Wrapped in Pleasure (20 page)

She smiled over the menu at him. “Yes. It was a straight flight and she’s called to let me know she made it to Miami.”

He nodded. “That’s good to hear.” Then after glancing at his menu a few moments, he asked, “Do you see anything you would like?”

She smiled up at him and closed her menu. “I’m not a big eater so a bagel and cocoa will be fine.”

Deciding since he was a big eater and needed more than that, when the waitress returned he gave her their breakfast orders. He saw Johari looking at him with a smile on her face. Automatically his gaze was drawn to her lips and remembering how perfectly they had fit his last night sent all kinds of sensations radiating through him.

He shifted his focus to her eyes, and with a slow smile he leaned over the table and asked in a low voice, “May I ask what you find so amusing?”

“Your appetite,” she whispered, returning his smile. “You eat as much as my brother.”

Rasheed arched a brow. “You have a brother?”

She said nothing for a moment while staring at the silverware, and he studied her, thinking that once again she had said something she would have rather kept secret.

He didn’t intend to let her off that easy. “Jo?”

She lifted her head. “Yes, I have a brother, but I prefer not talking about him.”

“All right.”

She held his gaze for a moment. “Are you always this easy?”

Rasheed almost muttered at the absurdity of that claim because he was not an easy person by any means. Although most of the people of Mowaiti considered him a fair man, one who would go to any lengths for their needs, they knew on certain issues he could be as difficult as crossing the Sahara Desert. He had matured a lot over the past few years and was no longer the hothead that he used to be. The two things about him that hadn’t changed were that he always put the people of Mowaiti first and he chose his friends wisely.

“No, I’m not always this easy,” he finally said, laughing softly. “I’ve made you an exception.”

“And I appreciate you for doing so.”

Instead of responding Rasheed simply looked deeply in her
eyes as he took a sip of his coffee. When his carefully laid-out plans came to light he doubted that she would appreciate anything about him. He couldn’t remember the last time, if ever, he had gone out of his way to pursue a woman. And the thought he was doing so now and the object of this mad obsession was the very woman he would marry added a degree of intrigue to the chase. And what made it even more tantalizing was that Johari had no idea she was game. What a pity.

The waitress brought their breakfast and when she began eating so did he, taking every occasion he could to look at her. Every time he did so he couldn’t help but remember their kiss and couldn’t help imagining how it would be to kiss other parts of her body. Specifically, he would love for her to bare her breasts with the sole purpose of him tasting them and could just about envision the texture of her nipples on his tongue.

And then there was the area between her thighs, which was considered a woman’s hottest as well as her sweetest spot, and he would love for his tongue to enjoy her there, as well. He was having a challenging time keeping his hormones in check this morning and sooner or later he would have to do something about it. But then there was that promise he’d made to her that he would not forget she was promised to someone. Since that someone was him he doubted he would forget, so there was no chance of him breaking that particular promise.

And, he thought further, if she assumed remembering she was promised to someone meant he wouldn’t be trying his hand at seduction, then she was sadly mistaken.

It took everything within Johari to sit and eat her breakfast without staring across the table at Monty, although she was very aware that he was staring at her. She could actually feel his eyes roaming over her.

A few times she had glanced up and seen the heat that was sweltering in his gaze.
Also in his gaze was another promise, one she hadn’t asked him to make.
She had seen that look before in the eyes of guys around campus. Most of them knew she was a princess from another country and Saud’s presence only made her a challenge to some of them.

When her bodyguard continuously foiled any of their zealous plans they had resorted to relaying their ardent desires through eye contact. She had dismissed the looks as a waste of their time and hers. But for some reason she couldn’t do the same with Monty. It was as if his look had substance, a lot more confidence. His eyes didn’t broadcast a look of what he wanted and could not have, but what he figured he would get eventually. In the meantime he would be content to patiently wait. All of that confused her since he had made her that promise and she believed he would keep it.

Now if she herself could remember she was promised to someone. Monty was making it very hard for her to do so. If she thought he oozed sexuality last night then he was really overflowing with it this morning. During the cab ride to meet him, she couldn’t help wondering why he would want to spend time with her today. There was no doubt in her mind that with his worldly air and handsome features, he could have just about any woman he wanted. Even now, it didn’t take much to notice the number of women around the room who couldn’t eat their breakfast for looking at him,
checking him out
, as Cel would often say. And he was a man worth checking out.

