Hired To Be Mine

Chapter 11

"Paul! I have been very lenient with you just because you are an Uni student. That doesn't mean you will take the job for granted", Nicole scolded the waiter who was youngest of them all.

"I know boss, it's just that the winter break's coming soon and our professors decided to dump all these projects on us at once", he whined like a baby. He studies at the New York University and works part time at Nicole's cafe. She assigned him the work of decorating the cafe with this week's theme 'Pink October', an awareness program she came to know about, from the very same 'Paul' who has been taking leaves to set this 'Pink October' campaign in his college.

She was intrigued with the idea of spreading awareness about Breast Cancer among people, and thought why not make it the theme of this week. And when she asked Paul to do it, he was giving excuses on how he can't because he is so busy. It was pissing her off.

"If you can't take even an hour out of your busy schedule, then why bother honey, just quit", her voice was dripping with sarcasm and anger.

"You know I need this job boss. Its closer to my University and the tips are great", he said scratching his head

"And the girls who come here are pun intended" she said with sarcasm

"That too", he grinned sheepishly at her, to which she just rolled her eyes.

"Go to hell. Either you do it, or you are fired" Nicole said with finality, planting her hands on her hip.

Paul gave a huge sigh and hung his head in defeat. "Yes Boss" he drawled and dragged his feet out of the office.

She sat down on her chair behind the desk in her office and resumed the work which she left unfinished. Nicole was knee deep in paper work regarding the cafe. She was just seconds away from hiring an accountant to do all the paperwork and balance sheets, but the salary those accountants demanded restricted her from doing so.

"Yuck! Do not tell me that your cafe is going to be wrapped in pink now. In that case, I can't come here anymore", Eugene complained narrowing his eyes at her accusingly, from where he sat himself comfortably.

"Its for a good cause and besides I never invited you in the first place", Nicole said not sparing him a glance,

"Yeah, keep that attitude up and your cafe will be swarming with no one except a few flies maybe", he retorted rolling his eyes and stretching his arms back lazily,

"Why are you here again?" She asked, knowing full well why he was here, but just to get on his nerves

"You know why" he snapped looking uncomfortable and completely out of place. "And where the hell are my donuts?"

It has been two weeks since she first met him and even now he doesn't stop annoying the crap out of her.After that day when she first met this 'Scarred Billionaire' at an ungodly time at her house in the most awkward situation, she was sure that they will never get along. But after a couple of days, Eugene dropped into her Cafe unannounced, startling her customers with his intimidating self.

All her employees were s**t scared to go near him, even to take an order or to serve him, so after a couple of minutes of staring and glaring she took his order herself and served him his pastry and black coffee. Since then, he self invited himself into her office room which later became his personal, private table for the rest of his life, as he put it.

"You know Salim would never agree to that Photo shoot you're suggesting", she said casually remembering why he was here in the first place on a Sunday.

Eugene, being the Public Relations manager of Salim suggested him to do a photo shoot starring Salim as an Arabian Sheik. He believes that women fantasize him like that and that would be a huge plus to his upcoming event in Paris. But Salim outright refused it and that is why Eugene was here to convince Nicole in coaxing Salim to agree to the shoot.

"He would. If you persuaded him a little", he added suggestively like he's been doing since the day he stepped into her cafe.

"I won't do anything of such sorts. And why do you think he will listen to me anyway?" she asked turning her attention to him completely,

"Because he is whipped", he shrugged. Nicole shook her head.

"You know what I think?" She asked him with a smirk,

"What?" he raised his brows at her, "I think we should do a 'Pink October' theme. Design a few jeweleries in Pink and auction them. We could use the money as charity for the organizations which spread the awareness about Breast Cancer and help the victims. And it will be a great publicity for Salim", she shrugged with a glint of excitement in her eyes.

"Hm... That's not a dumb idea", Eugene had a thoughtful look on his face. "And since we are almost in the middle of the month, we could do this as an 'end of the month' program. It will like a closure to the month. But the question is, will you guys be able to get everything done by then? We don't have much time!"

