Lauren woke slowly to sunlight flooding an unfamiliar bedroom. The walls were a pretty pale blue and soft white curtains framed the window. A darker blue comforter covered her, and the bed was sinfully comfortable.

It took her a full minute to remember the events of the last twenty-four hours: Hakim insisting on her accompanying him to Al Asaab, the long flight, and their dinner after landing. Lauren felt truly rested for the first time in a long time, but she wasn’t clear on exactly where she was.

She got out of bed and found cozy slippers and a dark purple robe waiting for her on a chair near the bed. Her suitcase was in the corner, waiting to be opened.

Lauren carefully stepped out into the hall and looked around. She realized that she was in Hakim’s other home; she could hear him talking on the phone somewhere down the hall.

She stepped back into the bedroom and picked up her suitcase. She carried it into the giant bathroom to get ready for the day. After quickly showering and drying her hair, Lauren made her way through the house. She followed Hakim’s voice, finally finding him in the kitchen.

He said goodbye to whoever he was talking with and set the phone on the counter.

“Lauren! Did you sleep well?”

“I did, thank you. I’m not entirely sure how I got to bed, though.” She bit her lower lip and asked, “Did you put me to bed last night?”

Hakim gave her a sly look. “Well, you fell asleep in your dessert, so I didn’t have much choice.”

Lauren could feel her face turning red. “I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean to do that.”

He waved a hand at her. “No, please, don’t worry about it. Jet lag is no fun, and you were tired. It’s perfectly fine. I didn’t mind at all.”

“Still…” she started.

Lauren was going to apologize some more, but her phone buzzed. She gave Hakim an apologetic smile and stepped away to take the call. When she came back, she noticed that he had breakfast spread out on the counter.

“Here,” he said, handing her a steaming mug of coffee.

Lauren sipped at the coffee, reveling in the taste and heat of the drink. She looked over at the plates laid out on the counter and then looked up at Hakim, eyebrows raised.

He shrugged. “I wanted you to be able to try a little bit of everything. We’re only here today, so I’m packing your whole Al Asaab experience into twenty-four hours.”

Eyeing a particularly yummy-looking pastry, Lauren laughed. “I know the country is small, but can I really experience everything in a day?”

Her phone dinged again with a text this time, and Lauren set down her coffee to send a message back. When she was finished, she picked up the pastry, forgoing the plate to just stand at the counter and eat.

Hakim chuckled at her and she lifted one shoulder. “The table is too far away. And this is really good. What is it?”

He started to explain the local breakfast delicacies, and then Lauren’s phone rang again. She wrinkled her nose and answered it. After a short conversation, she hung up and set the phone down again.

“Sorry,” Lauren said.

Hakim opened his mouth to answer and her phone rang again. He threw up one hand and shook his head. When she’d finished that call, he gave her a pointed look.

“It’s Saturday,” Hakim said.

“And? Nobody works on Saturday?” Lauren replied, taking another bite of her pastry.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Is it absolutely necessary for you to work right now? Why don’t you turn your phone off for the day? Twenty-four hours. That’s all. Your company won’t go bust if you take one day off.”

“I feel bad if I’m not working when the others are.”

“How many weekends have you worked the last three years?”

Lauren acknowledged his point with a tilt of her head. “A lot of them. Possibly all of them?”

Hakim pointed to the phone. “Turn it off.”

“Hakim…”

“Do you want me to make it an order? I can invoke our contract if necessary.” His expression made it clear that he was both teasing and completely serious.

Lauren sighed. Hakim had a point; it had been months since she’d taken any time off.

She picked up her phone and sent a quick text to Kayla telling her that she was out of town and needed to turn her phone off for the day. She gave her the authority to deal with anything that came up, and told her she’d touch base as soon as she was back in town.

As Hakim watched, she switched off the phone and then tucked it in her back pocket.

“Happy?” she asked him.

He grinned at her. “Very. Trust me, you’ll be much happier this way.”

