SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance (69 page)

The paparazzi flashed their cameras at them, shouting questions, insults, anything they could to get a response out of him. She was amazed by Bryan’s ability to tune them out entirely. Some of the things they said about his mother weren’t just blanket insults, but sounded like really personal digs. They talked about her getting sick, and possibly dying, and how he was a monster for going around partying instead of being at her bedside.

When they got back into the limo on the way to the hotel, she wasn’t surprised when she saw him stare out the window for a few minutes.

“Are you okay?” she asked him and put a hand on his leg.

At first he flinched away from her touch, but then it looked like he “came back” when he looked at her. “Sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay,” she said.

“No, I really am.” He took her hand and put it back on his leg where she’d been touching him. “I’m not used to having someone that cares.”

“Is that what you have to deal with?”

He nodded and looked out the window again. It was clear he wasn’t looking at anything, but just more averting his eyes. Lines of moisture had already claimed his cheeks. “Every time I travel. It’s not so bad in our town, but it gets real bad here or in L.A. They say anything to try and make you angry. They can use those angry shots for anything. You see them stories about pregnancy scares, or divorce, or anything like that? These are how they get those pictures of people looking so pissed.”

“That’s terrible.”

He looked back at her, almost as though he was expecting that she was making fun of him. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” she said and scooted closer to him.

She rested her head on his shoulder and put an arm around the front of him. He reached up and took her arm, stroking his thumb over the back of her hand. When he brought it up to his lips and kiss the back of her fingers gently, she really saw the man he kept away from the public eye.

Now she felt like she was starting to understand him more, especially if that was what he had to deal with. Maybe it was her need to comfort him, maybe it was the alcohol, but she reached up and pulled his head toward her. He seemed only too eager to kiss her. The comforting kiss turned to hot passion all too quickly.

She didn’t know how much time they had before they got to wherever they were going – she had honestly forgotten – but she wasn’t going to wait until the hotel. She undid his pants and pulled them down just enough, then climbed on top of him. It was amazing how aroused she was already. It was partially because he looked so damn good in that suit, but also because of how she felt about him, how being around him awakened parts of her she long thought dead or just non-existent at all.

They kissed as they had sex in the back seat of the limo, the tinted windows hiding the world from their sins. They kissed the entire time, and when they climaxed he made sure to hold her eyes with his.

“This time,” she said, out of breath, “don’t let me leave.”

Bryan laughed and kissed her. “Never will.”

Bryan felt incredible. He’d never been so comforted by a woman, so fulfilled. Maggie was hands-down one of the most amazing women he’d ever met. He felt like he could be open with her, vulnerable. Normally that sort of thing made him scared, worried about being hurt or made fun of. Not with Maggie. She made him feel safe, like he could be who he really was and she accepted him. It felt like he was coming back to the person he used to be before all of this.

This time when morning came, he slipped off to go to the bathroom, and then slipped back into bed next to her. When she woke up he wrapped not just his arms around her, but comically tangled his legs in hers and held her close to him.

“Hungry?” he asked her.

She laughed, unable to move. “I dunno,” she said teasingly, “I think I should go.”

“Never!”

They laughed together and he kissed her. Unfortunately she did have to go soon. They were checking out and he needed to head out to the next city for the next game. She was reluctant to go, but understood that this was his job and he had to go. She left out the back so to avoid any paparazzi that may have been lingering about. Bryan packed up and got on the bus with the rest of the players.

At the next city, everything played out as normal. He texted Maggie when he got the chance, but didn’t hear much from her. She said that she was on a flight and couldn’t really text much. The game went well, but not as good as it could’ve been.

Admittedly his head wasn’t in it. For the first time, he had a girl to think about that he really enjoyed thinking about. Still, they won, so it wasn’t all bad. That night, he tried to just go to his room and chill. He didn’t feel much like going out. After the night he’d had with Maggie, everything else felt lame in comparison. Pale. Dull.

The room was nice, lavish. It had an entryway, a living area with couches and a huge TV. It had two bedrooms and three bathrooms. There was no way he needed that much space, but the hotels liked to give him rooms like this, since his staying there brought them more business by proxy. He sure wasn’t going to complain about it.

That night, as he was trying to relax, there was a knock on his door. He went to answer, and damn near his whole team was there. They’d brought girls, booze, the whole deal. How could he say no? They’d just won their game, they wanted to party, and up until just last night, he was totally into stuff like this. Maybe he’d try to party less starting tomorrow?

He checked his phone, but still hadn’t heard from Maggie in a while. She was probably at home, settling back in. Bryan let himself let go a bit and have a good time with his team. They did just have a win after all, and hell, he’d found a girl he was actually happy with. If that wasn’t cause to celebrate, he didn’t know what was.

As the night wore on, things escalated rather quickly. Half the people there were already drunk before even getting to his room. The music was blaring, and a few people had taken up a corner of the table in the dining area for cocaine. They had the mirrors and little straws that looked like they’d seen their use. That kind of stuff had never appealed to Bryan. Messed with person’s emotions and body. He needed to be fit for the game.

A couple of the girls came up to him, both clearly drunk. “Hey,” the blonde one said, “you’re Bryan, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

They grinned at one another and pushed him back. He hadn’t realized he was so close to the chair, and when he stepped back to catch himself he hit the chair. Losing his balance he plopped into it.

Before he had a chance to get up, the girls climbed into his lap. They started laughing as he tried to push them off, but they were making a show of being clumsy. To be honest, it was kind of funny, and he was laughing at having lost his balance.

Then one of the women ducked her head down, bunching over herself as her friend reached over and tickled her, and that’s when Bryan saw Maggie. She stood there staring at him, a plastic shopping bag in her hand.

