SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance (19 page)

She shrugged. “I spent about six months doing fashion photography in Europe so I can talk babes all day,” she gave him a cheeky wink that was so unlike her she felt her skin heat with embarrassment.

“I thought you did portrait photography like your grandmother.”

Her eyes widened. “You knew my grandma?”

His eyes lit with amusement. “Who do you think did my ‘stuffy outdated’ headshots?”

She cringed as he repeated her words back to him. “Luckily you don’t know how to take a bad photo.”

He laughed. “Nice save.”

“Thanks.” They placed their orders and she spoke again, “I spent the years before Grandma got sick traveling the globe as a photojournalist. I covered the flooding in New Zealand, the drought in Zimbabwe and the refugees in Syria before coming back to Rainbow Springs.” She took a long sip of her beer. “Sorry I tend to ramble about my work and I haven’t dated in awhile so I’m a tad rusty.”

Kade stared at the brown skinned stunner across from him in complete awe. She was smart, ambitious, witty and she seemed to genuinely like him. Too bad you’ve forced her to be your fake fiancé. He was starting to think maybe Violet was right, he should have gotten a real girlfriend. “You’re a pretty impressive woman Ava.” He held his drink up and she knocked her glass with his. “I have to know Ava. You’re gorgeous, smart, funny and ambitious, why haven’t you dated in awhile?”

She shrugged and told him the whole sordid tale of Robert and her failed relationships on the road. She wasn’t ashamed, well maybe about the whole Robert thing, and it’s not like this was a real date anyway. Even if it felt like it was.

“I know what your problem is,” he said smugly, sitting back in his chair with those muscular arms folded over his chest.

She wanted to be offended except that teasing glint in those mesmerizing green eyes gave him way. “Oh yeah? Do tell.”

“The guys you date are blind, deaf and dumb.”

Now it was her turn to toss her head back and laugh, probably louder than was acceptable in a restaurant like the one they were in, but she couldn’t help it. “Present company excluded.”

Kade couldn’t tear his gaze away from the long column of her neck as she leaned back laughing. The tops of her breasts shook ever so slightly with laughter and he was enchanted, something he hadn’t been in a long time. “Damn straight,” he smiled in response.

“I’m moving in with Kade,” Ava figured it was best to tell her best friend by ripping the Band-Aid off.

Sophie looked up from her laptop, eyes wide with shock and something else. She tossed her laptop aside and jumped up, wrapping her arms tight around Ava’s neck. “Is this for real? Are you serious? Are you guys serious?”

Ava peeled Sophie’s strong arms from her neck and stepped back. She hated lying but she made a promise. “Yes I’m for real and quite serious. As far as us being serious,” she lifted up her hand to show off the ridiculous diamond Kade insisted she wear, “he’s asked me to marry him.” Ava braced herself.

Sophie jumped up and down screaming, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!”

“Calm down Soph, I think all of Rainbow Springs can hear you.” She wished she could be as excited as her friend. Unfortunately Ava was stuck with truth and reality.

“Why aren’t you more excited? Don’t you love it, love him?”

This was it, the first test. Ava pinned a smile to her face and let her eyes go dreamy. “Of course I do Soph, but I can’t help but be skeptical. What does a billionaire want with me?” That stung a little, was a bit too close to home but luckily Kade didn’t really love her so it was a fictional sting.

“Get outta here,” Sophie wrapped an arm around Ava’s shoulder. “He’d have to be an idiot not to realize how stunning you look, that crazy sexy body and that wicked sharp intelligence. I know it hasn’t been long but you’re awesome and if he doesn’t know that, well send him to me and I’ll tell him a thing or two.”

“Trust me, I know,” a familiar voice boomed in her small apartment.

Both women turned at the deep voice and gasped. Sophie recovered faster. “Kade Steele you are one lucky man. Ava is the best,” she extended a hand out to him. “And just wow, you really are better looking in person.” She turned to hug Ava. “Let me know if I need to beat him up, okay? Call me, love you!” And she was gone and Ava was alone in her apartment. With Kade.

He laughed, “Your friend is quite the character. I like her.”

His kind words were enough to settle her nerves. “Yeah Sophie is my best friend. She’s crazy but I love her.”

