“Good riddance,” her dad said from his run down chair. Alissa had not expected them to care that she was leaving and simply turned and walked out of the front door. She hoped that was the last time she would ever be in that trailer again. She walked all the way to her house and let herself in when she got there. She wanted to wash her clothes in the washer and dryer that had come in the house. She wanted to ensure they were clean before she hung them up in her closet.
She busied herself the rest of the weekend picking up small items for her house. Towels, a plate, a glass, a pan to cook in, and so forth. She knew that she would have to get her furniture one piece at a time, but that did not matter to her. She did not care that she would be sleeping on the floor for a few weeks as long as it was in her house that was all that mattered to her.
The weekend flew by and Alissa was excited to head off to work on Monday morning. She was ready to start earning money that she could use to fix up her house. She had decided that once she had everything in her house, she would look at getting a car. She had never driven before and hoped that she could find someone who would help her learn, but part of her felt like it was just a dream.
When she arrived at work everything was normal. Everyone started their work just as they normally did and Alissa let the dreams of her future be replaced by thoughts of work in her head. That was until Miguel showed up at her desk again.
“Mr. Santos,” Alissa said with a smile on her face, “I wanted to thank you for helping me find my little house.”
“Miguel,” Miguel said, correcting her, “I’m glad you like it. Now tell me what type of furniture do you need.”
Alissa lowered her head part of her felt embarrassed to tell her boss that she had nothing yet. She knew that she would get that same look of pity.
“Actually,” she said, “I need everything, it is kind of a work in progress.”
“Well,” Miguel said, “that will never do. How about I stop by after work tonight and we will see what we can do?”
Alissa looked up, “Why are you being so nice to me?” she blurted out.
Miguel laughed and winked at her then he walked down the hallway to his office. Alissa shook her head. She felt as if she was in a dream as if someone had decided that after years of suffering she finally deserved to have all of the things that she wanted.
She thought about what Miguel had said throughout most of the day. She was not sure if she should take Miguel’s help. She wanted to earn everything she had but she also knew that if she could get the things she needed for less than what she would normally pay or free, she needed to accept the help.
The day went by quickly and Alissa continued to wonder why Miguel was being so nice to her. As she began walking home, she heard a car pull up next to her. “Need a ride?” Miguel called through the passenger window.
“Sure,” Alissa said, smiling. She quickly walked over to the car and jumped in.
“How do you like your house?” Miguel asked as she closed the passenger door.
“I love it,” Alissa said excitedly. Miguel could see the happiness on her face and she could tell that her happiness gave him pleasure. “I thought you would,” he smiled back at her.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked him again.
“What? Can’t a man be nice to a beautiful woman?” he asked smiling.
Alissa giggled, “I guess, but it still does not make sense to me,” she said questioning his motives.
“Don’t ask questions,” he said to her, “just take it for what it is and let it be. Don’t over think it.”
Alissa smiled and decided that he was right. There was no reason for her to worry about why he was being nice to her. The fact was that he was being nice to her and she could either accept it or push him away.
They pulled into Alissa’s driveway and both got out of the car. Miguel led her up the stairs into her house and she opened the door. As they walked into her house Miguel began to look around. She could tell that he was thinking and did not want to interrupt him, but her curiosity got the best of her.
“What are you thinking?” she blurted out.
Miguel laughed, “Well,” he began, “Not that I am trying to take over, but I was thinking about what would look good in your house.”
“Take over all you want,” Alissa said, “I have no idea how to make it look nice.”
Miguel raised an eyebrow and she could tell that giving him the control made him feel good. He pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and began writing things down. As he walked through each room, he took notes. He opened Alissa’s kitchen cabinets and that was when she saw the pity that always came. He looked down at her sadly. She did not understand why he was sad, but knew it had something to do with her food. She did not see a problem with ramen noodles and ravioli, but it was obvious to her that he did.
When he made his way to her bedroom closet she felt like crying. She only had a few pieces of clothing and the embarrassment of what she had was starting to take over. Miguel just wrote in his book and smiled at her.
Once they had walked through the entire house they walked back into the living room. Miguel turned to Alissa and wrapped his arms around her. “I want you to know that I am not doing this because I feel sorry for you,” he said.
Alissa looked up at him. She had always thought that people were only nice to her because they felt sorry for her. She wrapped her arms around Miguel and rested her head on his chest. She felt safe and that was all that mattered right then.
Miguel looked down at Alissa, “Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked gently.
Alissa shook her head, she did not want him to know about her family. She just wanted to feel safe. He did not make her talk and that made her feel that much better. Miguel ordered the two of them a pizza and they sat on the floor eating their dinner. Once they were finished Miguel told Alissa that he would pick her up for work the next morning and to make sure she was ready. He left with a smile and kissed her gently on the forehead.
