Page 20 of Sheikh's Accidental Pregnancy

“Just taking some personal time. I wanted to check in before I go.”

“Another date?”

“Another? There was never one to begin with,” he denied, but he looked guilty.

“Okay then,” Sara replied, crossed her arms over her chest, and leaned back in her chair.

Amir laughed. “Okay, it’s a date. You’re getting too good at sniffing out my social life. I’m either going to have to get better at sneaking around or just come clean.”

Sara grinned at him and wiggled her eyebrows. “Why so secretive?” she asked. He had a small smile on his face.

“She’s different from the others.”

“Don’t tell me you really like her,” Sara said. “Is this the same woman? You’re actually seeing someone more than once?”

Amir narrowed his gaze. “I like every woman. It’s her background that’s different. See you tomorrow, Sara. Have fun at El-Sultari.” Amir turned on his heel and dashed out. Just when they were getting to the interesting part of the story, he bailed. That made Sara more curious about this mysterious person, but that would have to wait.

Sara gathered all the stuff she would need and headed out, locking the door behind her. She was going to meet Malik at El-Sultari. At their meeting a few days ago, he had taken her research seriously, and Amir had given the go-ahead on visiting the field. She was excited about the inspection. Finally, she was going to be able to prove Tariq wrong.

Sara rubbed her belly as she got in the car. They hadn’t even left yet, and she was feeling carsick. She got in the back of the car and opened the window for some fresh air. Maybe it was something she ate. The yogurt she’d had for breakfast had been a day past its “best-by” date, but it had tasted fine.

She reached El-Sultari with no incidents, thankfully. She got out of the car and walked over to greet Malik, and they immediately toured the field. Sara took copious notes and photos and had Malik email her all the charts, diagrams, and data he’d collected since their meeting in the office.

She had to get this report perfect. She was not going to give Tariq the satisfaction of being right. Not after their last interaction. Even if it turned out this particular oil field wouldn’t be profitable, she wanted her data and conclusions to be flawless. But she really, really wanted her hunch about just how much oil was under her feet to be right.

Malik helped Sara with everything she needed, and they wrapped up the meeting with a toast with their plastic water bottles. Although she loved being out in the oil field, she was happy when they were done. She was not feeling her best. Whatever was wrong with her wasn’t getting any better, and she was ready to go home.

“Thank you, Malik. I owe you one,” she said as she climbed into the car.

“My pleasure, Sara.” He winked. “Tariq doesn’t know everything. I think you’ll surprise him with this report.”

She spent the next day pulling together all her information and preparing the prospectus.

Thursday morning, she marched into Amir’s office to present her findings. For the first time, she was happy to see Tariq there as well. She greeted them both.

“My report,” she said as she handed Amir and Tariq each a copy of her photos, charts, tables, and research into other fields with similar geology. She summarized the contents, including her process and the numbers, building up to her conclusion.

“Are you reaching a point?” Tariq asked impatiently. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Malik and I believe the El-Sultari field is likely to be profitable,” Sara replied. “There is probably enough oil to cover the costs of drilling, and then some.

“Probably,” Tariq emphasized.

“If you don’t want to take my word, take Malik’s. I’ve shown him all of this and he agrees with me.”

“She has a point,” Amir said. “I agreed to look into it further provided her research proved sound. You know full well that if Malik had brought us a report like this, we would jump on it.”

Tariq crossed his arms. “I want to run this by Malik before we make any decisions.”

“You don’t trust me?” Sara said.

Tariq glared at her. “I just want to be sure you’ve revealed everything. Sometimes the things we don’t think matter, do actually make a big difference. You’re new at this. You might not realize what’s important.”

Sara’s face flamed, and she bit her tongue to keep from snapping back.

“You do that, then,” she said as calmly as she could. “Malik already has a copy of the report, and I imagine he’s expecting your call. Have a good day.”

She left Amir’s office without another word. She had gotten what she wanted. She was right, Tariq was wrong, and Amir had backed her up. What could be better?

---