SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance (85 page)

Nick’s enthusiasm seemed to rub off on Matt and soon the two of them were scribbling down the first steps of how they were going to make their dreams come true.

“Let’s do it!” declared Matt.

“Awesome!” said Nick, “I knew I could count you in.”

They stood up and shook hands like they had just concluded a formal business deal, even though it had been anything but. Then Nick, in his excitement, planted a kiss on Riley’s cheek, his beard hairs tickling her and made her blush.

“Okay,” said Nick. “I gotta go make some calls to get the show on the road. I’ll let you know later how it goes.” And just like that he left again, leaving Riley still feeling hot in the face and smiling to herself every time she thought about him.

Riley woke up to the smell of bacon and the summer sunshine streaming in through the huge windows of a strange room. It took her a moment to piece together how she had come to be tucked into an enormous bed in a strange house, still fully clothed.

The room had an en-suite bathroom and she quickly undressed and showered. She guessed her backpack with all her clothes inside must’ve still been in Nick’s car, but she found a t-shirt in the closet and pulled it on.

The spare room she found herself in was on the second floor, which meant that Nick had carried her all the way up a flight of stairs. She couldn’t help feeling a blush of embarrassment at the thought: her snoring away while he slogged her limp body upstairs like an overgrown child.

The house was bright and spacious, with large portions of the walls consisting of glass looking out at the ocean. Downstairs she found Nick cooking bacon and eggs.

“Morning, Riley! Did you sleep well?”

“I’m so embarrassed,” she said rubbing her eyes. “Did you have to carry me to bed?”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Nick, grinning, “you’re light as a feather. I tried waking you, but you must’ve been all tuckered out from all the excitement.”

“Oh, gosh,” said Riley blushing.

“Here you go, grubs up,” he said and scraped a big pile of bacon and eggs onto a plate in front of her.

“But I promised I’d make
you
breakfast.”

“Well, technically this is more like lunch, so it kind of cancels out. Eat up and we can go visit your brother.”

“What time is it?”

“Twelve-thirty.”

“Oh, geez, I was out for the count.”

Past the open living room, was a sliding door leading onto a deck and an infinity pool overlooking the beach.

“This is a really great place you have here,” said Riley, shoving a big forkful of bacon into her mouth. Her stomach rumbled with gratitude. She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten. “Definitely better than a motel.”

“I’ll give you the full tour later. You know, I owe a lot of it to your brother. I mean, without his help I would never have been able to get my idea off the ground.”

“Well, you kind of saved his life, so I guess you guys are about even now.”

Nick shrugged. “He would have done the same for me. He’s like family to me. So I guess that makes you family too.”

And don’t you forget it, Riley told herself. Still, she couldn’t help remembering the dream she had had about the first time they had met. Nor could she help noticing how the sunlight shone golden through his now short his hair, or how small the fork looked in his big strong hands.

Matt was propped up in bed watching television when they arrived at his hospital room. He tried to turn to greet them, but groaned when he remembered his neck brace.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” he said. “I need someone to change the channel. It’s been stuck on Ricki Lake for the last three hours. I’m just about ready to throw my IV bag at her.”

Riley laughed. It was good to see that Matt had kept up his high spirits despite the accident.

“When are you getting out of here, buddy?” asked Nick.

“What you mean getting out? I thought you were taking me surfing. I got the nurse to help me get my wetsuit on and everything.” Matt cleared his throat with a pained expression on his face. “Jokes aside, it looks like I might be in here a while. They did some tests this morning so I guess I’ll know for sure soon. Doctors say it could be another couple weeks, depending. And that’s if I don’t die of a daytime television overdose before then.”

“You can borrow my tablet, if you promise to stick to Angry Birds,” said Riley. “No work until you get better.”

Matt pulled a face of mock disgust which was made even funnier by the neck brace pushing up the skin around his chin.

“Still, I suppose I’d rather be here than babysitting you,” said Matt, teasing.

Riley stuck her tongue out at him, playfully. Humor had always been their family’s way of dealing with things. I felt good to be around people again who understood that.

“I’m just kidding. I missed you, sis.”

