The Sheik's Secret Bride (6 page)

He nodded his head.  “You should stop dieting,” he told her with the same stern expression that his father tended to use.  “You look pretty just the way you are.”

Callie’s heart melted for her little son.  She’d tried to hide her attempts to lose weight from him, not wanting him to have the same self-image issues she had.  But there was a difference between males and females.  Her mind flashed back to Zahir who was most likely NOT gathering his things to leave.  Zahir didn’t have any self-confidence issues.  Another point in his favor and her heart wrenched with the realization that Luca definitely needed Zahir’s presence in his life. 

Luca lifted his fishing pole out of the water with a heartfelt sigh.  “Lost another one,” he grumbled.  “Okay momma, it’s your turn.  You gotta put the worm on the hook.”

Callie was more than willing to play along.  “A worm, eh?” she offered, looking at the hook.  “That looks like a real hook, honey,” she said with concern.  Hooks could get into little hands and hurt them.  “I’m not sure if I like this game.”

Luca rolled his eyes.  “I’m really fishin’ Momma.  And you’ve gotta put the worm on the hook.  Just dig in that cup and get one out.  They don’t bite.”

Callie looked over at the plastic cup again.  Picking it up, she wondered why he thought there were worms in here. 

And then the dirt moved.  She didn’t believe her eyes initially but when it moved again, her heart stopped beating.  With a scream, she tossed the cup of worms into the air and scrambled backwards, anywhere that took her away from the cup of moving dirt.  She couldn’t seem to stop screaming even though she could hear Luca laughing at how silly she was being. 

A moment later, strong arms were lifting her up, cradling her and Zahir’s deep voice was soothing her.  “It’s okay, love.  No one is here to hurt you.  I won’t let that happen again.  I promise.” 

Callie heard his voice, knew that she’d overreacted, again, but she couldn’t get her arms to loosen from around his neck.  She wanted to wrap her whole body around him, to absorb his strength. 

Callie knew that she could handle almost anything that fate threw her way but bugs, and now worms, were not one of them.  She hadn’t minded bugs when she was a kid.  It was only after three days and nights of being held in a hole, where bugs crawled out of the dirt and she was trapped with no one to hear her screams, that she had developed a phobia about bugs.  And worms. 

Long minutes passed and she still held onto him.  She heard Zahir speaking to Luca in the background and her little traitor was telling his newfound father about how freaked out Callie gets when a spider or bug gets into the house.  “Yeah, Mike makes sure that the bug guy comes around a lot to spray for bugs.  She’s okay around flies now, but boy, you should have seen her last summer.” 

Callie’s shaking was now only occasional trembles as she listened to her son explain her phobia of bugs and anything creepy crawly.  The little guy had no idea! 

“Hey,” Zahir said, pulling away just slightly so he could look at her face.  “You okay?’ he asked. 

Callie nodded, prying her hands away from his neck slowly.  “Yes.  I’m fine,” she said and cleared her throat.  “Sorry about that.”  Her voice sounded raw after that screaming, she realized. 

He wasn’t convinced and put a hand on her hips, holding her in position on his lap.  “Don’t go away too soon.  Jabril is hooking the worm now, so don’t look over there.”

Callie shuddered and once more buried her face in Zahir’s neck, inhaling his clean, citrus and male scent.  “Tell me when it is over,” she pleaded, gripping his shirt and wiggling closer to him. 

Zahir glanced over, not sure if he wanted the activity to go on or stop.  Callie was in his arms and her wiggling against his body was making him harden with the pleasure of her softness once again close to him.  But that wiggling was also pure torture because he couldn’t do anything about it.  Not with his son so near. 

He satisfied himself with putting his hands on her soft, round bottom and holding her close, enjoying her gentle, sweet breath against his neck. 

Luca was watching closely, he noticed. 

“You’re touching my momma,” he said, his eyes narrowing and his little body was stiff with a latent protectiveness she’d never seen before. 

