Stolen by the Sheik (Black Towers Book 2) Read Free Page B

,” Taz said, pulling a gun.
    “Holy shit!” Liv yelled. “Is that what I think it is?”
    “Be careful,” Nayo said to his friend. Taz nodded and turned to face the oncoming law enforcement officers. Nayo tugged on Liv’s hand. “Run.”
    “What?” Liv stumbled after him. “Why?”
    “Hey you. Stop. This is the police!”
    “I said run!” Nayo’s voice was so powerful and commanding. Liv obeyed him before she even realized she was doing it.
    “Stop, or we’ll shoot!”
    “You will not harm him,” Taz shouted. “He is the prince!”
    “Stop!” Liv tugged on his hand, but he held firm and quickened the pace. “Nayo, stop!”The loud popping of gunfire went off behind them. Nayo winced and stumbled as Liv let out an ear-piercing scream.

Chapter 2
    D amn , that hurt. Nayo turned the corner and leaned up against the brick building as pain blasted through his arm.
    “Are you all right?” Liv asked.
    Was he? He took mental stock of his body and then looked down at his arm. “Shit.” He wrapped his forearm around his middle and poked at the opening in his jacket.
    “Is it bad?” Liv made a face as she looked at the wound. “I hate blood.”
    “It’s only a flesh wound.” But one that would need to be cleaned and bandaged. He didn’t think he’d need stitches, but it was hard to tell through his suit jacket.
    “What happened back there?”
    Good question. Nayo peeked around the corner and saw his friend in a crumpled heap on the ground. Officers were all over him, but it was hard to tell if Taz was alive or dead.
    “We need to go,” he said, taking her hand.
    “Go?” She shook her head. “We can’t go. We have to turn ourselves in.”
    “If we go back to them now, they’ll shoot us.”
    “But if we say—“
    “They’ll shoot first and ask questions later. Believe me, I know.” He tightened his grip on her fingers. “Take out my phone.”
    “What?”
    He nodded to his suit jacket pocket, which hung low on his hip. “The phone, take it out. I don’t want to move my arm.” It hurt too damn much, and he didn’t want to move his wounded limb any more than necessary.
    Liv glanced down at the jacket and then gently eased her hand into the side pocket. Nayo held his breath as her slender fingers brushed his already too hard groin. It had been a long time since he had been with a woman, too long. Back home, he had any number of women waiting to service him, but in America things were done differently. He was far too busy to spend time chasing women, and to be honest, the emotionless sex had lost its appeal a long time ago. He longed for a connection to a woman, someone who liked him, not the title he could provide or the money in his coffers. Such a relationship was not possible, however. As soon as he went back to his family, he’d be married off to his fiancée, a woman he had only met a handful of times at formal functions, but whose family would send much needed ground troops to help secure his family’s position in power for years to come.
    His father depended on this marriage, as did all of the staff working at their home and supporters in the streets. If his family ever was overthrown, not only would the people closest to him die, but the economy in his home country would destabilize, and innocent people would fall victim to some of the more radical Muslim fringe movements.
    With so much riding on his marriage, how could he possibly say no? It didn’t matter that he could muster no feelings for this woman, or that their conversations felt stiff and forced. If he had to venture a guess, his fiancée didn’t want this union any more than he did. In fact, he was quite certain she was using this marriage as a way to hide her from her parents the fact that she wasn’t interested in a husband at all. The Arab people were a proud people however, and deeply rooted in tradition. His refusing to marry Deema would not only hurt his family and his country, but her as well. She would be