Auctioned To The Sheikh Read online

  “You should rest, you sound tired,” Emily retorted in a small voice, now feeling tempted to abandon the horrific world of servitude and ditch to get drunk with mom. It sounded odd, seeing as she had previously had a rocky relationship with her, but now she quite enjoyed chatting with her about life and love. As it turned out, one of the best ways to let go of childhood resentment was to get your mother loose and find out what kind of a girl she’d been when she was in her twenties.

  “I’m exhausted,” he mother admitted. “But I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. First, you take off with mister handsome and now you can’t seem to leave work for anything! I’ve tempted you with shopping, girl’s movie night, and now drinks, and you’d rather sit in your chair and do math, of all things.”

  “That’s why it’s called ‘work’ and not ‘awesome fun time with Mom’,” Emily mocked.

  “Well I hope you at least have a chance to go fancy it up with your new man,” he mother said with some concern.

  In fact, she had. She and Tariq had a wonderful date planned, and Emily was itching to see him. She hadn’t felt this excited about someone possibly ever. Every interaction with the Sheikh felt like a first date. She would always get butterflies when she spoke to him, and yet she hadn’t seen him since their unforgettable vacation together. Every day since then had been spent ruining his chances at a successful buyout.

  Mike’s paranoia had Emily in his office every lunch hour, trying to quell his delusions about getting fired. The more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt with the amount of time she’d had to spend with her boss lately. It was as though he was determined to make her life at the company miserable all while maintaining his crush on her.

  Too much Mike, not enough Tariq.

  She’d told her mother about Tariq and their adventures together. She’d wanted to keep him a secret, but as usual, as soon as she saw her mother, within ten seconds it all came pouring out. Her mother seemed thrilled that she’d finally met a man, if not a little worried that Emily wouldn’t have time for her anymore. If Emily had learned anything since her mother’s illness, it was that nothing was going to take her away from her. They were blood, and that relationship was way too precious to give up on.

  “In fact, I actually canceled a date with him,” Emily admitted, embarrassed.

  “With the absolute hunk?” her mother teased. “I thought he was a catch?”

  “He was,” Emily whined and then quickly corrected, “He is!”

  It was, unfortunately, true that Emily had canceled their previous date plans. Mike had her working so much overtime, she barely had time to eat, let alone go out with the Sheikh. They had made plans after coming back from Paris—dinner and a movie—but she just didn’t have the time. If she was going to sabotage the deal between Salt River and The Hasan Group before the buyout happened, she didn’t have long to get it done. Every spare minute she had was being spent at work, much to her dismay.

  Besides, she would feel guilty seeing Tariq at this point, as much as her heart ached for his companionship. Funny how Mike had said her relationship would fall apart if she didn’t sabotage the buyout, yet here she was ruining her new relationship at the same time as doing just that.

  “Emily,” her mother said, now dropping any playful façade. “What’s going on? You like this guy. You’re smitten with him. Now you’re breaking dates and avoiding me. Not to mention you’re working overtime like crazy. Is everything okay?”

  “I know it’s a mother’s job to worry,” Emily said, quoting her mother’s favorite lecture, “and I’m sorry to disappoint you, but nothing’s going on. Just work.”

  “Okay, but…” Her mother sighed loudly into the phone, causing a crackle to erupt from her speaker. Emily cringed and held the phone away from her ear just long enough to miss the most horrifying question her mother had ever asked her.

  “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” Emily asked incredulously.

  “I said, are you sleeping with Mike?”

  Emily slapped her forehead and hid her blushing face from the rest of her coworkers as she ducked behind her cubicle wall. “Mom!” she hissed. “No!”

  The line went silent for a moment and she could sense a shrug on the other end. “All right then,” her mother said. “Just making sure you’re not staying there for any non-work-related reasons.”

  “Trust me,” she admitted sadly, “It’s all work-related, unfortunately. If it was for anything else, my life might feel a little more exciting.”

  “That’s my girl,” her mother cheered. “All right, get back to work. I’ll just sit here and get old. And by get old, I mean order a pizza.”

  “Love you.”

  “Love you, kid. Don’t work too hard,” Janet replied. With that, her mother hung up the phone and Emily was left feeling guiltier than she had five minutes ago.

  Emily stared at the computer screen in front of her and rubbed her eyes. She looked down at her knuckles to see her makeup had rubbed off on her fingers; she was so deliriously tired she forgot she even put any on.

  She checked her compact to see if the smudging of her eyeliner looked apparent, which it did, then did her best to rub the rest of the winged liner out with her fingers until her makeup resembled a smoky look, instead of a hungover one. Frustrated, she shut the compact and tossed it back into her bag with a defeated sigh.

  Looking back at the computer screen, Emily continued her manipulation of the accounts to make it appear as though Salt River Resorts was in massive debt, making sure only to choose files that the Hasan Group’s auditors hadn’t looked at yet.

