by Sophia Lynn
She laughed a little. “Hardly. They want to see me safe. They cannot imagine why I want to see the world and really experience it. They love me, but I confuse them a great deal. It is a good relationship, but I will not say it is always an easy one.”
He felt an answering smile at his lips. “I think I might be able to understand you there.” He came to a decision and nodded decisively. “We are done talking about you returning to the United States. I have invited you here as my assistant, and that means I am responsible for bringing you on board at Kalil Enterprises. I have full faith that you will find a home here for as long as you wish.”
Her face lit up as if the sun had come out, and behind it, he could also detect a quality for loyalty and passion that would serve her well as his assistant.
“You are not going to regret this, Mr. Kalil,” she swore. “I know that I'm young, but I also know what I'm doing. I'll do everything I can do to make this switch an easy one.”
He laughed. “All right then. We shall see if we suit each other at all, and from there, we will find out how you fit in at Kalil Enterprises. Though I do have a question for you...”
She looked very alert, as if she was ready to jump into battle on his behalf then and there.
“And what is that, Mr. Kalil?”
“I would very much like it if we could call each other by our given names.”
She blinked. “You mean you want me to call you Amir, and you would like to call me Estelle?”
He nodded, waiting to see how she would take it.
This time, her grin was slower but no less genuine. “Like friends,” she said. “I would very much like to be your friend, Amir.”
He grinned, shaking his head. “Just like in the movies.”
“Beg pardon?”
He laughed, a little self-deprecatingly. “Dubai has a fine tradition of films and cinema, but it cannot be denied that America cinema is seen the world over. I have enjoyed many American films of all types, and something has always struck me about the casual nature. I wondered, since you were an American, how you would react.”
“I'm an American through and through,” Estelle said cheerfully. “But I think that one of my best traits, maybe my most American trait when I come right down to it, is how adaptable I am. I'll take anything you can throw at me.”
He laughed at her enthusiasm, shaking his head. “I didn't expect to have you quite so eager fresh off the plane. I assumed you would want a few days to sleep and get on your feet before I brought you to the business.”
She shook her head, and now there was a glint in her eye. “No, I slept on the plane, and my new place can wait. Can I come see Kalil Enterprises now? Would that be all right?”
Amir glanced at her, a little surprised. “Of course, I was headed that way myself after I dropped you off.”
“Perfect,” she said with a wide grin. “I can't wait to get started.
CHAPTER TWO
Estelle stretched, popping something in her back and making Amir look a little concerned.
“Are you all right?” he asked for the second time in two hours.
“Fresh as a daisy,” she promised, but when she stumbled a little, getting out of her desk chair, he caught her, shaking his head.
“I'm going to warn you, Estelle, it is a bad idea to end an exemplary first day at your job by lying to your employer.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but then she realized what she was going to say and shook her head. “I guess I was, wasn't I?” she said with chagrin. “You're probably right, and I should call it a day.”
“More to the point, I need to call it a day,” he pointed out. “After all, I'm your ride back to your new apartment.”
Estelle's eyes widened and she stammered with guilt. “Oh no! I completely forgot that I was keeping you and that you were my ride. I didn't think at all. I'm sorry.”
Amir's smile was gracious, and it struck her all over again what a handsome man her new employer was. He was far from being the dignified older gentleman that she had thought he was going to be, but she was finally getting used to this version. Every now and then, however, she still looked up and found herself impressed by Amir's height, his lean, muscled body and his good looks.
“It is far from a problem, but perhaps you will allow me to order some food when we get back to your place. I ate before I picked you up, but now I'm quite hungry.”
His look was teasing, but Estelle still felt a touch mortified. As if to agree, her stomach growled loudly. She had last eaten on the plane, and that was a small vegetarian meal of lentils in a bland yellow sauce.
“Anything you like,” she promised.
During the ride back to her apartment, Estelle found herself falling into a contemplative silence. The lights of Dubai were bright against the darkening sky. It was one of the most advanced and wealthy cities in the world, and she could hardly believe that she was here in the middle of all of it. She was making her way in the world, but it was hard to forget that she was now literally on the other side of the planet from everything she knew and cared about.
As if he could sense her mood, Amir drove in silence. It was only when they hit a red light and a well-dressed family of four, mother, father, toddling child and baby in arms, were crossing that he spoke.
“It is all right to be homesick,” he said softly. “You are far away from what you have known.”
“Don't you dare tell me to go home,” she said fiercely. “Not when you were the one who brought me here, and not when I'm going to do all of this good work for you.”
Amir's chuckle was soft, but there was something about it that warmed her right down to her toes.
“I wouldn't dream of it,” he said. “Only I can imagine how it is for you to be lonely, and I wanted to tell you that loneliness was all right. You don't have to hide it or be ashamed of it.”
His words were so kind tears prickled at her eyes. That would be just perfect. She had come to do a demanding job halfway across the world, and now she was going to cry. She blinked hard to keep the tears from falling.
