Chapter Five
The first light of the morning streamed through the blinds, warming the room and causing Laine to pull the covers over her eyes. She was comfortably ensconced in the blankets of her memory foam bed, and it was far too early to be rushing off to work, she was fairly certain. With a stubborn yawn, Laine peeked at her phone resting on the nightstand to confirm that she didn’t have to get up yet. Then she realized that it was Saturday. No need to get up at all.
She closed her eyes again and sprawled out a little further, intending to enjoy those last few moments before her internal clock did the work of making her rise and attend to all the errands she hadn’t gotten around to that week. A moment afterward, however, a strong arm circled around her waist from behind, and Laine jumped in shock, causing her phone to tumble off the nightstand.
“Shhhh,” Aziz whispered soothingly. “It is only me.”
“It…!”
Laine turned and blinked, still fighting the fog of sleepiness. She stared at him for a long moment and then rolled over and curled into his arms. Somehow, she had not expected him to still be there at morning light. After agreeing to come back to her place, they had worn themselves out with a few extra rounds of horizontal aerobics around the apartment and eventually ended up in the bed, with the actual intent of sleeping. It seemed obvious that Aziz would be on his way once he’d had the time to rest.
But there he was, humming to himself softly as he stroked her back. His eyes were closed. It seemed he was also trying to fight the daylight and steal a few more moments of sleep. So that had to be it. He had to simply be tired. They’d had a long night, after all.
In spite of herself, Laine felt suddenly and completely awake. She watched Aziz as he slept. It hadn’t just been the excitement of the evening, she mused. He really was an incredibly handsome man. Something in his face was both rugged and gentle. It was in every move he made, as well. Not necessarily toward strangers, but definitely toward her. The night before had seen moments when he seemed like he could exert his power ruthlessly, but he’d held back when she’d asked. He’d never been ruthless with her.
On the contrary. Aziz treated her as though she were something rare and valuable. He extended her every courtesy, even when she was being secretive and a little rude. Laine had to wonder, was it all a part of the seduction? Could a man like that truly be so smitten with a woman like her?
She found herself combing her fingers through his hair, and eventually, he opened his eyes with a smile.
“You are watching me,” he pointed out, although the words seemed fond.
“I guess I am. You’re still here.” Laine shifted herself a little bit.
“Should I be elsewhere?” Aziz looked around the room curiously.
“I’d think so. I would have thought you had somewhere important to be.”
Aziz nodded. “Often, this is true. But not this weekend. We all need some time away from our responsibilities.”
“I’m not sure I know what that’s like. I don’t take vacations.”
Aziz rolled his eyes. “Of course you don’t. Americans live to pay their bills.”
“Look, it’s a bit early in the morning to be making broad generalizations regarding the East and the West, okay?”
Aziz chuckled. “This is true.” He pushed himself up, careful not to disturb her. “I did not notice last night, but you do have a lovely home. We could have gone to my hotel room, which is much bigger, but your space is exquisite.”
“Thanks. Decorated it myself. That’s what I do.” Laine pushed herself up as well and rested against him.
“I know this.” Aziz smirked at her.
“What are you smiling about?”
“I have a meeting later this week, which should prove terribly amusing.” He looked around her room critically. “I like the choice of that painting. It is intriguing, if a bit unpolished.”
Laine looked at it. It depicted a stream of butterflies being poured out of a teakettle by a woman with a sly look on her face. It was her own work. She’d painted that one back in design school when she’d been fulfilling her skill-based core requirements. If she were honest, she kept the painting there not because it was her favorite, but because it reminded her of that long ignored ache. She’d always meant to continue the series, but there was no money in painting one’s feelings. As hard as it was to work her way up in interior design, being a freelance painter would have been a fiscal disaster. There would be no supporting her father with that kind of income, no future for herself, possibly no recognition for her efforts until after her death, or ever.
There was no reason to go for it, and every reason to keep that dream on the wall.