  In her brief phone conversation with Tariq, the one where she’d cancelled their dinner, Emily had tried to poke around the subject a little bit. She’d tried to joke, saying she’d been working a lot of overtime and did Tariq really want to become invested in such a company? In fact, she’d downplayed Salt River so much, she wasn’t even sure why the Sheikh was still interested. Still, she tried to get to know as much as she could about his involvement with the buyout, and what could possibly make him pull out of the deal.

  Since that conversation, Emily hadn’t heard much from Tariq. Not because he hadn’t called or texted, but because she simply didn’t have the time to talk. As it turned out, industrial sabotage was difficult.

  ***

  Hours after her conversation with her mother, Emily was still at her desk. Aside from grabbing a salad from the restaurant across the street, she hadn’t had much sustenance throughout the day. Coffee, salad, more coffee, and now she was making her way to the vending machine to grab a bottle of water, a yogurt, and about a dozen bags of chips. She slid her money into the vending machine and couldn’t believe she was passing up a night on the town to eat some three-year-old salt and vinegar chips. She took her loot and walked back to her desk.

  The office had pretty much cleared out for the night. In the past few hours, she had wiped several accounts, done some purposely sloppy record keeping, and converted several financial records to indicate Salt River Resorts was in the poor house.

  It was her seventh night in a row staying late in the office, and her ‘hard work’, or ‘sucking up’ as some called it, wasn’t going unnoticed by Lindsey.

  “You’re staying late again?” her friend said as she approached Emily’s desk. “Go home, it’s ten o’clock.”

  “Are you drinking?” Emily said with a laugh as she noticed the glass in Lindsey’s hand.

  “Maybe a bit,” the girl shrugged. She looked perfectly dolled up for a night out—red blazer over her work outfit, red lipstick, her blond hair done up in curls.

  “Hot date?”

  Lindsey scoffed. “I wish. Nah, I had to take some promotional photos for a charity thing earlier with Salt River—” She paused and seemed to think on this, furrowing her brow in the process. “Well, whatever we’re going to be called once your boyfriend takes over.”

  “Right,” Emily breathed nervously. “If that even happens. Mike
seems pretty against it.”

  “Right,” Lindsey repeated in a mocking tone, “But Mike has bosses, too, and they say sell, sell, sell! You should be over the moon, girly. I’m not, especially if I have to watch the two of you having tickle fights in the office. I’m pretty sure I’d puke.” She took another drink. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” Emily shrugged, spinning slightly in her swivel chair. “Just overworked.”

  “And underpaid,” Lindsey retorted, raising her glass as if giving cheers and taking another sip.

  “I’ve been working so much I had to cancel my date with Tariq.”

  She didn’t know why she said it. She supposed it was because she was so disappointed not getting to see him, but bringing it up every five seconds wouldn’t undo the cancellation. In fact, it might just cast suspicion on herself. She bit her lip and looked up at her friend, who had taken her usual seat on the wobbly corner of her desk.

  “That sucks,” Lindsey shrugged. “The things we do for work. This whole buyout thing has really got everyone in a panic, huh?”

  “Yeah. Especially Mike.”

  “Screw him,” Lindsey said with dismissal. “The best thing that could happen to that jerk is that we get bought out and he gets fired.”

  Emily gave a nod of approval to her friend but stayed invested in her busywork on her computer.

  Within a few moments, Lindsey suddenly narrowed her eyes and gazed down at her friend suspiciously. “Wait a second.”

  Emily pointedly avoided her gaze, instead staring at her computer screen.

  “I know what’s going on,” Lindsey said in a sure tone. “You’re sabotaging!”

  “What?!” Emily shouted, louder than she meant to. She resisted the urge to cover the computer screen with her hands, making her look even guiltier. She should have guessed that Lindsey would figure it out.

  “I knew it!” Lindsey said with a chuckle, pointing in Emily’s face. “You’re doing your patented ‘I’m happy with a man, it’s time to bolt!’ routine.”

  Emily felt a cold sweat suddenly leave her body and her eyes met Lindsey’s. “Oh,” was all she said.

  “Come on, admit it!” Lindsey prodded. “When’s the last time you saw the Sheikh?”

  Emily wanted so badly to tell her friend that it wasn’t of her own choosing that she was ignoring Tariq. She put her hands over her face and sighed into them, unsure how to proceed. “Do you really think so?” she said through her fingers.

  “Seriously Em, you can’t keep running away from guys because you’re like, scared of happiness or whatever.”

  Emily stole a glance from behind her fingers and cocked a brow at her friend, a sly grin prancing at the corner of her lips. “You’re right, maybe I can put it all out there and be as happy as you and Tom.”

  Lindsey blinked. “Point taken,” she sighed. “Ugh! Why does dating suck so much?!”

  “Such is life,” Emily said with a click of her mouse as she returned to her numbers.

