Chapter 26
JASMINE
My mom had summoned me to the family estate, which was the only reason I’d agreed to come. If it had been my dad who’d asked, I would have boarded a flight to Rome instead simply to prove a point.
He was asking me to consider a potential marriage to a man who was about as appealing as a piece of moldy cardboard. Maybe even less so. I wasn’t going to stop being pissed about that anytime soon.
My driver pulled up to the front doors and I sighed, thanked him, and climbed out, squaring my shoulders just in case I was walking into an ambush or a fight. Thankfully, only Mom was waiting when I walked in, smiling as she opened her arms for a hug.
I walked into them, but right off the bat, I wanted it to be crystal clear that she shouldn’t even waste her breath campaigning for this arranged marriage.
“If you asked me to come so you could try to put a different spin on Dad’s idiotic request, I’m leaving.
I have no interest in marrying David Maher. I won’t even consider it.”
She chuckled, giving me a fond squeeze before she took a step back and waved elegantly toward the pergola outside. “Your father isn’t even here, my darling. Come sit with me.”
I narrowed my eyes, following her into the garden before collapsing dramatically onto a daybed in the shade. “Just because he isn’t here doesn’t mean you won’t do his bidding.”
She laughed. “When have you ever known me to do that? If I agree with an idea he’s had, I’ll advocate for it. If not, I won’t. It’s that simple.”
“Well, what’s your position on this one?” I asked. “Because I won’t do it.”
“I know,” she said patiently. “So does your father, I think.”
“Really?” I snorted. “I don’t think he knows. Perhaps you should speak to him. He’s your husband, after all.”
“Yes, but he worries. He’s only trying to protect you.”
“By handing me to David?” I scoffed. “The only person that would help is David himself, and he’s the worst. I have no idea why Dad feels obligated to help that family out, but he shouldn’t.”
“Your father and the Mahers go back a long way, sweetheart. Dad isn’t trying to force you into anything. He simply thought he would present an option.”
“Except, it’s not an option. Not to me. Whatever is happening with the Mahers, they’ve brought it upon themselves and I will not be riding to their rescue.”
“Well, that’s unlikely to be an issue now anyway.” Mom smiled at me over the rim of her teacup. “David and his group were awarded the bid for the complex in Sharm, so the immediate crisis has passed.”
My eyebrows shot up, my heart tripping over itself before it sank. “I’m sorry. Can you repeat that?” There was absolutely no chance I’d heard her correctly. “Do you mean Isaac’s complex in Sharm?”
Sympathy softened her eyes as she nodded.
“It was never a sure thing, honey. Isaac knew that going in. Dad supported his and Joseph’s proposal, but it wasn’t approved because the board felt it was unnecessarily expensive, that construction would take too long, and that it required too much community involvement. ”
I scowled. “Since when is community involvement a bad thing?”
She held her hands out to her sides and shook her head.
“I asked your father the same question, but it seems the board didn’t agree that the people who live there should feel like it’s something that actually belongs to them.
Even if those same people are the ones who will be working in the complex.
It sounds like the board made it out to be a too many cooks in the kitchen scenario. ”
I scoffed, remembering the way Isaac’s eyes had lit up every time he’d talked about that project and how passionate he’d been about designing something that would become a point of pride for the whole region. Now my father’s board had decided to go with cheap gray boxes.
Fantastic.
“I have to go,” I said suddenly, getting up so fast that I nearly fell over forward. “I’ll talk to you later, Mom.”
She gave me a knowing smile. “Tell Isaac I said I’m sorry, but that?—”
I didn’t wait to hear the rest of her sentence, rushing back to the car. So shocked I could barely see straight, I waved at my driver, who took one look at me and raced over to open the door.
He drove us back to Heliopolis like he was competing in a Formula One race, squealing to a stop right outside of the building’s doors instead of even wasting time getting into the parking lot.
As I catapulted myself out of the car, the only thing I could think of was Isaac and how excited he’d been that day on the bus back from the Sinai.
I get to be creative here in a way I never had back home.
My heart cracked as I imagined what he must be going through now, knowing that his creativity was what had lost him the bid. Assholes. All of them. Every single one.
When I made it up to his apartment, I burst in without knocking, relieved that the door hadn’t been locked. “Isaac?”
He looked up from where he was sitting on the couch, his bags already packed and standing by the door like soldiers awaiting orders. “Jasmine?” A deep frown appeared on his features as he sat up a little straighter, looking at me like he wasn’t sure I was real. “What are you doing here?”
