Page 37 of The Sheik's Kiss

“Who is the culprit?” Zahir demanded, his voice low, lethal sounding.

“Well, I don’t know. Yet,” she said with her finger in the air. “Here are the oddities that I’ve discovered so far.” She pointed to one column of numbers. “Here’s this man’s house and a list of the renovations. Every time someone changes the structure of their home, they have to put in for a building permit.” She tilted her head. “Actually, it’s normally the contractor doing the work that submits the building permit. Most people have no idea how to submit the permits and if contractors waited for their clients to submit them to the right office, they wouldn’t get any work done. Plus, it’s an overwhelming task to submit permits. It’s an unnecessarily complicated process, but so far, no one has fixed the problem.”

“And someone in my administration has submitted multiple permits for changes to their home?”

“Actually, four of the top executives or directors, or whatever you call them, have submitted several changes to their homes but there doesn’t seem to be funding from their primary jobs to pay for those changes.”

“I pay my people very well. They have a great deal of responsibility.”

“Don’t get me started on CEO pay compared to the median income of the workers,” she grumbled. “But I’m not talking about large salary amounts. I’m talking about people who are spending four or five times their salary each year.”

His eyes narrowed and he started to say something, but she shook her head, anticipating his next comment. “Nope, they didn’t inherit any large sums of money. I always check that before I make assumptions. The other detail I check is if any member of the family is also working and if a dual income could have contributed the funding for the renovations. That’s not possible in these four cases. There is no additional funding coming in, and I’ve found secret bank accounts for all four agency heads.”

“That’s not good,” he grumbled and pulled her onto his lap. “Show me more,” he urged.

For the next half hour, Mandy explained her findings to him, showing him the bank accounts, the contracts, the estimates that she’d calculated based on the renovation permits. Zahir nodded his understanding, even asked several questions and suggested other areas in which she could investigate.

When he ran out of questions, he nodded. “You’re right. These four are suspicious.” He was rubbing her back now and she almost moaned. But before they could go down that pathway again, she jumped up and stepped out of reach. “I’m going to shower. After last night, I feel…I just need to shower.”

His eyes lit up, but he gave her a sigh. “I have a meeting that I need to attend, but I’ll have food delivered to you so that it’s ready when you get out of your shower.” He stood up as well, taking her hands in his. “Will you give me time? Will you give us time? We need to get to know each other and understand what’s happening between us.”

“Yes,” she sighed. “Although, I still have reservations.”

“Good. Then you’ll give me something to work on.” He moved closer and kissed her gently. “Dinner tonight?” he asked. “We’ll have dinner and watch a movie. And I promise to keep my hands off of you for the whole movie.”

She bit her lip and he laughed. “Or maybe I won’t,” he replied with a husky voice. “Until tonight, Habibi.”

And then he was gone. Mandy watched him walk away and she felt…happy. No, this wasn’t mere happiness. This was…beyond happy. She didn’t really have a word for what she was feeling, but Mandy was pretty sure that it had something to do with endorphins and the chemicals the body creates after incredible sex.

Whatever the reason, she felt extraordinarily good.

Now if she could only find some clothes!

Chapter 11

The next five days passed like a whirlwind. Every morning, she woke up in Zahir’s arms. Sometimes, he was kissing her awake and they would make frantic, heated love as if their very breath was at risk. And other times, he would make love to her with slow, deliberate intensity, making her scream his name.

After a shower and breakfast, Mandy would spend a few hours investigating the other agency leaders, but so far, she’d only found the four that were suspicious. The worst infractions were from the man she’d already brought to Zahir’s attention, some guy named Hasan.

And even that discovery was odd since she often saw him in the palace hallways, lingering around the administrative offices. The man was always friendly, offering her a greeting or a simple wave.

The odd part was that Mandy hadn’t noticed him walking the palace hallways before her discovery. Maybe she noticed him more often now because she regularly visited Zahir during the day. Or perhaps he was just on her mind now that she suspected him of doing something illegal with the contractors under his agency’s purview.

Either way, Mandy had done her job. She’d provided the evidence that Zahir needed.

So why was she still employed? Why wasn’t Hasan fired and in jail?

None of her business, she reminded herself as she walked back to her office.

“What’s wrong?” Raven suddenly asked, looking up from her computer. “You’ve been jumpy and…strange over the past few days. Is everything okay?”

Mandy looked up from her computer monitor, trying to hide her guilt. She desperately wanted to tell her new friend about her relationship with Zahir, but…for some reason, Mandy kept silent.

Raven was a wonderful person and, if she weren’t working for Zahir to find him a fiancée, Mandy might have confided in her.

Unfortunately, Mandy was too nervous about the budding feelings she had for Zahir. For his part, Zahir was giving her time to process what was happening between them. Raven continued to interview candidates, and Astra organized various events that allowed Zahir to meet each woman. It was odd, but Mandy actually appreciated his continued “bride search”. Every time he met a beautiful woman, he would treat her with respect, but his eyes kept moving back to her. Afterwards, he’d explain to Raven why each woman didn’t interest him.

Mandy would listen, smile, and try to suppress the warm glow of happiness she felt after each rejection.

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