Page 100 of Bred By the Sheikh

The first line stopped me.

Brand Strategy Manager, Guest Experience.

Al-Hadid Hospitality Group.

Dubai.

I read it twice.

Then I read the portfolio language covering North American guest perspective, brand strategy, guest experience, and a reporting structure through the company’s brand leadership.

The compensation made me blink.

I raised my head.

“This is a legitimate role.”

“I can see that.”

“You would work across the Grand portfolio. You’d be involved earlier in strategy, which is what you told me you wanted.”

My fingers stayed on the paper.

He remembered that conversation.

Of course he did.

“You’d report through brand leadership,” he continued. “Not through me.”

“And if I say no to everything else?”

“The job offer still stands.”

“Everything else?”

His attention shifted toward the dark box.

My pulse jumped.

He picked it up.

“This is separate.”

He opened the box.

A diamond caught the low light.

I stopped breathing.

The ring wasn’t enormous in the ridiculous, impossible way I would’ve expected from a sheikh.

It was beautiful, elegant, and chosen for a hand rather than a display case.

He left it in the box.

“I know what I want, Chrissy.”

I couldn’t look away from him.