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“How do you know? I get the feeling you tend to hide away so no one gets a chance to watch you.”
Rolling her eyes, she slammed the door to the fridge shut. “For that, you’re getting instant potatoes.”
He smiled but didn’t move. Doing her best to ignore the heat in his gaze, she threw the beef in the pan and started stirring the potatoes. As much as she tried to focus on what she was doing, she was all too aware that Samir never stopped watching her. She knew with his pretty face and royal status, he probably had a warm body in his bed every night. Obviously, she was the only viable choice for him.
Well, the hell with that. She wasn’t going to wrap her legs around him because she was the only one around. No matter how badly she wanted it.
Finally, she layered the ingredients in the dish and bent down to place it in the oven. Straightening, she turned to find him standing directly behind her. “You have something on your cheek,” he said softly as he reached out and brushed his thumb over her skin. A shudder went down her spine when he popped his thumb in his mouth and smiled. “Mashed potatoes.”
Oh, God. She was in so much trouble. “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” she said hoarsely. “Excuse me. I’m going to change.” Before he
could do anything else to set her off, she eased away from him and fled from the kitchen.
She could hear him chuckling the whole way.
6
She looked everywhere but at him during dinner. At Samir’s request, Melka took his dinner in the living room, but it didn’t matter. All the electricity he’d felt in the kitchen died as soon as she fled the room. It perplexed him.
Samir knew that he was a good guy. It wasn’t only his money that had women constantly hanging off his arm. He also knew that Poppy was attracted to him. He could feel her gaze when he wasn’t looking, and although she tried to hide it, her face was an open book. He didn’t have to touch her to know that she wanted him. The desire was more than evident in her altered breathing when she was around him and the way that her lips parted as if she were dying for his kiss.
Yet, when it came for the follow through, she shied away. It was on the tip of Samir’s tongue to ask why, but he had a feeling that seducing Poppy Milenne would take carefully planned dance moves. One wrong step and she’d flee once again.
“Why do you keep sighing?” she snapped. “You said you liked dinner.”
“I did,” Samir said softly. “I enjoyed the dinner very much. I’m sighing because my company is so quiet.”
Standing, she pushed her chair back and glared at him. “I’m not company, Samir. I’m your servant. I shouldn’t even be eating dinner at the same table as you. Emine could fire me for this.”
Watching as she cleared the table, he couldn’t help his smile. “I believe that I’m the boss of Emine. You don’t have much to worry about.”
“The Crowned Sheikh is in control of the staff here, and last time I checked, that wasn’t you.” Immediately, she flushed. “I’m sorry, that was rude of me.”
“It wasn’t rude.” Samir reached out and grabbed her wrist as she tried to take his plate. Rubbing his thumb softly on the underside of her wrist, he enjoyed watching her face open up with raw lust. “I will most likely never be Crowned Sheikh, and I’m not at all upset about it.”
Jerking her hand away, she snatched his plate and stalked into the kitchen. Unwilling to let her get away just yet, he followed her. “My father is an excellent leader. If anything happened to him, Kashif would take over. By the time the crown came to me, one or both of my brothers would have sired an heir. I came to terms with the fact that I’ll never wear the crown a long time ago.”
“Is that why you’re such a playboy?” she muttered.
“Excuse me?”
Poppy pulled open the dishwasher and bent down to load it. “Never mind,” she muttered.
Samir stared as her small round ass swayed with each movement. What he wouldn’t give to be able to cup her cheeks and see how well they filled his palm. He could caress her, squeeze her, find out what made her moan. All through dinner, he’d done a good job of keeping his body contained, but he was assaulted with erotic images, and he couldn’t keep his hardness from responding. He wanted to press against her, slide her shirt up, and lick the entire length of her spine. Unsnap her bra and fill his hands with her ample breasts, flicking over her nipples until she panted with need. Slide those pants down and test how wet she was.
“Do you want to decorate the tree now?” she asked suddenly as she straightened.
No. He really didn’t want to decorate the tree. He wanted to pick her up, plant her on the counter, and bury himself in her.
“Sheikh!” Melka’s bark broke him from his daydream, and Samir whirled around as the man burst into the kitchen. “There’s someone outside. In the safe room. Now.”
Without even thinking about it, Samir reached out and grabbed Poppy’s hand. His bodyguard immediately shook his head. “No. Just you.”
“She’s coming with me,” Samir snarled and dragged her upstairs. His heart pounded as he hit the lever in his bedroom. The bookcase swung open to reveal the steel door behind it. Punching in his passcode, Samir waited for the door to swing open.
“Wait,” Poppy said in a panicked voice. “I can’t go in there.”
“Don’t argue with me.” Pushing her inside, he hit the lever on the inside, and the door swung shut. The dim luminescent lights turned on to reveal the sparse surroundings in the small room. It wouldn’t have held more than six people, and that was if they were crammed in. Boxes holding food and water were stacked on one side, and four television monitors covered the other wall. Samir reached over and turned them on. There were cameras hidden all over the safe house. Anxiously, he used the controls to flip from camera to camera until he found the threat that Melka had seen.
