Page 53 of Her Irresistible Sheik
“She’s alive.Find her!”he snapped—and ended the call.
Leona leaned back in her chair, pulse racing.The temptation to track the princess’s new location was strong—she had a dozen ways she could do it.Follow the phone signals of her guards.Hack her assistant’s inbox.Set a crawler loose on the dark web.It would be relativelyeasy.
But that heavy pit in her stomach wouldn’t go away.
She stared at the screen, rubbing her forehead.
This wasn’t like the others.Nahla wasn’t a monster.She was agood person—and Clyde was trying to end her because of a damnphoto.A snapshot caught while Nahla was helping a stray puppy.
A puppy, Leona reminded herself, that was still sitting in a shelter.Unadopted.Despitetwo hundred and thirteenapplicants.That was criminal, too, in her opinion.The shelter was slow rolling the adoption process for some ridiculous reason.
No dog should be in a cage.Dogs were pure, perfect creatures.They loved, they ate, they pooped.That was their whole deal.And ninety percent of their lives were devoted to loving and protecting their humans.Which made them, in Leona’s eyes, sacred beings.
Her hands hovered over the keyboard.She wasso donewith helping people like Clyde.
She wanted out.
But first, she needed to fix this.Quickly.
Pulling up her private client tracking profiles, Leona started scanning Tavista’s palace personnel.Her goal wasn’t Nahla anymore—it was someoneinside.Someone smart enough to help her from the other side of the wall.
That’s when she found him.
Hector.
A computer tech buried in Tavista’s lower security detail.Nerdy face.MIT grad.Quiet digital footprint.But his resume?That made her eyes widen.
The guy wasgood.Almost as good as her.
Her lips curled.
This… could work.
If she played her cards right, Hector might just help her turn this whole mess around.
Chapter 32
Nahla stepped into Mikail’s office and paused, waiting.It took only a second for him to glance up from the papers he was reading.
“Did you make your phone call?”he asked, setting the papers aside.
She crossed the room, leaning forward to brace her palms on his desk.A faint smile curved her lips when she noticed his eyes immediately drop to her chest.The loose blouse she wore dipped just enough to catch his attention—she’d chosen it deliberately.Same with the bare feet and her hair left down.Mikail liked it that way.She was learning things about him.
“What happened back there?”she asked softly, locking eyes with him.
He didn’t respond at first, then gave a shrug he probably thought looked casual.But after spending nearly every moment with him for the past week, Nahla knew better.She was starting to read this grumpy, intensely private man with the dangerously quiet voice and a body made for sin.Almost.
“You said you wanted to talk to your family,” he said.“I gave you space.”
She was already shaking her head.“No.I said I needed to speak to my family.That wasn’t the problem.”Her tone sharpened.“Whathappened?”
Moving around the desk, she perched on its edge, directly in front of him.His gaze dipped to her hips.Predictable, she thought.She was counting on that.A distracted Mikail might be a more honest Mikail.
He shifted in his chair, gripping the armrests, his jaw tight.His eyes kept flicking toward the space between her knees.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Nahla.”
“You’re avoiding the question,” she countered.“Do you want me to tell my family about us?”
