Free Sold To The Sheikh: His Indecent Proposal (An Interracial Sheikh Romance Novel) by Holly Rayner

refuse to go and by
then I’ll be so heavy you won’t be able to make me.”
     
    Rami laughed. “Fine. Only
this once. But I think we’d better go to Macy’s too, for some
everyday things.”
     
    “This was just supposed to
be for New York! You are not giving me a whole new wardrobe, Rami.
No, you’re not doing it.”
     
    “It’s my money,” Rami
pointed out. “I can spend it how I like.”
     
    “I don’t want you spending
it on me in the first place!” Mia looked around, taking a sip of
her water to cover the embarrassment she felt at raising her voice.
“I just…I’m not used to this, okay? I’ll let you buy me clothes for
New York because you’re insisting on it, but please don’t make me
feel guilty by giving me a lot of clothes I don’t need. No one ever
sees me except you, my mom, Dr. Farber and the people at the
grocery store.”
     
    “Okay Mia, you win,” Rami
said, though a gleam in his dark eyes suggested that he hadn’t
quite given in on the idea of giving her a complete wardrobe. “So
just Nordstrom and Saks, maybe Bloomingdales?” Mia
sighed.
     
    “Fine,” she said. “But I’m
giving you a limit. You’re not spending more than…a thousand
dollars. Okay?” Rami shook his head.
     
    “Not going to agree to
that; what if I find the perfect everyday dress for you and it’s
three hundred? That’s almost a third on just one thing!”
     
    “You are not buying me an
‘everyday dress’ for three hundred dollars!” Mia
insisted.
     
    “Let me use my judgment,”
Rami said firmly. “I won’t buy more than you can wear in New York
for like… a week. That’s how long you’ll be there, right?” Mia
sighed, putting the plate in front of her aside.
     
    “Yes,” she said. “Okay. A
week’s worth of clothes, that’s it.” She still felt weird accepting
extra gifts and attention from Rami, but after three months of
meeting with him on a regular basis, she knew arguing about it
wouldn’t get her anywhere.
     

 
     
    SIX

 
     
     
    “How are you feeling, baby
girl?” Amie asked. Mia sighed as she sank down onto the couch,
wincing as a pillow pressed up against the injection site on her
buttock.
     
    “I’m tired,” she admitted.
Mia had been prepared for the fact that IVF would be demanding on
her body, what with all the hormones and the monitoring, and Dr.
Farber had given her fair warning. But she hadn’t counted on just
how exhausting it would all be; how much the injections would hurt.
Mia had avoided telling Rami about it in too much detail because
she wasn’t sure he could handle the reality of the process—and she
didn’t want him thinking she wasn’t up to the task.
     
    “How long do you think
this is going to go on for?” Her mother inquired,
hesitantly.
     
    Mia licked her lips and
shrugged, shifting so that her weight was more on her other hip.
“The doctor says it can take multiple cycles. Even with
everything…” she shrugged again. “It’s not perfect. Sometimes the
implanted eggs don’t take, sometimes they can’t get the eggs out in
time.”
     
    “But you’re being
careful.” It was almost a question.
     
    “Oh absolutely. Dr. Farber
said she wants to make sure I’m still able to have babies of my own
after this is done.” Mia laughed bitterly. “Because surely if I’m
resorting to IVF now, I’m going to be able to have babies of my own
later on the natural way, no problem.” Mia’s mom bit her bottom
lip.
     
    “Have you and Rami
considered that?”
     
    Mia blushed. “No, we’re
keeping it strictly business between us. If we did it that way it’d
feel like…” Mia squirmed.
     
    “Like prostitution?” Amie
cut in.
     
    Mia nodded. “Well, you
know… some women try the artificial way for years and then give
up…and find themselves pregnant the old-fashioned way.”
     
    “I just…sometimes wish I
knew about my birth parents,” Mia said, looking down at her hands
in her lap. “Not because I care about them