Zahir looked over Callie’s shoulder but wouldn’t release her.  “Yes.  You’re right.  You’re Luca.”  He didn’t ask either.  He obviously knew all about his son and her whole body stiffened with reaction.  She wanted to deny the truth, to hide Luca away so that Zahir couldn’t steal her son, but the truth was, he had every right to know Luca and the amazing little boy that he was.  And she hated that truth!

“Stay away from him,” she whispered in his ear.  And she forced her arms to release his neck, not liking her need of his strength.  With enormous effort, she stood up and stepped away from him, ignoring the shaking that was still twisting her up inside. 

Zahir stood up as well, his eyes hard and unyielding.  “It is time, Callie.  I will know my son.”

Callie stared up at him, her mind whirling, trying to come up with an argument against him.  But in the end, her innate sense of fairness wouldn’t allow her to hide Luca away from this man.  “You won’t steal him away from me?” she whispered. 

His hand reached up and touched her cheek gently.  “Never,” he replied. 

Her lips trembled for a moment before she pulled herself together.  Nodding her head, she looked down, suddenly realizing that Luca had put himself in between herself and Zahir.   He was protecting her!  She might have thought it was adorable if Zahir hadn’t been such an extremely large man. 

“Luca,” she said, bending lower so that she was at his eye level again, “you know all of those questions you had about your father?  About who he was and where he’d gone?”

Luca immediately put two and two together and looked over his shoulder at the tall, dark stranger.  “You’re my dad?” he asked, awe and excitement in his voice. 

Zahir sat back down on the deck chair, looking down at his son.  “Yes.  And I’m very proud to meet you, Luca,” he said, extending his hand carefully for the little guy to shake it.

Luca’s eyes lit up just as his face broke out into a beaming smile.  “Wow!” he said, putting his smaller hand into Zahir’s large, calloused one.  “You’re my dad!”

Zahir laughed.  “And I’ve been following your progress.  I might not have been near, but I always knew what you were up to.  Ms. Fisher sent me progress reports every day about what you were learning, what you did, and all the special things that make you my son.  So you might not have seen me, but I’ve been there with you.”

Luca still smiled.  “You know about the soccer goal I scored last week?” he asked hopefully. 

Zahir smiled.  “Not only did I know about it, but I saw it!  Ms. Fisher sent me the video of your goal and I was proud of how you kicked the ball around those other two players and kicked the ball right into the goal!  It was great!”

Callie gasped at this news, shocked that she’d been so oblivious to everything that had been happening to her.  “Ms. Fisher is another employee?” she asked, her mind putting the pieces of the puzzle together finally. 

Luca nodded his head, his eyes glancing up at Callie and noticing that her arms were crossed over her chest protectively.  “She was the nanny I hired as soon as I heard that you were pregnant,” he told her.  

Callie looked away, wondering what other little secrets he had on her.  Had her whole life for the past five years been a game?  A fraud?  She’d been so proud of her accomplishments, but…she shook her head.  There were too many revelations happening.  She couldn’t keep up with everything. 

“Ms. Fisher and I made cookies yesterday.  Want to try some?” Luca asked.

Zahir nodded his head somberly.  “I think that is the best idea I’ve heard all day.”

Callie followed the two of them as they all walked up the pathway towards the house.  There were several pathways – one leading to the front, one leading around the back to the enormous, multi-tiered deck and still others that she hadn’t discovered yet. 

Luca was talking a mile a minute, trying to fill Zahir in on everything he’d done for the last five years.  He was even telling Zahir about his birth, which Callie had told him stories about on his birthday.  “And she said she sprinted up the stairs as soon as we came home, just because she could,” he said proudly.  He shrugged his shoulders.  “She didn’t like being pregnant, but she likes having me around.”

Callie had told him stories about how her legs had been in so much pain during her pregnancy that it had been hard to walk up the stairs.  He’d been a larger than average baby and he’d liked to camp out on her sciatic nerve, causing her to have trouble walking sometimes.  So after the delivery, she’d felt lighter and was able to walk with no pain.  The story about running up the stairs was true – she’d actually done it a couple of times just to prove how wonderful it felt to not be pregnant any longer. 

