Lacy gave a small laugh and held her glass in salute. “An alarming amount of self-control, I must say. You have my permission to check if they’ve left a message.”
He smiled, the first smile she’d seen on his face since… Was it the first one?
“The lady is gracious and forgiving,” he said. Then, taking out his phone, he gave a small sigh and replaced it in his pocket. “It would appear he is not going to make it tonight. Personal reasons. I beg your forgiveness. This was not the evening I had planned.”
“No need to apologize,” she said. “It’s not your fault someone else canceled. Thank you anyway. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.” She gathered up her purse and scooted her chair back as she spoke.
“You are leaving?” he asked, looking genuinely confused.
She stood, and he stood as well as a show of manners, but she paused. “This was to be a business meeting. I’ve nothing to discuss with you, and your partner isn’t showing.” She gave a small shrug.
“This does not mean we cannot have a meal together. We’ve waited this long, and you look lovely. I do not think we should waste the effort.”
Lacy looked at him, and tried to decide if he was joking or making fun of her at all. How could a man like him think she was anywhere near his level? She could only image the type of women he was used to being out with. She didn’t kid herself, she knew she wasn’t one of them.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “I don’t want to waste your time if you had business to tend to.”
“My business right now is enjoying your company.” He moved around the table to the back of her chair. “Please.”
The skin of her neck and the entire left side of her rose in goose flesh at his sudden proximity. Her mind spun in a whirl of panic. What was the right move to make here? Professionally, it wasn’t smart to spend time out of the office with a male client like this.
Business meeting or not, it was difficult being a woman in this city in her profession. Rumors were career killers, and she could ill afford any, especially after this man’s altercation in his hotel room. And yet, when she looked behind her and into his eyes, for the life of her she couldn’t think of anywhere she would have rather been.
She lowered herself to sit again, and he scooted the chair in for her. She watched him as he went around to his place opposite her and waved for the waiter to return.
“Our third will not be coming tonight. Two menus, please, and another bottle of wine.”
Lacy gave an embarrassed laugh. “I don’t think I should have any more. I’ve had more than enough as it is.”
Walid smiled to her as he sat. “This is no longer a business meeting. You are free to drink as much as you like.”
Lacy smoothed out the table cloth in front of her, a nervous habit. It felt like silk, but she knew it couldn’t have been. “Business meeting or not, you are my client, and a certain decorum must be maintained.”
Walid smiled and stared off toward the other end of the restaurant past her. “You Americans and your luxuries, no matter how uncomfortable they may be.”
“Luxury comes at a price.”
He gave a thoughtful frown and looked back to her. “This is true. However, it seems to me that the price of luxury should not be so… stiff.”
Lacy tilted her head and took a sip of her wine. “I don’t follow.”
The chairs were large, carved wood. Each was almost a little throne, with large red cushions and arms. Walid leaned against one of these arms and adjusted his position. It was clear he was unimpressed with the chairs.
“Take this, for example.” He knocked his knuckles against the wood of the arm. “What purpose does it serve? According to your manners, you’re not to rest your elbows on anything.”
Lacy shrugged a shoulder. “It looks nice.”
“Does it?”
“So, you’re saying that our luxury is uncomfortable and serves no purpose?”
He readjusted again, and splayed his hands out defensively in front of him. “I’m not saying that, exactly. Perhaps it does service a purpose. If it does, however, I do not know it.”
“You know, it’s funny you’d say as much.” Lacy sipped her wine and debated telling him. Crossing the line into personal lives was generally a no-no, but she was deep in her wine on an empty stomach, and the conversation was touching on something she felt strongly about: her couch. “In my home, I have two living rooms. The large one, downstairs, I use for company. It has all of my expensive furniture in it, electronics, that sort of thing.”
“Yes,” Walid said, that accent of his becoming sexier with every word. “In my home, it is customary to have an entertaining room for guests as well.”
“Well,” Lacy said, and started smiling for no reason. Why was she smiling? She paused and became embarrassed by the fact that she couldn’t stop smiling, so she looked down at her silverware and straightened out the knife.
“In my second living room, where I spend time when I don’t have company, I have this… couch.”
“A couch.”
“Yes. It’s cheap. I bought it from a thrift store. Hand-me-down, that sort of thing.”
Walid squinted his eyes as he tried to understand where she was going.
“This couch is the most comfortable thing in the world, but it’s so cheap and ugly I have to hide it.”
Walid laughed, and slapped a hand down on the wooden arm of the chair. “Yes, there! You see? The cost of luxury in your country. You must retreat to your private rooms to enjoy the comfort of cheap furniture. That is fantastic.”
Lacy laughed with him and sipped her wine again, cursing herself for drinking more than she should be. It was becoming habit and already she could feel herself growing even tipsier. The food hadn’t even arrived yet.
