ROMANCE: THE SHEIKH'S GAMES: A Sheikh Romance (97 page)

He knew that, eventually, his father would demand his return to the small but wealthy peninsula of Hahmsuit to assume his responsibilities as the sheikh in waiting. That he’d pull the plug on Rahm’s “little American adventure,” as he called it, and that all of this – the nightlife, the city streets, the western culture, the freedom – would all end.

Despite how successful Platinum Dunes had become, despite all the hard work Rahm had put into succeeding on his own, despite the investments he’d made and what they meant to the royal fortune, already increasing by the day, it would never rival the billions produced by Hahmsuit’s rich and fertile oil fields, and thus always be mere “child’s play” to his father.

Thus Rahm would hang up his black jeans and V-neck T-shirts, his leather jackets and expensive running shoes, his nightclubs and his women and settle into the life of a Persian royal. His life would become routine and mundane and, eventually, he would be expected to marry the one of the daughters of a local clansman, one whose land would inevitably double, even triple, the kingdom of Hahmsuit and thus bring “real” value to the kingdom, whatever that meant. He would be expected to bear a child – a son, in particular – or keep trying until he did.

His life would become a series of meetings, of duties, of deadlines and commitments, each one steeped in the tradition of Arabic culture and rich in history, politics and religion. At that point, the identity he’d created in America – “Rahm” – would cease to exist. Only Sheikh Rahmad Farzik II would exist, the shell of what Rahm once was and a mirror image of his father. He would grow old, content, rich and fat; a good problem to have but a problem just the same. At least for Rahm, who had enjoyed his taste of American culture and wanted nothing more than to indulge in it as long as possible.

For now, that meant freedom – and freedom was in the air as Rahm strolled the bustling streets of South Beach. Neon lit the windows and rooftops of most of the hotels and nightclubs, cafes and bistros along Ocean Beach Boulevard, the main drag through town. But as he nodded to familiar doormen and hostesses, concierges and managers, none of his usual haunts appealed to him. Nor did the seedier places farther north, in Miami Beach, or just off the beaten path.

Instead he turned a different direction, away from the promise of the glittering seaside strip and toward the heart of town, where the locals worked and lived and played in this tropical paradise. Each step he took away from the ritzy neon strip along the southernmost tip of A1A made him feel more at home, a strange feeling at best since he’d originally meant to make his stay in South Beach a temporary stop along his whirlwind tour of the country’s most cosmopolitan cities.

Instead he found himself in no hurry to leave – at least, not until he beat Carly Stanton at her own game. Maybe that’s why he found himself drawn to El Tropicale, the cavernous downtown nightclub where they’d had their first encounter. Sure, it had been calculated – at least on Rahm’s part – but tonight felt more authentic and real, even natural.

Rahm felt somehow
drawn
to the neon warehouse nightclub, as if somehow connected to Carly because of it. As he nodded to the doorman and paid his cover charge, the vibrant room – not nearly as crowded as the Friday night they’d met and mingled – felt warm and familiar. Though less than half full, it throbbed with a vibrant energy, fueled in part by the six-piece band rocking out as if they were playing to a standing room only crowd.

He eased his way to the bar, covertly scoping out the crowd to see if, perhaps, Carly might already be there. She wasn’t, of course, making Rahm feel foolish for thinking they shared some magical, ESP connection. All the same, sitting in the same seat and drinking the same drink made him feel somehow at home, reminding him of how fun it had been to exchange quick, if good-natured, barbs that night. If only he’d imagined, in a million years, that she might not want to bed him at first sight, he might have been less cocky and more determined to do just that.

Instead he breezed along, expecting Carly to fall under his spell like the rest of the American women he’d loved, left and quickly forgotten.
Was that her game?
he wondered, sipping his savory, sweet mojito as he listened to the band slow down a notch to belt out a salsa-infused version of “Careless Whisper”.
Had she suspected all along his bravado would be his undoing, and let him seal his own fate? Or was she, as he’d first expected, merely playing hard to get?

