by Holly Rayner
And there it was, thought Hakim. His phone chimed again.
She learned about the auction. As crazy as it sounds, she was having me followed. “For my own good.”
Hakim was stunned. Following her own daughter without her knowledge was a step too far, even for Patricia. Before he could send a message back to Lauren, his phone chimed with another text.
She refuses to stop, unless I don’t see you anymore.
Hakim turned cold and quickly typed: She can’t do that.
Lauren’s reply was immediate: I don’t see how I can stop her. I can’t sneak around; I’m 28 years old, for goodness’ sake. And I can’t call the police; she’s my mom. I don’t see what else we can do.
Needing to get through to her, Hakim typed as quickly as he could: It’s not the best option, but if it’s only being followed around, there are worse things. I can handle it if you can.
Lauren, however, didn’t seem convinced: And what if she decides to do more than just have me followed? What if she orders someone to intervene, to keep me from seeing you?
Hakim ran a frustrated hand through his hair. It sounded like they were in some medieval story, with vengeful parents and star-crossed lovers. Lauren was typing again:
She’s never going to end this stupid feud, and I don’t want you or your company to suffer.
Lauren was right, he knew. They were out of options. This time it was Hakim that hesitated before sending a message back. He knew where the conversation was going. He couldn’t help but sound a bit bitter as he typed.
So, last night was it after all.
There was another pause before her response, but Hakim knew what she was writing before she even sent it.
I can’t.
Goodbye, Hakim.
And that was it. Hakim felt a soul-crushing sense of loss. For such a short time, he’d held joyful bliss in his hands and now it was gone.
He stumbled out of the office, and found himself sitting in his car in front of his house without any memory of how he got there. When he entered the house, Zeus seemed to sense how despondent his owner was. Instead of jumping up on Hakim, the dog pushed his nose against Hakim’s hand and leaned against his legs. Hakim sat on the floor next to Zeus, who laid his head in Hakim’s lap.
“I don’t know, Zeus. I thought we were going to be able to make this work.”
The dog’s tail thumped once against the floor and Hakim nodded. “I know, buddy. We liked her.”
Hakim thought about that for a minute. “No, we like her. That hasn’t changed. We like her a lot, and we know she likes us. So, we shouldn’t just give up, right?”
The dog’s tail thumped again and Hakim silently laughed at himself for needing his dog to convince him of what he should have known in the first place.
Hakim found his phone and made a call. He was going to need a little bit of help with this one.
Chapter 20
Hakim
Two hours later, after the sun had set and the sky had turned a deep navy blue, Hakim made his way through the landscaping surrounding Lauren’s apartment building. He ducked tree branches and carefully stepped around plants, all the while sincerely hoping that no well-meaning neighbors saw him skulking thought the bushes.
He heard a car horn honk twice in sharp bursts and knew that was his signal. Part of his plan was to have his limo driver slowly roll past Lauren’s apartment right in front of Patricia’s watcher, then pull away quickly. If Patricia could use her driver, so could he. Hopefully, the ruse would provide enough of a distraction and the person watching Lauren’s apartment would follow the limo.
Hakim carefully peered around the corner of the building. When he didn’t see anyone watching, he cautiously moved out to stand below Lauren’s apartment. She was in a corner unit on the second floor of the garden apartment building, with windows that faced the street and a balcony on the other exterior wall. He noticed the lights were on in the main room, where the balcony was located.
He considered tossing pebbles at her window, like some love-struck teenager, but since he was an adult, Hakim was more worried that move would result in a broken window. He pulled out his cellphone and sent her a quick text: Hey, Juliet, come stand on your balcony.
A few minutes passed and Hakim wasn’t sure she’d seen the text. Or maybe she was refusing his request. But then he heard the scrape of a sliding glass door being pushed open, followed by a hushed whisper.
“Hakim?”
He stepped out where she could see him. “I think I’d prefer Romeo tonight, although a rose by any other name does smell as sweet.”
“Really?” Although she tried to sound annoyed, Hakim could hear the laughter in her voice.
“It seemed appropriate,” he said and shrugged.
Lauren shook her head. “You can’t be here.”
“You don’t have a watcher right now. He’s chasing after my limo, which as you can see, I am currently not in.”
Her clear laughter soothed his soul. She wasn’t mad at him.
“Do you want to come up?” she asked.
“I think you’re getting your stories mixed up. That’s Rapunzel.”
She laughed harder. “Then what do you want, fair Romeo?”
“Come out with me tonight. I’ve got something fun planned for us.”
“Hakim, I can’t. If my mother finds out…”
“Ah, but you can. She’ll never know that you’re gone. I have a plan to sneak you back in, too.”
“How am I supposed to sneak out?”
“I suppose you could jump and I could catch you, but if I were you, I’d take the stairs.”
He heard her laugh harder and then the door slid shut. Hakim leaned against a tree while he waited for Lauren to—hopefully—come downstairs. Her lights didn’t go out, but after a minute he heard her call to him. She was stepping off the bottom stair when she saw him, and the way her face lit up assured Hakim that he’d done the right thing.