“I just heard.” I slammed the door behind me and crossed the room in fast, clipped strides, sinking into a crouch in front of him. “I’m so sorry, Isaac. That project should’ve been yours, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave.”
Those blue eyes slid to his suitcases. He sighed and looked back at me. “Yes, it does. That’s exactly what it means. I didn’t get the bid.”
“Yeah, I know, but you still have the apartment and there are other contracts out there.”
“The lease is month to month, and without that project, there’s nothing here for me, Jasmine. Not now, anyway.”
“What about—” I cut myself off as soon as I realized what I’d been about to ask, pain radiating through me as I stared up at him.
“What about what?” He shrugged. “I might be trying to get something going with Joseph, but right now, as far as I’m concerned, that’s it. There is nothing else.”
My head jerked back like he’d slapped me. “Fine. If you’re going to make me say it, I’ll say it. What about me, Isaac? I’m still here. Am I nothing?”
He leaned back on the couch, drawing his hands away from his knees like he didn’t trust any part of himself to be anywhere near me right now. “I wasn’t under the impression that you were going to let us explore whatever this is.”
My heart stammered, but I decided to throw caution to the wind. There was no way I was letting him leave here thinking that he meant nothing to me or that I didn’t want to explore whatever this was.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Slowly pushing to my feet, I held his gaze and climbed into his lap, taking his face in my hands and bringing my lips to his. Just as soon as I kissed him, however, he caught my shoulders in his hands and gently pushed me back a few inches.
I could see the conflict eating him up inside and I went to kiss him again, but he shook his head. “Not like this, Jasmine.”
“Not like what?” I asked, staring into those blue eyes and wishing he would just pull me closer instead of pushing me away. “I know you want me.”
“Of course, I fucking want you,” he snapped.
Groaning, he dropped his head back on the couch.
That dark blond hair was messy after what I was sure had been an afternoon of shoving his hands through it repeatedly and the strong column of his throat moved up and down, working like he was physically holding something back.
“That’s never been the issue and you know it. ”
I let my eyes slide shut and drew in a deep breath, trying to force my thoughts into some kind of logical order. They’d scattered as soon as my mom had given me the news, and seeing his bags all packed and ready to go hadn’t helped me think straight either.
“I do know that,” I said finally, my voice barely above a whisper. I ran my thumbs across his cheekbones. “I know, Isaac. That’s why I’m a little confused right now.”
He lifted his head back up and looked into my eyes again, sliding his hands from my shoulders to my hips and taking them in a firm grip. “It’s already going to be hard enough to say goodbye, don’t you think? This is only going to make it even harder.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.” Something that looked like pure agony flashed in his eyes and his fingers flexed on my hips. “I already don’t want to say goodbye.”
“Neither do I.” I held his gaze intently, bringing my forehead down to his and tightening my grip on his face. “So let’s not do it. Let’s not say goodbye right now.”
A low groan rumbled through his chest, but then he wrapped one arm around my waist, pulled me to him, and finally let me kiss him the way I’d been wanting to since he’d gotten out of my bed weeks ago.
My arms wound around his neck as I melted into him, feeling like I’d finally come home. A storm of emotion ripped through my chest, everything from relief, to heartache, to joy, to pain, but in the end, none of it was important.
Isaac had lost something he’d really wanted, but this wasn’t the end of the road for him. I knew it would all work out for him in the end. It just had to.
His hand ran from my hip to my ribs. I tilted my head and deepened the kiss, then reached for the hem of my T-shirt and pulled it off over my head before sealing my mouth back over his.
Isaac moaned and slid off my bra. He grabbed my waist in one hand and my thigh in the other, lifting me off him to lay me down on the couch.
He moved with me, kissing me hard before letting his lips trail down to my throat. As he peppered kisses to my jawline and dragged them across my neck, he cupped my breasts in his hands and I arched into him, my nipples hardening to peaks of need.
Slowly dragging the pad of his thumb over each one, he finally brought his mouth down too, sucking first one nipple into his mouth and then the other. I moaned, one of my legs hooking around his hips while my fingers grappled for his shirt.
He brought one hand up to the back of his collar and took it in a firm grip, barely letting my nipple out of his mouth for two seconds before his shirt was on the floor and his hot tongue was licking another line on my skin.
I ran my hands up the strong planes of his back and closed my eyes, committing the feel of him to memory and already knowing he’d been right about this.
It really would make it harder to say goodbye, but I wasn’t ready to let go just yet, and I wouldn’t do it at all without a fight. Isaac Thayer might know me pretty well by this point, but if he thought I was simply going to accept all this and let it be, then he clearly didn’t know me well enough.