The Sheikh's Offer by Jessica Brooke, Ella Brooke Page A

You walk, and I’ll give you ten million for your trouble.”
    Her eyes were wide. That made no sense. Had he started speaking in another language? Had she blacked out? Hell, was this all a dream spurred on from too much drinking over her crappy boss? Maybe she wasn’t even here. Why would he want to impress her so much? He’d already run out on her before.
    How could anyone think she was ten million dollars for a week?
    She’d never felt like that before. While she’d dated before and had a few close boyfriends over the years, she’d been so career focused that it was what she’d clung to more. Besides, even with the flirting and fun, she was never the woman a man kept around. She was curvy and far plainer than Alana, who everyone had always adored with her turquoise eyes and flowing brown hair. How could he feel this way?
    But hadn’t she told Alana to enjoy the fun and give Dharr a chance before? Look at how happy that made her friend. Maybe she could take her own advice. At least for a week, if she could bury the resentment in her heart, then she could have fun and with a gorgeous guy to boot.
    “So if I take off with you for a week, you’ll give me ten million to start my own restaurant? No strings attached?”
    “It’s not quite like that.”
    “Oh.”
    “No,” he continued, starting to pace. “If you don’t want to stay, then take the money. At least it’ll make you happy, and we’ll annul everything. I’ll call our best lawyer on it. But you have to be honest. If you want to stay, don’t just run. Don’t be as dumb as I was.”
    “I…”
    “Give it a week, search your heart, and we’ll go from there. Can you agree to that? Wouldn’t a week with me in an exotic locale being a sheikha be better than a New York trip? Even if you leave and want it all over with, you will still have a week to do your research. So, what do you say, mon amie , won’t it be worth it?”
    But you might hurt me more. It’s not like we’ve had such great encounters before.
    She didn’t say that aloud. She didn’t know how. It felt that if she voiced those words, she’d collapse on the floor before him and maybe shatter like china. The best thing she could do was never admit to weaknesses, and one of her biggest was one Sheikh Asam Hassem.
    “You have a deal...so what’s next?”
    ***
    “Wait?” she said, as he poured her a glass of Perrier and handed her another aspirin. She wasn’t going to drink again for a long time. She just felt too shaky and off-kilter to eat or drink anything that wasn’t a nice glass of water. She needed her wits about her. Asam knocked her off balance enough to begin with. “So I’m confused. Where are we going again?”
    “Abu Dhabi. It’s the capital of the United Arab Emirates and one of the great jewels of the Middle East. I know you’re already familiar with the palace and Marasimaq, but I thought something completely new would be better,” he added, stroking his beard and picking up a bottle for himself.
    “So you think if you wine and dine me, my husband ,” she said, stretching out the word playfully. “You think then I’ll stay.”
    He shook his head and set the bottle down. “No, I think you’re one hell of a woman who deserves to be treated like the royalty you are. I messed up big-time, and I have one shot to make it up to you. I am more than eager to do so.”
    That was a sweet thought if maybe a little too late. Kelly wasn’t even sure what could truly make the hurt better. To be fair, she’d added salt to her own wounds and his over the years, sniping back and forth with him, but this was just so much.
    “I’m hardly Cinderella,” she said, deciding to keep her tone playful.
    All she had to do was treat this like any other date. Since humor was her chief defense mechanism, the joke just rolled off her tongue.
    He reached out and brushed her hair back from her face. “I’d call you Rapunzel before I called you anything else,” he conceded.