Read Matt (Red, Hot, & Blue) for Free Online

he realized she’d handed the tray to someone in the hall and had come back in. She peered at him with big brown eyes that continued to dart down to stare at the floor.
    Now what?
    “The meal was excellent. Thank you, and please give my compliments to the chef. But I’m so full I don’t think I’ll want anything more to eat tonight. Thank you.”
    “I am here to serve you.” She inclined her head again and didn’t move.
    Okay. He got that, but dinner was over. Was she going to hang around until his breakfast tray arrived?
    She finally raised her gaze to meet his. It was the boldest move she’d made all night.
    “I’m to serve you in there.” She pointed toward the bedroom door.
    Matt’s heart skipped a beat. Holy shit. Was she a harem girl? Did they still exist? Apparently they did, because here she was, dressed like that, pointing toward the room with the giant bed. He swallowed and tried not to notice the large expanse of her exposed skin and the tempting curves that were so not covered by all that see-through fabric. Holy moly, were those her nipples showing through?
    Wasn’t this ironic? Matt had spent all last weekend on dates from hell, hoping to get laid, and here he was on assignment with a harem girl and he wasn’t sure what to do with her.
    Crap. He’d probably risk insulting his host if he rejected this more than generous gift.
    The team trained that when immersed in a foreign culture you must go along with the local customs. So if they considered monkey brains a delicacy and fed that to him for dinner, he would have to eat monkey brains and tell them how good they tasted. But did it also mean that if he was handed a harem girl to service him, he was supposed to let her?
    Why the hell was he having trouble convincing himself to take her up on her offer? This was what he’d wished for, kind of—to hook up with a hot chick on assignment like his teammates kept doing. But the other guys just happened to meet the girl of their dreams while on a mission. This seemed more like she was a hooker and Matt was the john, which made the sheikh the pimp in this scenario. Not good.
    Matt looked her over again. Was she forced into this or did she do it willingly? Life for a woman in Saudi Arabia could be tough. Circumstances could make giving her body to strange men in exchange for plenty of food and a safe place to live the only option for this girl.
    He couldn’t take advantage of her or her situation. Besides, he enjoyed the thrill of the chase, going out on a date and trying to hook up. Being handed a girl as a gift didn’t seem right.
    Damn. How could he get out of this without single-handedly destroying international relations? “Um. I wouldn’t mind a back and maybe a foot massage. Could you do that? Give me a massage?”
    That request seemed safe enough.
    She nodded, reached out and offered him her hand. He took it and let her lead him to the bedroom, where Matt began to wonder if she’d understood him. It was very likely massage had different connotations here. When she unbuttoned his shirt and reached for his pants, he got even more nervous. On instinct, his hands stilled hers at his fly.
    “Pants get in the way of the massage.”
    “But just a massage, right?” he asked.
    “I understand. Massage.”
    Matt hesitated for a moment and then sat on the edge of the bed to pull off his shoes and socks. He stood again and dropped his pants, diving face down onto the bed in his briefs before she got the idea his underwear would interfere with the massage too.
    He heard her move and turned his head to see her reach into the drawer of the bedside table and pull out a bottle of oil. Brow raised, he wondered what else was in there. He’d have to investigate that when she left.
    Expertly warming the oil in her hands before applying it to his back, she set to working on his travel-weary muscles. She must have been trained in massage, as well as the other things he hesitated to imagine. It wasn’t too bad.