I hadn’t seen or heard from Sophia in two days, but when I walked into my favorite coffee place on Monday morning, a part of me still expected her to burst through the door behind me and beg me for an interview. She had done that when she first arrived in London. The American reporter had stalked me to my office and then to the one place I thought was special to me. If I had turned her down enough, she probably would have found a way to end up at my flat.

In hindsight, maybe I should have done exactly that.

Instead, I negotiated with her to pretend to be my girlfriend for a weekend so she could help get my mother off my back. That arrangement might have been my biggest mistake and the best thing that ever happened to me. Sophia was the most alluring and enigmatic woman I’d ever met.

She had agreed to come with me to my family’s palace in Qatar. Having a “girlfriend”—even if she was American—would halt all efforts from my mother about setting me up with someone. While my mother wanted nothing to do with her, my father and my sixteen-year-old brother Abir liked her. She seemed to have a good time with me—other than having to deal with the rude remarks from my mother, the queen.

After the big banquet my mother had planned, Mother took Sophia out onto the veranda and said something to her. Something that changed Sophia’s mind about wanting the interview with me about my father stepping down from the throne. While I still couldn’t make up my mind about if I wanted to be king, I was willing to give the interview after what she’d done for me.

But when we returned to England, Sophia didn’t want the interview. Even after I told her how I truly felt about her, she walked away from me, leaving me alone and confused in the middle of a restaurant.

I tried to call her cell phone, but it had been disconnected. I had no doubt she was ignoring me, but it was entirely possible that her phone was a work phone and the international plan had expired.

She had said she was going back to America on Sunday, but there was a shred of hope inside me that she would change her mind. I knew how much the article meant to her and her career. She was the first Western woman to enter the palace, which was worthy of its own article, but when we returned to the UK, she wanted nothing to do with any of it.

I wondered what happened exactly, but all I had was questions with no answers.

For the rest of the weekend, I racked my brain for something I’d said to offend her. Each time when we were alone at the palace, energy crackled between us in a way I’d never felt before with anyone. I thought Sophia had felt the same.

Or she had been an excellent actress. She’d certainly fooled my family and me.

I wanted to think the worst of her. I wanted to agree with Mother that Sophia was only in this relationship to get something out of me. But she had left before she got anything from me, adding to the perplexing situation.

I wanted her to feel the same way for me that I did for her, and I wished she would have explained herself instead of leaving me with a million questions and doubts.

“Hello?” a woman said from behind me.

A smile curled my lips, and I turned around to see an older woman.

My heart sank.

“Get moving or out of the queue,” she snapped.

Glancing at the line behind her, there were others annoyed that I had my head in the clouds.

I moved toward the counter and put in my order.

“All right?” the girl said.

“Yeah,” I answered.

“You seem off today,” she said, flipping her ponytail from off her shoulder. “I haven’t seen you check your phone once.” She said it with a smile, and I knew she was teasing me, but I wasn’t in the mood.

I handed over a few quid before taking my order to one of the tables near the windows.

I didn’t have a lot of time before work, but I couldn’t force myself to leave. It would be just like Sophia to stalk me here and apologize to me. She didn’t have a car in the city, so maybe she had trouble getting a cab?

I slowly ate my croissant and sipped my tea. I noted every single person who came into the café, along with the people walking across the sidewalk. None of them had her face, although I pictured her pale blue eyes and dark hair on more than one woman.

I stared at the crumbs of my breakfast, hesitating at the table. A ping sounded from my phone, and I finally tore my gaze away from the crinkly brown paper in front of me.

Pulling my phone out from my jacket pocket, I saw several texts from my secretary, Justine, and two from my business partner and best friend, Maddox.

They were short and to the point. They were wondering where the hell I was.

I was never late. And if I was, there was sure to be panic, thinking I was in an accident or dead. I texted them both back that I would be on my way soon. I supposed I could always say that Sophia and I had decided to stay another day with my family, but they knew me too well. Neither a woman nor my family had ever torn me away from work before.

Though, I was sure if Sophia asked, I would take weeks or months off to be with her if it meant she would stay.

---

When I reached the office, the car park was full. Of course, I had my reserved spot right in in front of the building, but I had never seen so many cars in the lot when I arrived or left. As the boss, I was always the first to come and the last to go.

Inside, I shuffled past the front desk where Victoria fielded several phone calls. She nodded at me, and I nodded back.

