Chapter 8 : To Dubai

Rashid

Having the paperwork settled for getting Lyla to come over here went surprisingly smoother than I thought it would.

In the end, I'd told her she could bring a guest with her while she was here. Traveling by herself would most likely scare her into not wanting to open up to me, and if we were really going to do this, then I wanted her to be as receptive to me as possible.

The real problem had been to convince her to leave school.

Since she'd just started her spring semester, it had been a bit of a hassle trying to get her to relent long enough to agree to step away for a time. I needed her to get on board with coming over here as soon as possible, not just because I wanted to fulfill our deal but also so she didn't have a chance to back out.

She didn't seem like a fickle person, but the few conversations I'd had with her gave me the impression she was more than a little nervous about this entire situation.

A baby bird flying out of the nest for the first time.

Barely able to focus on my duties with my father, I had anticipated her arrival the entire week. He'd noticed my distraction and called me out several times, all of which I'd come up with excuses for ahead of time.

Surprising my parents with a random foreign girl from overseas to 'visit' wouldn't be something that would upset them, but they would definitely find it curious. I'd already put into motion she would be here visiting under the pretenses of a scholarship program with her college, and now there was the manner in convincing my parents of the same thing.

It wasn't unheard of for politicians or members of royalty to take tourists off the street and whisk them away for a weekend full of luxury, sex, and experiences they would otherwise never have the opportunity to see.

Since I was a teenager, I had hidden my sexual exploits from all of them. Even my father was convinced I was either asexual or too uninterested in anyone propositioned to me by my mother.

Having Lyla around would show them neither was the case and ease the sudden appearance of her being there.

Once the end of the week rolled around, I was already pacing in my rooms, waiting for the confirmation Lyla had checked into the hangar and was on her way. I'd toggled with the idea of sending her over here with a first-class ticket, but then thinking about the problems with her and her friend getting through airport security and potentially missing her flight, as well as the possibility of their bags being lost and us wasting time trying to find them—it was all too much of a hassle.

So, private plane it was.

I doubted Lyla had ever flown privately before, so I was curious to hear what she thought about it. Zayed had been making fun of me all day during our morning meetings while I sat with my phone in my lap and the screen unlocked, waiting for my confirmation email to come up.

As soon as it finally did, I let myself relax.

Finally, she was on her way.

***

Lyla

"I can't believe he's flying us in a private jet," Melanie murmured to me, clutching my hand in hers excitedly.

Glancing over at her, I clutched the sides of the armrests as we took off. I couldn't believe it either, honestly. The entire situation made me feel more apprehension than I would if we were flying regular coach.

I've never been a good flier even when I was coming back to California from Vegas, the turbulence and the noise around the cabin always made me way more nervous than I needed to be. But now that we were in a private jet, it was quiet and made me feel weirdly calm.

California grew small and distant as I watched out the window. The cities and the roads became small and ant-like until they disappeared behind the clouds altogether.

I couldn't believe I—we—were actually flying to Dubai to meet my bidder. Rashid, he'd finally told me after some prying. I still had no idea what he did in order to have the kind of money he did, but I toggled between two ideas: oil tycoon and skyscraper mogul.

Both of which sounded ridiculous, but it was even more ridiculous he'd paid for someone's virginity online, so.

"How long's the flight going to be, Lyla? Do you know?"

I turned away from the window to face my friend.

"Rashid said it's about fifteen hours."

She whistled low and reclined her chair. "Hope they serve food on this thing."

I smiled a little at her. I was glad she'd been able to come with me.

After Rashid had insisted on me coming over as soon as possible, I'd put my foot down and told him I wasn't leaving school. We'd gone back and forth on it for about a day before he'd finally relented and told me he'd come up with something in order for the school not to drop me because of my absence.

In the meantime, I had worked out a payment plan with the financial aid office. $10,000 now, and they gave me extra time to gather the rest.

Spent faster than the speed of light, I hoped to ask Rashid for the other $5,000. But it made me nervous… what would it take for him to release the extra funds?

I had yet to tell anyone the actual amount Rashid had sent me. As far as my friends were concerned, I'd only get the initial seven hundred thousand he'd bid with. I was apprehensive about telling them what else he sent me, not because I thought they'd try to squeeze any money out of me, but because I'd have to admit to them all I'd accidentally weaseled it out of the man.

I was already looking like a complete gold-digger, I didn't need it to actually be true.

The flight attendant came around after an hour and handed us drinks and a fully prepared meal I was not expecting to be as good as it was. It tasted like fine dining even though we were thousands of miles up in the sky.

