Seduced By The Bad Boy Sheikh: A Royal Billionaire Bad Boy Romance (17 page)

"
Y
ou see
; we've been seeing each other for some time now. He and I have been dating, but I didn't know about you. We've been...intimate on large number of occasions, but that was when I didn't know about you," I continued. Clara just kept staring at me.

"I'm going back home to Los Angeles, but I guess I just wanted to come clean to you before I left," I concluded, looking at her expectantly.

Clara looked at me a long time.

I had a feeling that this wasn't going to be pretty.

That’s when I heard Aziz on the television. A voice came out from the other room,
"Ladies, and gentlemen, I will have a prepared statement, after which I will not take any questions..."

I grimaced to myself. This was the absolute wrong timing for this to be happening. She had had the television on when I had come in but it had been tuned to a classical music streaming channel on Netflix.

How was I to know that Aziz was going to take over every single airwave?
I thought to myself.

Clara looked to the other room. "That Aziz, you mean?" she asked.

"For the last several years, I have been harboring a very close secret that has been eating me alive. It's caused me to act out in ways that many of you are familiar with..."

"Yeah," I respond back with a sigh. "That Aziz."

"You'll all know that I was in Afghanistan several years ago. What many don't know, through my own instructions at the time, was that I was placed within the elite commando unit known at the time as Special Force Team 4."

Listening to Aziz, Clara started to get tears in her eyes. I figured it was because I was sitting there, but she looked at me when I shifted, a bit uncomfortable at the awkward situation.

"Please, excuse me," she said. "It's just hearing about Afghanistan still gets to me."

I nodded, pretending I understood why it would do that.

"Anyways," she said, trying to drown out the television. "You were saying Aziz asked you to marry him, and you wanted to, um, come clean to me about it?"

I nodded.

She shrugged once and looked at me. "Excuse me, Miss Ewing, I'm not trying to be rude, but why would I care?"

Okay, that definitely surprised me.

She's taking it better than you took it when Lady Nadia told you about her,
I thought to myself. We sat in silence for a moment, listening to Sheikh Asshole over the television in the other room.

"But from where I was sitting, I didn't feel like I had done anything. Because I lost someone under my command. He never made it out of the valley, and it was because of my orders. He died, protecting us. He died, protecting me. I had to make the call, to protect the rest of the unit. I wasn't in his location, otherwise I would have been the one that stayed behind. But all I could do was radio the order."

I became even more puzzled as the last statement brought a giant tear to roll down Clara's cheek.

That's the faraway look he always gets!
my brain shouted to me!

Oh my God. All of a sudden I realized what was going on. Why Clara was crying now quietly on the sofa. Why Aziz tried for so long to drown himself in alcohol and women.

"His name was Anwar Hussein, perhaps my best friend in the world."

Clara let out a wail and brought her hands to her face, crying.

I sat there, stunned. Aziz wasn't thinking about how he was cheating on me when he looked like he was a million miles away. He was thinking back to the war. And losing his best friend.

"I got that after the war,"
he had told me, pointing to his tattoo of a skull with two guns.
"I was in a bad place. I could never forget my mate. This helps me never forget, no matter what."

It all hit me like a ton of bricks being let loose on my head. Aziz was never lying to me. This past, which he was putting out there in public for everyone to know was what he had been running from. The loss of his best friend. The shame that he tried to protect the woman and child that his best friend loved from.

"I have been supporting and ensuring that Clara and Andrew Kane are taken care of, but as of this day, I will officially ask Parliament to recognize them as part of the House of Hussein in recognition for Anwar's valor."

Clara was quietly crying on the sofa. My heart went out to her and I moved over to sit next to her, wrapping my arms around her and putting my head on her shoulder. She gripped my hands tightly.

I could feel her sobs subsiding and eventually she sat up straight. I looked at her to see if she needed anything.

"It's been less and less that I get carried away, and I've gotten better at managing it," she told me. "But sometimes it still hurts."

I nodded, too shell-shocked to say anything more than, "I am so sorry for your loss, Clara."

She nodded and smiled. I continued on, thinking more to myself, "If anything ever happened to Aziz..."

Clara gripped my arm. "But it won't dear," she said tightly. "That man has saved me and my boy. And you've saved him. Look at him right now. Look at what he's doing for you!"

I listened.
"That I care for her first, before all else. That I will protect her and be with her. Even if it means stepping down from the crown,"
Aziz was announcing.

Now it was my turn to have my eyes brimming with tears. After everything I had accused him of. After walking out on him during dinner. This was just how much my Sheikh loved me.

Clara was smiling at me. "You have to take a chance, Miss Ewing," she said. "You came here thinking I was sleeping with your man. He went on television to lay his soul bare to be with you. You and he sound and act as if you were meant to be with each other. Without knowing it, you’re both trying to salvage your love."

"...but I am here today to tell the world that I love her with a love that no one will ever be able to chisel. That no one will ever be able to tarnish. And I plan on ending this statement now to ask her to marry me. Again."

