Sheikhs of Al-Dashalid: The Complete Series Read online

  “Yes. I want it to be a success for you. And I want to be by your side, but I also need to prioritize Elite Occasions—” Catelyn shook her head. “I’m going to have to go to New Jersey straight from Texas.”

  “We’ll see if you’re up to it,” Rami said.

  “I’ll be the judge of that.” Catelyn joked, but Rami’s expression was serious.

  “Hang on.” He climbed out of bed and went to find his phone in the armchair. He powered it up, his focus coming to life the moment the screen lit up his features. Rami seemed to be scrolling through message.

  He scoffed. “Issam…”

  “What did he do?”

  Rami came to the side of the bed and showed Catelyn the latest message from Rami’s brother. It read, “Your wife doesn’t like people who slack off and miss multiple meetings in a row. You also missed our security check meeting.”

  Rami turned the phone back in his direction and fired off a quick text.

  “What’d you say?

  “I said I’ll be right there.”

  Another message from Issam came in. With a roll of his eyes, Rami let Catelyn read this one too.

  “Better hurry, brother mine,” Issam had written. “You’re going to lose this deal and your girl if you don’t get back to work.”

  Catelyn laughed.

  Rami didn’t.

  15

  “You want me to wear this?”

  Rami held the hat away from his body, trying to picture exactly how ridiculous it would look.

  Catelyn watched him, her blue eyes sparkling. “It’s a mini rodeo. Everyone will be wearing something similar, I promise you. If you don’t look the part, it’ll only stand out. And attract the wrong kind of attention from Lydia.” Her phone buzzed again. Since the plane had touched down in Texas, the device had been pinging nonstop with texts and calls. Rami noticed the way she paused, catching herself, and looked him in the eye. “If you really don’t want to wear it, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

  “Answer your messages,” he told her.

  She closed the distance between them, rising on tiptoe to press a kiss to his lips. “I’ll be right back.”

  Catelyn moved lightly to the door of the suite they were sharing at Lydia’s estate. As it closed behind her, Rami heard her say, “Mom? What’s up? No, I’ll see everyone at the party—”

  Her voice trailed off as she went down the hall.

  Rami turned and surveyed himself in the mirror. There was no way anyone would mistake him for a cowboy, ever. But Catelyn was right. He needed to prove to Lydia that he was willing to play her game. He needed to charm her. And if wearing this stupid hat would do it—

  He put it on, feeling instantly embarrassed. He stuck his hands in his pockets and stared himself down in the mirror, trying to shove away his embarrassment and focus on the positives. The hat fit his head, at least. It wasn’t too big or too small. That was all he could dredge up. He left it on for as long as he could stand it before sweeping it off and putting it gently on one of the side tables.

  The minutes ticked by, empty without Catelyn, and Rami felt a stab of irritation. This was supposed to be something they were tackling together, and it seemed as if she’d been consumed with other people since they’d stepped off the plane. She couldn’t walk five feet on the estate without someone stopping her to congratulate them on their marriage or ask her about her business. Rami appreciated the good wishes, but that’s never where they ended. Everyone wanted some of her time. Everyone wanted a picture.

  Catelyn’s mother had played more than a supporting role in that department. Even from the middle of the ocean, she’d managed to get the word out. Rami hadn’t fully understood how much one woman could affect the social atmosphere until so many people in the States had proven themselves to be intimately acquainted with his recent nuptials. When he’d asked Catelyn about it, she only replied, with a shake of her head: “My mother.”

  The door to the suite opened, and Catelyn rushed in, blonde hair loose around her face. “I’m sorry that took so long,” she said, giving Rami an apologetic smile. “First my mom called, and then—”

  “Hasn’t she called three times today?”

  Catelyn tossed her phone onto the bed and hustled into the bathroom. The opening event of the negotiations weekend was a mini rodeo followed by a true Texas-style dinner in Lydia’s ballroom, and all the calls and texts had eaten up most of the time they had to get ready.