“Yes, well, I’m just saying I understand.”
He smiled at her, his mirth calming into a quiet, bemused appraisal. “I feel you understand better than most.”
Lacy was grateful for the dark room and the soft candlelight at their table. For a business meeting, it was a bit silly, but for a romantic dinner for two, it was perfect. Not only did it set the mood, but it also did well to hide the fact that she was blushing.
The conversation melted from there into soft talk of one another. Their families, childhood experiences. None of it was overly personal, but it had certainly surpassed the point of professionalism.
What impressed Lacy, though, was how comfortable she felt about it all. Not only that, but how much she actually wanted to know about him. Once the professional façade was broken through, the chemistry between them ignited, and Lacy couldn’t say if it was the wine or the conversation, but she’d never felt more on fire.
EIGHT
Walid and his men walked through the vast open space of the skyscraper’s 37th floor. His American partner walked beside him, pointing out how the floor had been setup before with cubicle walls, and sections split off for offices.
Of course, when the floor went vacant, the failed business sold off all of that stuff to makeup as much of the cost as possible. As he listened to his partner speak, Walid was acutely aware of the lack of cover. Should another attack happen, there would be nowhere to hide.
His cautious nature warred with his need to remain stoic and fearless. His men constantly repositioned themselves so that every entrance was watched. If something were to happen, they would no doubt notify him. It was his job to remain the wall, the stone pillar.
Unfazed by the potential danger, he listened to this short fat man drone on about square footage and so on. Walid was a businessman, and as such of course understood the importance of such things. That did not, however, make it interesting at all to listen to.
“This location really is a steal,” his partner said.
The deal was for floors 34 through 39. It was the foolish entrepreneur that did not inspect their own goods, but Walid could only take so much of this.
“Yes, they are very nice. We will take this
floor and the one below.”
His partner flustered for a moment and struggled to find the words. “The deal is for –“
Walid held up a hand. Closing his eyes, he resisted the urge to slap the man for arguing as though this was the first time Walid had ever done business. “Yes, I know what the bargain is. Our foothold in this country is tenuous, the profit we will make in the first two years will cover costs and little else.”
“If you would just listen to me, I’ve told you I can help with that. I know ways we can make back costs in six months, turn a profit in nine, and double that by the end of a year!”
“And the business will collapse three months after that!” Walid clenched his fists and held them behind his back. “My family is a dynasty. The business we wage is not, as you say, fly-by-night. Your quick schemes are a way to make a fast dollar at the expense of the people, but is not a lasting solution. When you and I first agreed to this partnership, I told you it would be my way. I fund you, I dictate how that money is to be spent. We will not cheat the people. We will provide them the services they need affordably. That means time, quality, and growth. You wish to build a castle on sand. I seek a fortress on a granite foundation. In twenty years, our children will be among the richest in the continent.”
The fat man puffed air through his nostrils. He was obviously not accustomed to being berated, but he handled the harsh words well enough. “That’s just not the way it’s done here.”
“And that,” Walid said, straightening out his jacket and tie, “is why I am here.”
“Are you certain the two floors are all you want? It won’t leave us room for growth, like you wanted.”
Walid gave a sly smirk. “I wish to build a foundation, but that does not mean I will not slice throats to do it. This floor and the one below split the available floors. We will offer double the asking price. They cannot refuse. This will force only smaller businesses to take the remaining floors above and below us. They will fail. When they do, we will have grown and turned profit that we can expand into those spaces.”
“Double? But if you want to buy the two levels to save money…?”
Walid gestured to the empty space. “It is not the initial cost that gives me pause, it is the upkeep. Two floors versus six adds up after six months, a year, or however long it may take. It is an added cost we do not need.”
The fat man held up his hands in surrender. “All right, all right. I’ll have them draw up the papers and send them over.”
“Send them to me directly. I wish to look them over before turning them to my lawyer for review.”
“Ah, yes, of course.”
As Walid and his men entered into the limo, one of his men gave him a look. Walid tried to ignore it, but as the car took off down the street, he couldn’t put it aside. At least his partner had taken his own car. That freed Walid up to have the conversation without listening ears. He was sure he didn’t want anyone outside of his circle to hear what was about to be said.
“What is it?”
“You are distracted.”
There it was. No hesitation, no attempt at subtly. “Am I not allowed to be?”
The man kept his hands in his lap, his posture straight and respectful, yet Walid could see in the man’s eyes a defiance not found among the business people here.
“Your life is in constant threat from an unknown enemy and you prolong this process by having him send you the documents? Just so that you can see that woman.”
“She is not ‘that woman’ and her name is Lacy.”
