by Lara Hunter
Lindsey put her hand on Mike’s shoulder and began pushing him from the dressing room before huffing, “To do that, Mike, you’d have to land a date with her.”
Mike slapped his hand on his cheek in mock surprise and looked down at Emily. “Well color me tickled, aren’t we at a charity auction? And I hear you are going up first, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
Emily nodded halfheartedly and looked up at Lindsey, nonverbally screaming a giant “Thanks a lot” at her.
“That’s me,” she breathed, setting her jaw.
“Speaking of which, time to go, Em!” Lindsey said, rushing Emily to the corner of the stage.
They walked to the staircase that led up to the raised platform and Lindsey made a face. “Gross. I’m sorry about that, the guy’s a creep. Here’s hoping he isn’t your highest bidder!”
With that, Lindsey gave Emily a gentle push onto the stage, causing Emily’s eyes to widen as she looked back at her friend. “Wait, wait,” she whispered. “What do I do?”
“What you’re supposed to do: stand there and look pretty!”
Lindsey pulled her headset close to her ear and began talking in a hushed voice into the microphone, alerting her staff that the auction was about to start, before disappearing behind the curtain.
Emily stood awkwardly on the stage and turned scarlet red under the stage lights. The room was full of businessmen and women sipping champagne in their finest black-tie ensembles. She’d heard there was to be a male auction right after the female one.
She scanned the room for familiar faces and was startled as the announcer began reading off her name and declaring her as the first participant of the night.
As the bidding began, Emily forced herself to stay put and not flee from the stage. She wasn’t exactly a social butterfly, nor had she ever been one to participate in events where she had to be the center of attention.
She was astonished, therefore, when at least six of the men in the audience raised their paddles in competition. As the round came to a close, however, only two men were left battling back and forth. Her slimy boss, Mike, and a handsome man she’d never met before, who looked to be Middle-Eastern. She didn’t know what would be worse: a blind date with a man who thought she was the type of girl to auction herself off, or a date with Mike.
“Sold, for ten-thousand dollars to Sheikh Tariq Al Habib Bin Hasan!”
Emily gasped on stage; how could she have sold for so much? Not far off the amount she’d embezzled from the company, as it happened.
Her stomach turned again. Best not to think about it, at least for tonight.
THREE
Within a couple minutes, Emily had made her way backstage and then out into the main hall. She could see other women on the stage waiting to be bid on. Her eyes, however, were scanning the room for her new date. She spotted the man and walked by Mike in the process, his face unmistakably cross. He gave her a smug, yet disappointed look and then shrugged as if it were all just one big joke. She hurried passed him and finally met up with the Sheikh.
The fact that a sheikh had been the one to bid on her already sounded like something out of a fairy tale. She wanted to know what he was doing here, and what made him bid on her. In reality, though, she wasn’t sure she could muster up the courage to ask him anything. She was fine around her male friends, but once she knew a romantic date was about to ensue, she generally turned into a shy teenage girl.
“Sheikh,” she said with a tickle in her voice, reaching her hand out to shake the man’s hand.
“Emily,” the man said and took her hand into his, kissing it in a way that was both sweet and formal. “You’re even more beautiful up close.”
“Oh, thank you,” she stammered, looking around the room almost uncomfortably. “Seems like we have a date to plan, don’t we, sir?”
“It seems that way,” the man nodded. “And please, call me Tariq.”
“Tariq,” she confirmed. “Well, I can give you my contact information and maybe you can give me a call sometime tomorrow for us to work out the best time and place for our date?”
“That could work,” Tariq nodded absent-mindedly and then took both of her hands into his. “But I figured, seeing as how we’re already dressed up, you might accompany me to the rooftop and start our date right now?”
“Rooftop, huh?” She bit her lip. “Sounds like a bit of a dramatic start with a stranger and all.”
“There’ll be no jumping off the roof, I promise.”
She pretended to wipe the sweat off her forehead and let out a loud ‘Whew!’
“If I have to, I will plead my case that I just spent twelve thousand dollars for a date with you.”
“You,” she pointed, “Just spent ten grand for charity.”
The Sheikh nodded with a wry smile as if admitting defeat. He looked young, early 30s maybe. His face had rugged stubble that dotted across his sharp jawline. He wore a silver watch with intricate detailing and a navy blue suit that made him look even more irresistible, if that was even possible. In truth, he looked like he should have been the one on stage having girls fawn and bid on him.
Emily looked down as she realized her cheeks were going pink. She shrugged. “Why not?”
“Why not,” he repeated happily.
They made their way to the rooftop and Emily was shocked to see a small helicopter standing by just twenty feet from where they emerged. She gave Tariq a puzzled look, her expression quickly turning to amazement as he began to lead her over to the chopper.
