ROMANCE: THE SHEIKH'S GAMES: A Sheikh Romance (11 page)

“I, uh, I should go,” she said.

Oh, well maybe that’s what normal people did. If she needed to go, he didn’t want to stop her. The last thing he wanted to do was mess this up by coming off as clingy. He didn’t know what she needed, so he would just give her whatever she wanted. “Yeah, of course.”

He went over to the side of the room where her pants had dropped and tossed them over to her. He didn’t want her feeling weird about having to leave, so he tried to make her feel better by saying, “I have stuff I need to do today, too, so, yeah.”

Should he kiss her goodbye? Would that be weird? He stood, feeling awkward as hell as he watched her get dressed. He could tell it was making her feel weird, too, but he didn’t know what to do. Purposely looking away felt weird, too. It was like there was no right answer. After putting on her shoes she came over and stood there for a second, looking like she was trying to figure out what to say. At least it wasn’t just him feeling weird about it.

In an attempt to help her out he sort of blurted the first thing that came to mind. “See you later.”

“Yeah,” she said, and left.

Just like that, she left.

He couldn’t help feeling a bit bad by the fact that they didn’t even hug or anything.

As he’d told her before, he had to start traveling for games, so they didn’t talk or see much of one another after that. He’d tried to get ahold of her, but their conversations were always strained and awkward.

Finally came the time when he had to hit the road, but things with Maggie felt unfinished. He hated it. So, one night when he had some time to stress over everything, he remembered her friend Stacy. She seemed down to do whatever he wanted, so he hunted down her information and gave her a call.

After she got over her initial shock that he was calling her, he finally got around to getting to what he really wanted from her.

“What’s up with Maggie?”

“What do you mean?” Stacy asked, her demeanor shifting instantly. One second she’d been so happy to hear from him, and then she turned cold as ice.

“Everything seemed cool, but now I can’t get her to talk to me.”

“Why do you want to talk to her? Thought you were done with her.”

“What?” This was going exactly the opposite of what he’d hoped to hear. “Why would you say that?”

“That’s what she told me. She said you got all weird and now when you talk it’s all awkward. She was pretty broken up about it, too. She tried to act tough, but I could see it. Why do you care?”

“Because I do, all right? Thanks for the information.”

“Whatever,” Stacy said with a sigh and hung up.

Bryan frowned at his phone and couldn’t help feeling that she was kind of a bad friend.

Maggie was at home doing some research for work when her cell rang. She didn’t recognize the number, but it could’ve been a client so she answered.

“Hey,” Bryan said. Just the sound of his voice sent that thrill followed by the sting of how he’d treated her.

“It’s late,” she said. “Is this work related?”

“Don’t hang up,” he said quickly. “I wanted to see if you wanted to come to New York and watch my next game?”

“Can’t,” she said, keeping her tone flat.

“Busy.”

“Look, I’m not trying to buy you, okay?”

“What’s the matter, one of your other women can’t make it? Am I your second choice, or farther down the list?”

“I just talked to Stacy.”

“What?” Maggie asked. She couldn’t have put more irritation into the word than she did.

“No, not like that. You weren’t talking to me and I didn’t know what to do. She said I hurt you? I don’t know what I did.”

“That’s just it. You didn’t do anything. It was like you couldn’t wait to be rid of me, and then every time we talked it was just like you had something better to do. I’m giving you your space, okay? I’m not one of your drooling little fan girls. You don’t have to pull away. I’m already gone.”

“No, wait,” he said, “it’s not like that. It’s been weird, yeah, but not because of that. I like you. I normally would’ve kicked you out, yeah, but I didn’t want you to go.”

“You didn’t stop me when I said I should go,” she said, setting down her work so she could focus on the conversation.

“Maggie, look, I don’t play games. You say you have to go, I assume you have to go. I don’t want you around, I tell you I don’t want you around. If you do something try to see if I’d do something or act a certain way, you’re going to be disappointed. I don’t play that. I wanted you to stay before, and when I was trying to talk to you after, it was weird. It felt… like I’d already lost you. All before I’d really had a chance to have you, even. I mean, that night was great, right?”

