Page 42 of Her Irresistible Sheik (Al-Sintra Family #9)

“I didn’t do it,” Leona asserted defiantly, staring through the thick lenses of Hector’s glasses.

Hector pushed his glasses higher onto his nose and grinned nervously. “You’ve been working for Halsted Securities for the past year, Leona. I know you didn’t do anything wrong.” He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. “You’re a good person.”

Leona frowned at him, pulling her hand way from his.

“I’m not,” she argued and stepped away. They’d moved in together six months ago.

Hector still worked for the Tavista Security team in the palace security department.

Tom, Hector’s boss, had offered her a job but Leona had turned it down.

The money offered was three times what she was earning at Halsted Securities, but Leona wasn’t finished with her goal.

“Yes, you are!” he replied back instantly. “How many times are we going to have this argument?”

Leona turned away from the window and glared at Hector. “I told you last time, I have things to do.”

“What things?” he demanded, impatient now.

“Leona, you know I want to marry you.” He moved closer, taking her hands.

“I want to go to ComiCon with you dressed up as Princess Leia! I want to be by your side as we traipse through NerdNite! I want to listen to you snort with irritation when we attend tech conferences because you know more than the speaker.” He sighed, pushing his glasses higher onto his nose again.

“Whatever you’ve done in the past, it’s done.

You don’t help those people anymore. You’re not that person now. ”

Leona shrugged. “Just because I don’t help them, doesn’t mean I’m…done.”

Hector’s eyes narrowed, trying to understand what was going through her head.

Leona was impressively intelligent and, now that he’d gotten to know her, he understood that she had a deep sense of guilt for the information she’d passed on to Clyde as well as other bad actors in the world.

But her belligerent expression warned him that Leona’s current goal was more… personal.

“What do you mean?” he asked, his voice softer now. “I’ve noticed that you’re working on something, but you won’t talk to me about it. Will you let me in?”

She shook her head, but took his hand. She ignored the sweaty palms and the dark curls that tumbled over his left eye. He needed a haircut, but refused to take the time.

“I love you, Hector, but this is something I need to do myself.”

He nodded slowly, trying to understand. “It’s not dangerous, is it?”

Leona laughed. “No. It’s not dangerous.” Not really, she silently corrected. Or more accurately, not all the time.

Hector sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Okay. I’ll leave it alone. For now.”

Three months later, Leona stepped into their shared apartment, feeling good. She was done. She’d fixed her life and now, she could start over.

“You’re late,” Hector called out from the kitchen. Leona smelled the scents of something cooking and her mouth watered.

She smoothed a hand down over her skirt as she kicked off the heels.

Leona wasn’t just changing the inside of her personality, she wanted to change the outside as well.

Gone were the sweatpants and slippers. She now sported a shoulder length bob haircut and had slowly changed her wardrobe.

She loved wearing flirty, boho skirts and pretty tops.

The heels…not so much. It was an evolution, she reminded herself.

Walking barefoot into the kitchen, she paused, leaning against the countertop as she watched Hector lift a spoon filled with sauce. “Here,” he said, bringing the spoon over to her. “Is it warm enough?”

Leona blew on the spoon full of spaghetti sauce, then opened her mouth. Hector eased the spoon forward and she tasted the sauce tentatively. The flavors of tangy, sweet tomato sauce flooded her mouth, and she smiled and nodded. “You’re amazing! My favorite!”

“Only the best for you, honey!” he told her, beaming with pride as he moved back to the stove and stirred. “Sit down and pour us some champagne.”

Leona turned to the table, startled to find two plastic flutes and a chilled bottle of champagne. The good kind!

“What’s this for?” she asked warily.

Hector lifted the pot of pasta, carrying it over to the two bowls that had been placed on the counter. “That,” he said as he served equal portions into the bowls, “is to celebrate you finally agreeing to marry me.”

He dusted some grated cheese over the top, smiling at the “gourmet” addition to their special meal. “Sit down and you can tell me all about your latest achievement.”

Leona stared at him, stunned and…more turned on than she could believe.

Their sex life had always been good. Hector was a nerd, but he was also a man with an incredibly active imagination.

The things that he came up with in bed was…

pretty darn glorious. But it was his intelligence that really did it for her.

“You know,” she sighed, slumping down into one of the kitchen chairs.

He brought the bowls over to the table, setting them down before leaning over to kiss her. “Of course I know,” he teased. “First rule of hackers.” He paused, his eyes lighting up with mischief.

“Always be one step ahead of the best,” she recited. With a sigh, she asked, “What do you know?”

He chuckled and went back to retrieve the grated cheese and pull the garlic bread out of the oven.

“I know that, in the past, you helped various assassins kill thirty-five people.” He put the garlic bread onto a platter, then brought that over as well, then plucked the bottle of champagne from her hand and popped the top.

“I know you’ve blackmailed several particularly bad men to fund your efforts to help thirty-five people get out of bad situations.

” He poured champagne into the glasses. “Those people are mostly abused women and children, and you’ve been getting them out of their bad marriages and setting them up in a new city with new names and new identification.

” He handed her a glass and lifted the second.

“Some of them are victims of identity theft. You’ve gone after the people who stole from them, cleared their bad credit and gotten their money back.

” He clinked the glass against hers. “And there were two people who just needed a little financial help to get out of debt.”

“How long have you known?” she asked, not sure if she should be angry or impressed. Because it was Hector and she adored him, she decided to be impressed.

“As soon as you started being secretive, I had to know, Leona. I couldn’t let your past fester inside of you.

” He chuckled, shaking his head. “If you hadn’t gone after Bob Tsagas, the CEO of that oil company that has allowed oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico for the past four years, I wouldn’t have figured it out. ”

She grinned. “Bob is a bad man. He somehow got the government to pay for his company’s cleanup, then bragged about it at this secret billionaire’s club in Philadelphia.

” She sighed and absently took a sip of her champagne.

“I’m friends with one of the wait staff there and,” she paused, shaking her head.

“They hear things you wouldn’t believe! It’s wild what some of these business leaders get away with. ”

“I know,” he whispered, then kissed her again. “And I’m more in love with you now than before I knew what you were doing.” He pulled a ring out of his pocket and slid it onto her finger. “We’re getting married, Leona. We’re doing it. I want you as my wife.”

Leona grinned, turning her hand so that the ring caught the light hanging low over their kitchen table. She felt a burst of happiness and nodded, beaming at Hector. “Okay. Let’s do it!”

Hector laughed, then lifted her into his arms. Champagne accidentally spilled down his back and he nearly fell over in the process, but by the time he set her down again, they were both laughing. Their dinner could wait until later. Much later!

A Note from Elizabeth:

I wrestled with Nahla’s plot because I needed her to be strong — but in early drafts she kept reading as fragile and a little silly.

I rewrote the beginning three times and nothing clicked.

On the fourth try I finally (I hope) found the version of her who’s the strong, capable woman I’d been seeing in my head. How did I do?

A quick note about Lilly: I thought about giving her a short romance, like I did for Leona and Jenny.

But Lilly is still too raw — she needs time to heal, not a new love interest shoved in for plot convenience.

That may change; she might have her own story someday when she’s ready.