The Sheikh's Virgin Bride(45)
There was only one rule she needed to remember: No falling for the Sheikh!
Chapter Six
A week later, it was the day before Kaye was due to start shooting.
She had signed her contract and sent it back to Amir, and he had sent her a quick reply thanking her for going along with it. She promptly began scanning the web for houses, cars—whatever she could splurge on with the money she would make from the show.
It was a daydream for the ages!
She was going through the background information on her “character” when her doorbell rang. Glancing up, she walked over to the buzzer and pressed the button to talk.
“Who is it?”
“Um, hi, Miss Kearney. I’m here with your delivery?”
There was a question in his voice that gave away the fact that even he was unsure why he had stopped by. Kaye had not ordered anything in several months.
“I didn’t place an order for anything?” she replied, using the same question in her tone.
“Right, sorry. It’s actually a gift from Mr. Al-Asfour for before the shoot. There’s a note with it; I just need you to sign.”
“Oh—okay, yeah. I’ll be right down!”
Her belly fluttered at the thought of a gift from Amir. The man was kindness personified. Paired with his good looks, it would be quite the challenge keeping her thoughts purely friendly over the course of their work together. Then she thought about the money, and all thoughts of Amir and his stunning face disappeared.
When she reached the bottom floor, she opened the door and nearly bumped into the delivery boy, who was a young, gangly fellow.
“Hi,” he said, painfully shy. “Here’s where you sign, and here’s your note.”
“Where’s the gift?” Kaye asked, staring around them in search of a box.
The boy stepped aside, revealing a brand new version of her car, in gleaming canary yellow.
“The Sheikh said something about a new ride for a new bride…he’s funny like that,” the kid mumbled.
Kaye stood with her mouth hanging open, staring at the shiny new vehicle. When she realized what she was doing, she closed her mouth, taking the pen from the delivery guy and signing for the car.
“The note, miss?” he said, holding it out to her.
She took it, and the set of keys that came with it, before coming back to life and making eye contact with the deliverer.
“Thank you very much,” she breathed.
He shrugged.
“Don’t thank me. The Sheikh is a generous man. I’m one of his assistants, Joshua. You can ask me for anything when you’re on set and I’ll make sure you get what you need. Sounds like the first thing you needed was a new car, eh?”
“You have no idea,” Kaye said, still breathless.
“Mr. Al-Asfour has a keen eye for what’s needed on all his projects. He’s a very smart man.”
“Interesting that you call him that,” Kaye observed, her eyes bouncing from Joshua to her car and back again. She didn’t want to take her eyes off it for too long, lest it disappear and she wake up from this dream she was having.
Joshua’s eyes lit up with a gentle humor.
“Mr. Al-Asfour? I just use that term in professional situations. He hates it.”
“You do it to tease him?”
“Sometimes. Or, to make him feel old.”
“He’s thirty-two.”
“I’m nineteen.”
“Ah, I suppose thirty-two is ancient to you then, isn’t it?”
“In this town? It’s pretty ancient, period.”
He chuckled, and waved a fond farewell to her as a cab pulled up. He slid into the back seat and was gone before Kaye had a chance to thank him one last time. Instead, she gazed at the shiny new car, stepping forward and unlocking it with the fancy key fob. Sliding into the driver’s seat, she pulled Amir’s note from its little envelope. His handwriting was neat, the sign of a perfectionist.
Kaye,
Wanted to make sure you’d be able to get to my house for filming tomorrow in one piece. Please enjoy this gift, as a token of my appreciation. I look forward to working with you.
All good things,
A
Kaye squealed with excitement as she turned the engine, which purred to life without any sign of struggle. She beamed out at the world as she took it for a test spin, thinking about where she could sell off her old car and start a new life entirely.
Finally, things were starting to look up!
*
The next morning, Kaye was up bright and early, anxious to get to Amir’s house. She packed a small bag, unsure of what to really expect, then she looked up the address he had emailed her earlier in the week. Based on the street name, Kaye knew she’d be driving to a part of Santa Monica she had never been in before. Sliding on a pair of sunglasses, she plopped her little bag in the back seat of her beautiful new car and left her dinky little apartment behind, ready to start a new adventure. As she got nearer to the coast, the scent of salt wafted on the breeze, and she breathed it in, feeling totally alive.
Her new car’s navigation system led her up a winding series of hills, until she finally approached a gated entryway. The black cast-iron bars were looped and laced together, creating a stunning pattern. There was a buzzer box to her left, and she pressed the button to gain entry.