“Yes, do continue. What is it that you really want to know?”
“I want to know the man you are inside. Not as a public figure or an employer, but as a man.”
“You want to know if I would make a good role model for our child.”
Maddy could hardly breathe. It was a conversation she’d been scared to have, and the heat in his eyes was enough to have her blushing to the roots of her hair, but she had to know. She had to think of her future child, and what kind of mother would she be if she didn’t go over all the basics first before making a decision regarding that?
They sat facing one another, their faces mere inches apart, so close that Maddy could feel the warmth of his breath and smell the wine they had enjoyed. The alcohol was streaming through her veins now, making her bold and daring, and she was glad for it. She would never have had the courage to face him like this without it.
“Did you know,” he began, “That I really do remember the day we hired you? I remember it vividly, because you were so unique. So singularly intelligent, all while clearly trying to hide your beauty so that you would be taken seriously. But you couldn’t hide it. There was a part of me that wanted to speak with you, take you out to dinner, but I didn’t dare. I didn’t want to scare you away, or make you think I was pursuing you because of your looks.”
“I’m not scared now,” Maddy breathed, and in that moment, it was true.
There would always be that part of her mind that told her what she was doing was foolish, that she should evaluate the situation with a clear head and make a decision later, after she’d had some time to think about it.
Then he bent down the two inches and captured her lips in a kiss.
Maddy tasted the sweet wine as their lips danced together, a fire erupting within her like she had never felt before. Clinging to him, she allowed Akim to kiss her to within an inch of her sanity before he finally pulled away.
“We should wait,” he breathed, though Maddy could tell he was fighting every instinct in him to say such a thing.
She fought to control her own raging emotions. “You’re right, of course. There would be no value in consummating before the drug was in full effect.”
They paused, staring up at one another, before Maddy pulled his collar, tugging him down to her for another passionate kiss. After several moments, they pulled apart, breathless.
“Of course, it couldn’t hurt to practice, you know. Get the first one out of the way so that when the time comes, we’ll already be comfortable with one another.”
Maddy’s hormones raged as she fought with her better judgment. Still, she wasn’t all science. There was a big part of her that was very much an irrational, human woman, and that part currently refused to listen to reason, whatsoever.
“That’s an excellent point,” she agreed.
“Well then,” Akim said, and his grin was lustful as he stood, bent over, and scooped her up into his arms.
Maddy clung tightly to his neck as Akim pushed open the door and carried her inside, the warm air a welcome sensation after the frigid night breeze. She relaxed a little now that she wasn’t dangling over the entire city, and glanced back up at Akim, who was already watching her.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
He was asking for her consent. He was making sure that she wouldn’t regret what they were about to do. Maddy tried to find a reason to say no. She would be making love to her boss for no reason other than to enjoy the feeling of his body against hers.
At the moment, there seemed nothing wrong with that at all.
“I’m sure,” she breathed.
EIGHT
Maddy slowly regained consciousness, though she refused to open her eyes. Fuzzy white light glared against the fronts of her eyelids, and she rolled over, hugging a large pillow to her chest.
It was then that she realized she didn’t have pillows that big on her bed, and her eyes shot open.
The Sheikh’s bedroom was brightly lit, and Maddy’s eyes did not enjoy the sensation. She closed them again, trying to remember the previous evening, piecing it together as though through a hazy fog.
She had come over for a drink, ended up having a bottle of wine, maybe more, and gorging herself of pastries. Then a kiss, and…
Oh, God.
Maddy rolled over, but the spot where Akim had fallen asleep was empty. She tried not to feel disappointed about that. Perhaps he was an early riser. Normally she was, too, if not for the copious amounts of wine from the night before.
She sat up, one aching inch at a time, her head buzzing and full of cotton balls, her mouth dry as the desert stretching across the horizon. She chided herself for letting her good judgement fall away so fast. She should have known better than to get drunk around Akim—her boss!
She could hardly bring herself to leave the room, though she knew she had to. Akim was likely out that way, probably in the kitchen, having breakfast. And besides, who said this had to be awkward? What they had shared the night before was fantastic, wasn’t it?
For a moment, she allowed herself to think about what it would be like living in Akim’s penthouse with their children, and she felt a warm glow come over her at the thought. Perhaps she could face him with a warm smile and they could see where things would go, outside of the laboratory.
Perhaps.
Maddy found the pieces of her discarded clothing, putting them on slowly before heading to Akim’s bathroom. When she got a glance of her reflection, she nearly gasped.
Her makeup was halfway down her face. Her hair was sticking up in every possible direction, and her clothes were rumpled beyond repair.
In short, she was a total train wreck.
