Page 8 of Earned Husband

Especially since White Water Lily operated on a small, exclusive scale. Our business model was built entirely around seasonal scent releases. We produced limited quantities of each fragrance, and once it was sold out, it was gone forever.

No two scents were ever the same and we never tried to replicate anything, even our bestsellers. It was part of the appeal of our products, knowing it could never be repeated. Botanicals, weather, and even harvests changed.

Every year produced something different, and since we used only what was in season, we were dependent on what nature provided. The overwhelming majority of our ingredients originated in Egypt, but there was always room to experiment.

A processing facility in the United States would dramatically reduce shipping costs while also granting us access to entirely new botanical sources. It was difficult to find a downside. In fact, it was a win-win, considering the company’s savings would be in the millions.

“So you’re still onboard with the idea?” Khaled asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. “If we move forward, it would mean that you’d have to spend a good deal of time here in the future.”

“I’m okay with that.”

The idea didn’t bother me nearly as much as I might’ve thought it would. If anything, now that I’d spent some time inChicago, where I would likely be based, I found myself oddly comfortable with it.

There was only thing in my way at present—my father, Basel Saad.

He supported White Water Lily completely. He believed in the company, in me, and that I would take over from my mother one day. She was the CEO of White Water Lily and she had been since its inception, but she was starting to speak about retirement more and more often and I was being groomed as her successor.

Unfortunately, Dad also believed in one other thing, and that was that I had to settle down and be married before I took over. Until that requirement was satisfied, there was only so much authority he intended to let me have.

I loved my father. Honestly. He was a loving husband, an involved, protective dad, and a brilliant businessman, but he was also old school.

With him, dating had felt like an endurance sport and I’d been dragging my feet on that front as a result. Out of the handful of relationships I’d had, every last one had disintegrated after only a single conversation between the guy and my father.

To this day, I wasn’t sure what he’d said to any of them, but none of the relationship had even progressed to one more date after that. They’d met him, gone into his office, and then run for the hills. It had not been a pleasant experience.

“I’ll handle Dad,” Khaled said, instinctively knowing exactly where my thoughts had gone. “He wants a branch here too and he likes that we have connections in Chicago. He thinks you’ll be safer with a community nearby.”

As we started making our way back to the parking area, I glanced up at him. “He’s not a routine administrative problem we have to solve, and the community I’d have is literally onlyAshanti’s family, which is much smaller than our own family back in Egypt.”

“Maybe our connections will grow,” he said. “Who knows?”

Skepticism ignited in my veins. He turned away from me, sliding on his sunglasses. We emerged from the warehouse, leaving with several dozen new business contacts, a stack of supplier information, and the samples I planned on putting in a vase for Gabrielle, which wasn’t bad for a morning’s work, but I still felt like I was missing something.

After loading it all into the car, we drove back in a semi-comfortable silence. I still hadn’t figured out what he was hiding when he finally spoke again, still very pointedly not looking at me.

“Hey, I forgot to tell you,” he said. “I’m heading home in the morning, but I’ll be back next week. Dad will be coming with me. We just have some business we need to settle before then.”

“What business?”

He shrugged. “Just some boring negotiations.”

I frowned. “I thought I was flying home with you in a couple days.”

“Nah. The plans have changed.” He offered me a strange smile. “You never take breaks and Ashanti could use the help with the kids while I’m gone. Plus, she’ll need extra hands on the flight when they come back to Egypt. I’ll be in Japan for a meeting then, so I won’t be able to join her.”

I sighed, resigning myself to the decision having been made for me, but not too put out by the idea of staying for a while longer. This would give me extra time to?—

My train of thought cut off when we turned into the driveway of Khaled’s house to find a car I didn’t recognize parked in front of the garage. That same suspicion that had been bugging me since the dinner party returned in full force, my mental defenses rising.

Something big was brewing. I just had to hope I didn’t get caught in the crossfire.

CHAPTER 5

COLIN

Jane had told me we were getting lunch, but instead, she’d lured me to Ashanti’s mother’s house. I’d been trapped with Gabrielle for the better part of an hour while Jane and Ashanti talked shop, which in their case encompassed everything from actual business, to children, to travel.

I wasn’t entirely sure how they moved between topics so effortlessly, but while they conducted the world’s most efficient catch-up session, I was being interrogated by Gabrielle. She’d extracted more personal information from me in sixty minutes than most people managed in a year, so much so that I was starting to consider asking about her per-hour therapist fee.