Did this plane have some kind of private chef on it or something?

Honestly, I wouldn't put it past Rashid at this point. The oil tycoon suspicion was becoming more and more realistic as time went on.

No matter what he was though, I only hoped he wasn't a complete tool. Seeing as he was loaded and had a bunch of money to blow, I was already preparing myself for his douchebag attitude. So far, he hadn't been so bad, just a little cocky.

It also didn't help his voice made everything sound sweet as honey.

I'd have to be careful of that. I didn't need him talking me into anything ridiculous while I was with him.

My first order of business was to come up with some sort of contract in order to lay down ground rules. I'm sure the first night I landed, he would expect something from me. Obviously. I wasn't naïve enough to think he would leave me alone to settle in. Technically, I was coming over to do a service, not to hang around and sightsee.

The only problem was I had no idea how to please a man.

Since I was a virgin, it had to be obvious I was inexperienced.

…Right?

"Lyla."

I snapped my head up from my food. "Huh?"

Melanie giggled at me. "I asked you, what did Rashid tell the school about us? You said he was coming up with some plan?"

"Oh," I set my fork down and grabbed my water bottle. "He told me he sent them some paperwork about us doing an internship for a few weeks."

She blinked in surprise. "A few weeks? I thought this trip was only going to be for a week?"

Shrugging, I replied, "I don't know. I'm not sure what he wants to do or what his plan is."

"Well…" she gave me a knowing look. "I can guess at what he's planning, Ly."

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "I meant besides that."

"Oh."

I took a big swig of my water before setting it down again.

"The school approved us for a temporary leave. I brought my laptop with me so we can send our assignments, but it's only the first few weeks of classes. I doubt we'll have anything major to turn in besides homework."

"Hm, that's true. Where do you think we'll be staying?"

Actually, I hadn't thought to ask Rashid that. I'd just assumed he'd be buying us a hotel.

Without answering Melanie, I pulled out my phone and texted Rashid. Since I had full service on this jet, I might as well use it to bug him.

Me:

>hey where are we staying while we're there?

Rashid:

>With me.

I blinked, staring down at the words. The way he answered so quickly, combinded with the implications of what the text suggested…

My heart stuttered.

Me:

>I figured that... I meant where?

Rashid:

>My place.

His place? Alone?

I bit my lip.

Me:

>will it be big enough for all three of us?

Rashid:

>There's plenty of room. Trust me.

I shook my head and pocketed my phone again, my palms sweating. Cocky… so cocky. And the confidence behind his words…

I had to keep reminding myself it was because we're in a different tax bracket.

"He says we'll be staying with him."

"Ohhhh, I wonder if he lives in one of those fancy skyscrapers. Did you watch the video I sent you the other day?"

Which one, is what I want to say to her. Ever since I'd asked her to come with me to Dubai, she'd been researching it non-stop. It was a cute little quirk Melanie had when she went to a new place. She wanted to know everything about it.

Her eyes had lit up the moment I'd asked her to come with me, and she hadn't been able to stop talking about it since.

I found it so endearing, but my nerves made me seem more bitchy than usual. I knew getting there, I would be incredibly star-struck, but until then, my body felt taunt with stress.

After our meal, we both got some rest for the time being. Seeing as how we'd be arriving in the middle of the afternoon in Dubai, I wanted to feel rested and energized when we met Rashid.

There was no telling when he'd want to whisk me away to fulfill our contract, so I needed as much rest as possible.

I fell asleep relatively easily and, thankfully, didn't have any raunchy dreams about my soon-to-be sex partner. I still haven't seen his face or knew anything about his appearance. Which was a weird feeling considering he knew exactly what I looked like.

I hoped he wasn't some weird old man. Would I be able to wear a blindfold if he was?

Those thoughts consume my dreams until I'm forcibly woken up by Melanie shaking my shoulder.

"Lyla, we landed."

I blinked my eyes open slowly. Already?

I sat slowly in my chair, reclining it to its normal position. It felt like absolutely no time had passed. Had I really slept the rest of the thirteen hours?

My head felt like it was full of mush. I knew I hadn't been sleeping well, but damn.

The stewardess headed down the aisle towards us, giving us a friendly smile as she stopped to help us gather our things.

"How was your flight?"

I stood and stretched, feeling my muscles ache from being cramped in a chair like that for so long.

"Good, thank you."

She smiles wider. "Great. If you follow me, I'll take you down to the tarmac where the prince's car is waiting for you both."

"Thanks." I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder.

It wasn't until I was halfway down the aisle before her words registered to me.

Wait… did she just say 'prince'?