“You speak of it with familiarity,” she said. “Have you been away from home before?”
Amir's laugh was slightly bitter. “I went to school in Oxford for a while, but I barely had time to feel homesick there before I came home.”
Estelle bit her lip, but there was something in the way he spoke that made her feel comfortable enough to continue. For another person, she would have tactfully held off, assuming that they didn't want to share with her. With Amir, things felt a little different.
“What happened?” she asked gently.
He shrugged, more tired than angry or even frustrated. “You are going to be working for Kalil Enterprises now, so you might as well know the lay of the land. My family are traditionalists, Estelle. They have modernized quite nicely, and they are kind people who want the best for the world, but there are some things on which they stand very firm.
“When I was at school, just starting my first year, my older brother Rashid threw over the traces and ran away to South America. The whole family was in turmoil, and I was called back because my parents were in a blind panic.
“Was... was he okay?”
Amir's laugh was oddly respectful, if a little rueful. “Oh, he does quite well there. He's the leader of an artist colony now, and his paintings sell for thousands of dollars. My parents, I think, are proud even if they are still angry, but since Rashid did that, they've become even more... worried about breaking with tradition.”
“And because you are their son, they want to make sure that you carry those traditions on,” she guessed.
“Exactly.”
Estelle thought as the car made its way through the busy streets. She could imagine that. Her family was far from traditional, but even then, she could feel the chains of convention and the familiar pulling down at her. She knew from her research that the Kalil family was an old one, technically counted as royalty, or would have been if the world was
a slightly different place. Amir was, in many ways, a prince.
She was startled when they pulled up to a tall building lit up bright against the dark. Amir pulled into the circle drive where he handed a valet his car keys and told them to send up her baggage.
Estelle barely stopped herself from saying that she would take care of her bag on her own, but she couldn't stop herself from staring around at the marble lobby, the impeccably dressed doorman, and the elegant people on their way in and out.
“Oh, Amir,” she said softly. “Surely this can't be for me?”
“Why shouldn't it?” he asked casually. “Kalil Enterprises owns a block of apartments in this building. My family also owns the penthouse at the top for our exclusive use. It was the most convenient way to get you settled quickly. It is part of your board agreement with us, but if you find it not to your liking, I'm sure we can make comparable arrangements elsewhere.”
Estelle giggled. Maybe she was too tired, because there was something slightly hysterical about the sound of her mirth. When Amir raised an eyebrow, she shook her head.
“I…I just think that my old apartment might be the size of a broom closet in this place,” she said.
Amir nodded judiciously. “This building does have very large broom closets,” he said gravely, and something about that was so funny that she kept on laughing.
If the concierge was startled by the well-dressed man and his giggling companion, she didn't show it. She and Amir passed a few words, and then Amir turned to Estelle with her key cards.
“Here you are. You are on the seventeenth floor.”
The elevator was glass encased with marble, and it was utterly silent as it took them to their floor.
Amir stepped back as Estelle opened the door to her new apartment, and she gasped. It was a one bedroom, but it was utterly enormous and furnished with tasteful furniture that seemed to cry to be used. There was a small balcony that seemed made for plants, a small but impressive entertainment center, and a bedroom that seemed completely dominated by the queen-sized bed.
“I can't believe this,” she said, flopping down on the couch. “This is amazing.”
“We wanted to make sure that you felt invested in staying,” Amir said with a smile. “Kalil Enterprises definitely believes in treating its employees well.”
“There's treating people well, and there's killing them with kindness,” Estelle said. “Did you want to order something?”
Just as she said that, there was a discreet knock at the door.
Amir gestured her to stay seated and went to open it, bringing back a flat box labeled with the florid name, Rossovivo. The familiar smell of fresh pizza made Estelle's mouth start to water and when he put it down on the small table in front of the couch, she could have cried.
“You ordered us pizza?” she said in a small voice.
“I did.” Amir looked at her curiously. “Is that a problem?”
She shook her head. If she spoke, there was an embarrassing chance she was going to cry. Instead, she waited until he sat down at the couch next to her, and she threw her arms around him.
“Thank you,” she whispered into his chest. “This is perfect.”
He seemed a little startled by her impulsive gesture at first, but he quickly wrapped his arms around in her a comforting hug. “Come now,” he said after a moment. “You don't want the pizza to get cold.”
The pizza was not exactly what she had back home in New York, but it was still delicious. The crust was thin and crisp, and the flavors of mozzarella, cream, basil and pistachio exploded in her mouth. They ate in companionable silence for a while. When the first edge of her hunger had been taken off, Estelle thought of how good this felt, simply being able to share food with another person. It made the loneliness and homesickness feel suddenly far less dire.
'Thank you so much,” she said, settling back after her third piece of pizza. “That was just what I needed.”
Amir finished off his slice and leaned back next to her. “I want you to feel like this is your home. I want you to feel as if you have everything you need to make this truly yours.”
