Chapter 17
ISAAC
The Red Sea glittered under a sky full of stars, the moon a crescent hanging in the distance like a hook. I looked out at it all from under the pergola in the gardens, wishing I’d spent the last three hours here instead of around a table with David Maher.
Even now, I could hear his muffled conversation with Basel drifting through the open dining-room doors. Every so often, their glasses clinked or one of them would laugh, but I hadn’t been able to sit there with them any longer.
As it was, it had felt like dinner had lasted six hours instead of just three.
I still didn’t know why David had come or why Basel had invited him to stay, but whatever the explanation, I was over the tension of being inside.
Sitting around that table, noticing how Jasmine had grown more and more uncomfortable, had put me on edge.
I leaned my head back against the chair and exhaled a long, slow breath.
Sharm was beautiful at night, but it still wasn’t nearly as captivating as Jasmine while we’d been snorkeling today.
Honestly, watching the way she moved in water like she’d been born a mermaid had left me wondering if there really was magic here.
Without a doubt, she was the closest thing to it I’d ever seen.
She was so connected to the history here that, as far as I was concerned, she was the most incredible masterpiece I’d ever laid eyes on.
Her beauty was revealing itself more and more with every passing day and it had killed me in that dining room to watch her make herself smaller.
Obviously, she hadn’t physically shrunk, facing him head on despite how obviously he freaked her out, but that light in her eyes had gone out and she’d mostly kept quiet.
Eventually, I hadn’t been able to take it anymore, so after she’d excused herself, I’d escaped under the guise of needing fresh air after a big meal.
Thankfully, no one had questioned me. Basel had simply nodded and David had given me a grin that had made me feel like he thought he’d won.
I just didn’t know what he viewed as the prize.
But I’d spent plenty of time with Basel.
If he wanted a moment in the man’s sun, then I supposed he could have it.
“I had a feeling I might find you out here.” Layla, Jasmine’s mom, strode out onto the patio carrying two crystal tumblers and a bottle of scotch that looked older than me. “Drink?”
“I won’t say no.”
She poured a generous amount into both glasses before handing one to me and gracefully lowering herself into the armchair beside the one I was in. “My husband believes every conversation deserves good scotch.”
“That’s a philosophy I can get behind, but does that mean you came out here to talk about something specific?”
She laughed softly and settled into her chair, looking out over the sea as she got comfortable. “No. I just needed some fresh air of my own. I wasn’t aware we’d be having a guest for dinner tonight and it always puts a different spin on things when one of Basel’s business acquaintances shows up.”
“Like me?”
“Oh, please. You’re practically family now, Isaac.” She shot me a soft, fond smile. “Colin told me so much about you while he was here that I feel like I knew you long before I ever met you in person.”
“What did he tell you, exactly?” My eyes widened as I turned my head to look at her. “All terrible things, I hope.”
She chuckled. “Absolutely awful. I have no idea why Basel went all the way to America to recruit you.”
“Well, it probably helped that he was there on business anyway.”
She tilted her glass toward me. “Probably, but you were part of his business, Isaac. He was truly excited when you accepted his offer. He’s been looking for someone who can build instead of just grow for a long time, and when he realized he already knew such a person, he was thrilled.”
My eyebrows inched up. “I didn’t realize.”
“I doubt you were supposed to,” she said quietly. “Men in business are forever trying to act so tough and unaffected. It doesn’t really work that way here, in Egypt, but everybody knows what’s expected of them internationally.”
My thoughts drifted immediately to David, who’d apparently been born to Egyptian parents but raised in Australia. I was dying to pepper Layla with questions about him and his intentions for coming over tonight, but I held my tongue.
To me, he seemed to be here for a sinister reason, but I didn’t know the dude and I didn’t want to. “Well, the Egyptians are doing something right, and I don’t only mean in business either.”
Her lips spread into another smile. “I take it you had a good day?”
“God, it was the best.” I raked a hand through my hair as I grinned at her. “I don’t even have words to describe your daughter, but she sure knows how to have fun.”
“That, she does.” Layla turned to face me, her glass cradled in her hands and her gaze sweeping curiously across my face.
“Her sense of adventure is also unrivaled. At least, in our family. The rest of us love a good trip, but Jasmine lives for getting lost in places she’s never been before and experiencing things she’s never seen. ”
“You can say that again.” I chuckled. “You obviously know her much better than I do, but the way she lights up when she notices something new is just incredible. It’s like watching her come alive.”
Layla nodded, her expression softer now.
She swirled the scotch in her glass. “You know, everyone who meets her thinks she needs to be tamed, but I’m afraid of seeing her spark blown out.
