Sold To The Sheikh: His Indecent Proposal (An Interracial Sheikh Romance Novel) (6 page)

“What?” The word left
Mia’s mouth in a near-shriek. “I barely know you!”

“Not—it’s okay, Mia. I
don’t mean like, a baby-mama or anything like that.” Mia’s mouth
opened and closed without any words leaving it. She stared up at
her ceiling in shock.

“Maybe you should explain
to me what exactly it is that you mean,” she said.

“I want to pay you to
carry a child for me,” Rami told her, speaking slowly. “I’ll pay
for the doctors, the treatments, everything.”

“And why, exactly, do you
need a child?” Mia couldn’t get over the initial shock of what he
had proposed.

“I want to raise a child
the right way, and there’s no better time than now.” Mia reflected
in silence for a long moment, remembering their conversation about
children during their “date.” She would never have imagined that
the outcome of that conversation would be Rami asking her to carry
his child. “In addition to paying for all of the medical costs, I
would of course pay you.”

“Wait—wait, you mean…” Mia
felt her indignation rising again.

“No, not that—no. I would
want you to conceive through IVF. But I would be paying you a
monthly allowance, so that you wouldn’t have to work. I want you to
be completely healthy and stress-free right from the start. I was
thinking maybe a hundred thousand a month, plus the medical bills
and maybe extra for your groceries?” Mia’s eyes widened and she
stared at her phone in amazement at the figure he
mentioned.

“One hundred thousand a
month?” A voice in the back of her mind suggested that with that
kind of money, she could close out all of her mother’s bills and
pay for years of medication.

“Of course, I’d pay you a
larger sum once the baby is delivered,” Rami continued, as if he
hadn’t quite heard her question. “I was thinking an even million,
but if you think that you’d need more to give up a child you’d
borne…” Mia could barely even think, much less speak. A million
dollars, after earning a hundred thousand a month for nine months
or more.

“This is crazy,” Mia said,
shaking her head. “Why do you want to pay me to carry a baby for
you?”

“It seemed like a pretty
good deal,” Rami replied. “You get money that you need, I get the
kid that I want. If it’s not enough money I can talk to my
accountant…”

“No, no it’s not—it’s not
the amount,” Mia said quickly. “It’s more that it just seems so
bizarre to be paid to do something like that.”

“People do it every day,”
Rami said. Mia could just picture him shrugging at the other end of
the line, as if offering someone two million dollars—maybe even
more—was the most casual thing in the world. “Plenty of wealthy
women don’t want to carry their children, or can’t, so they hire a
surrogate and pay them. I’d want you to keep quiet about it, of
course.”

“It’s just that…it seems
so weird,” Mia finished, bringing her hand up to her forehead. “I
really need to think about something like that, Rami. It’s a kind
of a big favor you’re asking.”

“Like I said, if you think
you need more money to be able to do it, I can work something
out.”

Mia shook her head. “I
just—it would mean changing everything in my life, and—and I’m not
sure if I’m even ready to be pregnant. Or to give up a kid that I’m
carrying. Just…let me have some time to think about it,
okay?”

“Take all the time you
need,” Rami told her. “It is kind of a big favor, I know. But I
hope you’ll agree to it.” Mia barely remembered what she said to
end the call; she was fairly certain she agreed to get back to him
when she had made up her mind, but her brain seemed so thoroughly
frozen by the magnitude of what Rami was asking—and the staggering
amount of money he was offering her in exchange—that she couldn’t
be sure of the words that came out of her mouth.

The rest of her chores,
everything she intended to do that evening, fell by the wayside.
Mia simply lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to digest
the incredible phone call. Part of her cringed at the idea of
carrying a child that she would give up once it was born. Even if
she wasn’t being paid to have sex with someone—and Rami had managed
to make it clear that he wanted her to undergo IVF—the notion of
being pregnant, giving birth and then never seeing her child again,
was unthinkable to Mia.
I would be no
better than my birth parents,
she thought,
bitterly.

But then—she wouldn’t just
be giving the child up. The child’s life wouldn’t be like hers at
all. Mia thought back to the bleak, institutional orphanage—the
group home—the location of her earliest memories. If she did agree
to carry Rami’s child, that baby wouldn’t be housed in a sterile,
featureless crib, wouldn’t eat the same bland, if nutritional,
meals three times a day, wouldn’t play with an ever-changing bunch
of kids she barely knew—some of whom were badly beaten, still
bearing scars of abusive parents, both mental and physical. Any
child that Mia carried for Rami would be guaranteed all of the
luxuries that wealth had to offer. Hadn’t she told Rami that she
wanted that for her own children, or at least as many of the finer
things as she was capable of providing for them?

Mia couldn’t deny that the
money Rami was offering for carrying his child was almost absurd in
its generosity. A hundred thousand dollars a month, with her
medical bills taken care of, would allow her to clear her mother’s
debts in record time. She could take a sabbatical and get away from
the school that had become more like a prison to her. “With the
million at the end, I could go back to college, get another degree
in something else.” Even more than that—she could pay off her own
debts. She could buy a house, something modest, but something that
was hers outright. With a better job, no debt to hold her down, and
her mother’s care covered for at least for a few years, Mia could
actually consider finding her own partner, having her own
child.

But then, her mind
countered, she didn’t know how pregnancy would treat her. She had
no idea what kinds of genetic diseases her birth parents had
bequeathed her, no clue of how her birth mother had weathered her
pregnancy. There were countless ways that a pregnancy could go
wrong. She knew she was lingering on the worst-case scenario, but
there was a small chance she could die if there were severe
complications
.
Mia thought grimly that if Rami came up with some kind of
contract, she would insist that on a clause stating that if Mia
were to die in the process of carrying the child or giving birth to
it, the remainder of the money would be paid to her
mother.