If only she was here,
Rahm thought absently to himself, crunching a piece of shaved ice from his drink.
I could ask her in person…

Carly knew she’d go out that night the minute she got home from work. It was the claustrophobic feeling of her apartment, spacious and roomy as it was, that made her reach for the bottle of wine in the back of the fridge instead of her usual glass of milk or orange juice. Restless and anxious for no good reason, she opened it with somewhat trembling hands and reached for a glass too eagerly.

The expensive Chardonnay felt cool and crisp and just a little tart on the back of her tongue as she padded around her hardwood floors – well, pacing would be more like it – the day’s heels left in the foyer beneath the long wicker table where she kept her keys and stored her valise every night.

The apartment featured floor to ceiling windows along most of its living and dining room walls, which she paced in front of restlessly, the big wine glass held aloft in both hands – no longer trembling, though she was still just as restless.

It had been three long days – and even longer nights – since Rahm had walked her to the very gate of her condominium, and in all that time not a peep from him. Not an email or a text or so much as a smoke signal from the mysterious Persian with the sleek, sultry skin and intense brown eyes.

Despite not sharing her “digits” with him, she knew it was an easy enough feet for a man with Rahm’s know-how and savvy to get her “deets” – as her assistant Avery called Carly’s personal details – and track her down in less than a dozen mouse clicks.

So why hadn’t he? she wondered. Was she wrong about her negotiating tactics? Had she played just a little
too
hard to get that first night at the club? Was a man like Rahm – successful, handsome, rich beyond her wildest dreams and no doubt a male chauvinist pig thanks to his royal, Persian status – simply disinterested in any woman that dared challenge him? Was she too independent, too free-thinking, too willful and challenging to be worth the chase?

If only she had one more night with him, Carly reasoned, she might be able to ask such questions – and more. Yet like him, she was afraid to appear “weak,” let alone “needy,” by reaching out to him first.

Carly paced, silently, the only light in her apartment that of the dim bulb above her oven, left on day and night for those rare moments when she rose before the sun or stumbled into the kitchen in the middle of the night for a cool drink of water.

Outside her windows the city of South Beach glowed like a beacon, warm and sultry and throbbing and full of possibility, if only she’d awaken to its sounds and answer its call. She might as well, Carly reasoned, for all the good her brain had been doing her at work – which is to say very, very little. Distracted and sullen, quiet and reserved, feeling frustrated and rejected with each passing moment, she’d hardly made any progress on researching SoundCore, the latest tech company she’d set her sights on.

Day after day she sat in her office, peering at a glowing monitor screen, eyes blurry as she dazed in and out, trying – and failing – to concentrate on her latest acquisition target, a small but growing tech company based in Ft. Lauderdale that specialized in wireless elevator music speakers.

Though she normally loved such cutting edge technology, creativity, youth and enthusiasm, at the moment Carly could only think of one thing: the rock hard ridges, molded edges and sharp, stiff peaks of Rahm Farzik’s flawless Persian body.

Perhaps that’s why, rather than reach for the half-empty bottle when she finished her first glass of wine, she put it back in the fridge and slid back into her work heels. Grabbing her purse, she ignored her valise full of SoundCore stats and research and drifted out into the hallway instead.

Carly glanced at her hair in the hallway mirror while waiting for the elevator, halfway through with applying a new shade of lipstick when the doors opened and she stepped inside. “Careless Whisper” was playing overhead, an instrumental version but instantly recognizable, making her realize there was only one place she could go to cure her restlessness – even her curiosity – that night: El Tropicale.

She thought of getting back into her convertible Fiat for the short drive to the cavernous nightclub, then felt the sultry air embrace her and decided against it. The club was only a few blocks away and, besides, walking there might scratch her itch after all.

As she passed the funky, hip, chic bistros and cafes of her neighborhood, she thought how any one might do for a solitary – and rare – night out alone. Wine bars and dessert bars, olive bars and tapas bars, each had its own appeal and yet she strode right by, glancing at herself in the reflective glass as she wondered how her crisp linen suit and sleeveless blouse might go over in the funky, retro nightclub.

She needn’t have worried. Half-empty and cavernous, the club featured a low-key crowd consisting of locals out for a little salsa-flavored 80s music via the excellent house band and strong drinks at – by South Beach standards, anyway – reasonable prices.