She was wearing jeans and a simple white T-shirt with a black leather jacket thrown over it. Hakim thought she’d never looked better.
Raised eyebrows and a curious grin was all he got from her, so he held out his hand and jerked his head toward the same landscaping he’d walked through. Hakim led her through the grounds and to the car he’d parked on the other side of her apartment complex. It was a sporty red convertible, and at the sight of it, she laughed again.
“That’s, um, not what I call inconspicuous,” she said.
“No, but it’s not my car. It doesn’t even look like any of my cars. Hide in plain sight, I always say.”
He realized he sounded positively giddy, but Lauren didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she seemed quite happy herself, giggling and leaning up to kiss his cheek as he opened the door for her.
“Where are we going?” Lauren asked when he got into the car.
“It’s a surprise. I had to get a little creative since this was a last-minute plan.”
“Okay, now I’m definitely intrigued,” she said.
As they drove, Hakim said, “Tell me about your day.”
“The part where I discovered my mother was having me followed and confronted her about it, or the normal chaos at work?”
Part of Hakim wanted to hear about her confrontation, but he also didn’t want to push, so he let her make the call.
“Honestly, I want to hear about your day, good and bad. But I totally understand if you don’t want to talk about Patricia right now.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, but it really hurts, you know? That she doesn’t trust me and doesn’t think I can manage things on my own. Even though that’s what she raised me to do, which just makes it worse, I think.”
“Did she explain why she did it?”
“I think she really is concerned that you’re using me, which is absurd. You’d never hurt me.”
Hakim was silent, touched that Lauren trusted him. By her words, she’d completely forgiven him for the way they met.
H
e realized he’d been quiet too long when she turned to give him a quizzical look. He smiled at her.
“But I was using you. And I would have hurt you, maybe not directly, but by hurting your mother’s company. She has a point, Lauren.”
Lauren sighed. “That was before you knew me. You wouldn’t do that now.”
Hakim nodded wearily. “True. And for the record, it’s not just because I want to be with you.”
“I know. I can see that you don’t want to be part of this feud anymore. I tried to tell Patricia that, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“She hasn’t seen it for herself, so that’s not surprising.”
“But if she really trusted me, she wouldn’t need to see it for herself. It’s like I’m ten again and she’s telling me I’m too young to know what I’m talking about.”
“I’m sorry, Lauren.”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. No more talk about my mother or work or any of that. I don’t know what I’m going to do about her, but I think I know where we’re going and that’s all I want to talk about right now.”
Hakim chucked. “Oh, you do, do you?”
Lauren pointed ahead of the car. “The giant sign kind of gave it away.”
Hakim drove through the gate, which had opened as they approached. The gate swung close behind them and Hakim drove right up to the main walkway and parked in front of it. He and Lauren got out of the car and Lauren stopped to stare around her.
The theme park was definitely closed—there weren’t any people around—but the rides were lit up, as were the main pathways through the park.
“How did you do this?” She sounded amazed, then turned to him with a grin. “Wait, don’t tell me. You know a guy.”
Hakim laughed and held out his hand. Lauren took it, and he led her into the park. One of his clients sat on the board of the parent company that owned the park, so Hakim had asked for a favor and offered to pay for staff to keep the park open for a private tour and operate the rides.
Wandering through the park late at night by themselves was far more fun than being there with the crowds, Hakim thought, but even more fun was watching Lauren. She enthusiastically rode every ride, explored every side path, and pointed out all the little secrets of the park.
“Spent some time here, have you?” Hakim asked her, amused.
“I love this place. When we moved here, I would spend weekends here and every day I could during the summer. I wanted to work here when I was a teenager, but I was expected to do other things, like shadowing my mom.”
Hakim heard the sad note in her voice and tugged her hand toward another ride to distract her. “Come on, this is a good one.”
She grinned. “I know.”
At the top of the ride, where they could see the whole park bathed in bright moonlight, Lauren turned to him. “Can we do this again? I don’t mean having the park all to ourselves—though that is awesome, and thank you for that—but can we come here again?”
Hakim pretended to brush a strand of hair off her face, just so he could touch her. “I will take you wherever you want to go, whenever you want. Your wish is my command.”
Lauren grinned at him, leaning closer. “I thought that was my line.”
“Not anymore.” Hakim tilted her chin up and kissed her.
She opened her mouth under his, and Hakim tasted honey and vanilla, which was all Lauren. When she pulled back, he pressed his forehead to hers.
“Lauren, I want you in my life. I want a relationship with you. A real, official relationship.”
She leaned back and looked into his eyes, lifting her hand to touch his cheek. Then she smiled.
“Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, oh Romeo?”
He lifted an eyebrow and grinned. “Why, yes, I am.”
She grinned back. “Then yes, I will.”
Lauren kissed him and snuggled into his arms. He intertwined his fingers with hers, studying their joined hands as the ride came to an end. Hand in hand, they headed down the path away from the ride, when suddenly Lauren stopped, a hesitant look on her face.
