Page 70 of The Geek and the Sheikh

Twenty

Jameel leaned against the balcony and stared with unseeing eyes out at the garden. The shielded lights of the palace barely cast a glow, but the moon and stars provided ample light for him to see—if he wanted to.

His mind was not on the magnificent garden but on the memory of Junebug’s face. If Allison had been within reach, he would have strangled the woman for her vicious cruelty. He hadn’t known about the photo. That thought made him close his eyes and bow his head.

How many others did Allison take that night?

“You look like someone stole your cat and ran over your dog at the same time,” a feminine voice murmured.

He straightened and looked around the shadows. A noise to his left alerted him that the owner of the voice was not where he had thought she was. Junebug’s sister, Midnight, stepped out of the shadows as if she were a ghostly apparition. The woman was downright scary with how silently she blended in with the dark and moved more quietly than a cat.

“I feel like it. Have you seen Junebug? I know she was worried about you,” he replied in a quiet voice.

“No, but we chatted via text. She said she needed time to think. When she says that, something has really upset her,” Midnight said.

He turned back to lean on the balcony railing. Midnight joined him. They stared out at the garden for several minutes.

“She’s special,” he finally said.

Midnight snorted out a short laugh. “You have no idea.”

“Yeah, I do. She’s myAlmukhtar,"he replied in a gruff voice.

“Junayd told me about that. It's like us when we say we’ve found our soul mate. I never believed in that kind of stuff before, but since I met your brother… well, let’s just say I’m having to rethink a few old beliefs,” she mused.

“I didn’t believe it either until I met your sister.”

“You hurt her. I don’t know what you did, but you hurt her. The only reason I haven’t—” She shook her head. “Let’s just say it’s a good thing you look so much like Junayd.”

Jameel chuckled. He knew exactly what Midnight was capable of. He didn’t think that she actually would have hurt him, but she would have put the fear of some powerful entity in him.

“I don’t know what to do,” he murmured, rocking back and forth before he straightened and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I never meant to hurt Junebug. If I could go back to the past and change things I would, but I can’t.”

“Give her time. Junie knows that we make mistakes. She’ll work it out,” Midnight said.

“How much time do you think it will take for her to do that?” he asked.

Midnight laughed loudly. The sound echoed through the garden. She was obviously enjoying his discomfort. Maybe that was her way of making him pay for hurting her sister.

“With Junie it could be a few hours or a few months. The last time I upset her—I mean really, really upset her—it took three months before she would talk to me. Do you have any idea how difficult that must have been for her? She's never quiet that long.”

“Three… what did you do? How did you get her to forgive you?” he asked.

“Get her something she really loves. I brought home a pile of colorful tiles so she could finish the walls. It took me almost a week of smuggling them in to get the damn things into our place. They were heavy as hell.”

He nodded. “I know she loves her marshmallows.”

“That’s a start. Surprise her. Shower her with love. She’ll cave faster than a sandcastle in the tide.”

“Thank you,” he said.

He turned his head when Midnight didn’t respond. She was gone—vanished into the night the same way she had come. He leaned back against the balcony and thought about what Junebug really loved. A slow smile curved his lips as an idea formed.

Straightening, he chuckled. There were advantages to not only being a geek, but a prince. It was time his princess learned that he would slay any dragon and climb any mountain to keep their love strong.

* * *

Late the next morning, Junebug followed one of the staff to the palace throne room. Her escort excitedly shared that one of the princes was getting married. The girl gushed about how there would probably be a larger wedding and that she and the other women in the palace were looking forward to all the festivities. Before Junebug got the chance to ask her which prince was getting married, they arrived and the girl opened the door for her.

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