Zahir listened, laughed and made all the appropriate sounds to Luca’s stories and Callie couldn’t help but remember how attentive he’d been five years ago.  Until they’d come back to his country.  But she couldn’t blame him for that, she thought, trying to be fair.  The man had been in the middle of a war, after all.  And when he was with her they’d spent their time together in his bed, making love with each other and….Callie sighed, rubbing her forehead as she tried once again to figure out her life.  Everything was falling apart! 

She was glad that Zahir was giving Luca his undivided attention now.  It was sweet the way the two were talking, catching up.  Luca asked Zahir questions about everything from shaving to where he lived.  They walked into the enormous kitchen and Luca easily found the container filled with the cookies he’d baked yesterday. 

Callie sat on the other side of the counter, perched on a stool and wishing that…well, she wasn’t sure what she was wishing for.  She couldn’t wish that Luca hadn’t been born because he was the light of her life.  If she hadn’t met Zahir, where would she be?  She definitely wouldn’t have Luca’s special presence in her life. 

She sighed, catching the attention of both males and she looked up guiltily. 

“She does that a lot,” Luca whispered to Zahir. 

Zahir nodded, leaning closer to his son.  “What does it mean?” he asked.

Luca looked over at his mother, that devilish smile on his face.  “I think it means she wants you to kiss her,” he told her.  “She hasn’t been kissed in…” he paused, “well, never.  Mommas and daddies should kiss.  My friend Tommy told me his parents kiss a lot.”

Callie’s face immediately started burning and she shook her head.  Okay, so she had been thinking about Zahir’s kisses.  And a whole lot more, but that didn’t mean…

“Don’t Zahir,” she said when he started to walk around the counter.

“We have been ordered to kiss by the future Sheik of Larcatia,” he commented.  “I cannot ignore a command,” he told her so that only she could hear.

She jumped off of the stool and backed away.  “You’re the sheik!” she told him.  “You outrank the little devil,” she argued. 

He laughed softly and Callie also heard Luca’s laughter as he climbed up onto the counter, happily eating cookies while he watched his parents “dance”.  “True.  But perhaps I don’t want to ignore the command.”

She backed up again, heard her son’s giggle and stepped around an overstuffed club chair.  “Maybe I do!”

“Maybe you don’t.  Maybe you want me to kiss you.”

She could see the message in his eyes.  He was remembering all those times she said she was too embarrassed to try something he wanted to do to her but he wouldn’t let her hide behind her puritan inhibitions.  He would do it anyway and she’d always been amazed at how wonderful his ideas felt once she just released herself and let him have his wicked way. 

She lifted her hands, trying to ward him off.  “Zahir, this is silly.  We don’t need to...” she was stopped from arguing any further by the expedient method of his arm whipping out and capturing her.  How he’d gotten around that darn chair so quickly, she had no idea.  One moment, she was standing there making sure she wasn’t within arm’s reach, the next moment, she was in his arms. 

“Don’t!” she gasped but again her protests were ignored as his mouth came down to touch her lips.  All of her breath came out in a sigh as he gently caressed her lips with his own.  This wasn’t a passionate kiss but the desire flared up regardless.  She could tell that he was trying to keep the kiss under control for Luca’s sake.  Callie’s fists gripped his shirt even while her eyes darted over to the countertop where Luca was perched, his hand covering his mouth as he excitedly watched his parents kiss for the first time in his life. 

“That’s funny,” he said. 

Thankfully, Zahir pulled back.  “You think it is funny to watch your parents kiss?” he asked, trying to look stern.

Luca nodded his head, his chubby cheeks still grinning.  “When are you going to be married?” he asked. “Tommy’s parents are married.”

Zahir held Callie close as he explained, “We already are married.  I married your mother in a secret ceremony five years ago.  It was so secret, no one even knows about it.  Some of the people who work for me have released a press announcement providing the news of our marriage as well as your existence.” 

Callie’s entire body tensed up with those words.  “A press release?” she whispered through stiff lips.  “Why would you do that?”  Her worried eyes moved to Luca, her mind frantically trying to figure out how to keep him safe in light of this news coming out.