  “So what, the Sheikh isn’t doing it for you or what? You just scared of getting hurt? Here, I thought you were swept up in this whirlwind, too-good-to-be-true romance. So what’s the deal, was he married or something?”

  “You’re seriously reading way too much into this,” Emily protested. “Tariq’s great and I plan on seeing him again, okay? I just have to get some things finished at work first. I’m hoping maybe Mike will see how well I’m doing and give me a promotion.”

  “Ew,” Lindsey grimaced, her face scrunching up uncomfortably. “Since when does anyone care what Mike thinks?”

  “Um, he is my boss.”

  “Who cares? You’re dating a sexy billionaire. You’re going to be a kept woman!”

  “I don’t want to be a kept woman,” she huffed. “I want to do my job and not have to worry about living in the gutter once my relationship falls apart.”

  “Preach, girl!” Lindsey half-shouted.

  “Lindsey, I’m serious.”

  Lindsey gave a deep sigh and finished off the last of the vodka. She stared down at the condensation that was left on the side of the glass for what felt like far too long before she looked back up at Emily. She raised her perfectly arched brow and pursed her lips a moment before asking, “Rant over?”

  “Rant over,” Emily bashfully admitted.

  “Don’t be an idiot,” Lindsey said evenly. There was no longer anything jovial about her words, but the emotion behind her eyes said she was worried. “You said you loved this guy. Don’t sabotage what you have together for Mike, of all people.”

  With that, Lindsey slammed her empty glass on Emily’s desk and made for the elevator. Emily spun in her chair and watched her friend leave, and with every second that passed she wondered if she should go spill her guts and explain everything to her, but then it was too late. The elevator closed behind the pretty girl in the high heels and Emily sighed. She was officially the last one in the office, just like she had been all week.

  FOURTEEN

  Even after Lindsey had implored her to go home, Emily spent a few more hours crunching numbers and manipulating accounts figures. She stared at the clock and suddenly wondered if she should even bother going home that night—maybe she could just catch a nap and work some more.

  Skimming through the accounts files, she paid special attention to any figures that The Hasan Group and their audit team would have particular interest in. She was just about to call it quits when she heard her cellphone buzzing from inside her bag. She leaned over and fished the device out, staring down with a sinking feeling in her stomach as she saw it was Tariq.

  “Hello?”

  “Well hey there, stranger.”

  His voice was so sweet. It brought back a flood of memories from their weekend together, his kisses.

  Emily sat silently on the other end, a self-induced awkward haze hanging over their newly started conversation.

  “You still there?” he asked.

  “Yes, I am. Hi, hello!” she said, trying he best to sound cheerful.

  She heard Tariq take an uneasy breath before he regained his usual charming demeanor. “I, uh, swung by your house but you weren’t there. Thought I’d surprise you with a late dinner.”

  “Unannounced pop-in? Wow, we must really be getting serious,” she teased.

  “That’s what I thought!” he chuckled. “But I’ve never been great with signals, so maybe you can help me out with this one.”

  “Shoot.”

  “So I’m seeing this girl, you might know her. Giant glossy curls that cascade down her face and the most beautiful blue-green eyes I’ve ever seen. She captivates me, astonishes me, and challenges me. She makes me want to be a better person.”

  And there it was. The magic words the Sheikh’s parents had bestowed upon them during their visit. Emily was elated that Tariq felt the same way she did, that he shared in the sentiment that being together brought out the best in both of them. Her heart fluttered at the cute way he expressed himself. She just couldn’t help but think how he made her want to be a better person, and here she was ruining his business deal, all so she could save her own skin.

  “Doesn’t ring a bell,” she finally responded.

  “Did I mention she has the cutest butt?”

  Emily laughed, hard, into the phone. “Okay, okay, it’s ringing a couple bells now.”

  “Right, so, I took this beautiful woman on an adventurous, spur-of-the-moment vacation. I introduced her to my parents, kissed her by the water, poured out my deepest secrets. Sounds like it went swimmingly, right?”

  “Sounds like it,” she agreed playfully.

  “And then we get back here, kiss, make arrangements for a date so we can continue basking in one another’s company and poof! She disappears, like Cinderella.”

  Emily balanced her cellphone between her ear and shoulder and walked over to the coffee maker, putting in a pod of decaf French vanilla. She giggled into the phone and finally responded, “Don’t you hate it when that happens?”


  “Right.” He offered a nervous laugh that seemed to fizzle into worry. “Look, um, I’m not very good at this, as it turns out.”

  “Good at what?”

  “Being away from you. But I’m getting the distinct feeling that you don’t want to see me. I thought I would be the cool guy, you know, leave the ball in your court and all that, but I can’t seem to let it go. So here’s me saying, Emily, I meant what I said. I think I’m falling in love with you.”

  He gave pause and Emily didn’t make to respond, unsure what to say or how to handle the situation. She cringed inwardly as the silence hung there.

  Finally, the Sheikh continued, “So, after you canceled our date, I started wondering if maybe I did something to offend you?”