  “Yes. For some reason, even though she’s supposed to be on her honeymoon, she still feels the need to guide me through this event. I told her I’d be busy the rest of the evening.”

  “Honeymoon?”

  “Didn’t I tell you? She and my dad got married. Again.”

  “I didn’t know they were divorced.”

  “You never can tell with my parents.”

  “They didn’t invite you to the wedding?”

  Catelyn came out from the bathroom wearing a pair of jeans that were scandalously skintight and rose up over the curve of her hips, accentuating her bare waist. The sight of her breasts in a lacy bra made Rami’s mouth water, and she must have seen his expression change because she gave him a wicked grin.

  “It was apparently on the boat at the beginning of the cruise.” She made her way across the hotel room, swaying her hips, and went to the closet. “Are you ready for a surprise?”

  “I hope the surprise involves you taking off those pants.”

  She shook her head, still smiling, and brought a shirt out of the closet. “Look.”

  It was a Texas-style shirt, short-sleeved, but it was made of bright fabric from the dressmaker’s shop in Al-Dashalid. The sight of it thrilled him in a way he never would have expected.

  “Want to see it on?” Before he could answer, Catelyn was putting her arms through the sleeves and drawing the top button closed. Rami could see instantly that the shape of it was going to drive him mad with desire all night.

  He didn’t let her get to the second button.

  “That’s enough,” he said, closing the distance between them.

  Catelyn’s eyes went wide. “You don’t like the shirt?”

  “I love the shirt,” he growled. “Keep it on while I—” He undid the button of her jeans and slipped his hands underneath, using the fabric of her panties to draw her close so he could kiss her. She tasted like sweetness and mint, and her lips parted for his with a little gasp. He pulled himself away. “I was going to ask you to look over the dossiers for the negotiations, but—”

  Catelyn’s arms went around his neck, and then her palms settled on his shoulders as he sank to the floor, taking her jeans—and her panties—to her feet. He stripped them off and threw them to the side.

  The open shirt with the bra beneath it was killing him slowly, and when he stood again he was too rock-hard to think about the bed. Catelyn pounced, diving in for another kiss, and he lifted her into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist. He braced her with one hand while he undid his belt and shoved his pants down. The moment his thickness made contact with Catelyn’s hot slit, she bucked against him.

  Rami felt wild. He needed to claim her—take back the time, somehow, that they’d had to spend apart that day. With his lips pressed to her shoulder he backed her up to the wall of the suite, pinning her there. She wriggled against him, trying to take him in, but he held himself back, kissing her, teasing her.

  “This is how I’ve felt all day,” he murmured into her ear. “Waiting for you to come back from all those other people…”

  “That was obviously a mistake,” Catelyn gasped. “I should—I should never have…” She let out a moan that was pure frustration. “Rami, don’t make me—”

  “Don’t make you what? Make you wait? Turnabout is fair play…”

  “It’s not fair.” Her blue eyes were shaded with lust. “It’s dirty.” Then a smile spread across her face. “And I like it that way…”

  Her hips found the perfect angle, and Rami let her slide home
, connecting with such a deep thrust that it forced the air from Catelyn’s lungs. “Oh—”

  “I love it when you sound like that.” The words slipped from his mouth unbidden, all his senses captivated by the wet, tight feeling of her along his shaft. He pumped in a hard, furious rhythm, and Catelyn held on. He could tell by her pulses and clenches that she was already close. Her breath hitched, hitched—

  As she exploded around him, Rami caught her cries in his mouth, devouring them, and he came hard, the tension releasing with his orgasm. His mind went perfectly blank and clear. Catelyn pressed her lips, hot and soft, against the side of his neck.

  “Your heart is beating so fast,” she whispered, a little laugh following it.

  He let her slide slowly to the floor, then dragged his fingers to the place where her pulse beat at the side of her neck. “So is yours.”

  “We must be made for each other,” Catelyn whispered, eyes dancing.

