ROMANCE: THE SHEIKH'S GAMES: A Sheikh Romance (90 page)

Ori massaged shampoo through her hair fantasizing that his strong hands were moving over her wet body, caressing, loving. It had taken all of her self-control not to sleep with him last night.
Call him upstairs
. Ori frowned at herself and shut the water off, drying herself quickly and dressing with the spare clothes she always kept here for emergencies.

She was drying her hair with a towel as she went downstairs. A steaming cup of coffee was waiting for on the counter and she saw Milo, his back turned to her, flicking through a magazine.

When he turned and she saw what he was reading, her heart nearly failed. An old issue of
Rolling Stone
. Milo, grinning delightedly, held it up.

“I thought you looked familiar. You’re Astoria Vine.”

Ori stared at him in abject dismay, sure of one thing.
I have to end this now.

It was time to say goodbye to Milo Shaw.

***

Milo was confused. Confused and hurt. Ori had completely shut him down, whisked the magazine from his hands and stood, quivering with something he couldn’t define. Anger? Fear?

“What? What is it?”

But she had just shook her head. “Please, Milo, you need to go now.”

“Ori..”

“Please.” And the way her voice had broken made his own heart thud with sadness.

Now, he sat in his office, he felt a jolt of irritation. What did she think he would do now that he knew who she was? She obviously didn’t want it to get out, which was fine by him, but the way her beautiful face had completely closed down…he picked up the phone. He’d snagged her number when she was in the shower, had even sent her a message while she was naked – man, the temptation –
Next time, invite me in…
He’d thought it a funny joke at the time.

The phone rang six times before she answered. “Ori?”

Silence. “I can’t talk, Milo, I’m sorry.”

“Now, wait…what the hell happened? We were having a good time then you just…” He sucked in a deep breath. Calm down. “Look, Ori…it makes no difference to me who you were, it’s who you are now that concerns me.”

Ori sighed. “Look, Milo, it’s just…with the business you’re in…I’ve managed to build a life here for me and Yasmin, a life where nobody interferes or pressures me to do things I don’t want to do.”

“Ori, what on earth makes you think any of that would happen? As far as I’m concerned, we’re just two people getting to know each other. Give us a chance, Ori. Trust me when I say no-one will be any the wiser.”

She was quiet for a long time. “I don’t know.”

Milo felt the sting of her hesitation but pressed on. “Look…let me bring you lunch at the shop and we can talk. No strings?”

Another long silence then “Okay.”

Milo sighed with relief. “I’ll be there at twelve.”

***

“You’re an idiot,” Yasmin shoved the last piece of leftover pizza in her mouth and glared at her sister. Ori glared back but inside she felt…she
was
an idiot. So what if Milo knew who she was? Did she really expect to meet someone who would never know? Truthfully, the thing that scared her was his job. Did she really know him well enough, trust him enough not to exploit her?

“He’s coming over later. We’ll talk but I’m not promising anything.”

Yasmin rolled her eyes. “Jeez. You need to get laid, sis, you’re way too uptight.”

“Thank you for the advice,” Ori pushed the thought of Milo’s skin against her own away. Complication. Very, very nice complication. “Look, Yas, just…don’t pressure me, okay?”

Yasmin sighed and jumped from her seat on the counter. “I’m just saying, don’t throw something – or someone – away before you test the waters. I understand your reticence, I really do.”

Ori smiled at her fondly and tugged one of her sister’s long braids. “When did you get so smart?”

“Brown.” Yas flashed her a smile. “Thanks to you. Not everything from that time was bad, Ori, it paid for this place, after all. Just because Milo knows who you are, doesn’t mean you have to go back to that life.”

After Yas had gone, Ori flitted around the bookstore, helping customers, dusting the shelves. Her mind, however, was fixed on the night she’d nearly ended it all. She’d always told Yas that it was the endless touring, the lack of privacy, the peer pressure to be a party girl. What she hadn’t revealed to anyone was the incident in the hotel bathroom. Lyon’nel (and yes, that
was
how he spelled his name), the lead singer of her support band, had cornered her. He’d always given her the creeps and she’d avoided him as best she could, without trying to appear aloof and now he’d gotten her where he wanted her. Ori swallowed back a wave of nausea as she recalled his hands on her, her struggle to get away from him…she’d rammed her knee hard into his groin and slipped past him but the damage was done.
Never again,
Ori thought now
, never.

