Awoken by the Sheikh

Evernight
Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2014 Doris O’Connor

 
ISBN: 978-1-77130-997-4

Cover
Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor:
Karyn
White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING:
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is
illegal.
 
No part of this book may be
used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This
is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

As
ever, thanks to
Evernight
Publishing, and my fabulous
Editor
Karyn
for helping me make Rashid's and
Astrid's story truly shine. And to my readers, thank you for your support. May
all your wishes come
true.

AWOKEN BY THE SHEIKH

Services to Sisterhood, 1

Doris O’Connor

Copyright © 2014

Chapter O
ne

“
Astrid, I
am not taking no for an answer.” Lynn fixed her with one of
those
looks,
and Astrid found it hard not to squirm in her seat like a recalcitrant
six-year-old. “You’ve been working far too hard. You need a holiday, and I know
just the place. Every woman should go at least once in her lifetime. You’ll
love it, you’ll see!”

Lynn shoved the brochure across the table at her, and
Astrid barely suppressed her groan of disgust. The glossy paper promised white,
sandy beaches, tropical weather, one’s every whim catered to, a
no-expenses-spared holiday. Too bad it gave Astrid heat rash just from the
pictures.

Not again. How can I get out
of this?

Astrid forced her lips into a semblance of a smile

“
I don’t
do fantasies I tell you. What on earth am I going to do there, and how could
you afford it anyway?”

Lynn just laughed at her. “Never
you
mind
that. It’s all taken care of.
And as for
fantasies?
You’ll surprise yourself, I’m sure. Look at this as
education. You need to loosen up woman, discover your inner sex goddess before
you turn into a shriveled up old prune.”

Heat rose in Astrid’s cheek, and she was sure the
whole coffee shop stopped to look at their table. “Will you keep your voice
down? My sex life is none of your business.”

“
Sex
life?” Lynn didn’t temper her volume. If anything it increased in decibels, and
Astrid feared for the plate glass windows. “Girl, you haven’t got one, and this
trip is going to change all that. No, don’t even try to wriggle out of it. It’s
all arranged. Call it services to sisterhood.”

“
Lynn,
this is insane. I can’t just take off. It’s—“

“
It’s
half term next week, and you most certainly can just
take off. I’ll feed your goldfish. I’ll even talk to him, so he doesn’t feel
lonely.” Lynn laughed again and shook her head at Astrid. “You do realize how
sad that is, right? You’re turning into the proverbial cliché. Only you’re not
old, just a spinster, with a goldfish rather than a cat.”

The more Astrid protested, the louder and more
insistent Lynn became, until Astrid had no choice but to agree, all too aware
of the sniggering around her.

****

Services
to sisterhood—what a crock.
She was not some sort of sex starved charity case, as
Lynn must have made her out to be to get her booked on this thing. And since
when was there such a charity anyway? So they booked you on this fantasy
getaway to get bonked senseless and then your life would be so much better
right?
Right.
Bull, bull, bull
. And fool that she was
,
she was now stuck on this trip. There was no means to
reach the outside world until the holiday was over, and she had presumably been
shagged senseless by goodness only knew who.

Astrid clung to the handrail a bit tighter as the
speedboat rode another wave. The man in charge of this tiny contraption gave
her a wide grin when she couldn’t contain her shriek. Here he went again with
the
knowing
looks that made Astrid all too aware of her own body. That
kind of
undress her with his eyes look
would have earned him a stern
dressing down, had she been at home. Out here, however, like the proverbial
fish out of water, she had no comeback. Men generally didn’t look at her twice,
which
was just fine by her, thank you very much.

This one, however? His dark eyes raked her up and
down, and a slow grin spread across his face. He looked as though he knew
exactly what she was hiding under her sensible and far too hot suit.
Yeah,
girl, wear a woolen suit to a tropical island. Now that was a brainwave, duh.

The offending suit clung to her skin, and beads of
perspiration slid into the valley of her breasts and collected in the small of
her back. The heat was getting to her. That was the only explanation for her
body’s immediate and frightful response to this man’s latent sexuality. Astrid
held onto the rail a bit tighter and shut her eyes to block out the terrifying
sight of another wave approaching, as she recalled her first meeting with him.

“
Welcome to the island of dreams, beautiful lady.”

Astrid harrumphed at that memory.
Beautiful?
Her?
Yeah, sure, buster.
Next he would be offering to show her
around personally. Lynn had said the staff was
extremely
accommodating.
Heaven help her if his deep, accented tones hadn’t done strange things to
her insides, however. Not that she would ever admit to that or let him see her
reaction.

She’d ignored the outstretched hand, which had earned
her a chuckle and a raised eyebrow from the infuriating man, and then the
speedboat had roared to life. Astrid was going to kill Lynn for insisting that
she come to this, this place. Hours on planes, and now this boat,
whose
swaying movements made her stomach churn. Exhaustion
pulled at her, and thanks to the suffocating heat she could barely
breathe.
 
Her hair whipped around her
face in a tangled, frizzy mess due to the salt air, and she was sure she had
sweat stains that would never come out on her suit.

Very beautiful, indeed.
What a load of bull designed to make women swoon.

Thinking of Lynn made her groan out loud. Lynn, who
was so full of life that Astrid
got
tired just
watching her. This trip was Lynn’s birthday present to her. She couldn’t have
just gotten her the latest novel she asked for, oh no.

That would have been easy and helpful, and meant
Astrid could have relieved her sexual tension while safely tucked under her
covers with the aid of her little purple friend.

“
Hold on
tight, beautiful lady. This bit gets rather rough.”

Astrid almost jumped at the deep, male voice and
rolled her eyes as he threw her another one of those lingering looks.
Oh no,
you don’t, buster.
It would take a lot more than male eye candy served in a
white uniform for her to be at all interested.

Wouldn’t it?

Nonetheless Astrid breathed a sigh of relief when the
little craft finally pulled up at a small quay. Her torture was almost over.
Ignoring the outstretched hand of sailor boy, Chippendale wannabe, she managed
to climb off the boat, grateful for the wide, female smile that greeted her.

“
Welcome
to the island, Miss
Griending
. I trust that your
journey over was not too tiresome and that Pedro behaved himself?” The middle
aged woman’s smile deepened at Astrid’s barely suppressed, “Harrumph!”

“
I always
behave myself, Anna, you know that.” Pedro shot Astrid another one of those
looks as he handed her luggage out of the boat.
“Unless the
lady doesn’t want me to?”

Damn the man
. Heat rose in her cheeks, and with one last chuckle
the infuriating example of why she normally avoided men at all costs was gone
with a burst of speed.

“
I bet he
says that to all the women he ferries about.” Astrid grumbled the words under
her breath.

 
“
Don’t you mind Pedro,” Anna said. “His bark is worse
than his bite. If you follow me, I will show you to your accommodations so you
can settle in. You will feel better once you have freshened up.” Anna picked up
Astrid’s bags and set off at a brisk pace.

Astrid had little choice but to follow the petite
woman up the winding path. She was so tired by now that she could hardly think
straight, and she wasn’t really listening when Anna offered her a choice of
huts.
 
Surely one was as good as the
other? And why was she asking her about her favorite childhood book? What did
that have to do with anything, and why on earth was she smiling at her like
that?