Hakim knew exactly what she was thinking. “You want to ride it again?”
And there was the adorable wrinkled nose and sheepish smile. “Yes, please.”
He grinned and steered her back to the entrance. They rode the ride again, and when they exited, Lauren checked her phone.
“I hate to do this, but I need to get home. Your ruse won’t work forever, and I don’t want my mother finding out I was out tonight. And yes, I know how silly that sounds.”
Hakim shook his head. “I understand. We’ll figure out a plan tomorrow, but for tonight, let’s get you home.”
Chapter 21
Lauren
A sharp knock on her front door woke Lauren up the next morning. She stumbled out of bed and quickly threw on some sweats and a T-shirt.
“Hang on, I’m coming,” she yelled down the hall.
She quickly checked through the peephole in the door to see if she needed to worry about whoever was on the other side. The she dropped her forehead against the door. She definitely needed to worry.
She opened the door and said, “Hi, Mom.”
Patricia Sanders was not happy, Lauren could tell. In fact, she’d go so far as to say her mother was furious, which could mean only one thing.
“Lauren, aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“I just woke up, and I’m not really in the mood for company. Can we talk another time?”
Patricia pushed past her daughter, ignoring her request. Lauren sighed and closed the door, then walked past her mother into the kitchen.
“If you’re going to yell at me, I’m fixing coffee.”
When Patricia turned up her nose at the coffee Lauren pulled down from the cabinet, Lauren looked at her with a cold smile. “Oh, I’m not fixing coffee for you.”
Patricia huffed. “Lauren, you’re being childish.”
“Really, Mom? Making my own decisions is childish?”
“It is when they’re the wrong decisions.” Patricia sat in one of the chairs at Lauren’s breakfast bar.
“Guess we’re going to have to agree to disagree on that one.”
“How could you go out with him again after I specifically told you not to?”
“Because it’s my life. I decide who I go out with. And besides, Mom, how could you have me followed again when I specifically told you not to?”
Patricia lifted a hand in an elegant shrug. “And this is you being childish. He’s using you, Lauren.”
“He likes me and would never hurt me. And if you got to know him, you’d see that he’s over this feud of yours.”
“Oh, please. How can you be so stupid? Do you truly believe he likes you? Look at the evidence. He plotted to attend your party and buy you in that ill-advised auction. He did that solely for the reason of getting back at me, to gain some kind of leverage.”
“And he admits all that. He also says that it was a terrible idea. He apologized to me for the whole thing.”
The look Patricia gave her told Lauren exactly what her mother thought of Hakim’s apology. “Of course, he would say that. I told you, he’s charming. He thinks if he gets on your good side, he’ll be able to continue with this diabolical plan of his.”
“Mother, you make him sound like he’s an evil villain, out to take over the world.”
“And you sound like a love-struck little girl, taken in by fancy plane rides and expensive restaurants.”
Lauren leaned back. She could almost feel the weight behind that verbal blow. The coffee pot beeped and she used the action of pouring a cup of coffee to gather her thoughts.
Patricia didn’t let up, though. “Do you really think he’s developed genuine feelings for you? He’s been trying to get one over on me for years. Years, Lauren. If you think he wouldn’t pretend to put everything aside so that he could finally accomplish that goal, you’re living in a fantasy world. I’ve been in this business
a long time, my dear, and I’ve seen every dirty trick there is. I’ve competed against him and I know his character. I know him better than you do.
“I’m your mother and I only want what’s best for you. I’m trying to protect you, as I always have, and I’m hurt that you refuse to understand. I know that you don’t want to hear that he doesn’t like you, but you have to be an adult about this, Lauren. He’s incapable of caring for you.”
“I don’t believe you,” Lauren said, and it sounded weak even to her.
“I’ve seen him work, sweetheart. The sham dates with actresses, the romantic entanglements designed only to advance his business, the willingness to do anything to get ahead. Look at the evidence. He’s never cared for anyone, only for himself. His business comes first, always.”
“You sound like two of a kind.” The words were out of Lauren’s mouth before she thought about it and they scored a direct hit on her mother. Lauren almost regretted them, except they were the truth.
“If I believe that about Hakim, Mother, then I have to believe that about you, too,” she continued. “You’re the one who taught me to put work above my personal relationships. You’re the one who taught me to think with my head instead of my heart. It’s the reason I never date and the reason I focus on work above anything else. In spite of all that, Hakim and I found each other. And, yes, what he did was wrong. But that doesn’t make what you’re doing right.”
“You even admit he was wrong!” Patricia countered. “And yet, you’ve created this make-believe story where your love changes him into a better man. That’s not how things work, Lauren. You know that. He’s the same person he was before he met you.”
Lauren couldn’t help it. Even as many times as Hakim had apologized, and even though she had truly forgiven him, there was still a tiny kernel of hurt over his actions. She believed he had changed, but every woman wanted to believe that, right? If her mother was even partly correct, then falling in love with Hakim was a bad idea. Worse, he might really be using her to hurt her mother, and as unhappy as Lauren was with Patricia right then, she didn’t want to see that happen.