Wrapped In Pleasure - Brenda Jackson [90]
She had seen Delaney tempt her brother and could recall Jamal’s reaction. She had seen the same thing with her mother and witnessed how she could use her feminine wiles on her father to push through any agenda for the women of Tahran that she wanted to approve. She noted the same thing with her sister and brother-in-law.
Johari wondered if the man she married would allow himself to be so manipulated. Probably not, since he had more than enough mistresses to keep him happy. She could vividly recall a few years ago, overhearing her parents talking, where her mother was expressing her concerns to her father regarding Sheikh Valdemon’s numerous mistresses. Her father had tried to assure her mother that in time he felt certain that the sheikh would put all those other women aside and be faithful only to their daughter.
Johari thought then the same thing she thought now, that the sheikh had no reason to send those other women away when he didn’t love her and when she didn’t know the first thing about pleasing a man. Once again the question flashed through her mind as to which a man would prefer—an inexperienced virgin or a woman who knew something about pleasuring him?
Deciding she didn’t want to think about her fiancé any longer, her mind shifted back to Monty. She had trusted him enough to tell him the name of her hotel when his driver had returned to pick them up from Coney Island. Sometime during the car ride she had fallen asleep, and when she had awakened she had found herself cuddled in his arms with no idea how she’d gotten there.
She smiled as she moved away from the mirror and walked toward the bed where she had placed the outfit she would be wearing this evening. The dress wasn’t as bold and brassy as the one she had worn last night, but was just as sexy. She wondered what Monty would think when he saw her in it. Did it really matter?
She smiled as she began to get dressed thinking that, yes, it did matter.
Rasheed leaned back against the seat in his limo while Ishaq drove through the New York traffic to pick Johari up for their dinner date tonight.
Surprisingly, she had offered no protest when he had asked for the name of her hotel so he could take her home after their day at Coney Island. In fact she had been so excited about their time together at the iconic amusement park that she spent most of the ride to her hotel reliving every moment.
She had laughed as she recounted her experience on the Cyclone and had hidden her face in embarrassment when he teased about how many games on the boardwalk she had nudged him to play. Due to a traffic jam on the bridge she had literally fallen asleep cuddled in a corner of the car. He had ended up pulling her into his arms and regretted the moment he had to awaken her when they had reached their destination.
He checked his watch. Unbeknownst to her they would be dining in his condo. The reason he had decided on that as the best choice was due to the number of celebrities in town attending Sterling’s movie premier, and the media was sure to be out in full force. The last thing he wanted was for a photograph of him and Johari together attending a restaurant to be plastered in the New York papers in the morning. It didn’t make a difference to him but he would do anything in his power to protect Johari’s reputation.
He pulled his BlackBerry out of his jacket when he felt it vibrate. “Yes?”
“Rasheed, this is Jake. I called to make sure everything was all right. I hadn’t talked to you since you had to leave Luke’s wedding unexpectedly.”
Rasheed smiled. Over the years Jake Madaris had become one of his closest and most trusted friends. The two were involved in many successful business ventures both in the United States and abroad. His circle of business contacts included men like Jake and Syntel Remington, wealthy oilmen, as well as a phenomenal woman by the name of Corinthians Avery Grant, whose skill and ability to find oil reserves had literally transformed Mowaiti from an impoverished country to one enjoying prosperity as one of the