“I thought we could spend a day at Coney Island. Do you feel up to it?”

She glanced up and met Monty’s eyes. They were beautiful and the kind you could lose yourself in. He was wearing a crisp white shirt along with a pair of khaki pants. When he had stood as she had approached the table she had gotten a
good look at his attire with his sexy physique. She concluded that he would look good in any clothes he put on his body.

“Yes, I’m up for it,” she said. “In fact it was on my list as one of my things to do. It sounds like a place I’ll enjoy.”

He smiled over at her. “And we will make sure that it is.”

As they walked on the boardwalk of Coney Island, Rasheed would be the first to admit that even he had had a great time today. They had gotten on a number of rides, had eaten a number of hot dogs and had taken off their shoes to walk on the beach. He had discovered Johari had nerves of steel when she had agreed to ride the Cyclone, but his greatest joy had come in seeing her ride the carousel as she tried time and time again to get the brass ring located in the center of the ride.

It was getting late and he wasn’t ready for his day with her to end. He glanced over at her and slowed his pace. She lifted a brow when he stopped walking and he reached out and took her hand in his. “Would you have dinner with me tonight?”

She smiled wryly. “I would think you would have had enough of me today.”

He fought back the temptation to say he hadn’t gotten as much of her as he’d intended to get. He pushed from his mind the mental image of taking her back to his condo with the sole purpose of seducing her senseless and then making love to her.

“No, I haven’t had enough of you today. I’ve enjoyed your company and hope we can spend time together again tomorrow.”

He thought that by now she felt somewhat comfortable with him. He hadn’t gotten out of line and they’d had a really good time. And he had kept his promise. “So will you join me for dinner?”

She gazed at him for a moment, breathed in deeply and then said, “Yes, I will have dinner with you.”

J
ohari stepped out of the shower and proceeded to dry off with the huge bath towel. She couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips when she thought back on the day with Monty. He was an amazing man and incredibly easy to talk to.

She had enjoyed herself so much that for a little while she had forgotten she was a woman in hiding. But then she had been smart enough to put a smoke screen in place, thanks to one of her classmates and friends who lived in California. If everything worked out according to plan, anyone looking for her would assume she was somewhere in Los Angeles. Only a few close friends from school knew that Cel had rented a car and had driven them to New York.

She dropped the towel and stood in front of the floor-length mirror to examine her body. While around Monty her breasts had begun feeling achy and her nipples seemed sen
sitive against her clothes and even now looked slightly swollen.

Her gaze lowered past her navel to look at the feminine mound between her legs. It was the part of her body her mother had always referred to as a woman’s most precious jewel, her ruby. That particular part of her body was smooth as a result of a Brazilian wax, and after twenty-four years her ruby was still untouched by a man.

She knew Sheikh Valdemon could not make the same claim in regard to his own private jewel when it came to other women. Lately she had begun feeling agitated regarding her country’s double-standards policy and that agitation had become more prevalent over the past couple of days, mainly because for the first time in her life she had met a man she could say she truly desired.

She held her breath and waited for something to happen with that bold yet honest admission. She glanced up. The ceiling was still in place and did not appear ready to fall down on her head. Nor was the floor shaking beneath her feet.

She released her breath as she pushed her fingers through her hair, tossed her head and then watched how the curly strands fell about her shoulders. She smiled, thinking at that moment she looked like a sexy naked temptress and wondered what Monty would think if he were to see her now. Would he find her desirable?

She knew for certain she had aroused him the other night and had felt him when he pressed against her, hard and fully erected, while they danced. That had been the closest contact she’d ever had with an aroused man, and the feel of his shaft even through her clothing had sent heat escalating inside her.

Her mind started thinking about another type of fun she could have by playing a game she had never played before,
and that was of temptress. How would Monty handle it and would he still keep his promise and stay in control?

She had seen Delaney tempt her brother and could recall Jamal’s reaction. She had seen the same thing with her mother and witnessed how she could use her feminine wiles on her father to push through any agenda for the women of Tahran that she wanted to approve. She noted the same thing with her sister and brother-in-law.

Johari wondered if the man she married would allow himself to be so manipulated. Probably not, since he had more than enough mistresses to keep him happy. She could vividly recall a few years ago, overhearing her parents talking, where her mother was expressing her concerns to her father regarding Sheikh Valdemon’s numerous mistresses. Her father had tried to assure her mother that in time he felt certain that the sheikh would put all those other women aside and be faithful only to their daughter.

