© Copyright 2016 by (Kylie Knight) - All rights reserved.
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The Sheikh's Secret
Billionaire Bachelors Club
By: Kylie Knight
Table of Contents
Chapter One: The Arrival
Chapter Two: The Reunion
Chapter Three: The First Encounter
Chapter Four: The Shopping Trip
Chapter Five: The First Date
Chapter Six: The Post-Analysis
Chapter Seven: The Magical Mystery Tour
Chapter Eight: The Valley of the Kings
Chapter Nine: The Charity Auction
Chapter Ten: The Sheikh's Plan
Chapter Eleven: The Following Months
Chapter Twelve: The Wedding
Bonus Book 1
Bonus Book 2
Bonus Book 3
Bonus Book 4
Bonus Book 5
Bonus Book 6
Bonus Book 7
Bonus Book 8
Bonus Book 9
Bonus Book 10
Bonus Book 11
Bonus Book 12
Bonus Book 13
Bonus Book 14
Bonus Book 15
Bonus Book 16
Bonus Book 17
Bonus Book 18
Bonus Book 19
Bonus Book 20
Bonus Book 21
Bonus Book 22
Bonus Book 23
Bonus Book 24
Exclusive Bonus Book 25
Chapter One: The Arrival
It was only just after eight in the morning but as Frey stepped out of the airport she was overwhelmed by the heat. She smiled to herself and marveled at how lucky she was to be there. But then it wasn’t really luck. She had slogged her guts out for the past three years in order to get an opportunity like this and she was going to make sure she enjoyed every second of it.
She picked up speed a little in order to follow the overweight man who had been holding a sign with her name on it as he slalomed like a penguin around people and cars to eventually arrive at a rather battered taxi which was apparently his. He threw her suitcase carelessly into the trunk and then looked at her, head to one side, and said, “Pay now one hundred twenty pound please lady”. He then twiddled his moustache a little and stared at the ground. A waft of stale body odor drifted her way and she grimaced and took a step back.
“I – well, I thought the hotel was going to add it to my check?” Frey stammered, thrown off guard by the situation and how immediately different it was to everything she’d ever known. She twisted her long dark hair absent-mindedly and her eyes darted between the shabby taxi and its disheveled driver. She began to realize that maybe business travel wasn’t quite as glamourous as she had anticipated. She reached into her purse, pulled out her brand new business Amex card and held it out hopefully but the driver shook his head sadly and resumed staring downwards.
“Ok,” she said assertively, regaining her composure, “Take me to an ATM and then to the hotel. I’ll pay you when we get there.” She slipped past the driver, opened the car door, sat inside and waited optimistically.
“Ok lady but extra stop is more money. Hundred fifty pound, ok?” he sighed as he maneuvered his ample body into the driving seat.
They set off and after she became used to the bumps and groans of the old vehicle and began to relax a little, she started to take in the sights unfurling around her. The traffic was crazy, similar to New York, she thought, but even faster and with seemingly no rules. The cars paid no attention to the road lines or markings and would squeeze into the flow of traffic whichever way they could. The cacophony of horns beeping, drivers shouting and engines flaring was overpowering and exciting.
Her neck was strained looking out at the scene of chaos from the back window when suddenly the driver said, “Nile, lady, Nile!” She turned around and saw that they were approaching a huge bridge which spanned a wide passage of dark glittering water. They were crossing the iconic River Nile, the longest river in the world. The banks were lined with huge buildings, elaborate hotels, bars and clubs, and the river itself was teaming with boats of all different sizes.
“Cairo Tower!” the driver pointed out another landmark, “And next we go past University. My son work there” he said proudly, at last showing a bit of friendliness. Frey smiled back, “Wow, it’s beautiful,” she said as she took in the domed roof and surrounding elegant buildings. Her thoughts turned to Columbia University where she had spent two years completing her Masters in Journalism. Two years because she’d had to take the part-time course in order to work as a waitress to be able to afford the hefty course fees and New York living expenses. It had been an enjoyable time but unlike most of her fellow students who had spent much of their time partying and socializing, Frey had been solely studying and working. Maybe she could have made more of an effort to have fun she thought, but the internship she had landed at the New York Times as a result of all her hard work had been well worth the lack of any real friends she had made at the university. And now she was here, in Egypt, chasing a story that could really solidify her career in journalism.
The driver piped up once more and informed her that soon they would get to a bank. He turned the car down a side street and screeched to a halt outside a huge building with the name Ahli United Bank and pointed to the ATM. Perfect, she thought, and jumped out quickly glancing back to check the taxi wasn’t going to leave. Somewhat assured by a thumbs-up and a grin from her enigmatic driver she managed to withdraw a large wad of strange-looking money from the machine.
They were back on the main road of chaos and almost in sight of the most iconic Egyptian landmarks of all. “Pyramids!” shrieked the driver and Frey could barely believe her eyes as they slowly focused on three gigantic triangles protruding from behind the city. It looked like someone had painted a movie set behind all the sky-scrapers and buildings. It didn’t look real. The driver looked pleased with himself, and with her open-mouthed expression, and announced, “Almost at hotel now”.
