Page 17 of Out of Office Nights
‘Are you drunk?’ Teo cut across his twin, frowning at Valenti. But even as he made the demand, he was dismissing it. His brother rarely drank. Hell, the only time Teo had ever seen Azar lose control was in Arizona four years ago, when he’d lost his head over the woman who was now his wife and queen.
Azar merely smiled, leaving the toast hovering ominously in the air.
Teo diverted his gaze before his brother looked into his eyes and somehow made the disturbing discovery that his first thought at the mention of prizes had been Sabeen, the woman who’d invaded his mind and taken residence there for the past two weeks.
The woman who had seemingly fallen off the face of the earth, leaving him no choice but to order his security detail to hunt her down. The woman who’d ignored his everycommunication, forcing him to concede that for once in his life, having someone play hard to get was somehow shockingly effective. That the thrill of the hunt had fired him up unlike very few things had in the last decade. And yes, he intended for her to pay for that too. She was his little project. Until her lustre wore off. Then he’d have no choice but to pursue his next high. But first…
He made a show of looking around at his invited guests, picking out a blonde bombshell who eagerly sashayed over the moment he caught her eye.
‘If you’re done spewing nonsense, maybe we can get this party underway? I have a clutch of eager women to seduce.’
He was most definitely going to ignore the reproving frowns that comment produced. Even if he had no intention of acting on it.
Not a single soul could tell the Playboy Prince what to do. Especially on his birthday.
CHAPTER FOUR
Sabeen loved everycorner of her grandmother’s little house in Essaouira. The thick bricks that kept the room cool in the oppressive heat, the specially painted mottled walls in warm ochre that were as earthy as the sand on her favourite beach.
The pops of colour in the backsplash in the kitchen and in the mosaic walls in the bathroom all soothed her spirits and grounded her in a peace she’d never found anywhere else.
And yet now, as she rose from the sea and trudged onto the beach, the deep reluctance to return home seeped into her bones. And even that shamed her. Her mouth twisted. It seemed she couldn’t turn around without being confronted with the heavy weight of her own failure.
She’d hoped the early-evening swim would relieve the burden, but wringing the water out of her hair, she accepted that it’d done very little.
A glass of her favourite Moroccan tea. Maybe that would help.
She closed her eyes, raised her face to the dying sun and pleaded with whoever would listen for a flash of enlightenment.
The turmoil of New York was two weeks ago.
She had shut down all communication in the hope that being here, in the home that her grandmother had had built for herself, would be the key to unlocking her creativity. That perhaps guilt would erode her secret, yearning attraction forTeo. But each day he’d dominated her thoughts and despair seeped ever deeper into her marrow.
For two weeks she’d roamed the rooms in her grandmother’s house, then the alleys she had played in as a child, and had tea with friends and acquaintances. Then she roamed even farther for longer, searching for inspiration in places she’d never visited.
Nothing.
Had her previous success merely been a flash in the pan, a self-delusion that she could make a life as a designer? Or was it really what she feared the most?
No.She wasn’t going there. Nathan had been bad enough, but Teo Domene? No way was she accepting that a man was responsible for this.
Except, like clockwork, Teo’s face flashed before her eyes.
She gritted her teeth tighter.Enough.
Deep breath in, letting the scents of spices and earth and dark coffee soothe her as she navigated the narrow alleys back to the house on the small hill. Sleep would be non-existent tonight, but come hell or high water, she would break this block on her creativity.
She was mentally cycling through two weeks’ worth of discarded designs, her gaze lowered to familiar cobblestones as she neared home. That was why she didn’t see the powerful motorcycle crouched outside the house or the equally powerful man leaning against the wall next to her front door until she nearly stumbled into him.
She reared back, heart leaping into her throat. ‘What…? How…?’ She sucked in a quick breath to gather her composure. She had sacrificed way too much of it around him. That nonsense ended tonight. ‘What are you doing here? And how did you know where to find me?’
Teo slowly straightened, his massive shoulders blocking out the narrow strips of sunlight slanting into the alley.
‘It wasn’t without effort, I’ll grant you that. You’ve given me quite the runaround.’
She frowned. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about. And you haven’t answered my question.’
She looked around, unsure whether she was seeking deliverance or some clue as to what he was doing here, in this sacred place that had welcomed her but was now beginning to feel like it housed another monumental task she needed to overcome.