“I know you did. You slammed yourself up against some rocks just to get me here.”

“Speaking of which,” said Nick, “I’m going to leave you guys to catch up for a bit, while I get some of that delicious hospital coffee. Can I get you guys anything?”

Matt did his best to shake his head.

“I’m good,” said Riley and watched him leave. “So how’re you feeling really?” she asked Matt.

“To be honest, I’m just glad to be alive. I mean it sucks being out of commission and not being able to work, but I have to tell you, sis, that was a close one. If it hadn’t been for Nick saving my skin…”

“He’s a good guy,” said Riley.

“One of the best. Hell, if it wasn’t for him, I’d probably be cleaning pools for a living. The company was all his idea.”

“You know, he said the same thing. That he owed it all to you.”

Matt waved away the idea.

“Just goes to show how quickly life takes a turn,” said Matt, his voice growing sombre. “How quickly you can get on top of things. And then how quick it can be over. All you can do is enjoy it while lasts, right?”

Nick returned a little while later and the conversation turned to lighter subjects. They stayed with Matt for the afternoon, chatting and telling jokes until the angry looking nurse came back with his dinner. “Alright, folks,” she said. “Visiting time’s up.”

Back in the car — Riley had chosen to ride in the Lamborghini again, though Nick had a more practical Land Rover Sport for everyday use — Nick turned left out of the parking lot instead of right.

“Where are we going?” asked Riley.

“I thought I could persuade you to let me take you out to dinner.”

“You mean like a date?” she said, but then regretted it the moment the words were out of her mouth.
No, you idiot, not a date,
she told herself.
He just wants food. Stop being weird.

“If you want to call it that,” said Nick.

Riley blushed. “I don’t know, I’m not really dressed for a restaurant.”

“Don’t be silly,” said Nick, “you look amazing. You could fit into Miami’s finest wearing just a T-shirt and jeans with your face.”

Riley blushed harder.

“Okay,” said Nick, “Nothing fancy. I know this great restaurant on the beach. They do the best burgers in town.”

“Okay,” said Riley. “Sounds good.” Actually, a dinner date with Nick sounded
amazing,
but she dared not say that out loud.

* * *

At the restaurant, a rustic but quaint surfer’s shack with walls lined with rock and roll memorabilia, Nick and Riley took a seat out on the deck to watch the waves and breathe the fresh sea air.

“I love this place,” said Nick. “It reminds me of when Matt and I tried to start a band. We even got our first gig here.”

“Really? I didn’t know Matt played an instrument.”

Nick laughed. “He doesn’t. Neither do I. I had a bongo drum and Matt had a microphone. They took one look at us and told us to take a hike. We managed to sweet talk our way into playing a couple songs. We told the manager that our instruments had been stolen and our bass player had quit, but that we could pull it off with our voices like a barbershop quartet.”

“Oh my gosh,” she cried. “Then what happened?”

“Well, we did what we said we were going to do and we brought down the house…in hysterics. They kicked us off the stage after song number two. But the customers got a good laugh out of us and bought us beer for the rest of the night. Good times.”

“You guys are so crazy,” said Riley. “I’d never have the guts to go up there and make a fool of myself like that.”

“We were always trying to see how far we could push things before people went, ‘somebody get these clowns out of here.’ It’s weird how much that kind of thing has actually helped us in business. Whenever we start taking things too seriously, we just start treating it like that kind of game and say, ‘What’s the craziest thing we can push for right now?’ If it doesn’t happen we don’t get too upset, but sometimes it pays off.”

“That’s so funny,” said Riley, twirling her straw. “You two are the coolest guys I know.”

“You know,” said Nick. “I remember the first time I met you, I thought you were so cute. I tell you, if you weren’t Matt’s sister…”

Riley blushed. “Really? Because I have to be honest with you,” she said. “I had a crush on you as well. I mean, it wouldn’t be that bad if something were to happen would it?”

Nick grinned but said nothing, and for a moment she wondered if he was just teasing her.

I should have just kept my mouth shut,
she thought.
He’s obviously just messing around the way he and Matt do, always jibing each other. It’s just his way
.

