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Emma turned her phone over in her hand, starring hard at him. “I’m not sure what that means?”
“It means he’s filthy rich and terribly bored,” Laine joked. “Though he’s pretty influential in Bahrain.”
“Oh, not just Bahrain, tiger. All of the Arabian Peninsula.” Aziz grinned, hugged Laine around the shoulders from behind, and kissed her cheek.
Emma sucked in her cheeks and then looked to Laine. “Oh. My. God.”
“Indeed. Our meeting was fate,” Aziz said with confidence.
Laine opened her mouth but didn’t quite know what to say. Fate? Was he joking?
Aziz was watching Emma now. His intense eyes were fixed, almost hungry. Once again, Laine wondered why Aziz had picked her instead of Emma. Here Emma was, at this ungodly hour, as beautiful as she could be. Looking as if, at any moment, she could be photographed and people would pass the picture around social media amazed at how gorgeous she was. A movie star would be a better match for this multi-corporation Middle Eastern mogul. A woman as beautiful as Emma would be much better for him.
Aziz moved forward, and Laine swallowed a lump in her throat. This would be his moment to start flirting with Emma. But he didn’t. He just grabbed a doughnut and smiled at Laine as he bit into it. Laine leaned on her hand and watched him chew.
“Might I borrow your shower?” Aziz asked.
“Oh, sure.” Laine pointed Aziz to the bathroom and watched as he sauntered off, enjoying a doughnut with the ease of a person with zero concerns about his waistline. When she looked back to Emma, her sister gave her the smuggest look she had ever seen. “What?”
“God, Laine. You snagged the biggest catch at that party!” Emma leaned over the table. “And you sealed the deal! What, was this like you first one-night stand ever?”
“I don’t do that sort of thing.” Laine took the other coffee and sipped it. “To do that, you have to go out.”
Emma laughed. “But you did! You tore it up, huh?”
“We didn’t tear it up. We didn’t even drink much. I had a couple appletinis, but that was it.” Laine bit her lip. Having gotten drunk might’ve excused her actions. “We got kicked out of a club for swimming in their fountain.”
“Oh, my god. You got kicked out of Las Llaves?” Emma clapped her hands together in joy.
“How did you know that was the club?”
“Because that’s the one with the huge fountain big enough to swim in. That sitcom star Johnny Right got caught fucking two girls in there.”
Laine recoiled in horror. “God, I hoped they cleaned it!”
Emma shook with laughter. “I’m sure they did! Oh, this is awesome, Lainey. This is so good for you. And he’s rich! That’s so cool. I wondered what that creepy Middle Eastern dude was doing, just standing there outside your apartment.”
“That’s just Faruq. He’s Aziz’s bodyguard.”
“So casual,” Emma teased. “I never thought you’d be the love ‘em and leave ‘em type, sis. Especially not to a royal with a bodyguard.”
“I’m not. I just…I guess I just wanted, for once in my life, to let something good happen to me.” Laine selected a cake doughnut and dipped it in her coffee. “He’ll probably be out of here by lunchtime, though.”
That would be fine, she told herself. He was an important man. He had things to do, and Laine had her job and her family.
It would be better if they went their separate ways.
***
Though Laine hadn’t expected to hear from Aziz again after he’d left her apartment, she saw him again only a few days later. She had a meeting scheduled in a lavish hotel across town. It happened occasionally—although Laine had never before been given those accounts—that the lifestyles of the rich and careless resulted in their living spaces being unlivable. Laine had been surprised to see it on her calendar, but the appointment had been made by request, so Laine didn’t have to worry about it being snatched off her plate by a senior project manager just yet.
The concierge made Laine wait to be escorted up to the suite, where the staff member encouraged her to have a seat at a circular conference table. She took out her planner and skimmed over her to-do list while she waited.
“Morning, tiger.”
Laine looked up and felt her heart skip a beat. “Aziz! What are you doing here?”
“Well, I made an appointment to hire a decorator.” Aziz strolled up with his hands in his pockets and sucked in his lower lip as his eyes looked her up and down.
“A decorator.” Laine stared blankly for a moment.
“Yes. I’ve been looking for one for some time. Imagine my surprise when I happened to run into the very woman I was to meet this week?”
