Page 30 of The Sheikh's Fake Bride Scheme

“I can teach you how later, if you want. That’s really a skill you should have, especially if you’re going to keep running this event after I go back home,” she said. “You’re going to need to get in touch with vendors next year.”

“Hold on.” Something had just occurred to him. “You’ll come back and help me with next year’s race, won’t you?”

“Well… I don’t know,” she admitted.

“You were adamant that you wanted your name on this,” he said. “That you wanted it to be part yours. Do you still want that?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then you must want to come back and be a part of it next year. And every year.”

Keira frowned. “I thought whatyouwanted was my expertise to help you get the event off the ground,” she said. “Why are youpushing to have me come back and help with it in the future? What difference does it make to you whether I do that or not?”

Kareem couldn’t answer. The truth was that therewasno good answer. The reason he wanted her back was that he would miss her when she was gone — and that simply wasn’t something he could admit to. He couldn’t acknowledge that he cared about her enough that it would matter to him when she was out of his life.

“Just think about it,” he said, unwilling to write the idea off. “Wouldn’t it be nice to come back here every year and be a part of things?”

“It would be,” she said. “But I don’t know where I’ll be in a year — personally or professionally. I came over this year because I didn’t have anything else going on, but I don’t know if that will be true this time next year. It might be more difficult for me to fly halfway around the world and leave everything behind.”

Kareem heard the words that went unspoken. She didn’t know where she would bepersonally— that meant she might be dating someone. That was the only thing it could mean. And of course she might be. How could he expect anything else? She was a beautiful woman, and by this time next year, their sham of a marriage would be long over. It was ridiculous to think that she might not find something else.

It was ridiculous to hope that she wouldn’t. She wasn’t his wife. She wasn’t even his girlfriend. They were friends, nothing more, and barely that. If friendship was what he wanted from her, surely he would want to see her find happiness with someone?

He did want that. Of course he wanted her to be happy.

But he couldn’t deny the sharp twinge of jealousy he felt at the thought of her finding that happiness somewhere else. Withsomeone else. When he thought of her — a year from now, after she was long out of his life — in the arms of another man.

She isn’t mine. I have no grounds to feel like this! I have to stop.

“Just keep it in mind,” he told her. “That’s all I’m asking.”

She nodded. “I will,” she said. “You’re right — itwouldbe nice to be able to come back every year. And maybe it will be possible! We’ll have to see where life takes us.”

“I suppose we will,” Kareem murmured. He cleared his throat. “You’d better go send that fax. Our vendors are waiting to hear from us, and we can’t get in touch with them until we know we’ve got our venue secured.”

“Right,” Keira agreed. “I’ll take care of it right now. After I do, would you like to go out to dinner?”

“Out to dinner?” Kareem repeated.

“I thought it might be a nice way to celebrate this milestone,” Keira said. “We’ll have our venue booked — that’s huge, right? It means we know that the race is officially on.”

“Well, it would be good to celebrate,” Kareem allowed.

“So let’s get dinner,” Keira said with a smile. “I haven’t had many opportunities to explore Qalmese food since I got here. Of course I appreciate you keeping the house stocked with American favorites, but I’d also like to make the most of my time in this country by trying some new things.”

“All right,” Kareem replied. “Let me wrap up what I’m doing, and then we’ll go out. I can think of a few places nearby that might be good.”

“Do we need to make a reservation? If you’d like to give me the names of the places you’re thinking of, I can call around.”

“No need,” Kareem said. “Any of these places will take me as a walk-in.”

“They will?”

“My father’s the king,” Kareem reminded her. “If I ask them to, they’ll shut down the whole restaurant and just focus on serving the two of us.”

“Oh, don’t ask anyone to dothat,” Keira said, her face flushing.

“Are you sure? It can be nice to have dedicated attention at a good restaurant,” Kareem said.

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