ROMANCE: THE SHEIKH'S GAMES: A Sheikh Romance (127 page)

Jada sat down at the table and stared at the phone Kamal hadn’t called since his crazy call earlier. He’d actually asked about her. He never did that. It should have made her ecstatic that he’d wanted to talk about her, but it just didn’t sit right with her. There was something about his voice that worried her.

It made her stomach turn. In all honesty, it was the aroma of her breakfast that was making her stomach turn. Panic set in as she hurried to the bathroom and hit her knees. It was the third day in a row that she hadn’t been able to keep her breakfast down, and it was starting to scare her.

After she emptied the contents of her stomach, she leaned back and stared at the pregnancy test on the counter. It had been there for days now, taunting her. She just needed to get it over with. She just needed to pee on the stick and get it over with.

Instead, she wiped her mouth and rinsed it over the sink. Ignoring the test, she left the bathroom and sat back down at the table. Feeling like an idiot, she stared at the phone. “Call me,” she whispered. “Call me and tell me what’s wrong. Call me so that I can tell you about my day. Call me so I can ask you what I should do. Do you want a baby, Kamal? We never talked about it, and I don’t even know. I don’t even know what I want. How am I supposed to know what you want?”

She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. Tapping her finger on the table, she waited. She waited for Kamal to call her.

* * *

After squeezing in a few hours of sleep and putting in a few hours of work, he met Sara at the restaurant. She sat in the corner table and gave him a shy smile as she stood. He couldn’t help but smile back. That red hair. That creamy skin. How long had he wanted to touch her, and now was she sitting right across the table. He could reach out and take her hand. He could brush his thumb across her skin and feel her just one more time.

“How was your day?” she asked nervously after they ordered.

“Short, and I only say that because I slept longer than I should have. But I’ve been ahead of schedule for awhile, so I’ll probably finish up in a few months if nothing happens.”

“That’s good. You know I’ve looked up your home several times. I look at google images, and I wonder what you’re doing. I’ve missed you.”

Leaning back, he reached for his water. “Why the divorce?”

“Oh. Big question right from the start,” she said softly. “I married a couple of years after I left you. I think I wanted it to be real. I wanted it to be everything that you gave me, but it didn’t work. We were broke. We were angry. We were fighting all the time. It was miserable. He slept around. I slept around. We made it two years. Two years. How disappointing is that?” She looked up and tucked her hair behind her ears.

“We all make mistakes.”

She kept looking behind him, and he looked over his shoulders. She was checking herself out in the mirror.

“Is your marriage a mistake?”

“What?” he asked sharply. “Why would you ask that?”

“You spent three hours with me yesterday, and you didn’t mention her. I generally take that to mean that you don’t want to talk about her.”

His marriage was none of her business. He bristled at the thought and tried to push it away. She had just talked about her marriage. It was only right that she asked about his.

“My wife is fine,” he said shortly. “What are you doing here? You said you’d never leave New York.”

“I do live in New York.”

“Sara, that’s twelve hours away.”

“I know. But I heard that your business was moving in, and I wanted to see you again. I came looking for you, Kamal. I came looking for you because I made a mistake, and I wanted to fix it. I wanted to tell you that I was a horrible person then, and I’m not anymore. I guess I came looking for forgiveness.”

The waiter came to drop off their food, and Sara frowned. “What the is this?” she demanded.

“I’m sorry? Is something wrong with your food?” he asked nervously.

“Yes. There is. I said I wanted the lemon butter on the side. Does this look like it’s on the side? Fix it!” she demanded as she pushed the plate away. Catching Kamal’s eyes, she smiled. “Waiters. You’d think they could get something right. It’s not like their job is hard.”

“You didn’t ask for the lemon butter on the side, Sara. I heard you order. You didn’t ask for it on the side.”

“Whatever.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Now I want it on the side.”

Kamal tensed inside, but he didn’t say anything else. She’d changed her mind and blamed it on someone else. Where else did that seem familiar. “Tell me about your palace,” she said excitedly.

“It’s home. Mother keeps some beautiful gardens out front, and we’ve got a small pond in the back. I love the landscaping.”