Now it was Clara's turn to smile, looking at me as if her sadness had been forgotten and wiping away my tears of happiness as they rolled down my face. I couldn't believe it.

Our parents were okay with us.

We no longer had to hide.

We could get married. We could have a family.

"Looks like you're going to say yes," Clara said in a tear laugh. I laughed out loud to her and we hugged. Not because I knew her. But because I was so happy and so relieved that I felt I would burst.

* * *

T
here were actually quite
a number of people following the Royal Motorcade cheering him on by the time Aziz arrived at Clara's house. I was looking out from Clara's second floor window, having gotten myself cleaned up and ready, and it looked like half the country was following Aziz.

The cars stopped and Aziz got out. I saw his tall form bound across and to the door and heard the doorbell. Clara gave me a thumbs up as I went downstairs, my heart beating in my throat.

I opened the door and saw him looking at me. He had a smirk.

"Natalie," he said. Just saying my name was enough to make my knees weak. He got down on one knee. "I love you with all my heart, darling, and I will tell you everything you ever want to know about fucking anything."

I smiled. He continued. "Clara is my best mate's girl. Her and her boy are his, but they never married and my mate was a noble..."

"Aziz," I said, interrupting him. "I saw you on television. I heard the whole thing. It was kind of hard to miss hearing you, apparently you were on every television and radio channel. I'd guess even televisions that were off were carrying you - which doesn't surprise me."

He smirked that trademark smirk at me. "Go big, love, or go bigger."

Well, he’s definitely bigger…

He was still on his knees when he pulled out the ring. It was beautiful and I felt tingles go up my spine as he looked at me.

"Natalie Ewing," he asked softly, all of a sudden serious with no smirk. "Will you make me the happiest man alive and consent to be my wife?"

I could barely breathe. But I managed to answer, "Yes." I took a deep breath but it wasn't enough. "Yes! Yes! Aziz!"

I reached over and grabbed him, falling into him and kissing him. I was dimly aware in some part of my brain of photographers and the flash of cameras, but Aziz stood up, holding me and I looked up to him, before he brought his face down and kissed me.

And seriously, the flash of the cameras made it seem as if a second sun had risen.

Which made Aziz take notice. And he walked me inside, and we both waved to the throngs of people who cheered us on and closed the front door.

* * *

I
was getting
ready to change in Clara's master bathroom as Aziz looked out the window of the master bedroom towards the street.

"Fuck me, if there aren't at least 100,000 people outside," he said aloud.

"Police are estimating that there are at least half a million people who've lined up from here to the Palace, sire," Hamid's voice came out of the speaker of the phone Aziz held. "We're creating a route right now, but it will be a little bit circuitous."

I could see Aziz nod. "Let me know when we head home, Hamid," he said before turning off the phone.

He turned around to look at me. I was looking at him.

"Aziz, I'm sorry," I began. "I should have trusted..."

He didn't let me finish but took two giant steps over and grabbed me, and pulled me into him. My face landed on his chest and I took a long breath, smelling his cologne and his musk. I felt safe.

"Don't you ever fucking apologize to me, love," he said. "I'm the one that should apologize for not telling you sooner."

I looked up at him. "What's going to happen to us?" I asked. "You think there'll be an outcry? Will you have to give up the crown?"

Aziz smiled. "Please. You see that crowd out there cheering me on? The country is united for the first time in a long time, love. They heard me come clean. They saw genuine emotion. They cheered me on. They'll never let anything happen to us."

I smiled and placed my head against his chest, feeling his heart beat.

"But there is one way you can make it up to me, love, for not giving me the benefit of the doubt," he said.

I looked up at him, ready to do anything.

"Anything," I said, smiling.

He gave me a wicked grin and put his hand in his left pocket. He pulled out a remote control, which he moved to his right hand, and then his hand went back into his pocket. I looked at him for long seconds as he brought out a tiny wireless bullet vibrator.

"Go put it on, love," he said grinning at me lasciviously. "It'll make the long trip more interesting."

Oh my fucking God!
I thought, my cheeks blushing.

"Aziz!" I gasped. "You can't be serious!"

"Only fair for making me go on live television, love," he said wiggling the obscene looking vibrator. "When you change, go ahead and put this in."

I looked at him like he was crazy. He took my silence for doubt.

"It'll be fun, Natalie," he said. "Trust me."

Still, I remained silent, thinking.

"But," he said, clearly realizing I may be uncomfortable. "If you don't want to, then don't. Just leave it on the counter on the bathroom and I won't say a word."

With that, he gave me a slight nudge towards the bathroom and I went in and closed the door.

I changed out of my jeans and into a little bit more of an appropriate outfit, with a black wraparound dress that came to my knees and an off-white hat. I put my lipstick on and some blush. Then I looked at the little bullet lying on the counter.

Two minutes later, I exited the bathroom. Aziz looked at me, but I kept my face neutral, walking towards the stairs.

I paused when I heard him take a few steps into the bathroom and give a little grunt of excitement when he didn't find anything on the counter. I allowed myself a brief smile as I went downstairs to go talk to Clara and thank her for her hospitality.