Hakim found himself pacing the floor, waiting for Lauren to arrive, and forced himself to sit down. He could still watch the front entrance, but there was no reason he needed to act like a nervous schoolboy.

He had been surprised when he returned home the day before to find his whole house spotless; Lauren had not only cleaned all the rooms, she’d reorganized the refrigerator and taken care of the laundry that had piled up, too. It was more than he expected, although to be fair, he hadn’t expected much. Hakim had been certain that she was going to quit; he’d been looking forward to chasing her down after that.

Even more than that, he was looking forward to Patricia Sanders groveling to him in order to get her precious daughter out of the contract. She had to be horrified that Hakim was the one who had purchased Lauren at her auction, and Hakim was honestly surprised that he hadn’t heard from her yet.

Lauren herself had surprised him, too. Her attitude yesterday morning had been a little anxious; she hadn’t been sure of him, though she had been sure of herself. She’d gone on the attack by being bright and cheery, and she had refused to show any sign of weakness.

Hakim had laughed when he got home and found a snarky note from her detailing exactly what chores she’d done, how long it had taken her to clean each room, and a postscript that she’d moved one tiny, insignificant thing in every room and sincerely hoped it didn’t cause him any inconvenience. Hakim had already found the soap dish switched to the other side of his bathroom sink and the coffee filters moved one shelf down. He was looking forward to finding the other things she had moved.

He found himself attracted to her self-confidence. He was increasingly certain that there was more to her than being Patricia Sanders’ daughter.

When he heard Lauren’s car pull up in front of the door, he grinned to himself. She was giving herself a fast getaway if she needed it, and he liked that she could take care of herself. She was also ten minutes earlier than she’d been the day before.

He met Lauren at the door again, and once again she didn’t wait on him, but headed into his house. She was wearing the maid’s uniform again. She must have taken it home with her, but it looked freshly laundered and pressed. He shook his head as he followed her back inside; given that she had to have spent hours last night catching up on her work, he was surprised that she’d taken the time to think about the uniform.

He had to admit, as ugly as the thing was, she made it look good. The crisp white shirt was unbuttoned at the top, giving him a glimpse of smooth pale skin that disappeared in a curve under the fabric.

At a closer look, he wondered if she’d tailored the pants since they appeared to fit better than the day before. He was impressed that she had the skills and talent to change such trivial things for the better; if she cared that much, what else what she capable of?

When they got inside, Lauren gave him a challenging look.

“I’m happy to clean your house again, but that would be a waste of your money since I did such a good job yesterday,” she said, her tone daring him to disagree.

Hakim grinned at her. “I agree. I was pleasantly surprised by your efforts.”

“Oh, please. The dressing room of every theater I’ve ever worked in was worse than your whole house put together.”

That remark surprised him. “You’re an actress?” Hakim asked, not sure what to make of this revelation.

Lauren waved a hand at him. “Community theater. I minored in drama in college, too.”

Well, that was not what he’d expected. When Hakim had done his background research on Lauren, he’d seen that she had earned her degree in business. He had assumed that she was entirely focused on the corporate end of things, not on the creative. Apparently, he was going to have to rethink that assumption.

“You don’t make a big deal of being on stage?” he asked.

Lauren shook her head. “I don’t do it for work; in fact, I try to keep it as separate from work as possible. I don’t make a big deal out of being the CEO of a production company while I’m working on a show, either.”

Hakim thought that over. “That attitude makes you a bit unusual for this industry.”

Her brilliant grin almost knocked him over. “I know. I love subverting people’s expectations.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at her statement. “I’m beginning to learn that about you.”

Lauren looked pleased at having made him laugh, and that sparked something low in his gut. She was happy, in spite of the situation; that seemed to be the way she operated. It didn’t matter how bad things were, she would try and find the silver lining. Suddenly he felt bad for putting her in the middle of his feud with her mother.

“I was about to have breakfast,” he said.