I wasn’t the “chat at the water cooler” type, and everyone knew it. I wasn’t a hard-ass by any means, but I preferred to keep to myself. That was easier on the days when I reached my office before anyone else arrived.

The elevator was empty, which I considered a blessing, and I was able to take a breath before getting to my floor.

I already knew I would get an earful from Maddox about my weekend. Only Justine and Maddox knew that I had taken Sophia with me. They didn’t know in what capacity, but they weren’t idiots. The only reason I would take a woman home was to meet my parents. I had informed Maddox over text, so I knew he had been stewing all weekend about it.

I tried to get past his desk without being detected, but I had no such luck. I managed to reach Justine’s desk outside my office before he caught up.

“I need a Monday pep talk,” he said, winking at Justine.

She gave him a forced smile. Maddox was a flirt, and everyone knew it. While he never dated anyone from the company—at least to my knowledge—that didn’t stop him from being the charming boss while I was the recluse.

Maddox pushed his way into my office and started in on me before I could take my jacket off.

“Mate, you gotta tell me everything,” Maddox said, kicking my office door closed.

“About what?”

“You cheeky bastard!” he said, clapping his hands together. “You took that smoking hot reporter with you to your parents’ house, and you won’t even spill?”

“I have a lot of work to do,” I said.

“Speaking of that,” he said, sitting down in the chair opposite my desk. He was settling in and would be harder to shake now. “I thought you died this morning.”

“What?”

“In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never been late. Gave me a fright. You all right?”

“I’m fine,” I said through my teeth.

“Doesn’t look it,” he said. “You can trust me. Tell me.”

I shrugged. “Sophia got her story and left. That’s it. And I overslept this morning.”

“I know half of that is true,” Maddox said, standing up. He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “I’m not leaving until we talk.”

“What do you want to hear?” I asked.

“Why did you take her instead of me?” he asked with a mock pout. “I would have loved to see the palace.”

While I knew he was joking, I wasn’t in the mood. “My mother has been trying to set me up with a bunch of women.”

“Poor you,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“To marry,” I said.

He wrinkled his nose.

“Exactly,” I said. “Sophia wanted a story, and I wanted Mother off my back. It was the perfect set up.”

“That doesn’t explain why you were late today,” he said.

I dropped down in one of the leather chairs, knowing that I wasn’t going to get any work done until he left. “I don’t know, mate. Something changed between us.”

Maddox sat down across from me. “Okay?”

“I thought she wanted more,” I said, rubbing my hand against my cheek. I shaved on a regular basis, but I had let two days pass without grooming myself. The hairs started to itch, and I knew it would bother me for the rest of the day. “I was wrong.”

“What made you think that?” Maddox asked.

“There was something between us,” I said. “When we were alone, it was as if we were the only two people in the world. And she fit in so well with my family, well, other than my mother. But that was to be expected.”

Maddox gave me a strange look, and I questioned it. Normally, he would have been all for a weekend away with a woman without attachment.

“When she first arrived, you said that she was here for one thing,” he said. “What made you think that would change? Did you think she’d refuse to go with you to the palace? It was probably what she wanted to begin with. And you handed that over on a silver platter.”

“I suppose you’re right,” I said.

“She fooled more than just your family,” he said.

I chewed on my inner cheek, a habit I thought had disappeared in my youth. If what Maddox said was correct, then I felt about two inches tall. I was a successful business owner and a prince of a Middle Eastern kingdom. How could one slight American woman turn that all upside down? Had she fooled me completely?

“Logistically, it would have never worked out,” Maddox said. “For one thing, your mother would have never allowed you to marry her.”

“I know,” I said, although it was something I had thought about. I wouldn’t admit that to Maddox because I already felt like a fool for trusting Sophia with my heart.

I stood up and drew in a breath. “Well, I do have to get some work done.”

Maddox clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go out soon. I have some girls in my little black book that can help you forget about Sophia.”

I nodded, even though that was the last thing I wanted.

When Maddox left, I sauntered over to my desk. Work usually distracted me, but I had no motivation. If only Sophia would have given me the closure I needed, then I could move on.

I logged onto my computer and opened up a browser window. I typed in the website for The Dallas Post, the newspaper that Sophia worked for. Even though I’d signed up for their alerts—using a fake email—I hadn’t received anything about an article written by her or about me. The front page looked the same as it had earlier that morning, and disappointment pooled in my stomach like a lead weight.