“As curious as the subject is, it is almost like a dream. The colors bring the room peace,” Aziz assessed. “It’s a good energy for a place of rest.” He looked to her. “Or other things.”
“Did we manage to do that in the actual bed?” Laine asked.
“No, I don’t think so. We should rectify this egregious error.”
Swiftly, Aziz rose and grabbed her waist. Laine laughed and reached up for his shoulders to steady herself. His tongue was lapping broadly over her neck when Laine heard the door slamming shut and froze.
“Oh! Stop!” she hissed.
Aziz did, but frowned and looked up.
“Wake up, nerd!” Emma cried. “I know you ended up here last night!”
“It’s my sister,” Laine told Aziz.
She pulled the covers up and looked around the room quickly to see if she had any readily available clothing. There was one of Aziz’s shirts on a chair, but nothing else of use.
“I’m in the bedroom! Give me a minute!” Laine yelled.
“I’m coming in!” Emma yelled back.
Aziz laughed heartily.
“No, don’t!” Laine glared at Emma as she walked through the door, carrying a white bag and a tray of coffee.
Emma’s mouth hung open as she took in the unfamiliar sight. “What…?”
“I told you to give me a minute, brat!” Laine said.
Emma giggled madly. “Well, maybe you need more than a minute!”
“Good morning,” Aziz said pleasantly. “You are Laine’s sister, yes?”
“I am…” Emma half-turned to the door, then looked at the corners of the ceiling.
“What are you doing?” Laine said, clutching the covers.
“Looking for hidden cameras,” Emma deadpanned.
“I don’t do videos of my lovemaking,” Aziz said. “It would be unseemly for a member of my family to have such a thing out there for people to see.”
Laine covered her face.
“I brought coffee and doughnuts, FYI,” Emma said. “I thought I might be able to get some info out of you about that guy you were dancing with last night. But I suppose that would be you?”
Aziz gave a little wave.
“Just let us put some clothes on?” Laine pleaded, making a shooing motion. “You can wait in the kitchen.”
“Fine, fine. But now you really have to dish. No way in the world was I expecting you to actually take the guy home.” Emma looked to Aziz. “No offense.”
“None taken, I think,” he said.
After quickly pulling on some clothes, Laine emerged from the bedroom. Her sister was lounging in the kitchenette, where there were a few comfortable chairs and a table overburdened with unopened mail and stacks of file folders. Emma sipped her coffee, reading something off her phone. Despite the early hour, her hair was neatly styled, her makeup flawless, and her outfit on point.
“Does your personal assistant dress you every morning?” Laine went over to sit with her sister. Aziz followed her, but did not sit.
“No, I just know that people are waiting to take pictures of me at any moment.” Emma’s lips curved knowingly. “But my picture isn’t the one going viral right now.”
Emma turned her phone around so Laine could see what she was watching. It was a video of Aziz and Laine dancing at the party. Laine pressed her lips together and started to turn red.
Aziz leaned over her. “Ah…someone caught us.”
“What, were you hiding? You hijacked the music and hit the dance floor at a star-studded event.” Emma laughed. “There were a lotta folks pissed, to be honest. They were so jealous they didn’t think to do it themselves.”
“We aren’t bad!” Aziz stood up and laughed.
“No kidding. Do I know you? Have you worked with Raj?” Emma asked.
Aziz crossed his arms and smiled down at her. “I am not an actor, darling. I manage my family’s considerable estate and business holdings.”
Emma turned her phone over in her hand, starring hard at him. “I’m not sure what that means?”
“It means he’s filthy rich and terribly bored,” Laine joked. “Though he’s pretty influential in Bahrain.”
“Oh, not just Bahrain, tiger. All of the Arabian Peninsula.” Aziz grinned, hugged Laine around the shoulders from behind, and kissed her cheek.
Emma sucked in her cheeks and then looked to Laine. “Oh. My. God.”
“Indeed. Our meeting was fate,” Aziz said with confidence.
Laine opened her mouth but didn’t quite know what to say. Fate? Was he joking?
