Page 13 of Miss Typed

“I did. You?”

“It was fine. Do you work at the restaurant every weekend?”

“Yes.” Please don’t ask any more about it. Please don’t ask.

“How’s the food there?”

Play it cool. He probably wouldn’t appreciate me asking what was up with the chitchat. Perhaps after these last three weeks of working together, he was becoming more comfortable. “It’s okay.”

There was, in fact, a restaurant and hotel at the location, but it was a front. If worse came to worst, I could fake it and go into the public area if I knew he was coming in. But in that case, I’d become a liability to the club especially if they found out he was a director of security.

“Not your kind of food?”

“I prefer bigger portions, more meat and potatoes. I miss bacon.” The Arab nations didn’t offer a lot of options since Muslims considered anything from a pig a forbidden food. This meant no bacon, ham, or pork chops. All of the magical food items, as far as I was concerned.

He let out a laugh. “Me, too. I’ve heard there are some markets in Dubai where you can still get it, though.”

I’m sure there were, given how many expatriates were living here, but such meat would be outrageously expensive. “I’ve heard the same. So, what’s on the agenda today?”

Luckily, he took my cue to move on to professional things. “Calls this morning. I’ll be out for lunch, but back by this afternoon. I need to order some business cards.”

“On it.” Finally, something useful to do.

“I’m traveling to Abu Dhabi in mid-February to see the office there. You might be interested in accompanying me.”

Abu Dhabi was the capital of the UAE and about two hours away. “What would I do? No offense, but I barely do anything for you here.”

Thankfully, he didn’t mind my candor. “I’m contemplating the expansion of your duties. But I’d need you to sign another client confidentiality agreement.”

I had to keep myself from jumping up and down. I’d always been a hard worker, so being idle during the day was wearing on me. My grin couldn’t be helped. “I’d appreciate the opportunity.”

“Good. Speaking of scheduling, which days are you taking off over the holidays?”

Virtually every ex-pat in the office would make their way home for a vacation over Christmas and the New Year. But not me. Not only was I working at the club, but traveling home was a luxury I couldn’t afford. International plane tickets were pricey, especially over the holidays. “I’m not planning to take any time.”

He appeared as if about to ask why but thankfully didn’t. “I see. I believe they’ll close the office on Christmas Day.”

Since we were an extension of an American company, it didn’t surprise me the office would close for Christmas. Teagan would be leaving for LA, while I had every intention of throwing a pity party for one while spending the holiday by myself. “It’ll be nice to get the day off.”

“Yes.”

I was tempted to ask him if he was heading home but refrained. I also wanted to inquire why he limped when he walked. It was barely noticeable, but I wondered if he had an old injury. But asking him would cross the line into personal. Although I still maintained a fantasy about my boss, getting to know him was bound to be a let-down. It always was. I’d rather stay with the mystery. This was especially true since I couldn’t afford to have a director of security find out about my illegal side job.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Aiden said. “I have a draft of my bio for the website, I’ll send you. I hope you don’t mind proofing it and getting it over to the people who upload them onto the company website.”

“I don’t mind at all.” I was anxious to do more. I was about to leave his office when Aiden’s voice stopped me at the door.

“Is it the expense of going home that’s keeping you here?”

More than he could ever imagine. “Plane tickets to Canada aren’t cheap.” But the last thing I wanted was to get into the ugly details. “I’ll let you know once your bio is uploaded.”

I needed to leave before I said more.

Chapter Six

Aiden

It had been three weeks since Chloe had told me she wasn’t traveling home for the holidays. And I’d made up my mind. I was buying her a plane ticket home to Toronto.