Total pages in book: 230
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
Shit. Rai had found out about Lia. Shit. Shit. Shit. Someone had told Rai about the fact that Lia had once been in his bed. Years before she’d married Rai. It had meant nothing to either one of them. It had been one night of pleasure and he hadn’t seen her again. Fuck, he’d meant to go to the grave with that secret.
“Damn it. I certainly didn’t mean to fire anyone. Is he still here in Miami?”
He needed to talk to Rai. He had to put things right. There was also the added problem that if he didn’t have an approved guard, he would be forced to go home. Kash had come to Miami to attend a meeting with a company that claimed it could help protect the pipeline that brought Loa Mali’s oil to the refineries. His country spent millions to ensure the drilling they did left their natural resources and the beauty of their island untouched.
Until such time as Kash found a way to get rid of fossil fuels altogether. That was the ultimate goal, to find a way to free the world from its dependence on oil. Well, and then to license the technology and make an enormous amount of money, but first and foremost it was about the science.
He’d been close. So close when an asshole rabid former CIA agent had blown up his fucking lab and killed several of his best engineers. Good men and women who were trying to help the world and now they were gone.
Their research had only survived because of Simon Weston’s boss. Ian Taggart and his wife, Charlotte, had saved Kash, too. So he owed them.
And damn, but he owed Rai.
“He’s already gone home.” Weston sank into a chair beside the big bed. “Your mother has hired him to work a position that allows him to stay in Loa Mali most of the time. Apparently he’s recently married and wants more time with his wife.”
Guilt swamped him. Since that CIA bastard had ruined years of Kash’s work, he’d dragged Rai around the globe, partying and pretending to enjoy life. The last few years had been one long sinkhole he couldn’t seem to come out of.
He was even tired of sex. Not that he was going to let anyone know that. He had a reputation to uphold. A bad, horrible, playboy reputation.
“That’s good for Rai. I need a younger guard anyway. I need one who can keep up with me. Rai has become an old man. All he cares about is his job and his wife.”
“Yes, how boring of him.”
Kash nodded. “I’m glad you see that. I offered him a world of travel and to be surrounded by the most beautiful of all women. He gives me lectures on how I should settle down. He tells me my liver will die soon. My liver is as strong as I am. My liver is a bull.”
“Well, I do suspect you’re full of bullshit, as my cousins would say. You should think about getting dressed. Our plane leaves in two hours. I need to get you out of here. The paparazzi will be swarming the place by now.”
The coffee was starting to work. He was vaguely beginning to remember that Rai had called him an idiot. That hadn’t been polite of him. He could remember Rai’s dark eyes rolling and him saying something about how he’d given up, how he’d become everything his father would have detested.
Rai had been so sanctimonious. Then his own guilt had caused him to hit the bottle hard. It was why he’d brought those women to his room even though he’d figured out one of them wasn’t a well-paid call girl.
Still, he was fairly certain he’d performed admirably, and what was one more sex tape? Why did everyone overreact?
“Don’t worry about the paparazzi. They’re perfectly harmless. How many do you expect? Five? Prince Harry’s in New York. Most of the royal watchers will be after him. He’s only shown his willy off a few times. Mine is everywhere. The Internet is awash in my beauty. The upside of that is the paps merely want a picture of me smiling and then they’ll leave me alone.” He stood up, feeling infinitely better.
Rai had poked his personal buttons, but Kash had behaved abominably. He needed to get Rai on the phone and apologize. The truth was he had neglected his research for the last few years. It was a setback and nothing more.
And the last several months had been particularly bad, and he blamed the Taggarts. He’d hosted the wedding of the youngest Taggart and it had left him feeling restless. Being around all those happy families had done something terrible to him. It had made him wonder if he wasn’t missing something. Those smiling men with their women and children had caused him to wonder if his life wasn’t a bit on the shallow side.