Aziz was watching Emma now. His intense eyes were fixed, almost hungry. Once again, Laine wondered why Aziz had picked her instead of Emma. Here Emma was, at this ungodly hour, as beautiful as she could be. Looking as if, at any moment, she could be photographed and people would pass the picture around social media amazed at how gorgeous she was. A movie star would be a better match for this multi-corporation Middle Eastern mogul. A woman as beautiful as Emma would be much better for him.
Aziz moved forward, and Laine swallowed a lump in her throat. This would be his moment to start flirting with Emma. But he didn’t. He just grabbed a doughnut and smiled at Laine as he bit into it. Laine leaned on her hand and watched him chew.
“Might I borrow your shower?” Aziz asked.
“Oh, sure.” Laine pointed Aziz to the bathroom and watched as he sauntered off, enjoying a doughnut with the ease of a person with zero concerns about his waistline. When she looked back to Emma, her sister gave her the smuggest look she had ever seen. “What?”
“God, Laine. You snagged the biggest catch at that party!” Emma leaned over the table. “And you sealed the deal! What, was this like you first one-night stand ever?”
“I don’t do that sort of thing.” Laine took the other coffee and sipped it. “To do that, you have to go out.”
Emma laughed. “But you did! You tore it up, huh?”
“We didn’t tear it up. We didn’t even drink much. I had a couple appletinis, but that was it.” Laine bit her lip. Having gotten drunk might’ve excused her actions. “We got kicked out of a club for swimming in their fountain.”
“Oh, my god. You got kicked out of Las Llaves?” Emma clapped her hands together in joy.
“How did you know that was the club?”
“Because that’s the one with the huge fountain big enough to swim in. That sitcom star Johnny Right got caught fucking two girls in there.”
Laine recoiled in horror. “God, I hoped they cleaned it!”
Emma shook with laughter. “I’m sure they did! Oh, this is awesome, Lainey. This is so good for you. And he’s rich! That’s so cool. I wondered what that creepy Middle Eastern dude was doing, just standing there outside your apartment.”
“That’s just Faruq. He’s Aziz’s bodyguard.”
“So casual,” Emma teased. “I never thought you’d be the love ‘em and leave ‘em type, sis. Especially not to a royal with a bodyguard.”
“I’m not. I just…I guess I just wanted, for once in my life, to let something good happen to me.” Laine selected a cake doughnut and dipped it in her coffee. “He’ll probably be out of here by lunchtime, though.”
That would be fine, she told herself. He was an important man. He had things to do, and Laine had her job and her family.
It would be better if they went their separate ways.
***
Though Laine hadn’t expected to hear from Aziz again after he’d left her apartment, she saw him again only a few days later. She had a meeting scheduled in a lavish hotel across town. It happened occasionally—although Laine had never before been given those accounts—that the lifestyles of the rich and careless resulted in their living spaces being unlivable. Laine had been surprised to see it on her calendar, but the appointment had been made by request, so Laine didn’t have to worry about it being snatched off her plate by a senior project manager just yet.
The concierge made Laine wait to be escorted up to the suite, where the staff member encouraged her to have a seat at a circular conference table. She took out her planner and skimmed over her to-do list while she waited.
“Morning, tiger.”
Laine looked up and felt her heart skip a beat. “Aziz! What are you doing here?”
“Well, I made an appointment to hire a decorator.” Aziz strolled up with his hands in his pockets and sucked in his lower lip as his eyes looked her up and down.
“A decorator.” Laine stared blankly for a moment.
“Yes. I’ve been looking for one for some time. Imagine my surprise when I happened to run into the very woman I was to meet this week?”
Laine leaned forward incredulously. “And you happened to, purely by accident, pick me?”
“Not at all.” Aziz strolled around Laine and leaned against the wall. “I picked you quite deliberately. I know that you helped to design the club we went to this weekend, and your designs have made it into several home magazine features. Not to mention the Northeastern Interiors Award you won last year. Darling, of course I know who Laine McConnell is.”