“I can see my way there now,” she said, aware that her voice was growing slower and more dazed.
“Good.”
She should at the very least get up and say goodnight if she was going to be a sleepy little lump. Instead, she felt so good and so warm next to Amir that she simply let her eyes drift shut. She could feel her fingers twisting in the soft material of his shirt. She could hear his deep resonant voice saying something to her, but it didn't matter what.
Safe and full, she drifted off into a deep and sound sleep.
*
Amir looked down at his new assistant with a fond smile. He had thought that she looked like a college student when he first saw her. Now that she was nestled up close to him, a small smudge of tomato sauce on her chin, she looked even younger.
“Well, we'll certainly see what you can do,” he said with a sigh.
He was aware that there was a certain gentleness to his voice when he spoke to her. Something about her made him want to protect her, to make sure she wasn't hurt or damaged. When she was sitting in his car, looking at a city that had to be overwhelming, allowing herself only to feel a kind of wonder and delight, he had gotten an idea of how truly brave she was.
Something about her touched something inside him that he was not sure existed before.
It was too much to think about, and after all, it truly had been a very long day.
Amir jostled Estelle's shoulder a little to see if she would wake, but she only snuggled to him more tightly, murmuring a soft protest. He sighed. Apparently there would be no help for it.
He effortlessly picked her up from the couch, settling her comfortably in his arms before he started to walk. She only sighed a little, butting her head against his shoulder. He found himself murmuring to her quietly, telling her to sleep.
He removed her shoes and socks, but the rest he had to leave in place. He tucked her under the covers, and for just a moment, he looked over her as she slept. He had to admit he was feeling more than just protective, and that might be a serious problem for all of them, especially if certain things his parents were discussing came true after all.
Still, despite what he knew to be true, he couldn't stop himself from leaning down to give her a gentle kiss on the forehead. In the light from the living room, he could see her soft mouth curve into a sweet smile.
“Good light, little bunny,” he whispered, and he closed the door behind him as he left.
*
Estelle awoke in a full-blown panic. At first, the source of her confusion was the fact that the light was definitely coming in from the wrong side of her room, and then she realized she was not in her own room at all. Then she remembered that the place she had thought of as her own room was now taken over by a young woman with a ferret and a Mohawk, and she began to feel excited, instead.
She sprang out of bed, shedding the last of the previous evening's anxiety like it was water. She was certain it would be back for her at some point, but right now, she had things she needed to do.
Estelle noted that she was in her travel clothes, and she winced remembering Amir carrying her to bed. She should have been embarrassed to fall asleep on her new boss as if he was a pillow there for her amusement, but instead, the whole incident left her with a feeling of warmth and care. It reminded her of being at home and how her friends had all looked out for each other no matter what was happening.
She got up and checked the clock. It was just six, and Kalil Enterprises started operations around nine. She had plenty of time to send some texts to her loved ones, get a few stretches in and take a shower.
Estelle had never been the strongest or the fastest girl in the world, but she was bendable. She loved to dance, do yoga, and now, dressed in her loose workout clothes, she took care to stretch her body, working out the knots and cramps from a long transatlantic flight. By the end, she had worked
up enough of a sweat that the shower was a welcome diversion.
The shower, like everything else in her apartment, was state-of-the-art and incredibly lovely. It was a large enclosed glass cubicle, and the shower head above was easily the size of a large serving tray. Playing with the controls, she enjoyed a shower designed to mimic the fall of the rain, and when she got out, she knew she was glowing with energy.
She was still looking at her clothing choices for the day when there was a knock at the door. Estelle blinked before wrapping herself snugly in her old robe and went to the door. She didn't think twice about opening the door without the chain latched, and she found herself looking at a very startled Amir.
“Good morning!” she blurted out. “How are you!”
Amir blinked, and then he grinned at her. “Doing quite well,” he said. “I hope the accommodations are to your liking?”
“They're amazing,” she enthused, momentarily forgetting that she was wearing only a robe. She let go of the lapel of the gown to gesture, then remembered the robe right away when she felt it opening.
“Oh! Um, come in! Have a seat, and as soon as I get some clothes on, we can talk about whatever we need to.”
She turned, but not before she caught Amir's eyes wandering momentarily down her form. The thought of him checking her out made her whole body warm, but she told herself there was no way that was happening. Men who looked like they could be on the cover of fashion magazines didn't look over random women in their ratty old bathrobes like that.
“I'd say I'm sorry to bother you first thing in the morning, but this is something that you'll have to get used to, I'm afraid,” he said, raising his voice to be heard from her living room. “The job has us all on call at all hours, and sometimes, the hours we work can be a little strange.”
“Oh, I'm ready for that,” she replied.
Estelle was glad she had her outfits for the first few days picked out. She had done some serious research into the business culture of Dubai and how women fit into it. She was relieved that Kalil Enterprises was more liberal than most; she did not have to wear an abaya to work except perhaps on special occasions, and in general, she could dress on the conservative side of practical.