Johari thought then the same thing she thought now, that the sheikh had no reason to send those other women away when he didn’t love her and when she didn’t know the first thing about pleasing a man. Once again the question flashed through her mind as to which a man would prefer—an inexperienced virgin or a woman who knew something about pleasuring him?

Deciding she didn’t want to think about her fiancé any longer, her mind shifted back to Monty. She had trusted him enough to tell him the name of her hotel when his driver had returned to pick them up from Coney Island. Sometime during the car ride she had fallen asleep, and when she had awakened she had found herself cuddled in his arms with no idea how she’d gotten there.

She smiled as she moved away from the mirror and walked toward the bed where she had placed the outfit she would be
wearing this evening. The dress wasn’t as bold and brassy as the one she had worn last night, but was just as sexy. She wondered what Monty would think when he saw her in it. Did it really matter?

She smiled as she began to get dressed thinking that, yes, it did matter.

Rasheed leaned back against the seat in his limo while Ishaq drove through the New York traffic to pick Johari up for their dinner date tonight.

Surprisingly, she had offered no protest when he had asked for the name of her hotel so he could take her home after their day at Coney Island. In fact she had been so excited about their time together at the iconic amusement park that she spent most of the ride to her hotel reliving every moment.

She had laughed as she recounted her experience on the Cyclone and had hidden her face in embarrassment when he teased about how many games on the boardwalk she had nudged him to play. Due to a traffic jam on the bridge she had literally fallen asleep cuddled in a corner of the car. He had ended up pulling her into his arms and regretted the moment he had to awaken her when they had reached their destination.

He checked his watch. Unbeknownst to her they would be dining in his condo. The reason he had decided on that as the best choice was due to the number of celebrities in town attending Sterling’s movie premier, and the media was sure to be out in full force. The last thing he wanted was for a photograph of him and Johari together attending a restaurant to be plastered in the New York papers in the morning. It didn’t make a difference to him but he would do anything in his power to protect Johari’s reputation.

He pulled his BlackBerry out of his jacket when he felt it vibrate. “Yes?”

“Rasheed, this is Jake. I called to make sure everything was all right. I hadn’t talked to you since you had to leave Luke’s wedding unexpectedly.”

Rasheed smiled. Over the years Jake Madaris had become one of his closest and most trusted friends. The two were involved in many successful business ventures both in the United States and abroad. His circle of business contacts included men like Jake and Syntel Remington, wealthy oilmen, as well as a phenomenal woman by the name of Corinthians Avery Grant, whose skill and ability to find oil reserves had literally transformed Mowaiti from an impoverished country to one enjoying prosperity as one of the world’s leading oil producers. Together they proved to be a formidable team.

“Everything is fine, Jake. With Alex’s assistance Johari was found in New York,” he said, leaning back in his seat. “In fact I’m on my way to her hotel to pick her up. We’re dining together tonight.”

“So the two of you have officially met? She knows who you are?”

“Yes, we’ve met, but she does not know my true identity.”

Rasheed then told Jake of his decision to not reveal his identity to Johari. “And just so you and your family know,” Rasheed went on to add, “I’ll be using my Madaris name for a while.

“You’re an honorary member of our family, Rasheed. My family will always be grateful for how you interceded to keep Christy out of harm’s way, virtually saving her life.”

Rasheed remembered that incident and was glad things turned out the way they had. He and Jake talked for a few minutes longer and then they ended the call. As he tucked his BlackBerry back in his jacket, the driver pulled in front of Johari’s hotel. They had agreed to meet in the lobby and as soon as the car came to a stop and Ishaq had come around to
open the door, Rasheed got out and swiftly walked into the hotel. He tried to ignore the fact that he was very anxious and excited about seeing Johari again.

Johari walked off the elevator and grinned when she saw Rasheed standing in the atrium. She was intensely aware of him as a man. There was something about seeing him standing there that stirred something deep inside of her. He gave off vibes that were powerful, dominant, so elemental male that she almost missed a step when she began walking toward him.

She recalled her naiveté as a young girl after being told of her future and the man she would share it with and how accepting she had been of the decision. It was a decision made by a grandfather who’d died only months after her birth. She had envisioned her husband-to-be would appear at some point in her life to assure her that as his wife he would love and protect her. That never happened.