“Not that crazy,” he stroked his chin, “After all she did say I was better looking in person.”

Ava laughed and tossed a throw pillow at him. “I said she was crazy, not blind.” She turned back to him, “What are you doing here?”

Kade frowned, “You’re moving in today.” At her blank stare his voice turned gruff. “I’m helping you move your stuff.”

She smiled. “Oh. You didn’t have to do that.”

Kade crossed the room in several long strides, his expression dark. “Let’s get one thing straight honey. I’m not about to let you move into my house all by yourself. That’s not how I do things.”

“Let? Kade Steele you may be the master of your universe,” she poked him in the chest, “but you can’t let me do anything. I don’t ask permission from you or anyone else. Got it?”

“As long as you’re not doing anything crazy or dangerous, maybe.” At her incredulous look he leaned down until her breath fanned his face. “Ava I take care of what’s mine and like it or not, you’re mine.”

Whoa. How could a girl not like being the focus of all that masculine energy? She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes to shut down the desire suddenly bubbling to the surface. “I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time Kade, and I’ve done just fine.”

Kade reached out and grasped her chin in his fingers, tilting her head so she was looking at him. “You’re not alone now Ava and for as long as that’s true I’m going to look out for you. Get used to it.”

There was no point arguing with him when he got all alpha, she realized and she removed herself from his grasp and walked to her bedroom. She looked over her shoulder, “Since you want to be so helpful, pack up the list in the kitchen, the box is on the floor.” She quietly closed the door behind her. Being in such close proximity to him was messing with her head, her body. It was making her want things she’d shut down years ago, after Robert.

Falling for and losing a man like Kade would destroy her.

“Is this okay?”

Kade turned at Ava’s soft husky voice. He held in a groan when she sank her teeth into that sexy red bottom lip.

“So…not okay?”

“No,” he spat and looked at her hurt expression. “I mean no, it’s not not okay.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I’m saying no don’t change you look breathtaking.” She really did in the pink rose dress she wore that skimmed her knees and hugged her breasts. She wore a dark pink cashmere sweater and pink heels. She looked like the perfect fiancé and every dirty dream he’d had for the past two weeks.

“Really?” She didn’t want to believe him but the way he stared at her set her body on fire in a way that said he meant every single word.

“Hell yes. In that dress Henderson will have no doubts about how we’ll spend the evening once he leaves.”

She shook her head with a smile to cover her blush. “Kade, the things you say to me, I swear. No wonder everyone woman in town is in love with you.”

His gaze darkened for a second before returning to normal. “No sweetheart, that’s the money.”

She cupped his jaw, “Don’t sell yourself short Kade, you’re also hot with a sexy body.”

He turned his head slightly and kept those enchanting green eyes trained on her, he kissed the center of her palm. “It’s yours anytime you want it.”

She smiled. He’d said that more than once in the two weeks since she moved in and she always said the same thing. “I don’t think I could handle it.”

“Maybe some other time,” he always said with a smile. This time he pulled her in and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

She sucked in a breath and a lungful of that smell that was all Kade, sandalwood and bergamot and stepped back. “You are way too potent for my peace of mind. Now tell me what I should know about tonight.” It was their first dinner with the Hendersons and Ava wanted to do a good job, not just because they were helping each other out but because she liked Kade.

“Henderson is a dinosaur. Very old fashioned and he thinks a man without a wife and family can’t run a business as well as a man with them.”

She smiled up at him and it was his turn to suck in a breath. “Perfect. I cooked a meal that proves I’ll be a good little wifey, at home cooking for my big strong man.” She squeezed his bicep with a laugh but implored her mind to remember the details for later.

When the Hendersons arrived Kade felt no nerves, he was confident he and Ava would pull it off. Over the past few weeks they’d become friends and even developed a friendly flirtation so they were easy together. She was so natural all evening with Helena and Bruce, surprising even him with her gentle touches and caresses throughout the evening.

Her black forest cake wowed Helena, who asked for the recipe, making Bruce joke that he’d sign a contract with Kade just because Ava got Helena in the kitchen again. It was a good night, fun even. When they left Henderson told Kade, “I don’t know what you did to get a woman as beautiful and talented as that to agree to marry you son, but keep her happy and you will be successful.” Hearing those words had shaken something loose in Kade. He didn’t know what, couldn’t even explain it if forced but he felt different.