“No I meant how many rooms to do you have? Do you throw a lot of parties there? I bet your parties are amazing. I mean, you’re practically royalty, right?”

Bewildered, Kamal stared at her. “Sara, when we were dating, you said you had a problem with me being the future Sheikh. Now you don’t. What’s going on here?”

Reaching across the table, she grabbed his hands. “We were so happy, Kamal. We were so happy and so in love, and you threw that away.”

“I loved you,” he said coldly. “And you threw that back in my face.”

She smiled tightly and squeezed his hands. “I was young and scared. And I made mistakes. Seeing you across the table like this reminds me of everything that I’ve been missing. I’m so sorry, Kamal.”

He tugged his hands away. “I’m married,” he reminded her. And right then, he was missing his wife.

“Like I said, I’m just here for forgiveness.” She leaned back and gave him a seductive look, and Kamal sighed.

Was this what she was like when they were together? Was that what he’d been pining over all this time?

Because if so, he was a fool.

“What am I doing?” Kamal asked himself as he stared at his reflection. His color was pale, and there were circles under his eyes. It wasn’t the long hours at work or the sleepless nights. It was Sara. She was draining him of all his energy. She was draining him of his life.

Unable to face himself, he turned and finished dressing. If he didn’t hurry, he was going to be late. Grabbing his briefcase, he opened the door and stopped short.

“Hi,” Sara said with a smile. “I thought I’d come say good morning.”

“Sara, how did you know where I was staying?”

She twirled her finger around her hair, and he stared at the red strands that used to haunt his dreams. “Baby, what’s wrong? You were so strange last night.” She reached over to touch his chest, and he grabbed her hands.

“Sara. I am married. You know that. What are you doing here?”

She rolled her eyes and pushed past him. “I know that you’re married. You keep bringing it up. And I think that should tell you something. We haven’t done anything, Kamal, except talk. And you shouldn’t have to remind me that you’re married just because we’re talking. You shouldn’t have to tell me that unless you feel something.”

With a sigh, he left the door and walked towards her. “I constantly remind you of that because I’m afraid you think there’s something here.”

“What makes you say that?” she asked curiously. “Is it because you can still feel the chemistry between us? And you know that I can feel the chemistry?” She smiled at him and shook her head. “We’ve talked a lot in the past couple of days, Kamal. But we’re not talking about what’s real.”

He stared down at her. “Sara, I spent months missing you. I thought that you were the love of my life. I thought that when I met you, that was it. I thought that we were going to be forever. And you broke my heart. You broke my heart, Sara. You left me, and I got married. And that’s our reality. No amount of talking about it is going to change that.”

“You don’t love your wife,” she murmured as she leaned towards him. “I can tell that you don’t love your wife. I love you. I’m here for you. She’s off spending your money and wasting the day away in another country, but I’m right here. I want you. I don’t care if you’re married. I don’t care if you stay married or if you divorce her. I just need to be close to you.”

She raised up on her tiptoes and kissed him. Kamal froze as their lips touched, and in a moment of weakness, he responded to her.

“I’m not in another country.”

Kamal turned sharply to see Jada standing in the doorway. “I’m not spending your money or wasting the day away. I came here because you seemed like you were having a hard time. You weren’t sleeping, but now I can see why.”

“Jada,” he said painfully, but she put her hands up to stop him.

“No. I’m your wife, and I’ll continue to be your wife. I’ll do it in another country so you can stay here and be with the woman you clearly love. And I’ll go home and perform my wifely duties. But when you’re done here, you need to leave her here. Because it’s one thing to suffer this humiliation now, but I won’t do it forever. So you can either leave her behind, or you can stay here. I don’t care.”

She turned and stormed out, and as the whole world slowed, Kalil realized that this was it. This was the moment of clarity that he’d been waiting for. He’d spend months pining for the woman that was holding his hand, and he didn’t even realize that he was in love with the woman he’d married.

He was in the love with the woman that he’d just ripped apart. He was in love with the woman who was running to get as far away from him as possible.

“Look at that, everything worked out for themselves,” Sara said as she reached up for him. Kamal immediately pulled away.

