Chapter Seven
CHAPTER SEVEN
Emilio stood on the pavement, leaning against the door of his Maybach.
He checked the time on his watch. Any minute now Jasmine would leave her brownstone and find him waiting.
When her driver had arrived in her black SUV, Emilio had instructed him to leave.
Jasmine had raised a valid point: they needed to be seen strategically before their marriage.
After all, a short courtship would look better than none.
So here he was. The doting fiancé, just waiting to take his beloved to work.
Soon the door opened and out stepped Jasmine, just as prim and proper as she had been the day before. Today she wore camel trousers, a white blouse and a heavy coat—not a crease in sight, not a hair out of place.
And, the instant Emilio saw her, all blood rushed south. He fully intended to obey her ground rules—he had the restraint—but he couldn’t pretend to be unaffected by this attraction. It was as if his body craved hers.
‘Emilio? What are you doing here?’
‘Taking you to work, of course.’ He grinned. He pushed off the car so he could open the door and stand aside.
‘Where’s my driver?’ Jasmine asked with a hint of irritation.
‘I sent him away. I thought your fiancé should have the honour of escorting you to work.’ Despite knowing that he shouldn’t, Emilio found riling her up highly entertaining.
He suppressed a laugh as he watched her internally debate the merits of ignoring him completely. But he knew that she knew that appearing together in public had been her idea, and that making a scene in the street would be completely counterproductive. Who knew who could be watching?
With a huff of annoyance, she walked towards him, heels click-clacking on the pavement and, with a long, unimpressed look, climbed into the car. He followed her in. The moment they pulled out into the road, Jasmine fished her phone out of her bag and ignored him.
‘Are you going to be annoyed by everything I do?’ Emilio teased.
‘When you’re being high-handed, yes,’ she answered, not looking away from her phone screen. ‘I prefer to go to work alone. I like the quiet, and it gives me a chance to catch up on my emails.’ Her fingers flew over the screen, rapidly tapping away.
‘You can have quiet, but you are going to have to get used to this. We have a certain appearance to uphold.’
She didn’t respond but Emilio didn’t need her to.
Yes, he was doing everything he could to save his family name and the company any scandal, but it was more than that.
This woman was carrying his child. If taking care of both of them meant ferrying her from home to work every day, then that was what he would do—even though it annoyed her. He wouldn’t be denied.
Making their way through the rush hour traffic took a while.
Neither said a word to the other, opting instead to work in peace.
Still, Emilio felt her presence so acutely that it was a struggle to concentrate.
She was right there. All it would take was the smallest of movements to brush against her arm, reach over and pull her to him.
Kiss her like he had months ago. And he was certain she was feeling it too.
He caught her sneaking a few peeks at him.
The silence didn’t help. Without conversation to distract him, he could think of nothing but her. Even his phone—usually so busy—wouldn’t ring to give him an escape. So when he saw the SOP building drawing closer, he was both relieved and disappointed.
As soon as the car stopped, she had the handle in her hand. Emilio stopped her. ‘No. Let me.’
He exited the car first and held open the door, allowing Jasmine to climb out elegantly.
She stopped in front of him, something on her lips.
But whatever the words were—a thank you?
—she caught herself before she could say them, turning on her heel instead.
Emilio caught her wrist and brought her closer.
He couldn’t let her leave just yet. He needed to be a convincing fiancé.
A chaste kiss on her lips would be sufficient evidence for the world.
But, as he leaned in, his eye was caught by movement on the steps of SOP. Most people were entering the building; one person was leaving.
Jasmine followed his gaze, and whatever softness had crept into her expression was replaced by hard, unyielding anger. It was written in every line on her face, in the tension in her shoulders.
The woman noticed Jasmine, looked away towards a car on the kerb, hesitated, then started walking towards them. A moment later a blonde man with sharp blue eyes in suit trousers and a white shirt, both of which had to be uncomfortably tight in a classless show of physique, joined her.
The hand that had been resting in Emilio’s palm gripped at him like a vice.
‘I told you that you were no longer welcome here,’ Jasmine said icily. Emilio thought back to the anger Jasmine had shown him the day before, and her annoyance that morning. Both paled in comparison to the effect these people’s presence had on her.