Milo arrived at noon and she closed the door after him, locking it and flipping the sign. She felt awkward now with this man in whose arms she’d spent a night. What made it worse is that he looked
gorgeous
. Gorgeous and more than a little pissed. Ori took a deep breath in.

“I’m sorry. I freaked out.”

“Yes.”

Okay, straight shooter. Ori looked down at her hands for a moment then met his gaze. “I walked away for a reason – actually, several reasons. I don’t want any of that life back. None of it. Astoria Vine doesn’t exist anymore, Milo and I…”

Milo took two long strides and swept her up into his arms, covering her mouth with his, pressing his lips against hers so fiercely she thought she might pass out. His strong hands holding her so tightly, she melted into the embrace, her fingers stroking his hair.

Breathless, they broke apart and gazed at each other. “That,’ Milo said, his big chest heaving for air, “That right there is the only thing that matters. The only thing.”

And in that moment, Ori Herd fell in love.

***

Yas fixed him with a beady eye. “This is the part where I tell you not to mess with my sister or you’ll have me to deal with. Now, I realize you’re built like a Sasquatch so you probably think you could win but I play dirty.”

Milo grinned at her. “You do, do you?”

“Oh yes.”

“Shut up, Yas, you brat,” Ori called from the kitchen. She appeared then, carrying three plates loaded with pasta. Yas and Milo fell on them gratefully.

She had officially been dating Milo for a week now and so far, she would never have known he worked in the music industry. They talked about music, of course, but in the terms of who they loved to listen to, which bands and singers they had in common – Pearl Jam, Tom Waits, Prince – and they spent one entire date sitting on the floor of her apartment playing records on her ancient turntable.

So far, Milo had been a perfect gentleman, but Ori knew that he wanted more. She knew because so did she; they had kissed, passionately, stroked each other’s skin, had even gotten to the inside-the-underwear part (before a returning Yas had quickly had them scrambling to cover themselves up).

Tonight, though, Yas was making herself scarce. There was an air of anticipation in the small apartment and when, after supper, Yas gave them a knowing wave and disappeared, Ori suddenly became nervous. Milo grinned at her.

“Alone at last.”

He pulled her down on the couch next to him. “Dinner was amazing, thank you.” His lips brushed hers tasting of tomato and basil. Her heart was thumping out a staccato beat, her palms suddenly felt very sweaty.

She opened her mouth to speak when Milo smiled at her. “I want to take you out to dinner tomorrow night, my favorite place in the city.” He named a place and she nearly balked – it was one of the most exclusive in the city. Milo was watching her carefully.

“My treat,” he said. “I like to think of myself as an enlightened man but sometimes, let a guy treat his girlfriend.”

Girlfriend? Wow.
Ori tried not to grin. “Deal.”

Milo leaned over to kiss her, and as it grew in intensity, he pulled her onto his lap, wound his arms around her waist. “Ori…”

She hushed him with her mouth and got up, holding out her hand. Milo took it and followed her into her bedroom. They took their time, peeling each other’s clothes off slowly, exploring every curve, every inch of the other’s skin. Milo’s body was unreal…his arms thickly banded with muscle, his shoulders wider than her waist, his broad chest, a faint smattering of dark hair that covered his pecs trailing down to the deep vee of his hips. Ori felt tiny, vulnerable as she stood naked in front of him but he kissed every part of her as if in wonder. His lips trailing across her belly and she felt her senses quicken. Milo scooped her onto the bed, covered her body with his.

“You are so lovely, Ori, every part of you…”

She curled her legs around his waist, the way he was looking at her giving her a confidence she’d never felt before. “I want you so much, Milo.”

His hand slipped between her legs and caressed her and in turn, she touched him, stroking and feeling him thicken. Milo kissed her deeply and as he entered her, Ori felt her whole body react, pressing against him, wanting more, needing his skin against hers. The gentle rocking of their lovemaking grew more intense and they moved together as if they were made for each other, their eyes locked on the other’s, green on violet, skin damp with sweat, hot delirious pleasure vibrating through their bodies.

As she climaxed, Ori whispered his name over and over and he smiled, moaning as he came, kissing her neck, her throat, her breasts. Afterward, they lay, wrapped in the other, kissing tenderly. Milo smoothed the damp hair away from her forehead.

“Ori Herd…I wish I found you years ago. I can’t believe I spent nearly forty years on this planet without you.”

