His smile revealed straight, white teeth. “I would imagine so.”
Leyla wondered why he’d brought her up to his office. She’d already been offered the job. Why, then, go through a second interview?
“What about you?” she asked. “Have you always been the CEO of this oil company?”
“Hardly.” Another smile graced his gorgeous face. “I’m going on a year here. My father started the company.”
“Ah, got it.” Leyla set her laced hands on her knees. “He must be really proud of you.”
His smile dimmed. “Do you have any questions for me? About the job?”
Leyla stiffened. It seemed she’d said something wrong, but she couldn’t imagine what. She supposed the topic of his father was a sore one. Maybe they didn’t get along.
“I’m just excited to get started,” she answered.
“Good.” He nodded. “Now, you’re Sharraini.”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
They’d already been over that.
“How often do you visit there?” Kane asked.
“I never have.”
“Really?” He raised a brow. “Not at all?”
Leyla’s stomach churned. So, this was why he’d called her up here? He wanted to know more about her connection to Sharrain?
Not that there was anything much to reveal.
“Nope.” Leyla shrugged.
“Are you in touch with anyone there? Surely, you have family that still lives there?”
“I don’t talk to anyone there.”
She could tell him more, like that she had always wanted to visit the country she was born in. Or that any time she’d asked her mother about it, she’d been met with short answers that never supplied satisfactory information. But Kane Clayton’s unnatural interest in her heritage had her on edge.
Suppose he doubted hiring her merely because she was Sharraini, and this whole conversation was an attempt at finding out if she was American enough for the job?
Well, that wouldn’t do. She’d proven herself in the audition, and she shouldn’t be denied work because of where she was born.
“I’ve never had much interest in going there, really,” she said, nonchalant as she could manage. “Texas is my home.”
Texas was her home, but she had a great interest in visiting Sharrain one day. She wondered about it constantly, but her mother had never supplied any information about why they’d left the little Middle Eastern country and come to America. Leyla had never known her father, a man who might as well have not existed, and if she had living relatives, they could be anywhere.
“I see.” Kane’s thick eyelashes fluttered. “I can certainly relate to that.”
“I know.” Leyla nodded at the wall of trophies.
“Thank you for coming to meet with me. I only have one more question.”
“Certainly.”
“Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
Leyla’s mouth fell open. Wait. Did he mean…
“Not in a professional manner.” Kane’s voice dropped, becoming seductively deep. “It would be a purely… personal meal.”
Leyla’s body and soul lit up like a Christmas tree. Holy smokes! So, he had been checking her out earlier.
“I would love to,” she said.
Kane’s eyes shone. “Wonderful. How is seven?”
“Good with me.”
The phone on his desk started ringing, but he kept his attention on Leyla.
“I can let you get that.” She nodded at the phone.
He looked hesitant to let her go, but eventually, he nodded.
“I do have things to get to. If you’ll write down your address, I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”
Leyla did as he asked, then walked for the door. The matter of saying goodbye presented a conundrum. Did they shake hands?
As it turned out, Kane didn’t touch her at all. “I look forward to seeing you tomorrow,” he said in the doorway.
“You, too.”
“Have a good day.”
His phone started ringing again, so she gave him a little wave and started down the hall. The phone kept ringing, though, and she felt him watching her as she went.
The second she reached the street, Leyla pulled out her phone and made a call.
“Hey,” London answered.
“You won’t believe what just happened.” Leyla dodged foot traffic.
“You got the job?”
“Yep.”
“Really?” London shrieked. “I was kidding. How did that happen so fast?”
“Beats me.” Leyla shook her head. “I guess Kane knew what he wanted when he saw it.”
The double-meaning of the statement made her warm all over. She hadn’t meant to be suggestive, but it was hard when everything about Kane Clayton begged her to be exactly that.
“Kane?”
“Kane Clayton. ClayFuel’s CEO. That’s the other part. He just asked me to dinner tomorrow night.”
“Hold up. Like on a date?”
“Yes.” Leyla’s footsteps echoed in the parking garage. As she walked, she fished in her purse for her keys. “And there was no mistaking it. He called it a ‘personal’ dinner.”
“How did all of this happen in, what? An hour?”
“Trust me, I’m asking myself exactly that.”
Unlocking her car, Leyla dropped into the driver’s seat. The morning’s events still didn’t seem real.
“How did this happen? Like, he asked you out at the audition?”
“No. Right after I left, I got a call that they were offering me the job. Kane wanted me to go up to his office right away.”
“Hm. That sounds suspicious.”
“Okay,” Leyla laughed. “I hear that, but nothing about it was creepy at all. Except…”
“Except what?”
She started her car and turned on the air conditioning.
“He seemed really interested in my Sharraini heritage.”
“They want an ethnically ambiguous actress?”
“No, it was… I think it was more than that.”
“What do you mean?” London asked.
Leyla shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m being paranoid. I didn’t tell him much, because I didn’t want him to think I’m not Texan enough to represent his oil company.”
London snorted. “Honey, Texas is a big state. There’s a little bit of everything in it.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Leyla murmured, still unable to get Kane’s questions about her heritage off her mind.
“Are you excited?”
“About which part?” Leyla asked on a laugh.
“Both.”
“Yeah. I really am.” Leyla felt a slow smile pull at her lips.
The last few months had been hard. No, scratch that. The last year had been hard. The most difficult one of her life.
She was long overdue for a blessing or two.
Chapter 4
Kane
Below ClayFuel’s headquarters, cars and people buzzed around the streets. Kane swiveled his office chair around, scooting it closer to the window.