  “We must be.”

  “We must be—” Her eyes flew to the clock on the bedside table. “On time for the rodeo! Rami!” She scolded him as she scrambled for her clothes, running back into the bathroom to paint on those jeans for the second time. He watched her go, the round curve of her ass delicious as she ran. A moment later, he heard the water running. “Aren’t you coming?” she called.

  “Where?” He reached for his pants.

  “Into the shower,” she said, and his entire body hummed with pleasure and confidence. “We don’t have much time…”

  “I wouldn’t waste it.” Rami followed her then, stripping off his clothes and climbing into the hot stream with her. With Catelyn smiling up at him, he felt ready to conquer the party.

  No—the world.

  16

  It was going so well. Catelyn took a sip of the most delectable cocktail she’d ever had in her life, savoring it while she listened to Rami talk to a couple—Mr. and Mrs. Corbin—who were at the top of the food chain in the little town where Lydia owned her estate.

  “I’ve found that scarcity plays quite the role in any business,” he said, looking Mr. Corbin in the eye. “So many things are made precious by the fact that they are so unique.” He looked at Catelyn when he said this, and she felt her cheeks heat up in spite of herself.

  “You’re too much,” she told her husband with a grin, then turned her attention to Mr. and Mrs. Corbin. “It was so good to see you here,” she said. They’d been talking about the Corbins’ restaurant chain for the perfect amount of time. Rami glanced at her again, and she felt the question in his eyes—time to go? She gave him a tiny nod, accepted another round of congratulations from the Corbins, and let him lead her away.

  “When did you have time to study?” she asked him in a low voice.

  He laughed. “Study?”

  “You know everything about these people. I can feel all that knowledge simmering beneath the surface.”

  Rami’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t feel that I’m overdoing it.”

  “No,” she said quickly. “You’re not. I’m just…impressed at how much local knowledge you have.”

  “I wouldn’t have any of it if it weren’t for you.” Rami put a hand on the small of her back and steered her toward an opening in the crowd. “You made it pretty clear that Lydia likes to be noticed and praised. Praise means nothing if it’s without context.”

  “So you taught yourself the complete context.”

  “Not entirely. I had you to help.”

  Catelyn felt warm and contented as they made their way through the ballroom, taking a breather from the last round of conversations. Rami hadn’t been nearly so awkward at this event. He was really listening to her—when she put her hand in the crook of his elbow and gave him the gentlest squeeze, he deftly wrapped up conversations or steered them in a new direction.

  She was proud.

  Catelyn had braced herself for another repeat of the night she’d first met Rami, but there had been surprisingly little for her to do, other than make excuses when it was time to move on to the next person. Otherwise, he was collected and under control. He was Sheikh Rami, but with an openness that he hadn’t had before.

  A bell rang, loud and clear, and a deep male voice announced that it was time for dinner.

  The volume of conversation in the ballroom rose as people turned and made their way to the round tables, this time decked out in a rodeo theme. Each centerpiece was made from a miniature saddle.

  “How does she think of these things?” Catelyn mused as they sat down.

  “I’ve heard,” Rami answered in a low voice. “That our hostess, in fact, hires the best event designers in Texas.”

  “Don’t let her hear you say that,” Catelyn warned with a smile. “But she would be happy to hear that you know she never settles for second-best.”

  Two other couples joined Rami and Catelyn at the table. One couple was about their age, and Catelyn knew the woman—Rachel—from the beginning of her internship with Morris International.

  “I didn’t know you were married,” Rachel said, eyes shining, after the two women had greeted each other and introduced their husbands. “How did I miss that?”

  “It was fast,” Catelyn admitted. “I didn’t…announce it beforehand.”

  “You should have.” Rachel was newly married herself—Catelyn had attended her wedding a year ago last spring, just before she’d started her planning business—but she looked at Rami from beneath her eyelashes and lowered her voice. “He is delicious.”