She grinned a wicked smile. “Well, when you think that, just remember…for most of those forty years, I wasn’t born.” She shrieked with laughter as he tickled her in mock outrage. He moved on top of her again and she sighed as he kissed her. He smiled down at her.

“You tired?”

“Not even slightly.”

Milo grinned as he made his way down her body. “Good…because we’re going to do this all…night…long…”

***

Milo sat in his office, the door closed and the best-selling and
only
album by Astoria Vine playing in his headphones. He wanted to feel close to her, even while he was at work, and although he had already a ton of pictures on his phone, he wanted to hear her voice…and
what
a voice.

Her singing voice mirrored her low, gruff speaking voice, the depth of tone in it was extraordinary and the range of it –
jeez
– he struggled to find the superlatives. What took it beyond a good voice, though, was the way it would break, almost a sob at the song’s most emotional parts. Astoria Vine felt every emotion and conveyed them as she sung; he was reminded of
Purple Rain,
Prince’s masterpiece or Eddie Vedder’s voice on
Alive.
The album concluded with a cover of Tom Wait’s
Jersey Girl
– and he loved that she didn’t change the gender of the song.
I’m in love with a Jersey Girl
….
damn
, it sent chills through his entire body.

He didn’t even realize Brandt was in the room until his advisor pulled one of the headphones away from his ear.

“Hey, you listening to me?”

Milo, startled out of his reverie, glared at Brandt. He’d known Brandt for ten years, had poached him from another company to come run his music division. The two men had gotten along fine but Brandt’s intense ambition had stopped Milo from ever forming an out of work friendship with the man. Milo knew Brandt would work twenty-four hours for the business but also knew, that if it suited his agenda, Brandt would have no compunction about dropping Milo like a stone. He sighed now as Brandt snuck a look at Milo’s mp3 player.

“Astoria Vine, huh? Jeez, if we could get an artist like that, I’d die a happy man.”

Milo looked amused despite his unease at hearing Ori’s old name in Brandt’s mouth. “Well, if we keep trawling in the pool of Disney and Nickelodeon kids for our music stars…”

“Hey, those kids make up seventy-five percent of our business, Milo. And it’s a rapidly diminishing pool. Download and streaming sales are down. Majorly down.”

Milo shrugged – he’d heard this all before. “Brandt, I keep telling you, touring is the only place musicians make money now. We need to concentrate on signing actual talent instead of human Barbie dolls and boy bands whose shelf life is less than the average Twinkie.”

Brandt was wearing his favorite expression – the patronizing
mr-billionaire-has-no-idea-about-the-real-world
face that made Milo irritated and tense. Whose company
was
this? He still remembered why he set up the company to begin with – his love of music. It had ruled his life since he was a kid, the one thing he could always, always count on. He still remembered hearing Bowie for the first time, going through the racks of his local independent music store for bargains with the money he earned from chores. Heck, he still got excited by new artists, Florence and the Machine, Adele, John Legend – why wasn’t Brandt bringing those gems to him?

He asked him straight out and Brandt again wore the supercilious smile of the shark. “Because, Milo, we’re not big enough. We haven’t got the showpiece artists on our roster.”

“Whose fault is that?”

“This is a business, Milo. I go with what I know will sell.”

“And to hell with the quality?”

“Bring me an Astoria Vine and we’ll talk.” Brandt got up to leave. “Until then, let me run the business that made
you
a billionaire, Milo.”

He stalked out leaving Milo annoyed and belligerent. He pressed the intercom. “Dan? I need an hour, no interruptions okay?”

“Sure thing.” Dan, his p.a., was his usual easy-going self.

Milo stuck the headphones back on his ears as he opened his laptop and typed in
Astoria Vine
into a search engine. He figured it wasn’t spying if Ori said she wasn’t Astoria Vine anymore, was it?

Was it?

***

Ori looked around the restaurant feeling very, very exposed. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t experienced this luxury lifestyle when she was Astoria, she just thought that was all behind her and truth be told, all night, she had been worried someone might recognize her. She looked totally different of course, but her eyes always gave her away if someone looked too close. She’d kept her glasses on deliberately, even if they didn’t quite go with the dress she was wearing. The delicate pink showed off the dark olive of her skin, the tiny seed beads on the bodice throwing small sparks of light onto her skin. Milo, to her amusement and embarrassment, took a double-look when she opened the door to him.