Her eyes went wide at the sight before her. “That’s yours?!” she said in awe. The closest she’d ever come to a helicopter had been when her friend had had to be airlifted off of a bunny slope in Whistler on a high-school trip, and even then she’d only watched from afar in a panic. Something told her the experience was going to be much different this time.
“All mine,” he said with a smile that she couldn’t quite read. “I guess you could say I was sure I’d be leaving with a date.”
“I’m not a sure thing, you know.” Emily meant to sound witty and sarcastic, but her tone sounded more starstruck than anything else. She reached for Tariq’s hand, which he had held out to her, and followed as he led her into the aircraft.
“Take this,” he said and handed her a headset.
“Doesn’t exactly go with my pageant hair,” she said, her nose wrinkling as she attempted to put the headset on over her precisely curled mane.
“Sacrifices must be made,” he said with a wink. “I’d hate for you to miss any of the thrilling conversation.”
“I have high expectations now, I hope you know,” she mocked. “So, where are we headed?”
Tariq shrugged. “My pilot is prepared to take us anywhere we wish to go.”
Emily buckled herself into the seat and looked around at the night sky surrounding her. She tried hard to think of somewhere romantic to suggest, but drew a disappointing blank. The truth was, the only places she’d ventured to as of late were to her office, her apartment, and the Chinese take-out restaurant around the corner from her house. Not exactly a recipe for romance.
“Tell you what,” Tariq interrupted, as though he were reading her thoughts. “How about I surprise you?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Emily breathed.
With that, Tariq said something into his headset that Emily couldn’t quite make out. The driver nodded, granting the request, and started the engine. Seconds later, the helicopter was rising high over the city. The Arizona skyline lit up with a smattering of stars that seemed to shine just for them, and the sky stretched on in the distance, going up, up, up. Emily leaned forward to get a better view out the side window and felt Tariq’s hand touch her arm to steady her balance. The sensation felt nice. In fact, much to her surprise, the whole experience did.
The tour of the city lasted around fifteen minutes or so before they began their descent onto the rooftop of a skyscraper. As they came closer, Emily could make out that they would be landing on the rooftop
of one of the city’s most famous hotels, The Lambeth.
Her eyes sparkled as Tariq helped her out of the chopper and began to walk her over to the rooftop dining area. “A round of drinks to break the ice?” he suggested, lowering his hand down to the small of her back.
“Sure,” she followed. “But just so you know: much as I like the pomp and ceremony, I’d have been happy with a two-dollar ice cream cone.”
Stifling a chuckle, Tariq raised his brows. “Is that so.”
The rooftop bar was bustling, with patrons at tables and dancing on the tiki-lit dance floor. Emily watched in wonder at the couples around her engaged in first-date behavior; flirting, giggling and using their moves and their words carefully. She beamed as Tariq pulled her chair out for her and took a seat across from her at a high-top table.
With a simple raise of his hand, Tariq called the waitress over to the table. “Scotch. Neat, please,” he said easily. “And for the lady?”
Emily skimmed the drink menu, unsure of what to get until a waiter walked past carrying a drink ready to serve the table next to them.
“One of those!” she exclaimed, pointing to the drink in question. While she couldn’t be sure what the cocktail contained, it was clear from its bright, layered colors it was fruity. A gradient of red, orange and yellow topped off with a maraschino cherry and a paper umbrella was, to her, basically the perfect drink.
“One Malibu sunrise, coming up!” the waitress said cheerily.
“Scotch, neat?” Emily teased as she watched the waitress leave. “Hello, mister bigshot! I didn’t know I was sitting with my 90-year-old grandfather.”
“Who told?” Tariq said with a wink. “And what about you, did you pick the most stereotypical girly drink you could find, or does your instinct for overpriced fruit punch come naturally?”
She grinned and leaned in. “Just a happy coincidence,” she whispered. This date thing was kind of fun.
The waitress returned with their drinks and suddenly Emily felt shy again. She took a sip of her drink—a larger chug than she meant to, really. Tariq watched her with amused eyes but said nothing.
“So,” Emily began again, finding strength in liquid courage. “Do you do this often?”
“Buy women at auction?” he asked, shaking his head slowly. “Not too much, no.”
“Go on extravagant dates, I meant.”
“Does date night with Tuna count?”
“Okay…” She blinked, a wry smile creeping at her lips. “Not sure how one dates a fish.”
“With difficulty, I’d imagine.” He shrugged. “I meant my cat, actually.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “You’re a cat guy?”
“Well, I don’t watch kitten videos before bed or anything, but Tuna has my back.”
Emily looked suddenly serious and set her glass back on the table; staring intensely at Tariq. “You wouldn’t lie to a girl, would you?”
“Never.”
The two exchanged a flirtatious glance and continued talking about the night, the beautiful hotel bar, their love for charitable work, and other mundane facets of small talk that never really let the other know deep or important details about the person they were sitting across from. Emily may not have learned his most cherished childhood memory, but she could already tell she liked him.