As Alissa went to sleep that night she wondered just what was taking place between the two of them. She wondered if he was attracted to her or if he was protecting her like he would a daughter. After all, he was 17 years older than her, she wondered if he simply saw her as a child. She knew how she felt about him. He was the man of her dreams. In fact, he was the man of every girls dream. Alissa fell asleep in her quiet house with no screaming or fighting with a smile on her face.
The next morning she rushed to get ready for work. She did not want to be late when Miguel pulled up. She was waiting on the front porch when he arrived and did not waste any time getting into his car. “You look very nice today,” he said to her, “I hope you don’t mind, but when I got home last night I went online and ordered you a bunch of new clothing.”
Alissa turned to him, surprised, “What?”
“I just think that your clothes should be as beautiful as you are,” he said with a smile.
Alissa began to feel a bit uncomfortable, it was if he was taking over every area of her life. He had chosen where she would live, had decided to come to her home and pick out what furniture she would get and now he was ordering her clothes. Alissa started to wonder if she had made the right decision by accepting his help.
On the way to work they talked about the furniture he had been looking at and she began to feel more relaxed. She wanted to sleep in a bed and sit on a couch in her home and she decided that he was just doing what he could to help her. “You know I’m not a charity case,” Alissa said to Miguel as they pulled into the parking lot at his office, “I intend to pay you back for everything that you are doing.”
Miguel let out a light laugh, “That is not necessary. I am not doing this for you as some form of charity,” he said as he turned the car off. He turned to look at Alissa, “I am doing this because I want to,” he continued, “I want to see you smile, I want to spend time with you and get to know you.”
With that, he opened his car door and got out
. Alissa followed as her mind whirled with thoughts. He confused her so much she was not sure what was going on. He seemed as if he was controlling every aspect of her life, but he was so gentle and sweet about it. He made it seem as if he was doing it because he genuinely cared about her.
Alissa’s morning started off normally, she went to the breakroom and grabbed her coffee, then made her way to her desk. After about 15 minutes she was approached by her boss. “Mr. Santos has requested that you be moved to his office.”
Alissa looked at her boss stunned, “What?”
“You’re going to be Mr. Santo’s receptionist, we will get someone else to fill your position here,” her boss said, giving her a wink. “Gather your things and I will take you there.”
Alissa quickly gathered her work supplies, her purse and followed her boss to Miguel’s office. Once the two women had reached the office her boss knocked gently on the door and opened it. Miguel was sitting at his desk on the phone he motioned for Alissa to sit down and mouthed thank you to her boss. Alissa’s boss left the room, leaving only Alissa and Miguel.
As Alissa sat down and watched Miguel she began to feel very uncomfortable. She wanted to run out of the office, but knew that now she had no other choice but to work for him. He held her entire future in his hands. Miguel hung up the phone and looked at Alissa.
“You look nervous,” he said, smiling at her.
“Not nervous,” she said. “Just confused.”
Miguel stood, walked over to Alissa and leaned against his desk. “Well,” he began, “it is really simple, I had to let my receptionist go and would rather promote from the inside than hire someone I do not know.”
The smile on his face told Alissa that there was more to it than that and she looked at him with suspicion. “Plus,” he continued, “I don’t mind having you close to me while I am at work.”
“Mr. Santos,” Alissa stood up and clenched her purse, “I think we need to talk. Whatever is going on has to stop.”
Miguel stepped closer to Alissa, “What has to stop Alissa?” he whispered barely grazing his lip across her ear lobe. Alissa’s breath caught in her throat. “I told you to call me Miguel,” he said as he placed his hands around her waist.
Alissa was shaking, she had never been this close to a man before and she was not sure if she should trust Miguel or be afraid of him. He seemed to be placing himself in every area of her life and she did not know if she was comfortable with it.
“What do you want from me?” she asked him sounding a bit harsher than she had wanted to.
Miguel looked at her as if she had hurt him. He sighed, “Why is it so hard for you to accept that I want you to be happy?” he said, pulling her close to him. “All you have to do is let me take care of you.”
Alissa’s eyes darted from side to side and her mind was spinning. “What does that mean?” she asked him softly.
Miguel nuzzled his face into her neck, “Just follow my lead and everything will be okay.”
“And if I don’t?” Alissa asked in almost a whisper.
Miguel looked up at her and smiled, “Well, that doesn’t matter does it,” he said to her, “Now go be a good girl and put your stuff on the desk outside of my office. I have a lot of work to get done and I am sure you can find something to keep you busy.”
Alissa felt as if she was lost, she felt as if she had awoken in some strange world where nothing was what it seemed. “I’m not finished talking about this,” she said as he removed his hands from her waist.
