The Sheikh's Unforgettable Lover (The Sharqi Sheikhs Series Book 1) by Leslie North

are you off to?” Kim asked as she tried to even out her breathing. How could he just touch her like that and then stop abruptly? Didn’t he feel anything? Shaking her head, she willed her body to calm down as she watched him.
    “I have a meeting to attend,” he said right before he walked out of the dining room. Kim gulped down more juice. She needed to cool down after that mini session. She leaned back in the chair and started fanning herself. Fortunately, none of the maids had walked into the room as that would have been embarrassing.
    No longer hungry, she pushed her plate aside. Was all this simply a game to him? Shaking her head, she turned in her chair and got unsteadily to her feet. She simply had to put him out of her mind, but how?

Chapter Twelve
    “Good morning, Sheik,” the receptionist greeted Karim with a big smile on her face as he walked into Sharqi Jewels Head Office.
    “Morning,” he said to her as he kept walking and barely paid attention to her blushing over him.
    “Sheik Hussain Tazeem is waiting for you in your office,” she said.
    “Thank you.” Karim nodded.
    While Hussain was eight years older than he was, they had grown up near one another and were both the product of traditional upbringings. Both hard workers, Karim had come to rely on him as both an ally and a friend.
    He had been shocked when he found out about his father’s behaviour toward Hussain’s twin sister and quickly sought to make amends.  He walked into his office to find Hussain sitting comfortably at his desk.
    “Hussain,” Karim said as he walked in. Hussain got up and went to greet him.
    “Karim. It has been a while, my friend,” he said with a huge smile on his face.
    “It has indeed.” The two of them shook hands and sat back down. Hussain pressed a button on the phone. “Bring us some tea,” he said and let go of the button. He returned his attention back to his friend as he smiled at him.
    “How has business been going?” Hussain asked him.
    “Sharqi Jewels is progressing well. After his forced retirement, my father wasn’t particularly cooperative explaining some of the files, so there has been considerable work figuring out exactly what is going on financially.”
    “I can only imagine.”
    The receptionist walked into the office with a tray of tea, which she placed on the desk. Karim took a sip of his black tea before he spoke.
    “There is much to do but we are no strangers to hard work,” he said.
    “Yes, indeed,” Hussain replied as he laughed.
    Both men were from powerful families. The Tazeems had their hands in oil and spices while the Sharqis had their hands in jewels. As the eldest sons, both men put the growth and prosperity of the family business before their own personal lives. They were very similar in many ways, which was why they were so close.
    “How is the spices industry these days?” Karim asked.
    “Good.” Hussain nodded and drank some of his tea.
    “And the business with my father?”
    “That is all well too.”
    Karim shook his head. “My father is a particular man,” he said. A few months ago, Karim’s father had reluctantly gone into business with Hussain and to his surprise, it had become quite profitable.
    “That may be the case; however he is a good business man.” 
    “His ways are so outdated; I was trying to decipher his old business accounts the last few weeks.”
    Hussain started laughing. “And how is that going?” he asked.
    “Not very easy, I tell you.”
    Talking about those business accounts reminded Karim of Kim. He was surprised that she had taken it upon herself to help him out with them. Even though he did not want to admit it, he was grateful. She had helped him a great deal and saved him a lot of time.
    She had surprised him when she came onto him the night before. He had never thought she was the forward type. If he did not need to be at the office early that morning, he would have made love to her again.
    The short time they had spent