The Billionaire's Desire 2: Dubai Confidental (2 page)
I was suddenly aware that I
was naked from the waist down and I felt extremely exposed and self-conscious.
His eyes roamed over me from head to toe, and I couldn't get a read on what he
was thinking.
"I hope that this little
session has cleared up any miscommunication we may have had about our
arrangement. I take it there will not be any more issues when I ask you to do
something." His look was stern but the eyes were sexy and smoldering.
"Everything is crystal
clear."
"Good. Feel free to use
the guest shower to get cleaned up before we arrive in Dubai. I will be in my
shower so if you need anything just ring for the flight attendant."
I was so grateful that there
was a shower on the jet. I wanted to arrive fresh and ready to dive into work
when we landed.
After my shower, I sat at the
conference table to start working on the files that Joshua had given me. He
was already there looking immaculate in his custom suit, his dark hair styled
perfectly but still wet from the shower. He glanced up as I walked in and I
thought I saw a glimmer of appreciation as he quickly scanned what I was
wearing. Apparently the cream slacks and Dolce top met with his approval. We
worked in silence until it was time to return to our seats to prepare for
landing. As I was putting away my papers he told me that he wanted me to
research any public information Jameson Industries’ may have provided about
their financial goals for the past 10 years. The company was going to have a
staff meeting on Wednesday regarding Jameson, who was their newest client,
before the actual big meeting with Jameson on Friday. I was sitting in on both
meetings.
As we were sitting in our
seats, he said that when we landed we would be driven to the hotel where we
would have just a few minutes to freshen up before we had to go to the office.
He also reminded me that the following day I would be shopping all day with a
personal shopper who I would meet in the morning.
"Sounds good. Joshua, I
was thinking about something, I never signed any sort of contract regarding our
agreement. Isn't there some sort of document I am supposed to sign?"
He looked at me with an almost
mocking grin his face.
"Oh, no? You didn't sign
anything, huh? Hmmm, interesting."
I didn't know how to react
because I couldn't tell if he was serious or if he was teasing me. For a
millisecond I had a mini panic as I thought that perhaps there really was no
agreement.
Look where you are and where you are going.
You’re on a
private jet!
Of course there is some sort of agreement!
As soon as
I reminded myself of that, I started thinking rationally again. I didn't give
him the satisfaction of letting him see me squirm. I replied calmly.
"No, I didn't sign
anything." I held his gaze to let him know that he would not intimidate
me. I think he appreciated me not backing down because he answered my
question.
“I anticipated you would ask
me about this. “ He handed me an electronic tablet. “This is yours. Keep it
with you at all times while we are in Dubai. Open the yellow folder icon.”
When I clicked on it, I saw a
document labeled “personal and confidential" inside. I clicked on that
and there in front of me was a detailed contract explaining everything we
discussed.
"Read it over, and if you
agree, sign it electronically and send it to me. You have 24 hours to review
it. And, if at any time something is too much for you or you don’t want to do
it, just say ‘stop’ and I will.”
I planned to read it carefully
later that evening but, as long as it had all of the information we had
discussed written into the contract, I didn't see a reason why I would
not
sign it. I put the tablet in my bag and closed my eyes to rest for a few
minutes while we landed. All of the shades were drawn because the sun was so
hot it would have instantly heated up the inside of the jet, so I didn't get to
see anything as we landed.
As soon as we hit the ground,
I looked at the time and realized I had to take my pill.
“Joshua, I have to take my
pill. Can I quickly grab a bottle of water?”
“Of course. I’ll have the
flight attendant get it for you. Is everything okay? What are you taking?”
“Everything is fine. It’s
just my birth control pill.”
He raised his eyebrows,
silently asking the question.
“I’ve been taking them since I
was 15 to regulate my cycle.” My answer seemed to satisfy his curiosity as I
drank the water. We then gathered our things and exited the plane.
As soon as we stepped off of
the plane, it all started to feel real to me. We were surrounded by nothing
but desert for miles and it was easily over 100°. A beautiful Rolls Royce was
waiting to drive us to our hotel.
“Welcome back to Dubai Mr.
Hunter, I hope your flight was enjoyable." Our driver was wearing a black
and white uniform and held out his white gloved hand as he helped me into the
air-conditioned car. I saw a gun at his hip as he held out his hand and it
terrified me. Joshua greeted the driver and then joined me in the car.
“He has a gun!” My panicked
whisper didn’t faze Joshua.
“He has to have a gun. He is
also one of my security guards. This car is bullet proof by the way. Every
car we will be in on this trip will be bullet proof. And although you may not
see them, security will be with me wherever I go.” His matter of fact tone
placated me and I was able to relax for the remainder of the ride.
We were staying in the Burj Al
Arab hotel and I was not prepared for what I was about to see. To describe the
hotel as opulent barely scratches the surface. It was absolutely beautiful.
Gold and marble lined the walls and floors everywhere you turned. I had never
seen anything like this, and I was savoring every moment of it.
I felt as though I was in a
fairytale as we were shown to our rooms. Joshua was booked in the Royal suite
and it was adorned with lavish decor. It had floor to ceiling glass windows,
it was two levels and he had a private butler, a private elevator and a private
theater. The lower level housed the dining area, a lounge, and library. The
upper level housed two bedrooms. The master bedroom had a rotating
four-poster canopy bed and an adjoining marble bathroom that had a spa bath,
walk-in shower, and designer bath products. The second bedroom also had an
adjoining bathroom with the same amenities.