Maddy worked quickly to sort out her face and tidy her hair, finding a tube of toothpaste and using her finger to scrub her teeth. It would have to do until she could get home and clean herself up properly. Finally, she took a deep breath, and exited the room.
As she had guessed, Akim was sitting at the kitchen table, a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and his cellphone in the other. He was thumbing through something when he heard Maddy walk in and glanced up.
“Good morning,” he said. His tone was professional, as though they were meeting in the hallway at work. It gave Maddy pause, and she walked in cautiously, trying to gauge the situation.
“Morning,” she replied.
“There’s coffee on the counter,” he said, not looking up from his phone.
“Oh, no thanks, not a big coffee fan.”
“Ah, well,” he replied, and said nothing else.
Maddy shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other as she tried to decide her next move. This was not at all what she had been expecting.
As if sensing her uncertainty, Akim glanced up. “No need to stand around, right? Do you have a change of clothes at work? I’d really like to get going as soon as possible.”
Maddy stared at him, but his expression was carefully blank. After a beat, she was able to answer.
“Yes I do.”
“Great. Let’s go, then. My driver is already waiting downstairs with the car.”
He strode from the penthouse, then, Maddy having no choice but to follow lest he simply leave her behind. Her mind was a muddled mess, and all she wanted was some ibuprofen, a large glass of water, and her couch. Instead, she got a terribly long and silent elevator ride down to the hotel lobby, followed by a very awkward few minutes in the backseat of Akim’s Rolls Royce.
After a while, Akim finally put down his phone and looked at Maddy. “So, are you excited at the prospect of the results?”
“The results?”
“Of the Chlomerol trial! I’ve been thinking about our marketing platform and where we should start. I think the United States and Europe would be our best bet after Elbazzar, and then we can spread through the Middle East and Asia. A global tour will be just the thing to really get this baby off the ground—pun intended!”
Akim chuckled at his own joke while Maddy stared at
him in utter disbelief. For one small, tiny moment, she had thought that he might be more to her than a business partner. Evidently he had figured that wine and charm would be enough to get her into bed, for the sake of their agreement.
She knew she shouldn’t be mad. He had done the work she wasn’t willing to do—find a way to get comfortable enough to produce a child through natural sexual contact.
So why did she feel so used?
She realized that he was looking at her expectantly, and she cleared her parched throat. “I think that would be a great place to start, though of course, if I do get pregnant, it will be unlikely that I will be able to attend the launch personally.”
“Perhaps,” Akim said. “But we have private jets that are beyond comfortable. Your accommodations would be more than agreeable, and we could set up a nursery in a private plane just for you and the child. You could travel the world in comfort. Many celebrities and singers do just that when they have children.”
“Is that so?” Maddy said, her tone distracted.
She could hardly believe the conversation they were having. He wanted to drag her and her baby around the world to show them off like show ponies, just to sell their drug and make a profit. How many times would she have to remind herself that that was his end of the bargain, anyway? Her takeaway was the child she had always wanted, his was profit.
That was the end of it, clearly.
The car pulled into the parking garage adjacent to the Akhemical laboratories, sliding into Akim’s personal parking space at the front. Very few other cars were in the garage, as it was still extremely early.
“I figured it would be best to get here early, so no one would see us arriving in the same car. Don’t you agree?”
“Of course,” Maddy said.
It made sense. It was a rational thought, and one that was meant to protect her reputation within the company. But if that were the case, why not just let her go home first? Why bring her here?
Akim opened the door, but before he exited, he turned to her. “What would you say to meeting next weekend, my place again?”
Maddy nearly snorted. “I’m afraid that won’t be necessary. I’ll need to be on the treatment for four weeks before it will have any effect. Then we can meet up again.”
Akim looked as though he was going to say something, but then changed his mind. “Fair enough. Feel free to stop by my office closer to the time and we’ll start working something out. Good luck, Maddy.”
And without another word, he was gone. His driver kept his view to the front, not bothering to glance back or say anything, and Maddy slid out of the car on her own before heading to the female locker area.
Like many Akhemical employees, Maddy thankfully had a spare set of clothes at the lab. Often they worked long hours or worked out at the provided gym area, and employees could use a locker to change and get straight to work. Being one of the few women there, Maddy had the entire locker room to herself. She grabbed a bottle of water from the provided fridge and took a deep drink until the whole thing was empty.
Then she cried.
There was no reason for it, her logical mind told her. Akim had given her every opportunity to back out. He had asked her if she wanted to stay, and every fiber of her being had. Of course, that was when he was kind and open and full of charm. The man she had met with in the morning might as well have been a stranger.