It became obvious that although Sheikh Valdemon would obediently fulfill his grandfather’s wish as she was doing with hers, their life together would not be the storybook romance she desired. And now as she gazed upon the man she had met only two days ago, who would be the only man she would consider suitable, she knew her parents would never accept him in her life. Her brother Jamal had already stretched the limits by marrying a Western woman. And although King Yasir loved his American daughter-in-law dearly and cherished the two grandchildren she had given him, Johari knew that when it came to her, he expected her to marry the person she was promised to.

As Monty moved to meet her, his strides were sure and confident, and the look on his face told her, even with her limited knowledge of men, that he would be the kind of man
who, if he ever fell in love, would love hard and be a protector for life as well as someone who could be adored and admired. She felt envious of the woman who would claim his heart. And from the number of women who were pausing with their full attention directed on Monty as he made his way across the room, she wasn’t the only one thinking that way.

When Monty reached her he took her hand in his and whispered, “Once again your beauty has taken my breath away, Jo.”

She couldn’t stop the smile that touched her lips from his words. “Thank you for the compliment, Monty. You look handsome, too.” She meant every single word and wondered if
irresistible
was his middle name. Mainly because he was that and more.

Holding firm to her hand, he led her from the hotel to the private car waiting out front. The New York night was abuzz with energy. Flashing bright lights, the sound of car horns and people conversing while walking on pavement, she had only been here for a few days but whenever she came out at night the sights and sounds simply amazed her. There was nothing quiet and slow about this place, and as she slid into the back seat of the waiting limo, she knew there was nothing quiet and slow about the man who slid into the seat behind her.

If things were different and this was an ordinary date, she would want to know everything about him, and would want to share everything about herself with him. But considering the circumstances surrounding her particular situation, she could not. She would accept that whatever time she had to share with him was limited.

The sights and sounds of the night no longer held her attention once the driver closed the door, locking them inside. The interior smelled of leather seats and a virile man. And the man who was still staring at her had a quizzical look in his
eyes. She couldn’t determine if he was looking at her like she was a puzzle he wanted to figure out or a delicious morsel he wanted to eat.

“Do you always enjoy your trips to New York?” she asked, deciding she needed to say something. There was a lot of sexual chemistry flowing between them tonight. This was all new to her and she couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed by it. As much as she talked about not wanting to marry an “older” man, it was an older man who had stirred feelings in her she had never felt before. Regretfully, it wasn’t the one whom her hand had been promised to for marriage. It was the older man sitting beside her in the car who was still holding her hand firmly in his.

“I do.” He paused and then said, “The media is all over the place tonight because a number of celebrities are in town for Sterling Hamilton’s movie premier. Instead of going someplace where we’ll get mistaken for some notable couple and get our photo plastered all over the newspaper in the morning, I thought that we might dine in my condo. I hope that is acceptable to you.”

Johari swallowed deeply. She didn’t want to think of the consequences if such a thing were to happen. It would definitely be a disaster for her as well as for her family. “Yes, it is acceptable,” she said, knowing she much preferred dining with him in seclusion.

She glanced over at him, remembering how things were when she had been in his condo before. They had shared a kiss that even now could stir sensations within her at the memory. And the thought of being alone with him again was almost more than she could handle.

She pushed any apprehensions from her mind. She had only a few days left before she would be leaving New York and going to another city she wanted to see in the United States. The key was not to remain in the same place too long.

She stared out the car window at the flashing signs, billboards and skyscrapers they passed, fascinated by the number of people moving briskly along the sidewalk toward their destinations. She glanced back over at Monty and saw his gaze was on her. For a long moment their eyes locked, and something that seemed more powerful than just sexual tension flowed between them. She watched his gaze darken, saw the way his pulse was beating at the base of his throat and noticed the slight movement of his lips. Although his action was subtle, it seemed to start something churning deep in the pit of her stomach.

She didn’t say anything, and neither did he. They just sat there and stared at each other while the air between them was electrified from an undeniable awareness of their physical attraction to one another.

Johari didn’t doubt for one moment that something turbulent and primitive was taking place between them. And as she continued to stare deep into his eyes, she began imagining all sorts of things. She wondered how it would feel for those same eyes to watch as she removed every stitch of her clothing, piece by piece. And as her gaze shifted downward again to his lips, she couldn’t help but remember just how those lips had felt on hers, how that tongue in his mouth could illicit pleasure that had her pulse racing at the memory.