CELINE:The Sheikh Dessert Bride

Author: Valerie Ray

Chapter 1 One

Word Count: 775 | Released on: 14/01/2026

lent suite. The room smelled faintly of lavender cleaner mixed with the hotel's signature jasmine scent-notes that always lingered on her unifor

home, shower off the day's grime, and emerge in that lacy black lingerie set she'd hidden in her drawer for weeks. Red lace hugging her curves, garters whispering against her thighs-Jamal wouldn't know what hit him.The employee exit loomed ahead, a nondescript door at the back of the hotel. Celine punched her code into the panel, the lock clicking open with a satisfying beep. Freedom. She burst into the humid evening air, the city's neon lights flickering to life as the sun dipped behind skyscrapers. A grin split her face, wide and unguarded. For once, everything felt right. Jamal had texted earlier: Can't wait to see you, babe. Pizza and Netflix? She'd play along, then blindfold him for the real surprise.The bus ride home blurred by in a haze of anticipation. Celine fidgeted with the gift bag in her lap, imagining his eyes lighting up, his strong hands pulling her close. Jamal worked construction, his body honed from hauling steel beams under the relentless sun. He wasn't the flowers-and-dinner type, but he made her laugh, held her after long shifts, and whispered promises of a future-maybe even a ring someday. Five months wasn't forever, but it was enough to make her believe.Her apartment building came into view, a weathered five-story walk-up on the edge of the bustling neighborhood. Paint peeled from the railings, and the elevator hadn't worked in months, but it was home. Celine bou

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CELINE:The Sheikh Dessert Bride

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“* **One night of betrayal. One night of passion. A lifetime of consequences.** Celine was always the shadow-the reliable twin who worked while her sister, Celeste, basked in the spotlight. But when she finds her boyfriend of five months in her sister's bed, the shadow finally snaps. A reckless night at a dive bar with a hazel-eyed stranger was supposed to be her escape, a way to forget the people who saw her as a spare part. But the stranger wasn't just a face in the crowd. He was **Idris Al-Miraj**, the billionaire Sheikh and the owner of the very hotel where Celine works. When her parents attempt to sell her into a sacrificial marriage to save the family's reputation, Celine finds herself hunted by her past and trapped by her future. Idris doesn't just want her back in his bed; he wants to own every brick of the wall she's built around her heart. Jobless, homeless, and backed into a corner by a family that only needs her when they can use her, Celine prepares to run again. But Idris has other plans. He doesn't want her to run. He doesn't even want her to surrender. He wants her to fight back. **"Use me,"** he says. In a world where power is the only currency, Celine must decide if the man who dismantled her life is her greatest enemy-or the only weapon she has left.”