"You are under estimating us, Mister", she pointed a finger at him to which he just smirked.

The door to her office opened and Sim walked in with a tray full of donuts and black coffee for Eugene. She lacked the usual confidence smirk and swagger in her while she walked in. It was obvious that even the sassy, confident, hot head waitress was also s**t scared of this man.

"Finally", he snapped giving her a cold glare which could have frozen Atlantic.

"Sorry" she mumbled and scurried out of the room. Nicole shook her head. As much as she tried to convince everyone that there was nothing to be so afraid of Eugene, they still were shaking whenever they encountered him. That is one of the main reason she kept him away from everyone's vision and in her office. Even though he annoyed the hell out of her.

As Sim exited, Salim strolled in with a frown on his face and Nicole's stomach did a flip, like it has been doing since that night Salim left her house after taking care of her boys. Since that night when she realized he could be the perfect father her kids. Since the night she started hoping against hope that may be... Her thoughts trailed off when Salim's voice roared in the small room she called office.

"What did you do now?" he snapped, pointing to the door through which Sim just left and Eugene quickly morphed his cold glare into a smirk.

"This just never gets old", he sighed in content and leaned back on the bed he was sitting on. Salim threw him a glare, which made him look so different from his usual charming self.

"Not funny Eugene. I don't like it at all when you do that", Salim said as he walked towards Nicole's desk and sat in front of her.

Eugene sat up abruptly, "Why not?",

"Stop it you two", Nicole interrupted. Salim and Eugene continued to stare at each other while Nicole watched them curiously. It still irked Nicole whenever Eugene scared someone just for the heck of it. He just finds a weird kind of satisfaction seeing them squirm and run away in fear. And that was disturbing. Salim didn't like it at all, and even Nicole couldn't help but frown at it.

"Anyway, we came up with a new idea", Eugene said with a resonating clap,

"No", Salim snapped immediately.

"He didn't say anything", Nicole said raising her eyebrows at him,

"What ever his idea is, I'm not doing it", Salim said nonchalantly and flipped through a magazine that was placed on the table. Nicole caught Eugene's glare that was directed to Salim's back. She gulped visibly. For a moment, all thoughts in favor of Eugene Winston vanished, and she could see what everybody was afraid of. He really looked deadly when he wanted to be. "Don't try that look on me", Salim said casually and grinned at Nicole who still had a frown etched on her brows.

"He does that just to scare people away, you get used to it", he whispered it for only Nicole to hear. She nodded looking away from Eugene and gave Salim a weak smile.

"It was her idea", Eugene said pointing a finger at Nicole. Salim raised a brow towards Nicole,

"Well then let's hear it", Salim placed back the magazine on the table and leaned back on his chair. Nicole smiled at him shyly at his eagerness. "Whipped", she heard Eugene mutter and trying to cover it with a cough.

She couldn't help the blush that crept onto Nicole's face. "Ugh... well, I was thinking, we should do a 'Pink October' theme. Now that you don't want to do the photo shoot Eugene suggested, you could do something about a 'cause'. Like, how this month is being dedicated to the Breast cancer awareness program. We can do a fashion show based on the theme of 'Pink October' and later we could do an auction and donate a part of it to the charity", she shrugged, suddenly becoming self conscious under Salim's hot gaze.

She couldn't help the reddening of her cheeks and Salim's immovable gaze wasn't helping either. A throat cleared and bought both of them out of the moment.

"This will also do a lot of good to your image and will keep the tabloids at bay, after all they crave for 'Hot Muslim Sheiks' who love charity.", Eugene added with a smug smirk.

Nicole chuckled at that and Salim muttered a silent 'shut up'.

