SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance (63 page)

When the first fluttering of release gripped her, April rose up against him and pressed him close. Byron's breathing quickened as he realized what was going on, and she felt his motions grow more frantic. As she released, so too did he. The warmth of his seed flooded her, and April settled down against the mattress to catch her breath. Byron had been fantastic, the best she'd ever had.

As his body softened, Byron retreated slowly and then laid beside her. With care he drew April into his arms and nuzzled into the crook of her neck, pressing a sweet, possessive kiss there.

"From here on out," he whispered to her, "I'm going to do everything in my power to protect you. You're too special for me to lose, April Cosden. We'll see every one of those scum behind bars."

April closed her eyes, letting the afterglow of release wash over her. In that moment everything felt still and perfect, and the masculine smell of Byron's body mixed with the scent of leather that seemed to always cling to his skin set her at ease. This was her new reality. This was her new home.

"Well, at least we won't have to act too hard at being boyfriend and girlfriend," she said with a little laugh. And Byron laughed, too. For as long as she could she wanted to keep hearing that sound.

An unusual solution to an unusual problem it was, but April knew she couldn't be happier anywhere else. Byron had taught her that taking risks and stepping beyond what was comfortable was how to truly live, and by his side April had a whole lot of living to do.

THE END

Monica Cambridge was new to Los Angeles, she had moved here only a few weeks ago when she’d finally decided that she had had enough of her parents telling her what to do. Her parents had raised her in a small town in Georgia, and they had always been a big factor in her life; all of her decisions were really their decisions. Like where she went to college, what she was allowed to wear, what boys she was allowed to date. Monica had always wanted to be a screenwriter, writing scripts for TV and film, but when she’d told her parents about her dreams of writing famous movies, they had told her to look into a more realistic career choice and pushed her into Journalism at the Georgia State University.

Behind her parents’ backs, Monica had signed up for a few screenwriting courses in her second year, and she’d really enjoyed them. She had never had any desire to be a journalist, and after she had finished her first year, she thought branching out and taking a few courses of something that she was actually passionate about was a great idea. After Monica had finished her second year at Georgia State University, she decided that instead of going back home to live with her parents, that she would pack up and moved to LA on a whim. It was a sudden decision that she had made all on her own, and it was kind of scary being alone in a big city like LA, so far away from home.

Of course, she wasn’t entirely alone; her friend Scarlett from high school had moved out here a few years ago, almost right after they had graduated, so that she could pursue an acting career. Scarlett had always been more outgoing and spontaneous, not caring what others thought of her and always finding her own way through life, creating her own path and her own luck. Monica had always admired Scarlett for her ability to live her life how she wanted to, and one day after when Scarlett called Monica from LA to tell her about a new audition that she landed for the following week, Monica congratulated her and then sighed, telling Scarlett that she wished she could be more like Scarlett and just go after her dreams.

So Scarlett said, “Why don’t you come out here then? You could take your scripts and shop them around to studios Monica, you could really do it!” At first Monica had laughed, but the more she thought about it over the next few days, the more she realized that she could just head out there. She could easily just pack up her car, bring her laptop and her scripts and drive out to LA. The drive would probably take her about 35 hours, and she could stop overnight somewhere along the way. A few days passed and Monica had made up her mind, she was going for it.

Monica called up Scarlett and told her the plan. “I’m going to do it Scarlett, I’m going to head out the right after my exams!”

“Really?! I can’t wait to see your pretty face! It’s been ages! You are going to love it here!” Scarlett was super excited, they had been friends for a long time and Scarlett was always a positive person in Monica’s life.

“I can’t wait to see you too! What should I bring?”

“Just bring yourself and your scripts and let’s both get famous! LA is the city of dreams Monica! I have to run, I have a rehearsal in twenty minutes, but I am really looking forward to you being here! When do your exams finish?”

“In three weeks, and then I’m just going to pack up my car and drive away from Georgia!” Monica flushed with excitement at the thought of being free, free from her overbearing parents and their control and free from the small town she had lived in all her life.

“Fabulous! I’ll email you my address and I expect to have you knocking on my door in three weeks Monica, no backing down! You need this. Love you, gotta run.”

“OK, Love you!” Monica clicked the phone off and imagined herself in LA in less than a month’s time. It was so exhilarating to think that she might be able to sell a script to a movie producer. Maybe Scarlett even had some connections, she thought.

The last three weeks of school had flown by and before she knew it, she was writing her final exam. Monica had never been more excited about anything in her life. She had planned it all out and was leaving as soon as she finished writing the exam, she wasn’t even going to stick around to wait for her final grades to be announced. Her car was packed with everything she needed, and all that was left to do was go home, tell her parents that she was leaving for the summer and then drive away.

The drive from Georgia to LA was going to take her two days to do, and she had decided that she would find a motel along the way and crash there for a night and then take off again in the morning. Monica planned on driving about 15–18 hours each day and arriving in LA at Scarlett’s house at 9:00pm on Sunday. She could barely focus on answering the questions in her exam as she fantasised about arriving in LA. She finished quicker than she normally would and walked up to her professor, handing it in and then bolting for her car. The drive home seemed to take only a few minutes and before she knew it, she was parked in her driveway, terrified of telling her her parents that she was leaving. Gathering up as much courage as she could, Monica got out of her car and went inside.

“Mom? Dad? You home?” Monica shouted into the quiet house.

“We’re outside by the pool hunny!” Her mom’s cheery voice came from the backyard.

