Possession of the Sheikh: (Interracial BWWM Erotica) (The Men of Sharjah Series Book 2) by Nadia Aidan Page B

anger, frustration, and a host of other nameless emotions that ricocheted inside of him.  Amir didn’t know his opinion of Sabeen had changed, along with his feelings.  And neither did his parents, her father, and obviously not Amir’s parents either; which made him wonder about Sabeen.
    “Does Sabeen know she’s engaged to you?” Khalil was proud of himself that he managed to get the words out past the heavy knot now clogging his throat.
    “As far as I know, not yet, but my parents told me her father has been trying to reach her to let her know.  They were all supposed to wait until Sabeen and I were home for winter break so that they could sit us down and tell us together, but apparently Sabeen and Abdul had some big fight before the holiday, and she hasn’t spoken to him since.  She must have told him something crazy like she was going to run off and become a hooker because Abdul insisted that both of us be informed at once of the contract.”
    So Sabeen didn’t know.  So there was a chance that if he could get to Abdul first, and maybe reason with him—“I gotta go.”  Before Amir could say another word, he hung up.   Khalil had almost completely finished inputting the sequence of numbers to call Sabeen’s father, when he abruptly stopped.  His fingers actually trembled over the numbers, because he already knew that his call to Abdul would change nothing. 
    As the eldest son, he’d been raised to one day become the head of his family and clan, so he knew well the customs and traditions of his homeland, no matter how outdated they were to him.
    Abdul had no power to break the contract he’d entered into.  Truly the only real person who had that power was Amir, and even his was limited, it was also considered dishonorable to break betrothal contracts, and one thing Khalil knew of his cousin, was that Amir valued his honor and that of his family’s.  He wouldn’t break the contract, and despite her rebelliousness, Sabeen’s loyalty to her family was unshakable.  She wouldn’t protest being bartered and signed away, anymore than Amir would.  It was a political marriage, a powerful one at that.  It made sense for the two families to enter into such an agreement, upon realizing their oldest offspring were close in age.  The only problem was Sabeen and Amir were not in love, and they never would be.
    Khalil didn’t even acknowledge his own feelings as an equally important problem, because his feelings didn’t matter—none of their feelings mattered. Now completely numb to the ache in his chest, he quietly slipped his phone back into his pocket. 
    He returned to the hotel almost completely in a deathlike trance, because he was unaware of any of his surroundings or how he even got there. It was a herculean struggle to try and reconcile himself with the turn of events over just the last hour, but he knew he had no choice.  He was in love with the woman his best friend and cousin was promised to marry, and because she was promised to Amir, he could never have her. 
    Anger and bitterness threatened to boil over inside of him but he tamped it down.  Both emotions were a waste of his energy, and neither of them would help him get through what promised to be the most agonizing night of his entire life. 
    For Sabeen, he would pretend that all was right in the world, even as he admitted he was selfish in wanting to savor these last hours with her, because come morning, he would have no choice but to turn his back on her and walk away, as if their time together had never been—as if it had meant nothing. 
     
    *****
    I knew something was wrong the moment Khalil returned from grabbing breakfast.  For the rest of the day, until we dressed to go to dinner that night, we made love, but his touch was different.  There was almost a quiet desperation in the way he took me, the way he clung to me as if he never wanted to let me go.  With every thrust inside my body, he branded me, keeping himself