I was booked in the
one-bedroom deluxe suite a few floors down. Of course, it was not as stunning
but, it was still impressive. I had a private butler as well, and it also had
floor to ceiling glass windows. It had two levels and the lower level housed
the living room, dining table and guest bath. The upper level housed the
bedroom with a king size bed, a luxury bathroom with a Jacuzzi, and a dressing
room. It was easily bigger than my small apartment back in the States.
The
view from my room was beyond breathtaking. We were completely surrounded by
water. I was still gazing out of the window when Joshua told me we had to go
to the office.
The office was in a high tech,
state of the art building with glass windows all around. Joshua introduced me
to the people I would be working closely with while we were in Dubai, and I
also met his assistant Samira. I liked her the second I met her. She was an
older lady, around 50, and she had a very warm personality.
“It is so nice to meet you
Sarah. I have heard wonderful things about you. You have made quite an
impression on Mr. Hunter.” She beamed at me and I was instantly drawn to her
kind personality. “Come, let’s get you set up in your office. There are a few
tasks that I know Mr. Hunter wanted you to complete before next Wednesday’s
meeting.”
“Next Wednesday? I thought it
was this Wednesday.”
“Both meetings this week have
been pushed back a week. There was some sort of conflict with one of the
partner’s schedules.”
I had to admit I felt a bit of
relief knowing I had more time to prepare.
We started walking to my
office and Samira was very chatty with me. “So how do you like Dubai so far?”
“It is absolutely
breathtaking.”
I thought she was going to
launch into a bunch of small talk but as soon as we reached my office she
closed the door.
“There is quite a bit of buzz
about you around here.” She raised her eyebrows, holding back a smile, and
almost looked like she was fascinated by me, as if I were a celebrity or
something.
I looked at her, totally
perplexed. “About me?? Why?”
“Mr. Hunter has never brought
anyone with him to Dubai unless they were a partner. There is something very
special about you.” She gave me a look that said she was excited about finding
out more.
I was a little bit uncomfortable with her
reaction because it made me feel that he had big expectations for me. My plan
was to work hard, do a good job, and make partner in five years. I didn’t know
what he expected beyond our agreement and my hard work. And it made me
nervous.
“Your files are in the cabinet behind you
and everything has been scanned to your computer so that you can access
everything there as well. If you have any questions I am just a phone call
away.” And with that, she smiled and left my office.
I took a minute to sit and take it all
in. The view my office was beautiful. I was starting to get the feeling that
every view from every window in every building was going to be beautiful in
Dubai. I smiled a bit to myself because I was so proud of how far I had come.
I won’t let you down Joshua
. I dove into the research on the Jameson
file so that I could prepare a spreadsheet for next Wednesday’s meeting.
The rest of day was grueling
as I barely had time to get acclimated before diving right into work. By the
end of the day I was exhausted. It had been a long nearly 24 hours and all I
wanted to do was go sit in the bath and relax. I was just finishing up the
first draft of the spreadsheet when Samira came to my door.
“The car will be here for you in five
minutes to take you back to your hotel. Tomorrow is a day of shopping for
you. Mr. Hunter would like for you to have a specific wardrobe while here in
Dubai. Your personal shopper, Asima, will meet you for breakfast at the Sahn
Eddar restaurant at the base of the atrium of your hotel at 8:30 a.m. Have a
nice evening.” She smiled as she left my office.
CHAPTER TWO
My butler woke me at 7:00 a.m.
and I dragged my exhausted body out of bed.
Ugh. Do I really have to go
shopping ALL day today?
Most women would have loved to shop all day, but I
would rather be in the office working. However, Joshua wanted me to have a
specific wardrobe while in Dubai, so there would be no push back from me on
this. But, I did ask him to cancel the glam squad for the day. I was more
than capable of making myself look presentable and, thankfully, he agreed.
At 8:25 I went down to Sahn
Eddar to meet Asima for breakfast. She was extremely lovely and we had a nice
chat about the types of clothes I like to wear. Normally, I was told, a
personal shopper gets a sense of your style and then does the shopping for you
so that you can spend your time doing other things. Joshua wanted me to go
with her and try everything on so that we would not have to waste any time
sending things back for different sizes. Asima was able to decipher my style
personality and we ended up having a nice time shopping together. It was a
long day and most of our time was spent at shops in the Mall of the Emirates
and the Dubai Mall. I think I purchased something from every major designer
boutique in the malls, including jewelry. By the end of the day, I had to
admit that I enjoyed myself. It was fun to be able to buy all of those
expensive things without even blinking at the price tags. I had spent more in
one day than I had made in the last five years. All of my new things were
going to be delivered to my room the following day and Asima and her team were
going to take care of putting everything in its place. I didn’t have to do so
much as hang up a shirt. It was all going to be taken care of for me.
This
was the life.
That night I ate dinner alone
at the Bab Al Yam in the lobby of the hotel. It was so peaceful to sit there
and take in the gorgeous views of the sea. I still felt like I was in
fairytale dream, and one day I would wake up and it would all be over. But
until that day came, I wanted to live in the moment.
The rest of the week was arduous as I dove
into my project. There was an urgency in the air as everyone worked to meet
deadlines. Jameson was a huge client and the entire office was working on
something for them. The big meeting was coming up and many people were a bit
on edge. By Friday I didn’t even have the energy to go have coffee with Samira
after work. I went straight to my hotel room and slept until Saturday without
eating dinner. I did a bit of sight-seeing over the weekend. I didn’t feel
strange walking around by myself,f but I would have much rather gone
sight-seeing with Joshua. I had only seen him a couple of times at the office
since we arrived. He was swamped with preparing for the big meeting with
Jameson. Both Saturday and Sunday I took a bunch of pictures and went to a
couple of souks to find souvenirs for my brothers.