She shook her head at him, but drinking her coffee and listening to him talk, she thought he might have had the right idea. Taking a break would be good for her.

* * *

After breakfast, Hakim announced they would be taking a drive around the city. He pointed out different landmarks and buildings as they passed through town in his sports car, and he parked the car in a garage downtown so they could walk around.

The city was stunning, Lauren thought. The architecture was old and grand, all arches and mosaic tiles and minarets. Hakim told her how his family had worked to preserve the history of the country while modernizing its infrastructure. And everywhere they went, Lauren saw Hakim’s family’s name on buildings and bridges and signs.

They walked through a lovely garden next to the main square. There were exotic flowers and brightly colored birds. Lauren sat on the edge of one of the fountains so that Hakim could take her picture.

Being from southern California, Lauren was used to constant sunshine and warm weather. Hakim confessed that one of the things that had drawn him to Anaheim was that the weather felt familiar, even if many other things were different.

The bright sunshine lifted Lauren’s spirits. Maybe her trip had been unexpected, but even so, she loved every minute of exploring the new culture. The sights, sounds, and smells were overwhelming in the best way possible, and Lauren eagerly took it all in.

Lauren loved the main square—there was a market set up there, with rows upon rows of interesting stalls. The two of them wandered through the rows, chatting with the grocers and bakers and the couple who ran one of the olive stands, Hakim interpreting as necessary.

She asked how to pronounce everything they looked at. After a pleading look—Lauren made sure she laid it on a bit thick using her best stage skills—Hakim laughed and taught her a few phrases in his native language so she could greet people at each of the market booths.

They sampled bits of food and drink as they walked through the market, Hakim telling her more about the local specialties. The food was amazing and Lauren would have been happy simply spending the rest of the day there.

People were deferential to Hakim; he was part of their royal family so that wasn’t surprising. But they also seemed to like him. Lauren noticed that he was welcomed with a smile everywhere they stopped, and from the little kids to the elderly shopkeepers, he had a kind word for them all.

As they walked around one of the museums, Hakim told her more of Al Asaab’s history, how the tiny nation had forged its own path in the world, balancing rich natural resources with its strategic location on the globe.

“I’m surprised you didn’t go into government work; you’re so passionate about your country, I can just picture you as a diplomat,” Lauren said.

Hakim ducked his head and Lauren swore he blushed.

“It was an option. But we have enough family members in the government, and I’m really happier running my own company.”

Lauren nodded. “It’s good to be close, but not too close, right?”

“Exactly,” Hakim agreed with her. “So, speaking of being close… We’re going to go visit my sister and meet my darling new niece.”

“I was wondering when you were going to do that. I can make myself comfortable at your place while you’re visiting with her.”

Hakim shook his head and put his hand on her elbow to steer her to the car. “Oh, no. You’re coming with me.”

“Hakim, I don’t want to interrupt. You should have time with your family.”

“You’re my personal assistant on this trip, remember? And I plan to buy and bring lots and lots of gifts, so I need my assistant to help me pick out the right presents and carry them all to the hospital.”

Lauren saw that there was no way she could talk him out of his plan, so she happily went along to buy baby gifts. They stopped in a local department store, and before Lauren could blink, they had a store manager and three clerks following them around. Hakim would pick something out, Lauren would remind him that a few-days-old baby didn’t need six dresses, a play pen with a miniature set of musical instruments, and two giant teddy bears, and then the clerks would take the gifts away and wrap them up while Lauren watched, amused.

Hakim picked out a beautiful photo frame to give to his sister and got a matching one for himself, telling Lauren that he intended to have a good picture taken of his family while they were together.

Once they had acquired flowers and balloons to go with the wrapped gifts, Hakim drove them to the hospital. Lauren commented that they looked like the Birnam Wood of baby gifts as they walked down the cheerful hall of the hospital’s maternity ward.

Hakim knocked softly on the door to his sister’s room and then pushed the door open. Sadira’s eyes lit up when she saw who was walking through the door, and then she almost fell off her chair in gales of laughter as she saw how much he was carrying.