  “He really is. What have you and Jason been up to? I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t checked in as much as I meant to.”

  Rachel’s eyes lit up. “We bought a house!”

  “Show me immediately,” Catelyn demanded, and Rachel pulled her phone from her purse.

  She got so caught up in looking at photos of the cutest house in all of Texas that she forgot to listen to Rami. As Rachel scrolled to the last photo, it was as if his voice snapped back into range like a radio catching a signal. Rami was laughing.

  “Oh, no,” he was saying. “Our distribution model was optimized years ago. I have a team of people dedicated to researching it. But we plan to emphasize our in-house refinery technology when it comes time to partner with new distributors.”

  Catelyn looked up from Rachel’s phone. She’d been so excited to see her friend that she hadn’t registered the second couple.

  And it was Micheal and Elizabeth Granger, Texas oil barons.

  They were Rami’s direct competitors.

  “I wish I had an entire team of people to research wedding trends,” she said, knowing even while the words were escaping her that it was a totally abrupt way to break into the conversation.

  Elizabeth Granger turned her big gray eyes on Catelyn, a little smile playing at the corners of her lips. “If I’m remembering correctly, you work for a bridal magazine?”

  “Actually—” Elizabeth Granger was close enough to Lydia to know that Catelyn was in the planning business, not the journalism business, but never mind all that. “I started an event planning company in New Jersey. And technically I do have a small team of people working with me, but there’s only so much—”

  “Catelyn—” Rami let a hint of irritation show in his voice.

  “—there’s only so much outside research we can do when we’re busy making sure events run smoothly,” Catelyn finished. She’d long since lost Michael Granger, who’d looked back down at the steak on his plate.

  At their side of the ballroom, a six-piece ensemble that had been hired for the occasion struck up a lively tune, and all around her, people got up to dance.

  “Oh, Rami, let’s go.” Catelyn stood up and took his hand, insisting through her grip that he follow her.

  “I’d love to continue this,” he said over his shoulder as she pulled him away from the table. Far, far away. Far enough that they found themselves on the dance floor just as a slower song began to play.

  Rami stepped automatically into position, his h
and on Catelyn’s waist, his other hand holding hers lightly. He frowned at her as he moved them around the dance floor.

  “I didn’t know you could dance so well,” Catelyn said.

  “What happened back there?” His eyes flashed. “I was getting along with them very well.”

  Catelyn swallowed hard. “You were revealing your negotiation strategies to a direct competitor.”

  Rami’s eyebrows flew upward. “What? That was Michael Porter.”

  “That was Michael Granger and his wife Elizabeth.”

  Rami pressed his lips together into a thin line. “Ah. So that was your way of rescuing us from imminent disaster?”

  “That’s exactly what that was.” Catelyn laughed. “I had to take a page from your book to do it, though.” She shook her head. “That was not the smoothest conversation I’ve ever held in my life.”

  “It wasn’t so bad. All in all, I’d declare that a success.”

  The song changed, getting a little faster, and couples all around them stepped apart. Rami only grinned down at her. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready for what?”

  In answer, he stepped right into the beat, swirling her around the entire outside of the floor, steering her so expertly that she never had to think about where they were going. She felt the music through the palms of his hands as much as she heard it with her ears, and she laughed out loud in delight. “What is this? Your way of proving that you’re utterly in control?”

  “I am utterly in control.” Rami’s eyes heated. “Didn’t I prove that to you earlier?”

  “You proved it once.” Catelyn was breathless, her heart beating in a rapid rhythm. It was so much more pleasant than the jagged way it beat when she saw him approaching another fumble in a conversation. She hadn’t even been looking for it with the Grangers—she’d been that confident. Now, in Rami’s arms, she felt that confident again. How could she not? He was so good at dancing that she let herself relax into it.

  “Was that not enough?” Rami’s voice was low and smooth, and she wanted more of it. She wanted more of this assertive version of him who pressed her up against the wall and claimed her right there.