The Sheikh had a way about him that put her at ease all while feeling incredibly charmed and attended to. Nobody had ever made her feel like that. Usually, she was a nervous wreck on dates, but here she felt like she could be sexy, intelligent.
“So,” she said, tapping her fingertips against her glass. “I should thank you for donating at our fundraiser. Not to mention saving me from the other suitors.”
“Saving you?” he repeated. “I like the way that sounds. Makes me sound like a superhero.”
“Well you did fly me onto a rooftop immediately after my rescue so… that must count for something.”
Tariq sat up straight, confident. She could tell he wanted her to elaborate further.
“My boss,” she said with something close to a roll of her eyes. “He’s been asking me out forever; he was the one bidding against you at the end there.”
“Wow! The man nearly paid a heavy price for you, and nearly ruined my date night. So, what? You’re not up for a little office romance?”
“And risk my career and be bored out of my mind all in one fell swoop? Uh, yeah, no thanks.” Suddenly realizing what she was saying about her boss, Emily slapped her hand over her mouth and frowned. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Tariq nodded and raised his fingers for another order of drinks. The waitress quickly brought refills and Tariq slid one her way. “Go ahead, keep talking,” he joked.
“No, really, Mike’s a nice guy and all… kind of. He’s just, you know, older than me and, office romance.” She gritted her teeth together while making a silly gesture. “All just bad ideas.”
Her date nodded and suddenly Emily realized she had no idea why the Sheikh had been at the benefit to begin with. She’d never seen him in the office, and she was pretty familiar with all the partner’s faces.
She frowned lightly and spun the stem of her drink between her fingers, finally looking up at him. “So, what brought you to our little soiree, anyway?”
“I’m a business associate of the owners,” he said simply. “I’ve been working on a deal with Salt River Resorts for almost a year now. I was actually at a meeting this morning with the Board.”
“Ah.” She nodded. “How did it go?”
“They must have liked what I had to say if they invited me to your benefit immediately after, right?”
“Or maybe they hated it and were trying to set you up for social torture?”
He gave a hard laugh. “A date night with you, torture? Never. In fact, I’m more eager than ever to do business with Salt River Resorts.”
Emily’s face flushed and she crossed her legs under the table, her mind suddenly overcome with curiosity toward the man in front of her. “So you do… what, exactly?”
“Well, for starters, I own this lovely hotel we’re dining on top of.”
“You do not!” she shouted.
He simply smiled at Emily and watched her intensely, his eyes roaming over the curves of her body. “Emily Michaels, I have to kiss you now.”
Her heart tensed with excitement and fear all at the same time. She stared at Tariq, at his thick hair and full lips. Suddenly she felt as though she could be blown off her stool with a single breath. Her palms went sweaty as she wondered what his lips were going to feel like on her mouth, her body tingling with anticipation as he stood from his seat and closed the distance between them.
Tariq’s breath ghosted over her mouth, but still he didn’t go in for the kiss. Instead, he stood there, teasing her.
“May I?” he asked finally.
“Well I mean, if you have to,” she mumbled.
The Sheikh’s lips met hers with the kind of power she hadn’t felt in years. A rush of blood washed over her body and she quickly sunk into his chest; her lips dancing in perfect sync with his. His breath was warm and his lips sticky against hers as his tongue slowly made its way into her mouth; gentle flicks sending her body reeling with excitement. And then it was over.
He pulled his lips from hers and she watched as a smile crept up the side of his mouth. His lips parted once more as he whispered, “Still think you’d rather have gone for ice cream?”
FOUR
Emily woke from a sound sleep exactly two minutes before her alarm was supposed to go off, which was terrific timing since she’d been called in extra early that morning. She woke up with a broad smile plastered across her face and couldn’t wait to get to work and tell Lindsey how the rest of her date night went. After their steamy kiss, she and Tariq had agreed that they had to see each other again and exchanged numbers.
She wasn’t the type of girl to jump the gun with men, but she was fairly certain this was something. Nothing about their date m
ade her feel like she would be waiting by the phone without a call. No, this was going to be something real. They both felt it. But, just in case, she had to talk to Lindsey so they could discuss the subtleties of Tariq’s conversational style until they were blue in the face.
The drive to work was short, which was always a giant plus in Emily’s book. Her previous job offered less pay, less privilege, and was an hour and a half’s drive from her house. Not exactly her dream job.
It wasn’t until she reached the elevator to her offices that her stomach sank with a different kind of emotion—guilt. Fear and disappointment were in there, too, somewhere. Between the auction and her date with the Sheikh, she’d nearly forgotten all about the investigation that was happening at work. She let out a heavy sigh and walked with her head down all the way to her desk.