Monica made her way through the house towards the backyard, the sliding glass door for the patio was open, so she went out onto the deck.

“Hi sweetie, how was your last exam?” Her mom was sun tanning beside the pool and her dad was reading a book on the deck, having a beer.

“It went really good.” Monica hesitated before continuing on, “I need to talk to you two.”

“Sure Monica, what is it?” Her dad said, putting his book down on the table.

“Well, I’ve decided that I’m going to go visit Scarlett in LA this summer.” Monica twisted her hands in a fretful way.

“Alone? How are you going to get there?” Her dad was concerned already, just like she’d thought he would be.

“That’s an awfully long way to travel by yourself, and where are you going to get the airfare?” Her mom had gotten up from her lounge chair now and walked over to the deck, to stand beside her father.

“I saved up some money from my part time job and I’m actually going to drive, my car is all packed.” Monica looked at the two of them and decided that no matter what they said next, it was happening, she was leaving.

“Well, you’ve done really well in school and, if your father agrees, I don’t see why you can’t go to visit Scarlett in LA.” Her mom put her hands gently on her father’s shoulders, the way she always did when she was trying to get him to do something that she wanted.

“Really?” Monica was shocked at her mom’s response. “So dad?”

“As long as you’re safe and you leave us Scarlett’s address, I don’t see why not.” Her dad put his hand over top of her mother’s hand where it rested on his shoulder. “You’re twenty-one years old after all, if you want to go away for a bit, as long as you’re safe and you keep in touch with us, we can’t really say no.”

“Awesome! I’m going to head out now then, it’s a long drive. I’ll leave Scarlett’s address on a note on the fridge.” Monica went over and gave each of her parents a big hug and kiss, deciding not to tell them that she was actually going out there for a long time and was planning on looking for work. She could call them in a few weeks and explain it to them over the phone, that would be a lot easier than getting into an argument now.

“You’re leaving now?” Her mom said, quite taken aback.

“Yea, well, Scarlett just wrapped up filming a show and she has some free time to show me around LA and I’m all done exams, so I figured no time like the present!” Monica gave her mom a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry mom, I’ll be fine.”

“Well, OK then. Call us when you get there.” Her mom squeezed her hand and gave her a smile, “Have fun sweetheart.”

“Have fun and be safe.” Her dad said before picking up his book again.

“I will!” Monica headed back inside and quickly scribbled down Scarlett’s address before heading out to her car, she couldn’t wait to be on the road.

Monica made the first few hours of the drive before she even knew what was happening. She was so excited to be on her way to LA that she even ran a few red lights on her way out of town. It was going to be a long drive to LA, longer than any other road trip she’d ever been on, and she was traveling alone this time, so she was a bit worried about being bored during the trip. She had brought a few audio books and her favorite songs were loaded on her iPod so that she could plug it in and play it. Monica’s car was a cute little blue Volkswagen beetle. She had bought it her last year of high school with the money she had saved up from her part time jobs, with a little help from her parents too. She loved this car, it was very versatile and it had an awesome sunroof that opened so far that she almost felt like it was a convertible.

After about 15 hours of driving, with many little stops along the way to sightsee and rest breaks, and even a big lunch at a nice cafe, Monica started looking around for a hotel to sleep at for the night. She was in Texas, near Houston and saw a lot of signs for hotels. There was one called the Marriott and it had a lot of advertising along the highway, so since it was basically directing her how to get to it, Monica made the turn onto the exit and headed towards the Marriott.

When she pulled up, a Valet asked if she would be staying the night, and he parked her car for her, giving her a little ticket to pick it up the next morning. Monica headed into the hotel lobby and saw a big promotional poster set up in the lobby that read,

“Meet the man who wrote “Get Rich, Get into Oil. Christopher Hardy! Reading an excerpt from his bestselling book today in Conference room A.”

Monica had never heard of that book, but the name of the author sounded familiar. There was no picture of him to jog her memory, so she kept walking up to the desk to check in and gave up on trying to remember where she had heard that name before.

“Good evening Miss. Welcome to the Marriott, are you checking in?” A polite man in a uniform said to her as she approached the desk.

“Yes, I don’t have a reservation, but I was hoping to have a room for just one night. I’m driving through town and my eyes are getting very tired!” Monica laughed and smiled.

“Let me see if we have anything available, we’re hosting a big event and a lot of our rooms have been filled up.” The man scrolled through things on his computer screen for a minute or so. “Oh look! You’re in luck. I have one last room available, it’s got a king size bed and it’s a very comfortable suite.”

“King size bed? It’s just me!” Monica thought that sounded expensive.

“I know, but unfortunately that is all we have available right now because of the event tomorrow.” The man looked sadly at her for a second and then smiled, “You know what? How about I give you 10% discount off the room, just because?”

“Just because why?” Monica smiled back at him.

“Just because you are pretty cute and you look very tired and I want to help you out here.” The man laughed.

“Oh, alright then, it’s better than going around trying to find another hotel to stay at, I am already exhausted.” Monica set her purse down on the counter and pulled out her wallet.

“Wonderful! Well, you will get an incredible sleep in that King size bed, it’s extremely comfortable! That will be $229.00 including taxes, after the 10% discount, and I will need to see your driver license please.”

“Wow, $229.00 for one night!”

“Again, I apologize, but it’s the only room we have available right now, and regularly that room goes for $289.00.” The man smiled sadly at her.