Page 186 of The Skeikh's Games

On his way home, Bashir bought a bouquet of flowers. If his brothers and sisters were coming it was the sort of thing they’d expect a man to bring to the woman he was living-with-but-not-married-to. And one thing he would not give them was more fodder for the family gossip mill. He and Melinda were making things work. That was all there was to it.

He was a little early when he pulled up into their driveway—but right away he could tell that nobody was there. What’s this? Did they all park their cars somewhere else? There was no reason for that. Maybe Melinda had asked them to go somewhere. He was fifteen minutes early, after all. Or maybe they weren’t there, yet. But he knew Melinda—she’d have had them all there by three-thirty, if she told him to be at home at four.

It would give him a little time to make the tea, he decided as he parked his car and went inside. “Melinda?” he called.

The house was silent. Odd, he thought. Would she be out as well?

He put on a pot of water on to boil and went through the house. There was nobody there. That’s odd, he thought again. What could possibly be going on?

He put the bouquet in a vase and set it on the table in the living room. Not knowing what else to do, he opened the refrigerator, thinking about what he’d want to make for his siblings when they got here. Melinda had left a platter of stuffed dates in the refrigerator, so he got those out and set them out. Then the water boiled—and as he made the tea there was still no sign of Melinda or his siblings.

Now he was beginning to get nervous. Melinda was not the kind of person to lie to him about his siblings coming over. She knew what they meant to him, being the last connection to his former life. But just as he began to wonder if he should call the police, he heard her car pull up to their house. He looked out their bedroom window, and saw her get out of her car, swearing and cursing.

“Melinda,” he called, as came down the stairs. “What’s going on? Are my brothers and sisters coming over or not?”

She froze for a moment. Fear—real, genuine fear—crossed her face, making her skin go pale and her freckles stand out even more. “Melinda? What’s going on?”

She blinked, and then she put her bag down and took a small box from it—it was a velvet jeweler’s box. “It took me forever to find this,” she said. “That’s why I’m late. I’m sorry I lied about your brothers and sisters coming.”

“Why would you do that?” he demanded, irritated now. Bad enough that he’d been in a panic about her being missing. Now he had to find out that she’d lied to get him to come home. What was going on here? Was this the start of the lies and deceit that people were always talking about?

“Because,” she said, “I wanted to give you this,” she said, holding out the box.

Anger went to surprise as he took the box. It wasn’t like her to get something expensive for him, and a piece of jewelry, no less. He didn’t wear jewelry as a general rule, but perhaps it was something ceremonious—though there was nothing special about his twenty-ninth birthday that was in a few days.

The box was heavy, the kind meant for a watch, and Bashir couldn’t help but wonder why she’d bought him a new one at such great expense (it was covered in velvet, with a silver omega stamped on one side, one of the fancier watch brands) when the one he’d had for nearly a decade was still working. Surely she didn’t sacrifice getting a better van for a watch?

He opened it. Inside the box, much to his surprise, was a flat white stick with a purple cap on one end It looked like a pen, but then he realized that there were two little depressions in it, one with a cross and one with a line on it. He frowned, wondering what the hell this was, and then just as he realized what it was she jumped and said, “Yes!”

He was going to be a father. The idea seemed too big to hold—it was bursting out of him, in the tears that he was somehow crying. “Is this real?” he asked, finally. She nodded, her hand splayed on her belly. Suddenly she was no longer the woman he loved, but the mother of his child. They were going to be one in a way that he’d never realized was possible, and the flood of delight and love he felt for her made him go weak and he sat down on the floor, his heart breaking from the joy.

He hugged her—never until that moment had he realized that he could love someone so much, that it was possible for joy to hurt with the intensity of it all. “I have something for you, too,” he murmured, as he let her go.

He knelt and kissed her belly, whispering, “Hello, Ariel.” He felt almost certain that it was a girl. “I can’t wait to meet you.”

Above him, Melinda laughed, wiping away tears as she did so. “You know we still have nine months to go, right?” she said.

“Then it will be plenty of time for you to consider this,” he said, pulling his ring box out of his pocket. If there was ever a right moment to do this, it was now. “Melinda Doyle, will you do me the honor of marrying—”

“Oh Bashir, yes!” she cried.

It was strange, how everything had changed in five minutes—suddenly they were no longer man and woman, but husband and wife (to be), a father and a mother—and yet, as he stared into her eyes, he saw that nothing had changed. She was still the woman he loved.

THE END

Billionaire’s Unexpected Rival

Chapter 1

Ryder Tompkins sat at the head of the large cherry wood conference table in the largest conference room. Normally he wouldn’t pull a power move such as this because it just wasn’t his style, but desperate times and all that. The company his mother started with his step father, Edu-Tech Industries, had not been doing well for the past few quarters and as CEO it was his job to figure out why. So he needed to project power and authority, no matter what anyone at the table thought of him. Especially his step brother, Hunter. “Does anyone want to tell me why sales have been stagnant for almost a year?”

Hunter stiffened immediately, his defenses in place and ready to attack anyone who dared suggest this was his fault in any way. He stared at Ryder, who stared right back at him. “I guess this is my fault, right? You wouldn’t know a goddamned thing about bringing in new business Ryder because you spend so much time behind your precious desk!” Arms crossed defensively, Hunter arched a thick blonde brow in his direction. The gauntlet had been thrown and in front of others too.

Ryder was frustrated because, dammit, he didn’t know much about bringing in new business because his mom and Jonas had never even let him try. Hunter is the outgoing one, they said. He’s friendly and charming, let him have this. They had cajoled and manipulated until Ryder gave up and stop wanting to do it. He’d done exactly as they’d asked but not asked, which was why he stared at two quarters of dismal sales. “That may be the case Hunter, but it isn’t my job. It’s yours.” He watched the emotions play over Hunter’s mossy green eyes. Hurt and anger morphed into arrogant indifference, his default emotional setting. “Now, I’m not blaming anyone specifically,” he sent a meaningful glare to Hunter, “but we need to figure out what the problem is and how to correct it. Any suggestions?”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking.” Cressly Parker cleared his throat and spoke up. The man was as competent as they came, but he’d proven better at managing the business development department than bringing it in. “I think what we need is a marketing specialist. Hunter is doing a damn fine job, but he can only do so much to reach out to all the organizations that need our products.”

Ryder leaned in. “I’m listening.”

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