The Sheik's Secret Twins by Elizabeth Lennox Read Free Book Online Page B

vibrated, indicating a text message.  She looked at the screen and almost dropp ed the phone.  ‘I’ve missed you ’ was all the screen said, but the phone number from which the message had come was from that same number, the one she wasn’t going to touch!
    She deleted the text, ignoring it completely and headed towards the busy loading docks once again, furious that the obnoxious man thought he could just casually pop back into her life. 
    She was almost to the docks when her phone vibrated again.  She almost dropped the clip board in her fury, but was able to control herself.  Barely.  “Can we meet?” the message said.
    Siri wanted to throw her phone across the bustling warehouse.  The crash would be very satisfying, but unfortunately, it wasn’t Malik’s arrogant head so it wouldn’t really count.  And it would only cost her more money and time to replace her phone and that man had cost her a whole lot of money.  Well, to be fair, he’d also gifted her with her two little wonderful boys.  She glanced down at her watch and was relieved that she still had some precious time before she had to pick them up.  She really just needed to focus and get through her day before it became too late.
    The next message came just as she was about to call over her loading manager, a barrel chested man with a n old fashioned handlebar mustache in his late fifties who pushed through the merchandise with a tight leash, ensuring that all shipments were accurate and on time.  Since hiring him three years ago, her complaints had dropped to almost nothing.  The man was a genuine treasure and had relieved a great deal of stress when he’d implemented his shipping procedures soon after his arrival. 
    “Hi Joe,” she called out as she approached, forcing her mind to concentrate on the shipments that were coming in and not on the text messages she’d just received.  “How are the latest shipments?  Will they be ready in time for….” She started to ask but then shook her head. “Joe, I apologize.  I won’t even finish that question because I know you have it all under control and any shipments that are scheduled to go out will happen.  I’m just losing focus today and it’s coming out in odd ways.”   She almost picked up her cell phone and glared at it just for good measure but knew that the effort would be lost on the inanimate object. 
    Joe’s eyes widened slightly and then he chuckled, his mustache twitching merrily.  “Thanks for the unexpected compliment Ms. Siri, but feel free to ask anything you’d like.  We have all one hundred and fifty parcels ready to ship in the next hour and Gerry is at the packaging conveyor belt making sure that tomorrow’s shipments are ready as well.  We have the computer checklist Tory built up last m onth and it’s working real well so we’re actually slightly ahead of schedule.  By the end of this month, we should be even better and only the last minute, overnight orders will be a daily exception. ”
    The man’s voice was gruff from years of yelling at the NASCAR races and probably too many cigarettes and beer, but he was a gem as a manager.  “Thanks Joe.  Sorry for the questions.  Just trying to outrun something.”   Or someone, she thought with irritation.  
    She turned on her heel and walked back towards the offices, determined to get payroll finished before she left for the night.  Mary, her payroll manager, was already hard at work ensuring that all fifty-nine employees got paid on time and she’d never missed a deadline yet, but she also needed Siri’s approval to make those deadlines. 
    Again, her cell phone vibrated and Siri considered just ignoring the message this time , sure that whatever message just came through, it was definitely from him .  She didn’t want to know what he had to say.  But her eyes glanced down and she gasped when she read the words, “You look beautiful, by the way.”

Chapter 3
    How could he know what she