The waitress arrived then and took their order and the topic seemed to be forgotten. She vowed to leave it that way and not make a fool of herself any further.

Neither of them mentioned their previous attraction to one another again during the course of meal. As they sat on the deck of the restaurant looking out over the beach, the conversation remained light and playful, like two long-time friends, while inside, a rock band played edgy ballads with crunchy distortion driving their guitars, the lead singer with a voice that seemed to have been cultivated from a lifetime of chain-smoking and drinking whiskey in New Orleans blues bars.

“This is why I miss Florida,” said Riley.

“I couldn’t live anywhere else in the world,” said Nick. “The sunshine, the beaches. I’d be just as happy living in a shack with nothing but my board and a battery operated FM radio.”

“Can I ask you something?” asked Riley.

“Sure,” said Nick.

“What is it that motivates you? I mean, why do you keep working so hard if you’d be happy with so little?”

“That’s a good question,” said Nick. “I guess one day down the line I’d like to start a family, you know. My family didn’t have much growing up. I want to be able to give my kids every opportunity in following their own dreams. It’s about leaving a legacy to them. I guess they’d have to learn their own hard lessons along the way, but they’d never have to eat ramen for three years straight and use coupons just to get a cup of coffee. I guess it’s about taking care of my tribe, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do,” said Riley, imagining what gorgeous kids he would have one day. “That’s really sweet. I bet you’d make a great dad. But then why aren’t you already married?”

“To be honest with you,” said Nick. “I always thought I had plenty of time for that later. I wanted to build up the company, pour my heart and soul into that without any distractions. I hadn’t thought too much about it until…well…until your brother’s accident. I think it was a wake-up call for both of us. I mean, we work hard, but when are we actually going to
live?
”

“You’re living now, aren’t you?”

Nick chuckled that deep warm laughter. “You’re right. I guess I’m getting overly dramatic here. This is it. This moment right now. This is life. And ain’t it sweet?”

Something in his eyes and the way he had said it, made Riley want to lean across the table, hold his face in her hands and kiss him. Something in his eyes made her wonder if he didn’t want to do the same thing.

She was the first to break their gaze and look away. Nick cleared his throat. A silence settled over them in the wake of the electricity between them.

“See those clouds over there, out over the sea? I bet we’re gonna have a storm later.”

“Then we better hurry home,” said Riley. “I want to try out your pool.”

On the way up the long driveway to Nick’s house, Riley got the first sense of how big the place actually was. At the end of the drive stood a huge futuristic glass building that looked as though it had been designed by a cubist painter, glass panes and white walls running off at strange and breath-taking angles.

Behind the house, the infinity pool seemed to continue right into the dark ocean beyond. In the distance, Riley could see the sparkling lights of Miami on the other side of the bay. They sat on the edge of the pool, sipping cocktails that Nick had prepared.

Riley dangled her feet into the water. The pool had retained the heat of the day and now felt warm and soothing to her weary feet.

“I just want to jump in,” she said. “The water’s so warm.”

“Be my guest,” said Nick.

“It’s kind of silly,” said Riley, “But ever since I was a kid and saw the Jaws movies, I can’t swim alone. Also, I only packed what I could fit in my backpack so I didn’t bother with a swim suit.”

Nick chuckled. “I can help you with the first one, but you’re on your own with the latter.”

He didn’t wait for a response, instead he stood up, unbuttoned his shirt and stripped down to his boxer shorts.

Riley had just enough time to notice the rippling muscles of his stomach and then his back as he launched himself head first into the pool.

“Come on,” said Nick, “The water is beautiful.”

Riley thought of Matt telling Nick to keep his hands off and then remembered what he’d said about how quickly life can turn, how you should enjoy it while you can.

“Come on,” said Nick again. “I won’t bite. Live a little.”

She imagined diving into the pool and pressing her body against Nick’s firm, wet skin and bit her lip. No, she told herself, it’s just a swim, nothing’s going to happen. But deep down she knew that what she wanted was very far from nothing. What she wanted was to seize the moment and everything that came with it.