“I won’t Bruce.” He shook the man’s hand and closed the door behind him. The first hurdle had been cleared. When he opened his eyes he found Ava’s pink sweater laying on the back of a chair and the coffee table clear of glasses, so he went in search of his fiancé. Fake fiancé, he reminded himself. “There you are,” he said with a smile. “The evening went fantastically. Bruce and Helena loved you.”

Ava pulled two dark brown bottles from the fridge and held one up for him. At his nod she popped open the bottles and handed one over. “I’m glad, I thought they were pretty great too.” They were funny and kind just like her parents, at least what she could remember of them. She turned and walked through the open doors off the kitchen. “It’s such a beautiful night,” she whispered to herself.

“It’s not as beautiful as you Ava. Not by a long shot.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her and here, under the pale moonlight she looked stunning he couldn’t breathe for wanting to touch her. Taste her. Without the sweater the prim and proper dress became a means to torture him, with her long neck on display, the tops of her breasts peeking out and that beauty mark in the center of her back. He wanted to explore her body, to see if there were other marks like it. One finger slowly caressed the length of her exposed back until she shivered.

“Kade,” she whispered and turned to him, desire making her eyes nearly black.

It was that plea, that longing he heard in her voice that snapped his control. Pulling her to him, Kade’s strong arms banded around her middle until there was no space between them and his large hands cradled her face.

Thumbs caressing her jaw line made her moan and reach up for those lips and that mouth she’d dreamed of kissing since the first time her name left his lips. His mouth moved against hers, hungry and seeking, and she gave back as good as she got. His mouth was warm and soft and it tasted like chocolate and cherries. His skin was so soft, his muscles underneath forged steel, his heart hammered his passion against her hands. This kiss, this moment was everything she had ever dreamed of and she had to stop. She would. In a moment. “Kade,” she moaned into the night as his mouth peppered kisses down the column of her throat.

“I’ve wanted to taste you there all night,” he said, his words choppy from his heavy breathing. He had to feel more of her and commanded his hands to leave her face and trail down her body until he cupped her backside to press her deeper into him. They groaned simultaneously when their bodies connected in that perfect spot.

The words were on the tip of her tongue, “Take me to bed Kade,” but she couldn’t bring herself to say them. She wanted Kade, of course she did. He was handsome and smart, funny and kind and he could turn her on with a smile. But she couldn’t give her body to him knowing it was temporary and she knew it could never be anything but. She had to stop. “Kade, please,” she pushed gently on his chest. “I can’t.”

He looked at her in confusion until the lust cleared. “What’s wrong?”

Her head fell to his large, muscled chest. “Nothing’s wrong it’s me. I can’t have sex with you.”

“Are you a virgin?” He knew she was young but not that young.

She gave him a get real look. “No I’m not. But I am a realist Kade and in the real world you don’t fall for a girl like me and if we have sex I know it’ll be good.”

“It would be damn good,” he growled.

She smiled wistfully. “Okay damn good. But I like you Kade, not your money just you and sex would only make me fall in love with you and I know neither of us wants that.”

Kade knew she was right but at the moment his body was in charge. He wanted to be the bastard the world knew him to be and seduce her, he could do it easily here under the moonlight after a kiss so hot it knocked his world off its axis. But he couldn’t do that because he liked her too.

Dammit.

“Your fiancé is quite a peach Kade, Helena is quite taken with her.”

Kade looked at the relaxed features on Bruce’s face. The man was completely at ease as though deciding to sell his life’s work was no big deal. But he too felt a sense of ease as Ava’s jasmine scent wafted over to him. “Yeah she’s the best.” His gaze wandered over to where she sat laughing with Helena.

“Talented too,” Bruce said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Yeah she is. How do you know?”

Bruce laughed, the deep lines in his face evidence of a lifetime of laughter. “She did anniversary shots for Helena and I two weeks ago and,” he leaned in close to whisper, “she did those sexy boudoir shots of Helena. I saw them yesterday and about died on the spot.” He fanned himself and leaned back full of mirth. “Hotter than hell, son.”