"It's fucking English for 'damn you'."
"I love you, too."
Ilyas was torn between wanting to strangle and kiss her.
Ember stole a look at the demon prince's face.
Oops.
She saw right away that his need to fuck had won over his need to strangle her, and Ember knew she had to do something drastic in the next three seconds. That was all it usually took for the sheikh to seduce the common sense out of her, and as Ilyas slowly bent his head—-
Ember fluttered her lashes up at him, and the demon prince immediately reared back as if she had suddenly developed a serious case of halitosis.
"Stop that," Ilyas growled.
"Stop what? This?" She fluttered her lashes at him again, and an expression of distaste crossed the sheikh's handsome face.
"I know what you're doing, damn you."
She looked at him in innocent confusion. "What do you mean?"
"You're trying to turn me off—-"
"Is it working then?"
His lips tightened.
She fluttered her lashes again, but this time she did so as if aiming for the Guiness' world record for the highest number of flutters in one minute.
Ilyas blanched at the hideous sight. "Enough."
"Only if you promise you won't try to seduce me into publicly admitting I'm your girlfriend."
"You—-"
She started fluttering her lashes again.
"Alright, damn you, I give you my fucking word, so will you just fucking stop?"
Ember could no longer help it, but just as a bubble of laughter spilled past her lips, someone suddenly captured her hand from behind, and the next thing she knew, she was being spun around and having her knuckles kissed.
Adam released her hand before Ilyas could shove him off. "Hello, Ms. Hallman."
Ember could only laugh. "Hello, Dr. Al-Masri."
"Goddammit, Adam." But this time, the sheikh's tone was merely exasperated. "Will you just find yourself another woman?"
Adam flashed his cousin a sly grin. "Why do you think I haven't already found her?"
Ilyas raised a brow at Ember, and since she could read him like a book, she quickly extricated her fingers from Adam's hold and took her usual place by the demon prince's side.
Ilyas' lips curved in a silky smile. "You were saying?"
But Adam was unruffled. "Ember has always been a loyal secretary. But as far as I know, she's still single...isn't she?"
The thunderous look on the sheikh's gorgeous face was her cue, and Ember hastily grabbed the demon prince's hand. "Would you like to dance, Your Highness?"
"No, I fucking—-"
But she was already pulling him to the dance floor, and when Ilyas felt her breasts brush against his chest, his anger dissipated in a flash, and he placed his hands around her waist in a manner that could only be described as possessive.
"Sheikh!"
Ilyas raised a brow. "Is that the English word for 'more'?"
Ember gasped, realizing too late what game her royal bosshole was playing. "Don't you dare—-"
But Ilyas was already pulling her closer and closer and closer...until her nipples were puckered in arousal, and Ember nearly cried out as she felt them scrape against the hard wall of his chest.
Ilyas bent his head, and just as Ember tensed in suspicion, he then whispered into her ear, "I love you, Ember."
Oh God.
He could've said something wicked, could've said something annoying, and he would never have gotten what he wanted. But when he was being romantic like this—-
Ember strained up to whisper back into his ear, "I think I want to give you a blowjob...Your Highness."
And that was how an entire ballroom of guests saw the Sheikh Ilyas Al-Masri trip over his own feet while dancing with his secretary.
ADAM WAS STILL GRINNING when he joined his other cousins in their table. "I never thought I'd see the day Ilyas could be this possessive about another woman."
"It happens to the best of us," Khadem said with a grimace, having recalled his own display of jealousy, whenever his Prue had anything to do with her ex.
"Johanna says this is the year that all of us Al-Masris will be walking down the aisle," the Crown Prince said slyly. "For all we know, you could be next—-"
"Don't forget Rashad," Adam said dryly. "He's still unmarried—-"
"I'm betrothed, though."
Everyone turned to him in disbelief.
"Did you just say you're 'betrothed'?" Khadem demanded.
Rashad shrugged. "What's the big deal?"
"And your betrothed?" the Crown Prince asked with a frown. "Do we know her? Or do we know of her at least?"
"Do you remember that island we had our eye on in the Caribbean?"