It was full dark outside,
and Mia realized she must have been deliberating Rami’s offer for
at least a couple of hours. She told herself to keep thinking it
over, even though she was already halfway convinced that it was the
best option open to her. To appease her growling stomach, she went
into the kitchen and began to make up a plain but healthy meal of
garbanzo beans, curry, and rice. She considered the benefits, risks
and negatives of Rami’s offer. “If I was getting a hundred thousand
a month, I could certainly afford to eat half decently,” Mia said,
thinking out loud as she stirred the little pot of curry. “I
wouldn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn every day, and I
could spend more time with mom.” Rami had said he wouldn’t want her
telling anyone about their arrangement, but she would have to tell
her mother
something
. She couldn’t just start paying off hospital bills without
giving any hint of where she had gotten the money.

As she ate, Mia began to
lean more and more towards accepting Rami’s offer. It answered
every last thing that she needed in her life at the moment, and
while the idea of being pregnant was more than a little
frightening, Mia couldn’t deny that she would be in the best
possible situation to deal with anything that came up in a
pregnancy. She knew Rami wouldn’t skimp on medical care for his
unborn child—and by extension, the mother of said child—when he was
paying so dearly for the baby he wanted. She was realistic enough
to know there were some complications even modern medicine couldn’t
prevent, but she liked her odds much more than if she had somehow
managed to get pregnant in her current situation, with no outside
support.

After she had eaten and
washed her dishes, Mia picked up her phone and took a deep breath
before dialing Rami’s number. The call connected on the second
ring. “Mia! I wasn’t expecting to hear from you for a day or two.
Is everything okay?” Mia smiled as she heard the genuine worry in
his voice.

“I’m fine,” she said.
“I’ve just been giving a lot of thought about what you asked
me.”

“If you’ve come to a
decision this fast… Mia, if you need time to really consider it,
please, by all means, don’t rush.”

“I want to do it.” The
words were out of Mia’s mouth before she could stop or change them
in any way. “I mean—I have some…concerns, and there are some things
that I want to make sure of, but…it’s the best offer I’ve ever had
and probably the best I’ll ever get.”

“You could always find a
rich man to marry you,” Rami suggested playfully.

“When am I likely to do
that?” Mia laughed. “I only ever leave my house to work or run
errands. You’re the first rich guy I’ve ever run into at the
supermarket.” Rami laughed with her.

“Do you really think you
want to do this? I don’t want you to feel like you have
to.”

Mia hesitated before
replying. “It’ll give me a chance to pay off my mom’s debts and
take care of her; to really give her the care she needs. It’s
enough money to do that and take time away from work. It’s the best
option I have.” Mia took a deep breath. “There are a few things I
want to make sure we’re clear on, but it’s really generous of
you.”

“Like I said—if you need
more than I originally stated, I’m willing to pay.” Mia shook her
head; she wasn’t sure Rami would ever understand the value of the
money he was throwing around.

“It’s just…there are a few
conditions,” Mia said slowly, sitting back on the couch. “I would
want to make sure that if—if something happens to me…”

“Nothing will happen to
you,” Rami said confidently. “You’ll have the best medical care in
the world.”

“Even with the best
medical care, women do sometimes…die…having children,” Mia said,
pushing aside her own worry on that subject. “And if that did
happen to me, I’d hope you would agree to pay my mom for the cost
of—of burying me.”

“Of course, I will make
sure she receives the full amount of whatever is left,” Rami said.
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that, but you’re right to
put your own mind at ease.” Mia smiled, relieved that agreed with
her condition.

“Also, my mom will have to
know what I’m doing. She won’t tell anyone else, and I won’t, but
if I suddenly get pregnant and come into a ton of money…” Mia
shrugged, looking at herself in the mirror over her entertainment
center.

“Right—right, I
understand. We wouldn’t want your mother thinking you’ve turned to
a life of crime.”

Mia chuckled. “I was going
to say prostitution, but that’s technically a crime.” Rami laughed.
“Also, you—you’re clear that we’ll be doing this through IVF.
You’re not…you don’t expect me to…”

“Oh… No, no, I don’t
expect you to suddenly start having sex with me. I have a doctor in
mind, one of the best in the field. She will take care of
everything for both of us.” Mia let out a breath she hadn’t been
aware she was holding.

“Well, in that case… I
think that covers everything,” she said, smiling brightly. “When
did you want to start? I’ll need some time to take care of things
at work…but then, that doesn’t really affect you does it. Oh God,
I’m babbling, sorry.” Rami chuckled at the other end of the
line.

“You just made a huge
decision, Mia, I’d be surprised if you weren’t babbling,” he said,
his voice full of warmth.

“Oh—there was one other
thing,” Mia said. Her cheeks warmed with a blush as the thought
occurred to her. “Why did you ask me to do this?”

“What do you
mean?”

“I mean, why me in
particular? I’m sure there are lots of other women who would be
completely willing, and who wouldn’t have any of the conditions I
have—who are probably prettier than I am…” Mia frowned at her
reflection.

“I know we don’t know each
other very well, but there’s something special about you, Mia. You
have this…warmth about you,” Rami said, speaking slowly,
thoughtfully. “I noticed it the first time we met. You’re so—open,
and kind, and sweet. And you’re much prettier than you seem to
think.” Mia’s blush deepened and she felt relieved that Rami
couldn’t see her. “I wanted someone who would be…nurturing, I
guess. I didn’t want someone who would just take my money and “turn
up”, as it were. I thought with you, you would make the baby the
top priority; that you’d care about it, and take care of yourself
for his or her sake. That’s the kind of start I want for my child.”
Mia felt her eyes stinging with tears and bit her bottom lip,
taking a slow breath to push the reaction down.