Chapter Two: The Reunion
The hotel was a little grubbier and rougher around the edges than the pictures had revealed but the fantastic view of the Pyramids more than made up for that. She drew back the curtains and positioned the desk so that she could gaze at them while working. She grinned to herself and took a quick snapshot with her phone, adding it to Facebook with the caption, “My office for the next month!”
She didn’t use social media very much and only had a handful of friends (no colleagues as she thought that was unprofessional) but this was definitely an occasion to show off she thought to herself.
As she started to unpack and settle in, her phone pinged. That’s strange, she thought, as everyone at home would be in bed at that time. Someone had liked and commented on her picture and as she looked at the message she suddenly realized who it was; her old school buddy Kathryn lived here now. She had changed her name to Katy but spelt with the letter ‘i’: Kati. To make matters even worse Kati had later changed her name again, adding an ‘a’ so she was now Katia. Frey hated it when people did that with their names and would have loved to have a nice normal name like Kathryn or Katy.
The name Frey had come from her parents’ love of Scandinavia; they had spent months traveling through various Norse countries, living in communes and generally being hippies before her mother fell pregnant and the
y scraped together enough inheritance money to fly home and set up a small hotel on Long Island. Her name would have been Freya after the goddess of love and fertility (which Frey thought was quite ironic in her case) but her parents decided that it was more unique without the ‘a’. The result being that Frey had to reluctantly relay this eccentric story time and time again throughout her life.
Frey and Katia had spent most of their childhood summers together in and around the small town of Greenport that was located on the north fork of the Long Island peninsula, away from the trendy Hampton resorts. They were complete opposites in everything but had ended up as friends due to the fact that they both had strange parents and living arrangements. Katia’s parents were away for months at a time and so Katia used to stay in one of the hotel rooms. Eventually as the friendship blossomed it had been simpler for her just to move into Frey’s spacious basement room at the hotel. Frey’s parents didn’t care as long as they stayed away from the guests and didn’t watch TV. They used to explore the rugged coastline on their bicycles and find secret places to pour over her parents strange books about faraway places, yoga and tantric sex that Katia had sneaked out of their bedroom.
Frey remembered that after a failed affair with some moneyed Arab businessman, Katia had stayed in the Middle East and made it her home, first living in Dubai and then moving to Cairo. Dammit, she thought. Katia was fun; there was no doubt about it. But she was also trouble. She read the message again: OMG can’t believe you’re in Cairo! Call me ASAP!!!
Frey sighed and hit the call button. What harm could it do, she reasoned, to catch up and have a few drinks would be fun and besides, she was feeling rather alone. Maybe Katia would even be able to help with some information for her big story. Soon Katia’s cute face and shiny blonde hair appeared on the screen and Frey couldn’t help but let out a small squeal. It was really good to see her again. After a brief conversation and against Frey’s better judgement it had been decided that Katia would come to her hotel that very night.
After a day of gazing at the pyramids, catching up on emails and sleep, and picking at a few snacks ordered up from room service, Frey was feeling excited to see her old friend. At 8pm sharp Katia was at her door, followed by a bartender holding a bucket of champagne on ice and two glasses.
“You don’t waste any time, do you?” Frey said as she gestured towards the bottle and embraced her friend.
“Well, we’re celebrating aren’t we?” Katia grinned, and poured the champagne, handing a glass to Frey, “Here’s to being reunited for a whole month! It’ll be like old times!”
“A month? Well, I’m here to work, you know. I have a lot to do. I’ve got this big project and I have a lot of research to do and emails to reply to. It’s not a vacation!” Frey said, trying to look serious.
“Oh don’t be a yawn, you’ll have plenty of time to do some work, I promise! I can’t wait to show you the sights of Cairo; we’re going to have such a blast!”
Frey didn’t really know what to say but she was a little worried. There was a reason they hadn’t seen each other much in the last ten years and it wasn’t just the distance that had separated them. As soon as they reached their teens Katia had become more and more interested in boys and parties, whereas Frey had found guys her age boring and foolish and the parties tedious and pointless. She had much preferred to cozy up with a good book or listen to classical music and things hadn’t changed much since then.
Katia carried on oblivious, looking around the hotel room, “Is this all they could afford to put you in? It’s not very impressive. And way too far from the right areas. You’ll be much better off moving in with me… Are these all the clothes you brought? We’re going to have to go shopping, like, urgently!”
Frey rolled her eyes to heaven, “Stop! OK? I’m not moving in with you, I chose this hotel for the view, and I don’t need any new clothes thank you very much!”
“Really? Well I suppose you won’t be interested in wearing this then will you?” Katia teased as she pulled a stunning sequined dress from her oversized tote.
