Page 61 of Earned Husband

My brothers walked out. Tarek trailed behind Rami like he planned on being the muscle in this endeavor. Jasmine grabbed the dress I’d said she couldn’t borrow, and she rushed down the hall too. I sighed, but knowing that I was going to get to spend the night with Colin made me a lot less inclined to race after her to steal it back.

Instead, I went over to shut the door they’d all left hanging open like freaking barn animals. Then I wandered to my closet, already mentally flipping through my options. This was the first time Colin and I would be going out together—and his first time out at night in Cairo at all—and I wanted to look good.

If I was going to be his wife, I wanted him to feel proud to have me on his arm. I also wouldn’t feel bad if me being all dressed up affected him in other ways, too. A flush spread across my cheeks at the thought, my heart suddenly racing.

God, I have such a crush on my future husband.

I felt a bit like a schoolgirl, but it was weirdly nice to feel this way, all giddy and excited to spend time with him. It had been a long time since I’d felt anything like it, but with Colin, the anticipation of seeing him again, of getting to know him better, and of our first kiss—and first other things—was practically intoxicating.

I wanted it all so, so badly, and the fact thatthiswas the man who was going to be myhusband?

Don’t squeal, Deja. Do not do it.

Barely managing to suppress the sound, I opened my closet and started getting ready.

Jasmine eventually reappeared in my doorway. “We’re leaving.”

I glanced up at her, fastening an earring. “Now?”

“Yep. The night’s not getting any younger.”

I decided against giving her any flack for being in my dress. “Are the guys even ready? It hasn’t been that long.

“Rami convinced Dad to let Colin loose for the night and save all the rest of the formal engagement talk for later in the week. But come here.” She pressed a finger to her lips, crossing the room and slipping out onto the balcony that overlooked one of the inner courtyards.

With my earrings now in, all I had left to do was put on shoes, so I followed her on bare feet, silently joining her on the balcony. The evening air was warm and still, without so much as a breeze to obscure the familiar voices drifting up from below. I couldn’t see them, but I heard Dad, Rami, and Tarek loud and clear.

“It’s a splendid idea,” Dad was saying. “You’ll use it as an opportunity to vet him?”

“Yep,” Rami agreed immediately. “We’ll take him out with us, talk about stuff that isn’t business or the engagement, and we’ll see how he fits in.”

My father nodded. “Good boys. Let me know how he does.”

“We will,” Tarek assured him. “If he does anything to embarrass the family, we’ll know about it.”

“What about the girls?” Dad asked. “They’re staying home?”

“Yes, sir,” Rami said firmly. “It’s just the boys tonight.”

I turned toward Jasmine, who smirked as she jerked her head back toward my room, mouthing, “Come on.”

“No,” I whispered as soon as I straightened up and followed her back in. “What was that all about?”

“We’re supposed to be staying home.” She shrugged, sliding the balcony door shut before speaking in her normal voice again. “We have to go now or our cover will be blown.”

She grabbed my wrist, but I didn’t budge. “I’m not sneaking out like a teenager. We’re in our late twenties.”

“That’s exactly why we’re sneaking out,” she said. “We shouldn’t have to stay home just because Dad said so.”

“I’m not?—”

My mother’s heels clicked against the tile in the courtyard and both Jasmine and I immediately flattened ourselves against the wall just in case she looked up. Layla Saad would not believe that we were both dressed up to stay home if she saw us like this.

We stayed perfectly still until she disappeared, and I sighed once she was gone. “I hate that that instinct took over. I pay taxes. I’m basically running the company. Why am I hiding from my mother?”

“Because you’re sensible enough to know that you have to if you want to see Colin tonight.” She headed to other side of the room, sneaking out onto the second-floor balcony that overlooked the driveway. “We’re scaling it.”

“We arenot,” I objected, but I was already following her anyway. Because she was right. Escaping really was the only way I was getting to see Colin without a whole bunch of drama. “This is ridiculous.”