“My point remains.”
“It does,” Walid admitted and propped his elbow on the rest in the door. “I had no intention to develop feelings for a woman while here conducting my business. You are right, it is a distraction, and one I can ill afford. And yet…”
“And yet?” his man asked dubiously.
“And yet I cannot help myself. There is a draw inside of me. I’ve never found myself thinking of a woman when she was outside of my presence. Always it was they who thought of me while I tended to other matters. But now I find myself questioning, wondering what it is she is doing in that moment.”
“You fear she betrays you?”
Walid laughed. “No, I do not fear betrayal from her. It is curiosity. I am interested in all she does. She interests me.”
“You have had three business dinners with her, yet I suspect you’ve not spoken of any business during these times.”
“Your suspicions are well founded. We have indeed not.”
His man took a deep breath through his nose and sighed softly. “Sir, a question.”
“Yes?”
“Do you love this woman?”
Walid smiled and tried to hide it under his hand by idly propping his chin in his palm and looking out the window. “If I were? Do I not have your permission?”
This time it was his man’s turn to smile. “I apologize. I do not mean to overstep my bounds. Of course you need not my permission. I had thought she was a conquest, a needless demand on your attention.”
“But if we speak of love…?”
“If it’s love, then you should consider the dangers. Not just to you, but that you bring to her.”
The smile faded from Walid’s face and his features hardened. “I have. Repeatedly.”
“Then why do you not stop?”
Walid looked his man in the eye. “Because I cannot.”
NINE
Lacy did her best to control her breathing as she applied some quick touch-ups in the car. She was just going to go up and hand off the paperwork, that was all. She wanted to look nice, sure, but there was no reason for her to be so nervous.
Why was she so nervous!
Lacy shook out her right hand and clenched it into a fist a few times to try and loosen up, then went back to reapplying he mascara. This was ridiculous. There was nothing between her and her client. He was her client, and she needed to remember that.
Who cared if he was hot as the sun and so sexy it made every muscle in her chest and belly tight? Who cared if her knees were literally weak around him and she needed to casually lean against things because she was genuinely afraid of falling down around him?
What did it matter that all she could think about when she was alone were those eyes of his, that skin on the delicate edge between tan and chocolate, and a body so well built she suspected he could break her in half if he wanted?
Lacy shook her head, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly through her lips. She looked fine. She looked fine! This was stupid. So what if it was late? She was just dropping off some paperwork. That was all.
He knew she was coming, so it wasn’t a surprise. He always had those damn guards around anyway, so it wasn’t like they were going to be alone. That thought helped calm her. There was no need to think anything would happen. Three other men would be there, and neither of them were going to try anything with three sets of eyes staring.
That was one thing she appreciated about Walid. Just like her, he appreciated the need to keep up appearances. Not that she was going to go so far as to think he felt anything about her. That would be silly, and wonderful. But no, it was also incredibly unlikely. He could have anyone he wanted.
A man that rich and powerful and sizzling hot could have anyone he wanted. He wasn’t going to go for his lawyer! That was ridiculous.
Feeling far more confident, she picked up the manila envelope from the passenger seat and left her car. Her heels clicked in the parking area below Walid’s hotel. It was a brisk evening, but not too bad. She let herself think about the weather and when autumn was finally going to show up. It seemed like it took longer and longer every year.
When she reached the elevator, she pushed the button for his room, and all thoughts of weather went right out of her head. She was going up to his hotel room. She laughed at herself as she felt her heartbeat increase. Why was she so stupidly nervous about this?
When she reached the floor of his penthouse, she saw one
of his guards outside the door. He nodded to her as she approached the door and she smiled back.
“Is he home?” she asked playfully. The joke seemed to go over the man’s head as he simply nodded and let her pass.
“Okay,” she muttered under her breath and walked up to his door.
The floor consisted of a single hallway and three suites. Some hotels dedicated the entire top floor to a single suite, but the way this building was constructed they had the room for three.
As she walked up to Walid’s door, she mentally noted that since there was a man outside, there would be two inside. Still, two watchful sets of eyes. She’d be fine. Filled with faux self-assurance, she knocked on the door.
It was a long, uncomfortable three seconds before he opened the door. This was the most relaxed she’d ever seen him. No tie, no shoes, just his black dress socks. His blue button-down shirt had the first few buttons undone showing the top of his A-line undershirt. The tone of his skin contrasted against the white of the undershirt like caramel covered in powdered sugar.
“I appreciate you coming down so late,” he said and opened the door to invite her in.
“No problem. It’s on my way home anyway.” Such a lie. It was twenty blocks out of her way, but just seeing him in socks made it all worth it. Lacy walked in and scanned the entryway for his security.
SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance Page 73