The Sheikh’s Secret Child: The Karawi Sheikhs Series Book Two Read online

  Maybe tomorrow, she told herself, but when tomorrow came, she always had an excuse not to go.

  Two weeks had passed, and still there were no job prospects. She was about to despair that she’d made a terrible mistake in coming to Dubai when Mila stomped into her bedroom, took a double-fisted grip on the blankets that Liyah was using, and yanked them away. “Sahaar says that you are spending every day in that ridiculous café, reading. You could do that at home! Tonight, you’re going to the lounge—whether you like it or not. The man of your dreams could be there looking for his sheikha. Will you really keep him waiting?”

  Unable to help herself, Liyah giggled, then laughed outright. The idea that she’d meet a sheikh was absurd, but when Mila waved the green guest pass around in the air, Liyah reached up and snatched it.

  “Fine, I’ll go, but I’m not going just so I can meet a man. Most of them are overrated, anyhow,” she muttered.

  Mila rolled her eyes playfully. “But every girl is waiting for her dream man,” she said dramatically and pretended to swoon on the bed. Liyah laughed and moved just in time before her friend could fall on her.

  One of the things that had always separated Liyah and Mila was their views on men. Liyah had watched her mother struggle, no thanks to the male segment of the population. The only thing a man ever did for her was to knock her up and abandon her when he realized what having a daughter really meant.

  Liyah didn’t want that. Casual hookups had never been her thing, whereas Mila had men following her around wherever she went. Her lively friend was comfortable around the attentions of men, but Liyah knew that she’d never find what she wanted.

  The type of love that Liyah dreamed about didn’t exist. A soul mate, the type of connection that she could feel down in her bones, was a thing of the past. Technology had made dating impersonal, and impersonal relationships were the result. Sure, some turned into marriages, but it was more the status of being married that drove the relationship and not that soul-shattering love that Liyah had read about in books.

  But that was fiction, and this was the real world.

  Grab your copy of The Sheikh’s Pretend Fiancée

  (Sharif Sheikhs Book One) here.