“Maggie,” he said, but the music drowned out his voice.

She knew he was talking though, and she just held up a hand and shook her head. Some guy came up to hit on her, and that was the final straw. She dropped the bag, turned, and ran.

Bryan pushed the girls off of him and checked the plastic bag to find ice-cream and a movie in it. She’d come to surprise him. Bryan sighed and looked at the door she’d left from. He couldn’t think of what he could say to fix it, and in that moment of indecision, he knew he’d lost her.

He tried calling her later that night, hopefully after she’d had a chance to calm down. No answer. He waited a day. Two days. No answer. Weeks went by. He still had to travel for games after that and wasn’t able to go and actually see her, make her talk to him.

When they finally did swing through her town, he stopped at his publicist’s office to find that she didn’t work there anymore. He thought she just hadn’t been answering her work phone, but no, it was much worse. He didn’t even know where she lived.

For the first time in his life, he’d never felt so lost and alone.

All Maggie could do was sit as she watched her life fall apart around her, and all without her even having to lift a finger. How could she have ever been so stupid as to get involved with that… person? He wasn’t even a man!

In all her life she’d never been more devastated by someone’s treatment of her, and as a larger woman, she’d had to endure quite a bit in her life. Like an idiot she’d believed him. She let herself get caught up in the promise and the joy of it all, only to have it crash down on her. One day. He couldn’t even have gone a single day with her gone before going right back to it. It was like she hadn’t even existed. Nothing had ever made her feel more useless, stupid, or unwanted in her life. He’d had her, and now he had to have two women just to, what? To get the taste out of his mouth, or something?

He kept calling her, and calling her, like that would fix anything. Women, drugs, drinking, it was clear the life he wanted. She didn’t fit in with that. What was there to say, really? She wasn’t about to be the type of woman to nag her man about his lifestyle. Let him live like that, let him have his parties and late nights. It was best he just did it away from her.

That became doubly true when she found out she was pregnant. There was no question in her mind about if it was his or not. She hadn’t been with anyone in two years before him, and she sure couldn’t bring herself to be with anyone else after that either. She debated telling him, but really, what good would it do? If he wasn’t going to change his life for her, he sure wouldn’t do it for a baby. Besides, even if he did, he’d just grow to resent her or – God forbid – their child for having to slow down his crazy party life. The thought of it all was just too painful.

When she went to her boss to ask that she no longer be asked to work with Bryan, her boss fired her. Right then and there. No questions, no why, no wanting to know more. She just railed at her saying it was unprofessional and that she couldn’t just pick and choose what work she did. She wasn’t even an actual agent, she was an assistant. That meant she had no leverage.

Trying to find a job after that was a ridiculous nightmare since her boss wasted no time at all tarnishing any sort of a reputation Maggie had built up for herself. Branded unprofessional, whiny, and lazy, no one wanted anything to do with her. It had been right at the end of the month, too, and when she couldn’t produce rent, her boss gave her 30 days to pay or get out. No job, no possibilities, she had no choice but to pack up. After their little blowout after Bryan, since apparently she’d had a crush on him for years, she and Stacy made up.

With nowhere to go, Stacy let her stay with her until she got things figured out. The idea of figuring things out, though, seemed by far the most impossible thing she could’ve tried to do.

It’d been a month when Bryan received a call from Stacy. Her number was still in his phone, which surprised him as much as seeing it pop up on his phone. He honestly couldn’t remember why he’d saved it. Had he anticipated needing to talk to her frequently?

When he answered it, the tone in Stacy’s voice when she said, “Can you talk?” let him know this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation.

He’d been worried that she was going to go on and confess her love for him now that Maggie was out of the way, but it was so much worse. Stacy told him everything, about Maggie losing her job, the baby, and that she was staying with her now.

Bryan nearly lost his mind. So much so that he got her address from her, and got on the next plane out, abandoning the game that night. It was technically a breach of contract or something, he was pretty sure, but he couldn’t have cared less.

When he knocked on Stacy’s door, the look on Maggie’s face when she opened it was worth everything. She was quick to hide it, though. “What are you doing here?”

“Stacy told me. Everything.”

Maggie closed her eyes and took a breath. “Which must be why she left the house suddenly. Because she knew I’d kill her.”

“You’re pregnant?”

“Look, if that’s the only reason you’re here, you wasted your time.”

Bryan stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders. “It’s not. I came back for you. I’ve been trying to reach you.”

She looked up at him, and he could see the hurt in her eyes. Still, she didn’t try to remove his hands from her shoulders. “It seemed like you were real comfortable without me when I found you.”

“Okay, look, if you’re going to come live with me and be mine, you have to learn to talk to me when you have a problem, instead of disappearing on me. That wasn’t my party. My team brought it to my room. Yes, I was partying with them. I was happy because I’d found you, and we’d just won a game. No, I was not with those women. That was a matter of insanely bad timing.”

“How can I believe you’re not lying to me right now?”

“Because I’m not.”

Her eyes softened as she recognized those words and the tone in his voice, and he knew she did believe him. Then, suddenly her entire expression shifted, and her head snapped back for a moment. “Wait, did you say come and live with you?”

“What?” he asked. “Did you think I’d let the unemployed mother of my child live in squalor like this?”

That was when a very familiar tone of voice said from behind him, “Squalor?”

He and Maggie laughed, but Stacy stood there holding two cartons of ice-cream.

“Oh no, we’re talking about this,” she said.

“I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night,” Bryan said.

Maggie rested her head against his chest and sighed. All at once, that feeling returned of everything being right.

He’d never let her go again.

THE END