Page 109 of Earned Husband

Before I could remind her thatpretty coldwould be a walk in the park for someone who’d grown up in Chicago, Issac opened the door and Jasmine swept into the townhouse like a tropical storm. He even stumbled back a few steps to make room when she threw her arms out to her sides, her eyes wide with exasperation.

“The family thinks you’ve eloped. Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”

Deja blinked a few times. “What? I don’t even know where it is right now. Why do they think I eloped?”

“Because you took off to America without telling anyone anything. I had to find out fromKhaledwhere you’d gone. The horror.” She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead and grabbed a carton of dumplings as she sat down in the chair Isaac had vacated. “Mama called Nanna, then Nanna called Dad, then Dad called Khaled, and he called me. Rami and Tarek are sulking because they think they’ve missed out on Colin’s bachelor party. It’s a mess.”

“We didn’t elope,” I said slowly, not even trying to get my head wrapped around the fact that Jasmine had burst in here, thousands of miles from where she should’ve been, as if we werejust upstairs at their house. “I promise. You can tell Rami and Tarek I don’t need a bachelor party anyway, though.”

Jasmine snorted. “Tell them yourself, but good luck with that. They’re furious. I’d call them if I was you.”

“We’re going to be back there in just a few days.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. They’re devastated. Call them.”

I sighed, desperately thinking of a way to diffuse the situation before the rest of the family jumped on a plane behind her. “We haven’t run off to the courthouse and we’re not going to. Could you please just tell them all we’ll see them soon?”

“Fine. I will. Eventually.” She turned back to Deja and grinned. “If you’re only heading back in a few days, that gives us time to go shopping.”

Deja’s head fell backward. “The moment I saw you, I knew this was coming. I don’t need to go shopping.”

“Of course, you do,” Jasmine argued, but I left them to it, glancing at Isaac instead to see how my brother was taking his first taste of life with the Saads.

Only, I wasn’t sure he was listening to them at all, judging by the way he was staring at Jasmine, thoroughly checking her out. Finally, when he realized I’d caught him in the act, he cleared his throat and stepped forward.

“Jasmine, if you’re not doing anything tonight, how about I show you around the city?”

She spun to face him as if she hadn’t even noticed him before. She smiled and didn’t even hesitate to ask who he was. She just stood up. “I’d love that. Let’s go. I’ve never been here before. Thank God, someone actually wants to go out.”

Before Deja or I could protest, they were gone in a flash and we were suddenly alone again. I frowned at the door as it slammed shut behind them. “What just happened?”

“I think they left,” she said, sounding as stunned and confused as I felt. “We didn’t approve this, did we?”

“No, but I don’t think they care.”

She laughed, her head shaking before she glanced back down at her food. “Well, more for us, I guess.”

“At least dinner will be a quieter affair,” I said lightly, eventually digging back in my myself while we worked our way through my checklist.

Once we finished eating, we tossed out the empty containers and wrapped up the rest of the food to put in the fridge. Then we moved to the living room, where Deja connected her camera to my laptop. Hundreds of photos of the day appeared on my screen and we went through them together.

“You really are talented,” I murmured, an idea popping into my head for a wedding gift. “I love these.”

She bumped her shoulder into mine. “I couldn’t have taken any of them if you weren’t patient enough to stop for me to do it.”

I pressed a kiss to her lips and rested my head on her shoulder. We looked through the rest of the photos. When we’d finally worked our way through them all, we cuddled up on the couch under a blanket and put on a movie, but we were barely halfway in when she looked up at me.

As soon as I glanced at her, I was gone, bringing my lips to hers for a kiss I’d been longing for all day. She smiled against my mouth and kissed me back, finally ending up on my lap as explosions and music came from the TV.

I honestly didn’t even know what movie we were supposed to be watching anymore. Instead of even pretending to be interested in going back to it, I picked her up, stood, and flung her over my shoulder, carrying her upstairs to our bedroom.

Soon enough, we’d be back in Egypt, fighting for even a minute of guaranteed alone time. Even tonight, Isaac would be bringing Jasmine back here—hopefully—so for now, while I hadher all to myself, I intended to make the very best of whatever time we had.

CHAPTER 46

DEJA

I’d never lived alone before, but the last couple days since I’d arrived in Chicago had been absolute bliss. In the past, I’d wondered why people would move out of their family homes as soon as they could afford it once they’d reached adulthood, and I’d finally gotten an answer to that question.