Lauren liked her immediately.

The siblings embraced, Hakim gingerly enveloping his sister in his arms. She laughed at him again, noting that she’d just had a C-section, yes, but that she wasn’t broken. Hakim laughed, too, and squeezed her a bit harder.

He then introduced Lauren as a fellow CEO and friend who was doing him a favor this weekend by traveling with him. Sadira gave Lauren a long look and then smiled before giving Lauren a hug as well.

“You have perfect timing, as usual. She just woke up,” she said, leaning over the crib next to Hakim.

“Can I pick her up?” Hakim asked uncertainly.

Sadira smiled. “Of course, you can. Little Nyla has been waiting to meet her uncle.”

Hakim carefully, reverently, picked up his tiny niece. He cradled the back of her neck as he settled her in his arms. He murmured soft and low to the baby, and although Lauren couldn’t make out what he was saying, she was moved by the sight: the cold, hard businessman cooing to a tiny girl, swaying back and forth as he told her how happy he was to meet her.

Sadira leaned into Lauren’s side. “He’s pretty good at that, isn’t he?”

Lauren tried to ignore the knowing tone in her voice. “He is. You know, he was so disappointed he couldn’t be here when she was born. He wanted to be here for her, and for you.”

“I know. She couldn’t wait, even a few more days. But that’s okay.”

“I think you’d probably better get ready for more gifts. I’m pretty sure he ordered several things from the store when he thought I wasn’t looking.”

Sadira laughed. “He can’t spoil her any more than her grandparents are going to.”

Lauren’s eyes sparkled as she smiled. “I think he’s going to try, though.”

Sadira’s husband entered the room, then. He and Hakim embraced before Hakim introduced Lauren to Bahir. Lauren lost track of time as they sat down together, getting to know one another while passing the baby around, cooing over how darling the little girl was.

Promising to come visit again soon, Hakim was thoughtful as they left the hospital. Lauren wondered if he was considering moving home permanently. Over the week, she’d seen that he wasn’t the cold, unfeeling person he made himself out to be. He was completely different when he was with his family, or with her. She wouldn’t be surprised if he chose to focus his business closer to home so he didn’t have to continue to be someone he wasn’t.

Hakim took them to another park, this one a larger nature reserve just outside the city. He surprised her with a picnic basket full of food he’d picked up at the market that morning while she’d been looking at a stall displaying local art. They sat outside in a lovely grove of trees, eating and drinking and making relaxed, genial conversation.

Somewhere in the middle of the afternoon, Lauren realized that she hadn’t actually done any work since that morning, not her own work and not for Hakim, at least not if you didn’t count being a gift consultant. It was nice to have the downtime, but she was surprised, since Hakim had made a big deal of her coming with him in a professional capacity.

When they got back to the house late that afternoon, Lauren thought maybe he would want to check in with his office, but instead he asked her if she would have dinner with his family.

“I don’t want to intrude. You should definitely have dinner; I’ll be fine here,” she insisted.

Hakim shook his head. “Come on, how often do you get to say you had dinner in a palace? With royalty, no less.”

Lauren grinned at him. “I’ve had dinner with you.”

“I don’t count,” he said firmly.

“It’s really okay, Hakim.”

“I want to show you where I grew up. Besides, if you’re not there, they’ll pester me about meeting a nice girl and how the business is going.”

“So, I’m supposed to pretend to be your girlfriend?”

The look on his face made Lauren think he didn’t entirely object to that thought, but what he said was, “No, of course not. It’s just that if you’re there, they’ll be more circumspect. Besides, they’ll like you.”

Lauren grinned at him. “Okay, I would love to have dinner with you and your parents tonight.”

His reaction was so pleased that Lauren began to suspect she wasn’t in Al Asaab to act as his personal assistant at all. Perhaps Hakim simply wanted to show her around and get to know her better, and that thought made her feel warm and happy. If he wanted her to meet his parents, then maybe that meant there was something between them after all.