She stood inside, eyes adjusting to the chaotic neon palm trees and blinking coconuts as she silently scanned the crowd. Looking for what, she had no idea. But no, that wasn’t entirely truthful – not even to herself. She knew exactly what – or, in this case, who – she was looking for and, despite herself, Carly’s heart leapt when she saw him.

Rahm, looking casual and doubly sexier in black sneakers, faded jeans and a black V-neck T-shirt, clinging to his toned torso. He was at the same spot at the bar as he’d been the first night they’d met at the club, and despite inching back into the shadows just beyond the dance floor, Carly knew she couldn’t leave. Not when she finally had the chance to chat with Rahm one-on-one.

Still, she’d need a little liquid courage before
that
could happen and, leaning against a high bistro table, she caught the eye of a handsome Latin waiter and ordered a frozen margarita – her go-to girl’s night libation. It arrived in record time – and brought a friend. “Ladies night,” the waiter explained with a leering wink before taking her cash. “Two for one.”

Carly sighed and sipped the tart concoction, realizing she’d never had dinner and the food court salad she’d eaten at her desk earlier that day could hardly qualify as “lunch” to boot. She settled for the wasabi snack mix on the table in front of her, nibbling it sparingly while sipping her drink – then drinks – eagerly.

She could watch Rahm from afar this way, the way he rarely glanced up from his drink but, when he did, seemed to be scanning the club left and right for someone.
Was it her?
she wondered, watching several scantily clad young beauties approach the sexy stud at intervals before being quickly dismissed with a polite, but efficient, turn of phrase. If only she could hear what he’d said to them, Carly wondered, halfway through her second margarita before realizing she’d be off her game if she actually finished it.

Instead, she left the change on the table for a tip and licked her lips, sauntering around the half-empty dance floor before pausing, mid-step, as Rahm turned to catch her gaze. The fleeting glance was surprising and intense, literally stopping her in her tracks before she made a quick course correction and stepped gingerly forward instead.

He seemed to smile beneath those smoldering brown eyes, watching her every move as she quickly closed the gap between them. “Fancy meeting you here,” he said, echoing his greeting upon their first meeting.

“Not so fancy after all,” she teased, reaching out coquettishly to toy with the short sleeve of his clearly expensive but casual T-shirt. “I like the new you.”

He shrugged, nodding toward the bar stool next to her with a cool, quiet confidence that impressed her. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here tonight,” he said, lips full and moist from a half-empty mojito. “Or I would have dressed up.”

“No need,” she said, sliding onto the stool and enjoying the musky rush of his cologne as she invaded his space. “I came straight from work.”

“Oh?” he asked, eyeing the nightclub as if looking for her friends. “Another bridal shower, perhaps?”

“That’s not the only time I go out, you know,” she said, the tequila strong and light and loosening her tongue. “I have quite the social life, I’ll have you know.”

He nodded to the empty seat beside her and said, “Yes, Carly, I can see that.” He flagged down a bartender while she suffered a withering blush and ordered for her: a frozen margarita.
Had he seen her after all?
she wondered as they arrived – two at the same time, courtesy of El Tropicale’s generous Ladies Night promotion.
Or was it just a lucky guess?

She hated not being able to figure Rahm out at a glance, but wondered if that wasn’t half the fun. Would she have raced out on a work night on the chance of meeting someone dull and predictable? she wondered, stirring but not sipping her drink.

“Don’t worry,” Rahm said, turning toward her on his stool as the throbbing nightclub seemed to fall away beyond them. “I’m a workaholic myself.”

“I can see that,” she teased, eyeing the more than casual attire and his own fresh drink, held high in hand.

“A reward,” he said, holding it aloft so they could toast. “For another long day in the technology trenches.”

She raised her glass after all, clinking it with his. “Hear, hear,” she said, sipping the drink at her own risk and wondering what might happen if, as Avery suggested, she quit “playing games” and simply gave into her obvious and powerful desires.

Well,
she decided firmly, peering back into Rahm’s bottomless eyes with dubious intent.
No time like the present to find out…