“Has any one of you ever met him in person?” Kim asked. Maybe if they had met him, they would rethink their impression of him.
“Only in my dreams,” Dania replied, in a wistful tone as the women laughed.
Chapter Seven
Karim leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the air conditioning. Rubbing his head, he stared at the pile of papers strewn across his desk. Groaning, pinched the bridge of his nose and then looked back at the papers, which hadn’t moved since the last time he looked at them. He had so much to do before the shareholder meeting and it was becoming overwhelming.
He had spent the last several hours reading everything they had on the larger shareholders, the previous meeting notes and what he would need for this meeting. It was not in his nature to do anything halfway and he wanted, no needed, everything to be perfect for this meeting.
Suddenly the door opened and Kim walked in. Karim watched her walk cautiously towards his desk. Normally, he was good at figuring women out, but Kim had been a puzzle to him from the moment he met her.
Maybe it was because she was American, although he had met the Tazeem women and, admittedly, he couldn’t understand how such steadfast bachelors could fall in love. Love was for the weak and those who didn’t have shareholder meetings.
“Anyone ever tell you that it’s rude to enter without permission?” he asked her as she narrowed her gaze at him.
“I’m rude? Me?” Biting down her anger, Kim took a deep breath. “One of the maids mentioned that you had missed dinner. Since I was about to grab some dinner for myself, would you like anything to eat?”
“No.” He noticed that she was holding a math textbook and determined that she was probably coming back from tutoring at the orphanage. Amare had mentioned something about it but Karim had not enquired further.
“Fine,” she replied, turning to leave.
“Wait. Are you good with figures?” he asked abruptly.
“Kind of.” Kim nodded hesitantly.
“I have some stuff I need sorting out.” That was the closest he could come to asking her for help. He was usually giving orders and demanding things. He was definitely not used to asking for help or needing it.
Crossing her arms, she looked at him, “Anyone ever tell you that it’s rude not to say please?”
Staring at her, he couldn’t believe her cheek as she continued to stare back. He finally managed to ground out, “Please.” Nodding her head, Kim placed her book on his desk and picked up the sheets of paper to study them.
Since her head was down, he openly looked at her taking in her casual dress. Karim could tell that she had no regard for her image, as it didn’t seem as if she put much effort into it. She had very long brown hair that hung straight down her back and complemented her pale complexion. She had piercing blue eyes that he found intriguing. Her figure was more boyish than womanly, but it all seemed to suit her.
“If you don’t mind?” Kim asked, as she pointed to his desk.
“By all means,” Karim said, pulling the chair out for her as she walked around to sit down. Grabbing a pen and a pad of paper, she began to scribble away as he watched her work out the figures.
The problem that Karim was having was that the business accounts were outdated. His father was stuck in his ways and hated change. While Karim himself was traditional in many ways; he believed that some modern conveniences were necessary, especially when running a global business. Some change was good. For example, these outdated files, it would have been good if they had been updated and put in Excel spreadsheets.
Karim was surprised that Kim was working on the documents with such ease. She did not seem to have any difficulties. Sure, he knew that she was smart; otherwise, she would have never been tutoring Amare. His family only ever hired exceptional tutors; however, he was still surprised at how quickly she worked. He caught her biting at her lower lip as his focus shifted from the ledger sheets to her lips.
Kim started explaining the formulas to him but he found himself unable to concentrate on her words. He had never noticed how full her lips were as he wondered if they were as soft as they looked. They were just so inviting. Yet, he had to decline the invitation, as hard as it was.
“Okay,” Karim said as he nodded. He decided to listen to what she was actually saying instead of focusing on her lips.
“So it is simple really,” she said. “It would be the same with these figures. Let me show you.”
As Karim stared at Kim, he noticed that she was quite pretty. Her face had an appealing symmetry. Her skin looked so soft that he wanted to reach out and run his hand along her skin to test exactly how soft it was...