“I don’t love you. I don’t say that to hurt you, Sara. At one time you were my world, but the woman that I love has just seen me with another woman. And I have to go to her.” He tried to wrench away from her, but she grabbed his hand.

“Wait. Kamal, just wait a second. We can be together. You can marry me, and we can be happy. Why are you throwing that away?”

“Is that what this is about?” he said coldly. “What happened, Sara. You thought you could be with someone better than me? Someone richer or better? And now that you realized that you can’t, you want to come back. But you don’t want to date me. You just want to marry me. You just to win. But my life and my happiness is not a contest for you to win. You are vapid and narcissistic, and I have no idea how I didn’t see that before. Get out of my way, Sara. Now.”

Her jaw dropped, and she stared at him. “You’re serious.”

“I’m serious. This was a mistake.” Instead of waiting for her to leave, he just pushed past her. Anxiety twisted inside him as he raced through the halls and down the stairs. When he got into the lobby, the staff behind the staff stared at him. “My wife? Where is my wife?”

“I’m sorry, sir. She asked for a car to take her back to the airport. She’s gone.”

Pressing his hand against his mouth, he sagged against the wall. His mother was right. She had raised a fool. And now he might have seriously destroyed his marriage.

* * *

Jada stared out the window the whole way to the airport. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream and sob, but she felt completely empty. There wasn’t any pain or rage. She was simply hollow.

Reaching up, she pushed the button to lower the partition. “Did you need something, ma’am?” the driver asked as he looked at her through the rearview mirror.

“My husband is cheating on me. I don’t actually know that I can call it cheating. We’ve only been married a couple months, and he doesn’t see me. It was an arranged marriage. We were friends as kids but we grew apart. He fell in love, and I went to school and completely changed myself. But some things don’t change, and we’re still married. And I don’t show who I am because I’m afraid that he’s not going to like me. It doesn’t seem to matter. He’s still in love with her, and he’s never going to love me. “

The driver stared at her. “I’m sorry ma’am.”

“I can’t leave him. He’s going to be Sheikh one day, and if I try to leave him, an entire country will alienate me. But I love him. I love him, and I don’t think I can live my life married to him if he doesn’t love me.”

“I’m sorry ma’am.”

Jada stared down at her hands. “I’m pregnant. I can’t leave him anyways. I can’t let my baby grow up without a father, and I certainly don’t want my baby to grow up in a loveless marriage.”

“I’m sorry ma’am.”

The car bumped along, and she fidgeted. “I don’t know why I care that I’m in a loveless marriage. It was arranged. It was loveless to begin with.”

“I’m sorry ma’am.”

“What do I do? I have to stay in this marriage, so I can either put my foot down and tell him that he can’t see her, or I can let him be happy. It should be important that one of us be happy. I love him, so I want him to be happy.” Her body started to tremble, and she felt a lump form in her throat.

“I’m sorry ma’am.”

“Will you quit saying that?” she shouted. “Stop! Quit pitying me. Quit telling me that you’re sorry and say something helpful!”

The driver lowered his eyes to the road, and Jada reached up to close the partition. As the tears formed in her eyes, she sat back and hunched her shoulders. And finally, the tears began to fall. Her whole body wracked with sobs, and she lost all of her control.

Slumping, she knocked her head lightly on the window over and over again. Her marriage was over before it had ever begun. And the worse part was that she couldn’t get out of it.

“What do you mean that the plane won’t go. Why now?” Jada said as she crossed her head. “I want to leave. You’re supposed to take me back.”

The pilot threw up his hands. “I’m sorry, but we’re employed by the Al-Basir family, and if they tell me not to leave, I’m not leave.”

“I am an Al-Basir, she grumbled. “I’m Jada Al-Basir. Who in this country outranks me?”

“I do.”

Jada froze. Glaring at the pilot, she shook her head. He shrugged and pushed past them. “What are you doing here?”

Kamal gently touched her hair, but she couldn’t turn around. “You are my wife, and you are not leaving this country until we talk.”

“We did talk.”

“You talked and then you ran. I did not sleep with Sara.”