Page 27 of The Sheikh’s Christmas Present

Afterward, when the sun started to set, he reached across the table and took her hand. “We have to go back,” he murmured quietly.

“I know.”

“Do you feel a little more relaxed?”

“Jarik, I’m more than relaxed. I feel charged and ready. Even optimistic. I guess I had no idea how badly I needed to let my hair down. Thank you for this.”

Leaning over, he kissed her gently. She tasted sweet and silky, and his body stirred in remembrance of how she felt. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to act on it.

He felt at peace sitting next to her, holding her hand. It felt right. Still, he couldn’t help but forget the words that she’d whispered.

I can’t.

* * *

He was in the shower when Maria woke up the next morning. She felt almost bereft when she reached over and found a cold spot where his body should have been. Yesterday and last night had introduced her to pleasures that she hadn’t even known possible.

Jarik was one talented man.

Her muscles were still sore when she pushed herself up from the bed. Her phone vibrated, and she yawned and absentmindedly grabbed it from the nightstand.

“Hello?”

“Maria?”

“Sebastian?” Wide-awake, she gasped and jolted up. “Are you okay? You better tell me that you’re in the hospital dying, or I’m going to kill you next time I get my hands on you. Why have you been ignoring my calls? Do you realize what day it is? Do you realize that I’m not in Syria? I’m stuck in Riyadh. I’m grateful for the extra toys, but I don’t understand why I had to fly here to get them. I’m panicking, Sebastian. You know how important this is!”

“Sis,” Sebastian said quickly. “Take a deep breath. Everything is okay.”

She had a few more choice words to say to him, but instead, she clenched her jaw and tried to hold her temper. Her brother could be sensitive. If she was too hard on him, he’d disappear, and she really would be doing this on her own.

“I’m calm,” she growled. “Explain.”

“I haven’t been ignoring your calls. I’ve been busy. Those extra toys are because of press releases that I’ve made recently. I flew out last night, and I’m currently at a layover. I’ll be in Syria in a few hours, and I’ll help Tessa out. You should be happy about this.”

“Okay.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Although, I’ll be happier when I’m in Syria with the toys. I should be able to fly out this morning, so I should also be there tonight.”

“Excellent. See, everything is going to be great! I’ll see you then, sis!”

He disconnected the call, and she stared at the phone. Her brother was a positive person in general, but there was something odd in his voice. Feeling uneasy, she pulled up the internet on her phone and did a quick search for the press releases that Sebastian was talking about it.

As she skimmed through the articles, her stomach did a nose dive. Sebastian was promising an expansion of the Christmas Crates deliveries to include other countries. Additional holidays, too. Easter. Thanksgiving. There was no way that they could manage deliveries on ThanksgivingandChristmas. While the flights wouldn’t be that difficult, he was promising to offer not only food but medical supplies and other basic necessities.

Feeling almost queasy, she stumbled from the bed and grabbed her laptop. Pulling up the shared documents from the charity, she did a quick search to find the newest donations that had prompted Sebastian to order new toys.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unless the two crates that she’d just picked up were filled with cash, there was no way that they contained hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of toys, and yet the inventory list claimed that the new donations had already been spent.

“This is not happening,” she whispered. “Sebastian, what are you doing?”

The door to the bathroom opened, and Maria immediately closed the laptop. The last thing that she wanted to do was alert Jarik to her new problems. He had enough of his own, and she didn’t want him to feel like he had to help her any more.

“Wow,” Jarik whispered as he stared at her. “I was all set to get back in the air again, but seeing you naked, kneeling on the floor, is making me want to stick around a little longer.”

Forcing a laugh, she stood. “Don’t get any ideas. We need to get to Syria. Now.”

“Sure.” He ran a towel through his wet hair and studied her. “You look tense. Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine. The snow has stopped, and today I’ll get to see the faces of all the children who are so excited for Christmas.”

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