‘I just came here to fetch—’
‘I don’t care what you came here to do, Zara. Stay away from SOP and stay away from me, or I will make you.’
Emilio could feel the tremble in her body and stepped closer. He was ready to jump in at any moment but guessed that Jasmine wouldn’t appreciate that. He would wait until he was certain it was the right thing to do.
‘You can’t do that, Jasmine,’ the woman—Zara—said hotly. ‘I have friends here.’
‘And how will you betray them? Sleep with their fiancés too?’
Emilio’s body turned cold.
Cazzo! This cannot be happening! His stomach roiled at the words.
No wonder Jasmine was so distrustful. Now he understood why that wedding hadn’t happened.
Why she had been at the club that night.
How vulnerable she must have been. Emilio was horrified.
How could the one person he was so attracted to, the one person he needed to trust him, have been the victim of the same crime he was guilty of having committed against his brother?
Every day Emilio tried to be better than the person who had made that terrible mistake. How could fate be this cruel?
His pulse raced. His mouth turned dry. Certainly not a man…
Now that comment made sense. One had walked out on her and the other had cheated on her.
He knew the kind of scar that left, the devastation it wreaked.
He could still see it on his brother’s face when he closed his eyes.
It tormented him. A necrotic wound on his soul that he’d inflicted upon himself.
Upon his family. They’d never been whole again afterwards. There’d never been another family meal.
He had done that.
And it would happen again to the family he was creating. Jasmine would never even tolerate him once she knew his past. He would lose the privilege to be in his child’s life. That couldn’t happen. He wouldn’t let it. He wouldn’t lose his baby!
If Jasmine was ever to trust him—and she must , for the sake of their child—then she could never find out about Gia.
***
Jasmine had always considered herself stronger than most. Her mother had raised her to be, and her father had taught her never to rely on men. What she hadn’t realised until it was too late was that she should never rely on anyone . Everyone had the capacity for cruelty.
She would have done anything for Zara. She’d trusted her so much that she’d started SOP with her, worked with her until she’d run off with her fiancé.
It had been hard for Jasmine to buy Zara out and cast her from her life, but she’d done it.
She’d rid herself of everything that reminded her of Zara and Richard.
She had even given Zara her garish engagement ring as she’d pushed her out of the door, confident that she wouldn’t have to see her again. New York was a big place, after all.
But here they were. And Jasmine had never felt weaker. She was hurt and angry and whatever peace she had managed to find was gone.
‘That’s enough,’ Richard said, coming to Zara’s defence. He had never done that for Jasmine. He was the one who’d forced her to make herself smaller, over and over. It was only once he was gone that she’d seen how much she’d shrunk around him. The realisation hurt more than she could express.
‘We all need a Zara in our lives.’
Jasmine felt a burn behind her lids, but she wouldn’t get emotional. She would not give them the satisfaction.
‘I agree,’ a smooth, deep voice said. Emilio wrapped his arm around Jasmine’s shoulders, pulling her flush against his side. ‘That is enough from the two of you.’
Then he turned to Jasmine. ‘Belleza,’ he said, sliding his palm against her cheek in a touch that cleared the despair from her mind.
He turned her face towards his and she let him.
Looking into his dark-brown eyes and forgetting about the people who had hurt her so badly even as they stood just two feet away. ‘Would you like me to call security?’
He was usually so high-handed. Now, in front of Richard and Zara, he was giving her the choice. Showing them that she controlled this situation.
‘That’s not necessary,’ she managed.
‘As you wish, amore mio .’ He kissed her on the forehead, a small, loving yet possessive touch. It was all for show, but she felt it everywhere in her body.
‘Who are you?’ she heard Richard ask.
‘Emilio De Luca.’
Jasmine saw both Richard’s and Zara’s eyes widen. It would have been comical if it hadn’t been so satisfying. Maybe that was petty, but Jasmine didn’t care. She was just grateful that Emilio was with her, lending her the strength that had gone missing when she’d needed it most.
And the fact that she was grateful for his strength was supremely disappointing. It made her want to pull away from him to prove to herself that she could deal with this on her own.