Aziz spread his hands. “Going to that party where you happened to be, that was the accident. A happy one. As I said, it must be fate. How different would our relationship be if we had only just now met?”
“Our relationship would be a lot more appropriate for work if we had,” Laine informed him.
“I will pay incredibly well for a job well done,” Aziz continued, ignoring her concern. “My home is quite large, and we’ve much to do in the way of updating it. I would oversee more of the work, but as you can imagine, I am a very busy man. I am on a bit of a working vacation at the moment, but at home, I cannot spend the time to make these decisions.”
Laine rose from the table slowly. “Are you saying you want to hire our company?”
“I want to hire you. Laine, I have seen your work. We swam in it.”
Laine couldn’t help but laugh a little at that.
“You have the very flair for style that I need! The way you select color—art, even! I implore you to consider my offer.” Aziz went over to a cabinet underneath a flat screen television. There, he pulled out a folder, set it on the table, and took out several photographs of large rooms.
“It is you I want, Laine, not your firm,” Aziz continued. “But as you work for them, I will abide by their rules…if you so demand. I would much prefer to simply hire you and turn the redesign of our home over to your capable hands.”
Laine stared at him and then looked down at the photographs. His home was simply enormous. It seemed to be much more of a palace than a house. Laine had to admit that the challenge of designing for such a tremendous space was very alluring. Not that she disliked decorating apartments for people in the city, but there was only so much to do, and she’d been doing it constantly and well, for a while now. Her creative muscles wanted stretching. With this canvas and Aziz’s budget, this job could be the very thing to satisfy her.
Laine stood as she looked over the rooms in front of her. “I would need a lot more detailed pictures.”
Aziz turned to her and touched her chin with two fingertips. “No, no, Laine. I want you to come back to Bahrain with me.”
Laine took a moment to let that concept sink in. Come back with him? Go half a world away from her home, just to decorate his house? Could she get away from the office for that long? Other designers traveled. They took on accounts in Chicago, Maine, Florida. But would Mr. Brandt be okay with her doing it? Laine thought that he should be. She’d proven herself more than reliable, but knowing that she was owed that respect and demanding it were two different matters.
“I…I can’t just take off work here, Aziz. I have other accounts,” Laine sputtered after a moment.
“I would pay you handsomely to hand those off to someone else and focus on my home.”
“And I don’t really need to be there to pick out patterns.”
“But you must live in the place. You must feel its energy and learn more about us, if you are going to do what you do best.” Aziz brushed his fingers through the bit of white hair falling over her forehead. “I have considered this. I can convince your boss that this is the best thing to do.”
“I don’t want you to talk to my boss!” Laine snapped, pulling away from him. “I’ll talk to him.” She sighed and put her hands on her hips. “Okay, I could come for a week. Maybe two. Check out the place, really assess your needs. I’ll have to get back to you, though. I can’t just pick up and go!”
I don’t know if I can go at all, she thought to herself. What if Mr. Brandt says no? What if Dad needs something while I’m away?
“I understand this. Although if you could be on the plane with me when I head back, it would make things much simpler.” Aziz crossed his arms. “Will two weeks be long enough to do a job such as this?”
“It’ll have to be. Just…give me some time to think…” Laine moved over to the window, trying to put more distance between herself and Aziz. The chemical attraction between them was almost too much, sometimes.
“Take some time,” Aziz allowed. He moved behind her and hugged her waist. His chin rested on her shoulder, and Laine almost couldn’t breathe. “But please, Laine, come to my home. Bring it to life for me.”
Laine closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his strong arms just for a moment. She felt torn. Going with him would be a huge boost for her status and for her career. One that she might need, if she were ever to move forward. But if she went with him, there was so much she would be leaving behind. There would be so much she was risking. What if her designs just weren’t good enough for a project of this scale? And ultimately, Laine was afraid that if she went, there would be no escaping falling in love with him.