Page 85 of Earned Husband

“Oh my God,” I muttered under my breath as I climbed into the shower, setting the water to hot while trying to decide whether to curse or just keep smiling.

If I’d had any idea how good Colin was in bed, I would have snuck into his bedroom weeks ago, and now that I knew, I had a feeling I was going to be skirting a lot more security until the day finally came that I could just openly crawl into bed beside him.

CHAPTER 35

COLIN

The Cairo Saad estate had been transformed for the engagement party, lights glowing along every path, flowers covering the fountains, and a live band playing music that drifted through the entire mansion. Deja also hadn’t been wrong when she’d said there would be a lot of people here. It looked like her parents had invited everyone they’d ever known. Every guest was dressed to the nines and they floated through the grand rooms with an unmistakable air of excitement about them.

I didn’t think I’d realized what a big deal Al-Khutbah truly was until I was standing there on one side of the cavernous living areas, watching it all go down. Meanwhile, it wasn’t only guests from this side of the world that were attending.

Rami stood on the other side of the room with a tablet in his hand, bringing up my entire family—minus my father, of course—as well as the Westwoods on a giant screen he’d had set up. As their faces appeared, he lifted the tablet above his head victoriously.

“My American family wasn’t going to miss this,” he declared, sweeping a hand out toward the screen with a flourish. “Behold my brilliance.”

A ripple of laughter traveled through the room. Alex and Jane peered down from the screen while the rest of my brothers crowded behind Isaac in another window. Theo, Zach, Jesse, and their wives appeared too, several children between them climbing across their laps.

I adjusted my jacket and tried not to look like I was about to be sick, but the truth was that I’d never felt this nervous or this suffocated before. Seeing my family and some of my closest friends eased the sensation a little bit, but at the same time, knowing they were about to witness the whole thing and not understand what they were seeing also meant I would have a lot of explaining to do once it was over.

A moment after my family had joined us for the grand event of me paying Deja’s dowry, Basel motioned me forward and my pulse kicked against the inside of my throat, but I went. Deja was with her mother, Layla, and the women across the room and she caught my eye as I made my way toward her father, giving me a soft, excited smile that injected confidence straight into my veins.

She looked incredible in an elegant silk gown, the color a powder blue that shimmered suspiciously close to the color of my eyes in the light. She was literally breathtaking tonight, making it hard to fill my lungs with air until I finally managed to tear my gaze away from her.

When I reached Basel, he cleared his throat and a thick, anticipatory silence fell across the crowd, those inside as well as the guests spilling into the gardens suddenly quiet. He smiled and made his introductory remarks, but the first order of business was the gifts, and since I knew what to do, I got on with it without waiting for any more fanfare.

“For you and Layla, a gift of fine silks and gold,” I said, but there was no presentation of those luxury gifts.

Apparently, it was considered unrefined and in poor taste to physically present the bride’s parents with these during the ceremony, so I’d had it all delivered earlier. Practically, what that meant was that all I handed over now were the certificates of authenticity.

They could easily have afforded everything I’d given them, but I’d been informed that didn’t matter. Basel accepted the certificates calmly, the look in his eyes making it impossible to determine if he was amused or simply enduring this particular tradition for the sake of it.

The Saad brothers, on the other hand, seemed to be having a ball. Rami elbowed Tarek, leaning in closer to him but still speaking loud enough that I could hear—and the fact that he was speaking in English made it clear that he’d meant for me to hear it.

“I’ve never seen Dad try this hard not to smile,” he said.

Tarek chuckled. “He’s failing.”

Basel shot them a look, but Deja was beaming, looking from her family to mine on the screen with the radiant smile never leaving her lips. I inhaled a deep breath and drew a folder from the inside of my jacket, handing it to Basel.

“For Deja,” I said formally. “I have purchased a luxury condo in a high-rise in Chicago, large enough for us and our future kids.”

Basel flipped open the folder and once again failed to hide his smile as he studied the contents. He handed it to Deja. She frowned at the papers for a second before her eyes widened and she glanced back up at me.

“You bought us a house? But you have one.”

“This one faces east and west,” I said, lowering my voice a little since this part was for her ears only. “That means you’ll be able to photograph every sunrise and every sunset.”

Jane made a sound between a sigh and a groan, pinching the bridge of her nose. Alex looked like his jaw was about to hit the floor. Isaac just stared at me for a long beat before he let out an incredulous laugh.

“Did he just buyreal estate?” he asked no one in particular, but Zach Westwood answered anyway.

“Yeah, man. I think he did.”

I caught several whispers across the room from the guests who were present in person, most wondering why I’d have bought said real estate in Chicago, but Basel would be handling that part of the announcement himself.

When he nodded at me and slid the folder onto a little table beside him that already held the certificates of authenticity, I reached into my jacket again. This time, however, for this gift, I focused exclusively on Deja.

“I also got you this.” I drew the velvet-covered box out of my pocket and flicked it open to reveal the diamond ring inside.