Lauren straightened up and put on her unreadable business face. “Of course. Would you like me to bring it to you, or serve it in the kitchen?”

And that question, asked so rationally and dispassionately, made him feel even worse.

“No, actually. Why don’t you have breakfast with me? You can’t have had time to eat yet.”

There was the wry grin again. “I stuck a granola bar in my purse to eat later.”

Hakim shook his head like he was disappointed in her. “Then I insist. Food and coffee before work.”

“Well, if there’s coffee…” Lauren tilted her head in acquiescence.

Hakim led her into the kitchen. Lauren noticed that there was coffee brewed already, so she filled two mugs. She handed one to Hakim, and he pointed her to the table in the breakfast nook where fruit, yogurt, and pastries were set out. Sitting down, they both filled their plates, and ate for a quiet moment before Hakim spoke again.

“How often do you get to do theater? It must be tough to keep up with productions while running your company at the same time.”

Lauren nodded as she swallowed a bite of pastry. “Sometimes, yes. But it keeps me grounded, so I make time for it. And if I know I’m not going to be able to commit to the time for an on-stage role, I’ll volunteer for something behind the scenes. I’m pretty good at the whole production thing, you know.”

“So I’ve heard. What you’ve done with the company in just three years is impressive.”

“Thank you.” She looked up and grinned mischievously at him. “I’m still not telling you anything about my business.”

He laughed, throwing his head back. “That’s fair. Okay then, tell me more about your acting career. Are you working on a show right now?”

“I am. It’s just a small role, so I don’t have to be at every rehearsal. Plus, after my last show, I was ready for a break.”

Hakim gave her an inquisitive look. “Lead role?”

Lauren snorted. “One of those shows where everything that could go wrong did. I’m convinced someone invoked the curse of the Scottish Play. By the end of our run, the whole cast was doing curse-breaking rituals every night before curtain.”

He raised one eyebrow and Lauren sighed.

“Toward the end of the first act, I had to kneel down to unpack this crate. The play is set in Victorian London and I’m a maid for the lead character,” she gave him a pointed look.

Hakim cleared his throat. “Oh, good. At least I know you’re comfortable in the role.”

Lauren tossed an orange pip at him, which he deflected, grinning.

“I like your uniform better,” she conceded. “I had to wear this heavy long skirt with petticoats on stage, and let me tell you, that thing was not fun to move in.” She took a sip from her coffee mug before continuing. “So, I have to unpack this crate. I kneel down, open the crate, do all the stuff I’m supposed to. According to the play, I’m supposed to jump up when another character surprises me by walking in. He walks in, I start to jump up, and realize my skirt is caught on the crate.”

“Oh, no,” Hakim said, leaning forward.

“Oh, yes. I deliver my lines from where I am on the floor, which is not where I’m supposed to be. I pull and pull at my skirt, finally getting it loose at exactly the same moment that the other actor finished delivering his line. All you can hear throughout the theater as I stand up quickly is the sound of fabric tearing. It was so loud and when I turned around, my fellow actor was staring at me with this horrified look on his face.”

Hakim’s eyes widened. “You only thought you got your skirt loose.”

Lauren pointed a finger at him like he’d just won a prize. “I only thought I got my skirt loose. So, there I am with this giant tear in my black skirt, right where everybody can see the petticoats underneath. We still have a whole page of dialogue to get through, and I can actually hear the rest of the cast backstage trying to figure out what to do.”

“What did you do?”

Lauren grinned. “The show must go on, right? I gathered up my skirt in one hand, walked upstage where I was supposed to be, and delivered my lines with as much gusto as I could. All the while staring at a spot just over the other actor’s shoulder so that I wouldn’t burst out laughing. Poor guy; he looked so befuddled.”

Hakim laughed. “I can only imagine.”

“It was just one thing after another with that show. I was going to sit this one out, but the director is a good friend of mine and she convinced me to take a small part.”

“Do you have rehearsals this week?”

Lauren shook her head. “No. I knew this was going to be a busy week, one way or another, so I worked out my rehearsal schedule with her in advance.”