Maggie sighed. Could she really have misunderstood everything? Even just considering it made her scared. Was he dragging her along? “Yeah,” she admitted reluctantly. “It was. I really thought…” She bit off the words, scared to put too much of her heart on her sleeve.

“Thought what?” he asked softly.

“I really thought you liked me.”

“I do,” he said. “That’s why it’s so weird between us. I don’t know what to do. I can’t treat you like I treat girls. I, I dunno, I respect you.”

Maggie chewed on her lower lip for a second and tucked her hand under her other armpit, as though giving herself half a hug. “Really?”

“Definitely. Now look, I’m inviting you out to New York because the city is awesome, and I want to see you. I want to spend some time with you. I… I miss you.”

“Really?” she asked, this time feeling moved by his words.

“Yeah. I really do. Please come out?”

That did it. Maggie agreed and had him call in a complaint to her boss, demanding she come out and settle things. He paid for her plane ticket and got her her own hotel room, so that it looked legit. She came to the game, and this time didn’t feel so surreal about the whole thing.

Being in New York was incredible, though. It really was the city that never slept. After the game, they were able to find shows to go to and hit up a club or two. She hadn’t been out that late in years. The night was filled with laughter, sparkling lights, some of the finest champagne she’d ever had. Everyone wanted to talk to Bryan. He kept his arm around her the whole time, introducing her to movie stars and other athletes.

The paparazzi flashed their cameras at them, shouting questions, insults, anything they could to get a response out of him. She was amazed by Bryan’s ability to tune them out entirely. Some of the things they said about his mother weren’t just blanket insults, but sounded like really personal digs. They talked about her getting sick, and possibly dying, and how he was a monster for going around partying instead of being at her bedside.

When they got back into the limo on the way to the hotel, she wasn’t surprised when she saw him stare out the window for a few minutes.

“Are you okay?” she asked him and put a hand on his leg.

At first he flinched away from her touch, but then it looked like he “came back” when he looked at her. “Sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay,” she said.

“No, I really am.” He took her hand and put it back on his leg where she’d been touching him. “I’m not used to having someone that cares.”

“Is that what you have to deal with?”

He nodded and looked out the window again. It was clear he wasn’t looking at anything, but just more averting his eyes. Lines of moisture had already claimed his cheeks. “Every time I travel. It’s not so bad in our town, but it gets real bad here or in L.A. They say anything to try and make you angry. They can use those angry shots for anything. You see them stories about pregnancy scares, or divorce, or anything like that? These are how they get those pictures of people looking so pissed.”

“That’s terrible.”

He looked back at her, almost as though he was expecting that she was making fun of him. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” she said and scooted closer to him.

She rested her head on his shoulder and put an arm around the front of him. He reached up and took her arm, stroking his thumb over the back of her hand. When he brought it up to his lips and kiss the back of her fingers gently, she really saw the man he kept away from the public eye.

Now she felt like she was starting to understand him more, especially if that was what he had to deal with. Maybe it was her need to comfort him, maybe it was the alcohol, but she reached up and pulled his head toward her. He seemed only too eager to kiss her. The comforting kiss turned to hot passion all too quickly.

She didn’t know how much time they had before they got to wherever they were going – she had honestly forgotten – but she wasn’t going to wait until the hotel. She undid his pants and pulled them down just enough, then climbed on top of him. It was amazing how aroused she was already. It was partially because he looked so damn good in that suit, but also because of how she felt about him, how being around him awakened parts of her she long thought dead or just non-existent at all.

They kissed as they had sex in the back seat of the limo, the tinted windows hiding the world from their sins. They kissed the entire time, and when they climaxed he made sure to hold her eyes with his.

“This time,” she said, out of breath, “don’t let me leave.”

Bryan laughed and kissed her. “Never will.”