“But I am,” he said so sternly that it made her jump. Suddenly something clicked in her, causing her to nod and do as she was told. Alissa had never been submissive or dominant, she had never had a relationship and had no idea what role she would play in one. As she walked out of Miguel’s office and to her own desk, she began wondering what type of person she wanted to be.
She thought about the benefits of letting Miguel take control and there were a lot of them. He seemed like the type of man who was going to take care of her, but she had also heard rumors about him and she did not want to be just another notch on his belt.
Alissa sat down at her desk, turned her computer on and began getting everything organized when her computer beeped, she had an email. The email was from Miguel and it read:
I hope you understand the agreement that we have. I have attached a link to a website that I want you to look at. Please pick out the furniture that you want so that it is delivered by this weekend. I do not enjoy sitting on the floor. You should also order lunch for both of us. I will see you in my office at noon so we can discuss our plans for this evening.
As Alissa read the email she was stunned at how blunt Miguel was. The more she thought about it the more she was actually thankful for his bluntness. She had seen her friends go out with men and question everything about the relationship. At least Miguel was straight forward with her and was not playing any games.
She did as Miguel requested and picked out furniture for her new home. She also ordered lunch for the two of them. She had spent most of her morning picking out furniture, changing her mind several times about what she should get. At first she was only going to get the minimum amount, but then she decided that she was going to go for everything she could get. She emailed Miguel and told him she had made her decision and thanked him for being so nice to her. Within minutes the order was paid for. Alissa smiled as she thought about how beautiful the furniture would look in her new home.
At lunch time she took Miguel his lunch. She had ordered a simple burger and fries from a nice restaurant across the street. When she took the food to Miguel he smiled, “This is why I like you,” he laughed, “You keep things simple. Extravagance really is overrated.”
Alissa was not sure if she was supposed to take that as a compliment or if he was putting her down, but she just smiled and sat down at the table that was in his office.
“You said you wanted to talk,” she tried to change the subject.
“Yes,” he replied, “I know it is short notice, but there is a huge dinner tonight and I would like for you to come with me. Of course you are going to have to go buy a new dress, have your hair and nails done. You know, look like a lady.”
He had done it again and Alissa did not know if he even knew what he was doing. She looked at him, completely stunned at his lack of people skills and wondered if he got some type of joy from degrading others.
“Oh,” she said, smiling. She had decided that she was going to do whatever it took to make him happy, after all he had already done so much for her.
“Yes,” he continued, “After lunch I will need you to get started on that.” He winked as he talked and confused Alissa even more. He was an amazing creature that was beyond mysterious and she wondered if she would ever really understand him.
“Let me get this straight,” she said, looking him in the eyes, “I do what you say, let you pick out my clothes, work for you alone and you do all this nice stuff for me. What are you getting out of it?”
Miguel laughed loudly. “That is not exactly what I was thinking,” he said still laughing as he talked, “I thought I would be able to get to know you, to show you all the good things in life and maybe see where things go.”
Alissa could tell that she was starting to make him uncomfortable, but she needed whatever was going on between the two of them to be defined. She needed answers. A huge smile formed on her face as Miguel spoke to her. She loved how he was so commanding of every situation, but struggled with telling her that he actually had a crush on her.
Miguel stood and walked over to Alissa, taking her hand, he pulled her up to him. Alissa wrapped her arms around his neck and he looked down at her. “Unless you think I’m too old that is,” he grinned slyly at her.
Alissa shook her head and Miguel lowered his head pressing his lips against hers he kissed her gently. He pulled her close against his body, she could feel all of his muscles, even hear his heart beating. She tried her best to steady her breathing. It
was her first kiss ever and she wanted to remember it forever, but she also did not want to let Miguel know that she had never been kissed before.
She was sure that he was far more experienced than she was and she was slightly embarrassed to tell him that she had no idea what she was doing even though she was sure it showed in the way she kissed him. Miguel sighed as he pulled his lips away from hers and looked into her eyes. “All you have to do is be a good girl and I can give you the world,” he said quietly.
“You’re the boss,” Alissa said with a smile.
Miguel’s expression changed as she spoke, “This has to be kept between the two of us,” he said sternly.
Alissa looked up at him a little shocked. “Okay,” she said reluctantly, “I just thought you wanted to see where things went between the two of us.”
“I do,” Miguel said still in his stern voice, “If things progress you won’t be working here and it won’t matter.” His voice trailed off and he looked to the corner of the room. Alissa turned to see that there was nothing there. “What is it?” she asked.
“I already know about your family,” he said still staring off into space. Alissa froze. Fear took control of her body and she knew that once again her parents were going to ruin everything for her. She had decided that she could deal with Miguel wanting to be in control of everything. He was offering her the world and she was willing to do whatever it took to make him happy, but the one thing that she could not control was her past.
SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance Page 36