Frey couldn’t resist trying the outfit on and had to agree it looked far better than her staid ensemble of black trousers and cream silk shirt. Her kitten heels complimented the shimmering dress perfectly and even her small evening handbag got a nod of approval from her demanding friend. She added a simple line of black eyeliner to emphasize her large chestnut-colored eyes and stepped back to admire herself in the mirror.
Katia grinned and announced that a cab was waiting for them downstairs, “Come on, hurry, there’s this awesome DJ playing at Tamarai tonight!”
Chapter Three: The First Encounter
They entered the club arm in arm, partly because they were newly reunited friends, and partly because Frey felt slightly light-headed after the champagne and a little intimidated by the loud music and excess amount of bodies around her. Katia ordered cocktails and lead her to a huge outdoor terrace which was quieter than inside and was also right on the banks of the Nile. The river by night was spectacular and Frey relaxed into her seat feeling that the day was ending better than it had started.
“So tell me about your love life” she said to Katia, winking, “You usually have someone or other, don’t you?” she said raising her eyebrows.
“Well you know me, there is someone I’m seeing…” she said, faking coyness.
Frey laughed and waited for her to continue. This girl always had at least one guy on the scene.
Katia sat up and spoke quickly and earnestly “But really it’s not that serious and to be honest I’m not sure I’m that into him. I mean he’s hot, obviously! And pretty rich. Well, you know, rich enough. But…” she suddenly gasped, “OMG! Look over there!” She went to point and then withdrew her hand quickly and grabbed Frey, “Don’t be obvious” she whispered, looking away again.
“Who is it?” Frey whispered back.
Katia released her grip and took a deep breath. “Well, he’s only the most eligible bachelor in the whole of Egypt, and probably the whole world.”
She waited for a reaction, but didn’t get one, so leaned in again and whispered, “Its Sheikh Faisal”
“What!?” Frey urgently whispered back, “It’s really Sheikh Faisal?”
“Wait” Katia looked confused, “You know who he is?”
“How do you know who he is?” she responded, accusingly.
“Well as I told you, he’s like the richest hottest guy out here! And he’s not married. Of course I know who he is.”
“And..?” Frey could sense there was more.
“Ok, yeah I might have kissed him a couple of times…” She smiled coquettishly but then her look turned to horror, “OMG that’s why you’re here isn’t it. You’re seeing him! That’s why you’re here. OMG I’m so sorry, it was nothing honestly, just…”
“No I’m not seeing him, you idiot,” Frey hissed incredulously, “I’m writing a piece about him. He’s my project!”
As Katia was pondering over what had just been said Frey looked over to see what all the fuss was about but all she could see was a mass of bodies and a lot of camera flashes. As the crowd slowly dissipated she could make out a tall well-dressed man with his arms draped around two scantily-clad women at either side. It seemed like he was telling some kind of joke as everyone looked completely in awe of him.
Katia was mesmerized too and Frey waved her hand in front of her face, “Earth to Katia. Tell me about this guy. What’s so amazing about him?”
“He’s not married,” replied Katia, dreamily, “and by his age he should be. He’s been engaged to a girl for ages and everyone knows it’s an arranged marriage. But it’s strange. It’s not like marrying her would change his lifestyle. Look at him, he’s a party boy, he’s never going to be the perfect husband.”
“But if he would never be the perfect husband why does everyone want him?”
Katia rubbed her thumb and her fingers together, “Money of course, he’s absolutely full of it. Like an actu
al billionaire! Plus every girl loves the idea that they could tame a bad boy, don’t they?”
“Well I don’t!” Frey didn’t see the appeal of these rich playboys. Sure you might benefit from their money for a while, but why subject yourself to a life of misery and jealousy. No amount of gold and diamonds was worth that, surely.
A waiter approached their table with a bottle of champagne, “Courtesy of the sheikh.” he explained while pouring them each a glass.
They turned to look at the sheikh and he raised his glass to them and smiled. They reciprocated the gesture. “Well I guess he wants to ‘kiss’ you again.” Freya said, smirking. She knew full well her friend didn’t exactly wait until date three to jump into bed with someone.
“Oi!” Katia retaliated, looking fake shocked. “It was only a couple of kisses actually. And besides, he’s probably after a bit of hanky-panky with the two of us.”
Now it was Frey’s turn to look shocked, “What?” she whispered, “You’re joking. No way. That’s what he expects? Well I’m not drinking this then.” She signaled for the waiter to take away her glass.
“What are you doing?” Katia looked annoyed, “Do you want to blow things completely? You want to write a story on this guy, right?”
“I’m not prepared to lower myself to the level that you are implying in order to get a story.” Frey retorted. Really, she thought to herself, how revolting this man seems to be. But how far was she prepared to go for the sake of a good story? Definitely not that far.
She blushed as she realized that Katia probably had no idea how inexperienced she was. The truth was that the majority of her knowledge about sex had been from their sneaky peeks at her parents’ tantric sex books when they were younger. Her years of studying and working had not left a lot of time for romance and even though many young men had pursued her, she just hadn’t had the time or confidence to let any kind of relationship develop past friendship.
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