"It is not a bad idea. In fact, it is a really good idea. We could do some jewelery designs...." he trailed off with a look which Nicole instantly recognized. He was processing a plan. She always found this look on his face when he was stratagyzing. An unknown feeling of excitement coursed through her as she stared at Salim curiously, and she didn't understand why she felt so excited just by looking at him like that.

Though a small part of her brain suggested that it was because of how hot he looked while he was brainstorming. While another part, a more sane part of her mind suggested that its because she loved doing her work.

"Nicole", Salim's voice snapped her from staring at him so intensely and she looked down into her lap to clear the haze. She slowly looked up at him expectantly, "Do a presentation about it and we will talk to the team and see what they think about it. I hope you can get it done by day after tomorrow?" He raised a brow in question and she nodded positively. He gave her a nod and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Eugene asked as Salim strolled towards the door.

"Oh! Didn't I tell you, I am taking the boys to the park" he said and left.

Nicole let out a huge sigh and sank further into her leather chair. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, as she felt a head ache coming up.

"Boys? Does he mean your boys?" Eugene asked curiously,

"Yes", she hissed through clenched teeth and rubbed her temples which started to throb. "I need some coffee", she muttered.

"Allow me", Eugene got up putting up a 'gentleman' facade.

"No", she snapped. "I don't want to scare away my customers with your ice cold glares. I will help myself", He shrugged and she got up and walked towards the kitchen.

Since a week Salim has been bugging her to allow him to take her boys on an outing. She trusted him with her kids and she wanted them to get along as well. But still... the thought of them not liking Salim or him not getting along with them was just terrifying.

They didn't say a word the next day, not even a single question like who he was, why was he here and etcetera like any normal kids ask their mother after she brings a man into their house. The boys remained surprisingly, not so curious and calm.

She didn't want Salim to meet them right now and mess things up. But Salim being the stubborn man he was, didn't take no for an answer. And finally she gave in.

*****

To say he was nervous, would be a lie. He was god damn nervous. He pulled up the car in the parking lot and stepped out. He opened the back door where the boys were securely strapped in. Nicole didn't want to drive any of them shotgun so he had to strap them in the back.

"Time for a walk", he said as he unbuckled the three of them.

"We need to talk", said one of them. One look and he knew it was Ray, the eldest. The boy who was named after his birth father, which he came to know recently. He couldn't help the bitter feeling that crept into him at the thought of Nicole's husband. He dared not name it as jealousy.

"Sure", he said with a smile.

They walked to a picnic table and sat themselves like in a round table conference. Ray fixed him with what he thought as an intimidating stare which almost made Salim chuckle. He was beyond amused but contained his amusement and put up a serious look like he always did when he was dealing with clients.

"Are you dating our mom" He asked narrowing his doe like chocolate brown eyes at him.

He suppressed the smile which was threatening to break out, "Yes" he replied. They just hung out every weekend at her cafe when they didn't go to work, that too in the presence of Eugene, it could hardly classify as 'dating'. And this thought immediately made him decide to take Nicole out on a date. The fact that he haven't even asked her out yet, surprised him. When did he become so clumpsy with ladies?

"What are your in-ten-tions", he spelled the word 'intentions' with so much difficulty that it almost made Salim pull the three of them into his lap and give them a bear hug.

They were trying to watch out for her mom even though they were hardly three years old. They just completed their second birthday a few months ago and it was so touching.

"I really like her. And I will never hurt her. I promise", Salim said looking straight into their eyes. A smile broke onto Zion and Ryan's lips, where as Ray was still staring at him with indecisiveness.

"wha about us" Asked Ryan slowly,

"Well, I will never hurt you guys as well.You can trust me on that", Ryan's smile fell from his face and he could see even Zion's smile wavered a bit which he replaced with a huge grin. Salim grinned back a him and they both high-fived.

"You are not allowed to marry her until we say so", Ray said crossing his arms across his chest.

"Deal", Salim said with a huge smile and thrust his hand forward which Ray shook.

"So, who wants to have an ice cream?" he asked and the three kids jumped excitedly.