She just has so many special qualities that make her who she is.
That doesn’t need taming. It deserves protection. ”
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” I said.
“Egypt has been an unbelievable adventure so far and my eyes have been opened to so many incredible things, but nothing has even come remotely close to being as incredible as your daughter’s heart and spirit.
That’s her spark and it absolutely does not need taming. ”
Layla beamed at me. “Precisely. It’s not her that needs to be tamed.
It’s others that need to rise to meet her, and one day, she’ll find that special someone who’ll be strong enough to keep up.
That’s what she needs. Someone who treasures that spark and helps it grow brighter rather than trying to snuff it out. ”
“Amen,” I said, even if I didn’t really know how I felt about knowing Jasmine would find that someone someday. “In the meantime, I’ll help you protect that spark as much as I can for the time I’m here.”
She inclined her chin. The voices inside were growing fainter, almost like Basel and David were moving away from the dining room now. Layla’s lips pressed into a firm line and she inhaled a deep breath, then rose elegantly to her feet. “Time to bid our guest goodnight.”
I groaned but followed her back inside to where David was gathering his things to leave in the foyer, talking quietly. Basel handed him his coat. David stiffened when he caught sight of me behind Layla.
“Thayer,” he said, nodding his chin with a polished smile on his face. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yep. I’m sure you will.” I returned his nod but hung back as Basel and Layla walked him out. The last thing I wanted was to be drawn into more small talk with the slimy prick.
When Layla came back inside, she sighed and headed to the kitchen without saying anything. I stayed where I was, waiting for Basel to see if I could figure out what the hell all that had been about. He finally came back, seeming pensive as he shut the door quietly behind himself.
“Hmm.” He slid the chain lock into place, but his movements seemed more automatic than intentional.
I frowned. “Is everything alright?”
Basel glanced over at me. “I’m not sure. I think the Mahers must really be hurting.”
My eyebrows shot up. From everything I’d heard about David’s family, Basel definitely couldn’t mean hurting financially. Unless there was something going on with their company that hadn’t hit the news yet, I supposed, but in general, they seemed to be doing quite well.
“Hurting how?” I asked. “Is someone sick? Or?—”
I was cut off by the shrill sound of his phone ringing. Sighing, he drew it out of his pocket, glanced at the screen, and shot me an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I have to take this, but we’ll talk later.”
Sliding his thumb across the screen, he pressed the device against his hear and walked away, barking things I couldn’t understand in Arabic as he went. I shook my head, desperately curious, but since curiosity had killed the cat and all, I decided to move on.
Whatever was going on with the Mahers, it had absolutely nothing to do with me.
Besides, my next mission was way more pleasant than talking to Basel about people I didn’t know anyway.
Going in search of Jasmine, I headed down the hallway and upstairs to her bedroom, knocking lightly on the door once I reached it.
“Are you in there, Saad? It’s me.”
“I’m here. Come on in.”
When I pushed it open, Jasmine was curled up on the window seat overlooking the gardens, still wearing the neon purple sundress she’d had on all day. Her knees were pulled to her chest and she was leaning with her back against the wall, barely lifting her head up when I walked in.
“Hey,” she said. Then her eyes slid back to the window. “What’s up?”
I took a few steps into the room, my head tilting as I studied the seriously glum expression on her face. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” she said, though it was the least convincing word I’d heard in months. “Is he gone?”
“Yeah, he left a few minutes ago.” I drifted a little farther into her room. “I just wanted to find out what we’re doing tomorrow. If we’re going to be up before dawn again, I’d like to be prepared this time.”
She shrugged without turning away from the window. “Tomorrow?”
“That’s how calendars work, right? Tomorrow comes after today.”
“Yeah, but aren’t you going back to the construction site?” She finally sat up a little straighter and glanced at me. “I thought you’d be preparing to start building in the fall.”
“Nah, I have the whole summer to get ready for that, but only this one week in Sharm with you.” My heart started hammering a little, my blood suddenly rushing in my ears. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about being my tour guide, that is.”
For a long second, she simply stared at me, but then a smile appeared. “I haven’t changed my mind.”
“Well, that’s great, because I’ve been thinking.” I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and pulled up a link I’d bookmarked earlier. “Should we do this?”
I turned the phone toward her, and she leaned in closer, squinting at the screen before arching an eyebrow at me. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“You actually want to do that?”
I nodded. “Absolutely, yes. Are you in?”
The glumness dissolved almost instantly as she smiled. “Are you kidding? Of course, I’m in. Who else is going to keep you from getting lost in the desert?”