Paige had been drawn to Abram from the first moment. She’d been fascinated by this man who looked so much like her brother, who her brother called a brother, yet he wasn’t her brother. She’d only been nine when she first met him, and he’d been nineteen and already married.
The relationship between him and his brother had at first confused the hell out of her. After all, Khalid was her brother, so why wasn’t Abram?
That confusion had amused her parents and Abram’s wife Lessa, but Khalid hadn’t seemed nearly so amused by it.
Paige liked Abram’s wife, Lessa, enjoyed her laughter and her quiet manner the few times she’d been able to spend any time with her. Lessa was murdered several years after Paige met her, and Paige’s heart had broken for Abram.
He’d loved his wife, there had been no doubt of it. Over the next few years, he’d been a regular in her life. He’d visited when her family vacationed in Cairo, and joined Khalid in Greece when he returned for their mother’s birthday.
She was eighteen when things suddenly changed, when he had looked at her for the first time and hadn’t seen a child. When his gaze had flicked to her breasts, encased in the bodice of the strapless ball gown she had worn.
He had danced with her, his hand riding low on her back and pressing her closer to him than any of the younger men she had danced with had done.
Her heart had raced so hard she had thought it would tear from her chest. He’d stared down at her, somber and intense, holding her eyes as she swore she saw some message swirling in the depths of his own.
And against her hip, hard and thick, she had felt his erection, proof that he was seeing her as a woman, and that she wasn’t alone in the sensations surging through her.
It was the first time she had creamed her panties. The first time her clit had become so swollen and sensitive that it only took her seconds to come when she had masturbated in her bed later that night.
From that night, she hadn’t been able to get him out of her mind, or her fantasies. She hadn’t even tried to keep him from stealing her heart as the years went by.
Khalid was equally determined to keep anything from happening between them. Even during those first years when Paige had been determined to go to college and get her degree before allowing any relationship to develop too far, still, Khalid had begun arranging Abram’s visits to keep her from seeing him.
It didn’t always work.
And nothing had ever stemmed the need that only grew with each year, with each moment spent with him. And with each acknowledgement that her brother was willing to alienate her rather than see her with Abram.
Sniffling quietly she wiped at the tears and tried to stem them. If she stayed here, then they were going to end up saying things that couldn’t be taken back.
She didn’t want that. She didn’t want to lose her brother. That left only one other option. To leave his house, at least until they could learn to agree to disagree where Abram was concerned.
It had been almost two weeks since Khalid’s security team had practically kidnapped her and brought her to the mansion.
Today, she had lost her job. Her savings wasn’t nearly enough to keep her rent and utilities going, along with her car payment, for more than a few months. She would have to find a job, and there was no doubt she would have to ask her parents for money or borrow from her trust fund. A fund she had wanted to save for a time when she really needed it.
Getting another job wasn’t going to be easy. The advertising firm she had worked for had already informed her that there would be no reference forthcoming.
Her entire life had been changed because of this and on top of it, she was losing Khalid because she couldn’t get hi
s brother out of her mind, or out of her fantasies.
She shared no blood with Abram. He was no relation her. He was the man that made her heart beat faster, made her womb clench violently, and her pussy throb in need.
She wasn’t a virgin, despite Khalid and Marty’s obvious beliefs. She’d had a few lovers, two to be exact, in her attempts to forget the one man that fascinated her as nothing or no one ever had.
And to be with the man she wanted more than anyone, she was going to lose the brother she had always idolized, despite his autocratic attitude.
That knowledge had her heart clenching in pain again as fresh tears fell from her eyes before she could wipe them away.
“Paige?” A soft knock at the door followed Marty’s gentle voice.
A second later the bathroom door opened and the other woman stepped inside. Paige quickly wiped at her tears.
“Oh, Paige. ” Sympathy filled Marty’s voice as Paige hurriedly dampened a washcloth with cold water to wash her face. “He didn’t mean to hurt you like this. ” She sighed.
“I’m fine. ” Raspy, tear-roughened, her voice sounded like hell. “Go to your party, Marty, and take your fiancé with you. Hopefully, if he’s out of my face for a while, I can find a way to remember the brother he used to be, rather than the bastard he’s becoming. ”
“He’s so worried, Paige,” Marty whispered. “He’s pacing the floors day and night trying to keep you safe and worrying that Abram won’t return. He’s not a man that’s able to sit back and allow those he loves to fight the battle Abram is fighting, alone. But he can’t join him, he can’t protect you if he isn’t here, and he’s terrified Azir will go after your mother as well. He has to stay while Abram is in danger, and sometimes he feels as though he’s fighting ghosts in trying to protect you. ”