them on you. This is not a threat, my beauty. This is a promise.”

After that, the line went dead.

She wanted to laugh but the man really was a bit too arrogant for her peace of mind.  He thought he could get away with his trick but she wasn’t as stupid as he probably thought she was. 

But what could she really do about it?

Her eyes went to the bag with the beautiful shoes.  They really would be perfect for dinner with the French Prime Minister, she thought. 

Could she?

It would be extremely bad of her.

But the client demanded that she wear them.

Walking over to the box, she slid the shoes out and put them on one foot, extending her leg and tilting her foot back and forth, admiring the way her leg looked in the amazing shoe.

In the end, she couldn’t resist the allure of an excellent pair of shoes.  So she was standing in the shoes the following night when he knocked on her door.  Not only that, she was wearing a beautiful new cocktail dress that had arrived by special messenger, she felt a bit flushed as the forest green dress hugged her figure and made her eyes pop with a bit more color. 

She was completely unaware of the pink in her cheeks at the excitement of the night ahead.  So when she opened the door, she smiled up at Malik as professionally as she could muster, grabbed her bag, her black evening wrap and walked out the door, unaware that Malik was standing in her doorway in stunned silence.

Malik watched the woman walk by him, his body hardening with each step she took.  It was as if each step was a challenge, a dare for him to make love to her.  It wasn’t because of the shoes, although they did make her legs look…incredible! 

No, there was something about her, something different in the way she was walking.  There was a confidence about her that hadn’t been there before. 

When she looked over her shoulder, her pretty, blue eyes tossing out a silent challenge, he almost groaned with acceptance of that challenge.  Oh yes, my beauty.  You think you’re in charge?  Don’t even try it!

A moment later, he was following her down the steps of her building.  She was about to swish her black wrap around her shoulders but he took it out of her hands, lifting it up himself and holding it out for her.  His eyes watched her as she realized she would actually have to step into his arms for the wrap to go around her. 

Slowly, as if she wasn’t quite sure what might happen if she accepted his dare, she turned around and allowed him to lay the material over her soft, white shoulders. 

Malik wrapped the softness around her and then twisted the material so that she was facing him once more.  As he draped the ends of the pashmina over her shoulders, he allowed the backs of his hands to touch her breasts, fully aware of the way her breath caught in the back of her throat. 

Trembling from the shocking impact of his touch, Jina carefully laid her hand on Malik’s outstretched arm, her fingers already shaking just from the slight contact.  Had he done that on purpose?  She looked up at him as the chauffer opened the limousine door for both of them.  The look in his eyes told her without doubt that he definitely had done that on purpose. 

And he was going to do it again at the first opportunity. 

She should be offended.  This was a business meeting, after all. 

But in reality, her body was thrumming along after that touch and the admonishing words simply wouldn’t form on her lips.  And the thought, “Again,” kept popping into her mind. 

She looked down, realized that she was clenching her hands into fists on her lap.  Trying to relax, she stretched her hands out carefully, not wanting him to be aware of her tension. 

His deep chuckle told her that her efforts were pointless.  The man saw everything! 

“What have you done today?” he asked.

Jina took a deep breath but even that was a mistake.  The effort only brought his scent to her nose.  And boy!  It was a wonderful scent!  Musky, spicy and all male.  She’d never thought that men smelled particularly nice or bad.  There had been the boys in high school who had smelled like sweat.  Normally, it wasn’t such a bad smell but it wasn’t particularly pleasant either.  Oh, and there had been that horrible deodorant that the guys in high school and college thought smelled so great.  It actually made her stomach clench in revulsion.  Unfortunately, the boys hadn’t ever caught on to how much the girls hated the smell. 

This man’s scent though?  It was almost…sexual!  It stimulated parts of her that she’d never known existed and she shifted in the soft leather seat, trying to ease the slight ache that was centered low in her pelvis.

“That’s not going to help,” he said softly beside her.

His deep voice sent shivers throughout her body.  “What’s not going to help?” she asked, her voice raspy and sounded strange to her ears.

“The shifting and trying to pretend that it isn’t there.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she responded nervously.  But she did!  Goodness, she knew exactly what was happening between them.  She’d read it in stories but hadn’t ever experienced it before. 

He didn’t really answer her.  He simply took her hand, ignoring her slight resistance as he laid the back of her hand flat against his rock hard thigh.  Spreading her fingers out, she watched in tightening fascination as his finger stroked her palm.  Up and down, over and back.  When her fingers curled up, he simply smoothed them flat again. 

“It’s there.  And it is stronger than the two of us.”

She couldn’t pretend any longer.  It was just too much with his fingers stroking her hand and his closeness in the darkened interior of the limousine.  “We have to resist it.”  No use trying to deny it any longer.  It was shockingly obvious that there was something between them.  What that really was, and what this man seemed to think would happen, she wasn’t completely sure.  All she was sure about was that this man was dangerous and what she was feeling was terrifying.  It had to be resisted, no matter what. 

“At least you are no longer pretending that it isn’t there.”

She tried to pull her hand away but his fingers tightened on hers.  “I’m not done yet.”

“We shouldn’t be touching.”