Bryan felt incredible. He’d never been so comforted by a woman, so fulfilled. Maggie was hands-down one of the most amazing women he’d ever met. He felt like he could be open with her, vulnerable. Normally that sort of thing made him scared, worried about being hurt or made fun of. Not with Maggie. She made him feel safe, like he could be who he really was and she accepted him. It felt like he was coming back to the person he used to be before all of this.

This time when morning came, he slipped off to go to the bathroom, and then slipped back into bed next to her. When she woke up he wrapped not just his arms around her, but comically tangled his legs in hers and held her close to him.

“Hungry?” he asked her.

She laughed, unable to move. “I dunno,” she said teasingly, “I think I should go.”

“Never!”

They laughed together and he kissed her. Unfortunately she did have to go soon. They were checking out and he needed to head out to the next city for the next game. She was reluctant to go, but understood that this was his job and he had to go. She left out the back so to avoid any paparazzi that may have been lingering about. Bryan packed up and got on the bus with the rest of the players.

At the next city, everything played out as normal. He texted Maggie when he got the chance, but didn’t hear much from her. She said that she was on a flight and couldn’t really text much. The game went well, but not as good as it could’ve been.

Admittedly his head wasn’t in it. For the first time, he had a girl to think about that he really enjoyed thinking about. Still, they won, so it wasn’t all bad. That night, he tried to just go to his room and chill. He didn’t feel much like going out. After the night he’d had with Maggie, everything else felt lame in comparison. Pale. Dull.

The room was nice, lavish. It had an entryway, a living area with couches and a huge TV. It had two bedrooms and three bathrooms. There was no way he needed that much space, but the hotels liked to give him rooms like this, since his staying there brought them more business by proxy. He sure wasn’t going to complain about it.

That night, as he was trying to relax, there was a knock on his door. He went to answer, and damn near his whole team was there. They’d brought girls, booze, the whole deal. How could he say no? They’d just won their game, they wanted to party, and up until just last night, he was totally into stuff like this. Maybe he’d try to party less starting tomorrow?

He checked his phone, but still hadn’t heard from Maggie in a while. She was probably at home, settling back in. Bryan let himself let go a bit and have a good time with his team. They did just have a win after all, and hell, he’d found a girl he was actually happy with. If that wasn’t cause to celebrate, he didn’t know what was.

As the night wore on, things escalated rather quickly. Half the people there were already drunk before even getting to his room. The music was blaring, and a few people had taken up a corner of the table in the dining area for cocaine. They had the mirrors and little straws that looked like they’d seen their use. That kind of stuff had never appealed to Bryan. Messed with person’s emotions and body. He needed to be fit for the game.

A couple of the girls came up to him, both clearly drunk. “Hey,” the blonde one said, “you’re Bryan, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

They grinned at one another and pushed him back. He hadn’t realized he was so close to the chair, and when he stepped back to catch himself he hit the chair. Losing his balance he plopped into it.

Before he had a chance to get up, the girls climbed into his lap. They started laughing as he tried to push them off, but they were making a show of being clumsy. To be honest, it was kind of funny, and he was laughing at having lost his balance.

Then one of the women ducked her head down, bunching over herself as her friend reached over and tickled her, and that’s when Bryan saw Maggie. She stood there staring at him, a plastic shopping bag in her hand.

“Maggie,” he said, but the music drowned out his voice.

She knew he was talking though, and she just held up a hand and shook her head. Some guy came up to hit on her, and that was the final straw. She dropped the bag, turned, and ran.

Bryan pushed the girls off of him and checked the plastic bag to find ice-cream and a movie in it. She’d come to surprise him. Bryan sighed and looked at the door she’d left from. He couldn’t think of what he could say to fix it, and in that moment of indecision, he knew he’d lost her.

He tried calling her later that night, hopefully after she’d had a chance to calm down. No answer. He waited a day. Two days. No answer. Weeks went by. He still had to travel for games after that and wasn’t able to go and actually see her, make her talk to him.

When they finally did swing through her town, he stopped at his publicist’s office to find that she didn’t work there anymore. He thought she just hadn’t been answering her work phone, but no, it was much worse. He didn’t even know where she lived.