She took another drink of coffee and then pointed a fork at him. “What about you?”

“What about me?” he replied, confused.

“What’s your non-work, fun thing?”

“Ah. Well, lately there hasn’t been much non-work fun.”

“Really? You don’t read, or listen to music?”

Hakim sat back in his chair. “I read. Of course.”

Lauren tilted her head at him. “Mysteries? Thrillers?”

“You mean you didn’t look at my bookshelves yesterday?” Hakim asked, gently teasing her.

She blushed, and he was charmed by the pink tinge to her cheeks. “I might have peeked a bit as I dusted. You’ve got an outstanding book collection.”

“I wish I had more time to read,” Hakim said, making a note to check his bookshelves to see which books she’d moved around.

“If I were you, I’d never leave your library. That’s definitely my favorite room in your house, by the way.”

“Mine, too. It’s the reason I bought the place, actually.”

“What’s your favorite, out of your whole collection?” Lauren asked.

Hakim thought about it. “Shakespeare, I think. I prefer the comedies, but I’ll read anything of his.”

“I love Shakespeare. The man certainly knew how to put on a good show,” Lauren grinned.

Hakim heard the click of paws on the tiles and gave a quick whistle. Lauren looked at him in question and he smiled in return.

“My real non-work fun thing.” He dropped a hand to his side and felt a cold, wet nose press against his fingers, then a furry body brush by him.

“Oh, aren’t you a beauty!” Lauren exclaimed and leaned down to greet the dog. “Hi, there, sweetie. What’s your name?”

Hakim was amused. “This is Zeus.”

Lauren ran her hands over the friendly black lab, scratched the dog’s ears and then gave the dog a solid pat on the side. “You’re a cutie, aren’t you? Where were you yesterday?”

“He had a date with the groomer. I also wasn’t sure how you felt about dogs, so I thought it might be better not to have him around.”

“How could I not like a sweetheart like this?” Lauren stopped petting the dog for a moment, and Zeus leaned his chin on her leg. She laughed at the plaintive look on the dog’s face, and petted his head again.

Hakim watched her and wondered how he could have been so wrong about this woman. She wasn’t like her mother at all; she was funny and brave and kind, and he found himself wanting to know more about her.

His phone chimed at him and Lauren glanced up. She watched him check the message and grimace.

“Don’t you hate it when the work day starts off with something bad?” she hedged.

Hakim sighed. “It’s not bad, it’s just…”

“Frustrating? Annoying? Makes you want to run away, maybe join the circus instead?”

He cocked an eyebrow at her, but grinned. “Sometimes I think my company is the circus.”

That seemed to startle her and she laughed. “Sometimes I think the same thing about mine.”

There was a shared moment of understanding, and then Hakim’s phone chimed again. Lauren nodded at it. “You should go. There’s list of things for me to do?”

“Yes, on the counter.” He looked at her and tried to make up for the day before with an apologetic smile. “It’s not cleaning, I promise.”

Her laugh warmed him. When he picked up his plate to take it to the sink, she smiled and shooed him off with a wave.

“I’ve got it,” she said and threw him a jaunty salute.

On the drive to his office, Hakim was thoughtful. His plan, which was sound in strategy, also bordered on cruel. If he took a step back, he could see that it wasn’t the right thing to do.

He didn’t want to put Lauren in the middle of his rivalry with her mother, especially not now he had seen that she was really quite a lovely person. Honestly, he was a little embarrassed at his actions. Lauren wasn’t a woman to be bought, or ordered about, and she certainly hadn’t done anything wrong.

Continually throughout the day, he found himself getting distracted by thoughts of Lauren. He imagined her in his home, with Zeus, or sitting in the library as she read. He liked the idea that she was there.

He knew he should tell her she didn’t have to come back the next day; that it was only fair. But that would also mean he wouldn’t see her.

No, if he wanted to have this intriguing woman in his life, he’d have to find another reason to keep her around.