Page 13 of The Sheikh's Defiant Girlfriend

Fiddah and Mrs. Botros left together. Tariq’s mother had told Sara she would come over for dinner soon, and even after today’s small successful meeting, Sara was still dreading it. The only thing that calmed her down was the fact that Tariq was going to be there. Her phone buzzed again.

Amir:Should I go?

Sara:GO NOW!!!!!!!

6

Amir laughed when he read Sara’s message. He could picture her exasperation. He got up from his desk and grabbed his car keys. He could not stay away from Soraya any longer. He didn’t like that he was nervous about seeing her. Except for that one single time, she’d never reached out, and he didn’t know why. He couldn’t believe she didn’t want to see him. He’d never had to work so hard to get a woman to spend time with him, and he’d never wanted to spend time with a woman so much. The irony was not lost on him.

On his way out of his office, he bumped into Malik.

“Are you heading out?” Malik asked Amir.

“Yes, were you coming to see me?” Amir instantly felt uncomfortable. He was on his way to see Malik’s sister, and Malik knew nothing about it. He was pretty sure Malik would not approve. They’d spent too much time discussing their dating lives for Malik to be thrilled that Amir was seeing Soraya.

“It’s not urgent. I just wanted to give you a quick summary on the El-Sultari project. Everything is on schedule currently, but one of the on-site engineers is worried about the condition of some of the drilling equipment.”

“All right. Get a maintenance team out there to look it over. Better if we can prevent a breakdown before it happens. Anything else, put it in an email, and I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

If Amir didn’t get out of the office soon, he was going to miss Soraya. He wanted to catch her before she left the university so he could give her a ride home. She would almost certainly say no, but he’d figure out how to deal with that in the moment.

Amir gave Malik a friendly slap on the shoulder in farewell then hurried down to his car and sped off. The trick would be finding her on campus. He’d never picked her up from there before, and he only knew she was due to be finished with classes for the day because Malik had mentioned once that her last class ended at two o’clock. He knew where the accounting and finance building was—he’d spent his share of time there, prepping for stepping into his role in the family business—so he figured he would start there.

Amir pulled up at the curb closest to the accounting department in time to see her walking out with two guys. The building was across a plaza, but he would recognize her from a mile away. They seemed to be having a funny conversation, and she was laughing. He immediately grew jealous. It frustrated him that he couldn’t make her laugh that way. He fixed his tie and straightened his suit. A glance in the rearview mirror told him his hair was still perfectly arranged. He stepped out of the car and crossed the plaza toward her. He could feel other people’s eyes on him, but he didn’t pay them any attention. Soraya was all that mattered.

“Hey, who is that?” Soraya’s classmate Yusef said, nudging her with his elbow. “Do you know him? He seems to be heading straight for us.”

Soraya looked to where he pointed and sighed. She’d known he wouldn’t stay away for long. Maybe it was cruel to test him like she had, but she’d needed to know if he could follow instructions. And he apparently couldn’t. First, he’d come to the restaurant, and now here. If she was being honest, she was also testing herself, since she’d had to stop herself from calling him more than once since their night at the amusement park.

“Amir Botros,” she said to her companions. “He’s a pain in the neck.”

But wow, he looked good. He walked with such authority and confidence. His business suit fit him perfectly, and his smile warmed her insides in a way nothing else could. Amir stopped in front of Soraya and did not acknowledge Yusuf or Omar, who stood right next to her. Rude. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“What are you doing here?” Soraya asked him. “This is the second time you’ve turned up out of the blue.”

“I’m here to pick you up,” Amir said as he now looked at the two men. His own expression transformed from the smile he’d given her to a suspicious glare.

“Hello,” one of the guys said, putting out his hand to shake. Amir just continued to stare at him.

“Amir, you need to stop popping up like this,” Soraya said. “We made a deal.”

“I wanted to see you. I think you’re torturing me on purpose.”

Okay, he wasn’t wrong, but she’d never admit that to him. “I’ve been busy. I can’t just take any old day off from school or work the way you can. And I’m not going home yet. Yusuf and Omar and I are on our way to a study group. Exams are coming up.”

Amir reached out to take her hand, completely disregarding what she was saying.

“What are you doing?” She smacked his arm away. “You can’t just drag me away like a Neanderthal.”

“Hey, man, let go,” Yusuf said and grabbed Amir’s arm. Amir paused and looked down at the hand. Soraya sighed.Looks like a pissing contest is about to start.

“I would appreciate it if you removed your hand from me. Immediately.” Amir said softly.

“Amir, stop being an ass. If you don’t want people to grab you, you shouldn’t be grabbing other people.” Soraya put her hands on her hips. “Yusuf, let him go. None of this is okay.”

Her friend released Amir’s arm, but the tension remained. “He shouldn’t treat you like that, Soraya,” he said.

“Believe me, I’m going to make him very aware he’ll never treat me like that again.” Soraya glared at Amir until he raised his hands and took a step back. Then she turned back to Yusuf and Omar. “I’ll catch up to you. Save me a seat in the library.”

---