A wave of empathy washed through him, like the Delaware sea spitting up pebbles and rocks even as he went straight to the window and firmly slid closed the glass door.
When he turned back around, he discovered her eyes were open. And resentful.
“It wasn’t safe,” he explained.
Instead of answering, she turned over in bed, giving him her back.
This was pointless. He should go…
Her words from their forced Valentine’s date suddenly floated back to him. “But you don’t do that with women, do you? You don’t try.”
No, he didn’t. He took, and he seduced, and he possessed, but….
He never tried. He’d always been too proud, too aware of how much it would hurt to take a hit if he lowered his shields. But Jasmine, he decided right then and there, was worth loosening his grip on that shield of pride.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and laid a hand on her back. “I know I have upset you, and I am sorry about that.”
He swallowed, trying to find more words, the right words. “I do not want you to feel like my possession, and I do not want us to go another three months without talking. I am willing to endure that again if it means protecting you, but I do not want that for us. That was miserable for me, and I think maybe you too.”
Her back stiffened underneath his hand. Stubborn resolve settling in like concrete, he thought, but then she said, “Yeah, I hated that too, but….”
She turned underneath his hand to face him. “I guess I see your point. What happened to Dawn…it’s so horrible after everything they went through. But surfing was the one thing—the one thing you never took, even after Delaware.”
His heart squeezed sad and tight, feeling her hurt as if it was his own. He hated that he was the reason for that pain. “It is only until we track down Yaron,” he promised. “Then you can go back to your classes.”
“How long will that take?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Most of K Diamond’s men have come to our side, but he still has the advantage of home territory. And we don’t have the police in our pocket here yet as he does. So it is easy for him to hide.”
She considered his words. “Thanks for being honest. I guess I’ll wait until I can teach again. I was supposed to go to my sister's and Rashid’s for Christmas dinner. They’re having a bunch of people over, but I don’t know how to explain why I can’t come.”
“I understand.” And Han decided the next thing at the same time he announced it. “I’ll make arrangements to keep you safe while you’re there.”
“Thanks, but I wouldn’t know how to explain me showing up with bodyguards either,” Jasmine told him. “I mean, I’ve barely been able to keep us a secret from them this long.”
The past twisted in Han’s chest. She wanted to keep him a secret, just as his father had kept him a secret from the outside world.
But he tamped those old, useless feelings down and cupped her face to assure her, “We can post them discreetly outside where no one can see. If this is the one event you need to attend, it can be arranged.”
Her expression softened, and something loosened inside his stomach when she laid her hand on top of his.
“I’m sorry for the way I reacted. And thank you for protecting me.”
“Don’t be sorry. You love what you do,” he answered. Coming to her defense felt as natural as breathing. “And I will always protect you whenever it is required. You mean very much to me.”
She gave him a little smile, sad and wry. “Because of what I did in Delaware.”
“Yes,” he answered. Though, he didn’t understand the sadness in her eyes. Did she not like that he admired her courage and loyalty?
He opened his mouth to ask, but she sat up in the bed before he could. The sadness in her eyes gave way to mischief. “You know, I think my room is actually the only place in this condo where we haven’t had sex. Do you think we should fix that?”
She asked him this, then she looked straight at him…and licked her lips.
Han’s cock immediately responded to what had by now become a well-established rule for what should happen before she accepted an order to take him in her mouth.
And just like that, they were back. The first night of their necessary retreat from the outside world was spent consummating her room.
He took her mouth while she kneeled on her floor, her pussy while she braced against her wall, and finally the hole between her gorgeous ass cheeks—though he hadn’t lasted long in that tight space.
Fortunately for his pride, he recovered when they returned to his room and took a shower together.
Then again, when he finally laid her down on her back for some simple missionary. He kissed her slow while moving deep inside of her, showing her how he felt in this way since he never seemed to be able to come up with the right words.
Their last few arguments had blown them into their separate corners, where they both recovered. But this storm, they would weather together.
Warm sunshine filled Han’s chest as he began to drift off to sleep with his wife in his arms.
But then she said, “I’ll sell my Jeep.”
“What?”
“I’ll sell my Jeep to get the rest of the money. That way, we can both get what we want.”
And just like that, the knot returned, along with that image of Victor collapsed and drunk in his shower.
Just a few more weeks. But how would he handle it when she was truly gone?
31
JAZZ
No more fighting after that. Victor managed to get Dawn back. But Han and I sheltered in place while the guys combed the island, looking for K Diamond and Yaron.
I also posted my Jeep on several different private sale sites. No real offers came in, but I held out hope. I figured the locals who were most likely to want a 20-year-old Wrangler was probably more concerned with holiday presents. Speaking of which…
I convinced Han to stick to a $50 cap for Christmas gifts that year, and he said yes—as long as I agreed to wear one of the cut-off shirts he’d made me when we unwrapped presents.
“I’ll admit I went over,” he said on Christmas morning—his version, so technically Christmas afternoon.
It was hard to grouse, though when I saw what he got me…a gorgeous hardcover edition of The Summer Fae by Clara Quinn, the sci-fi fantasy writer who’d made a Hawaiian teenager fall in love with all things Fae back in high school.
It was the perfect gift from my Fae King.
“Thanks,” I said, my heart melting. Then I admitted, “I kind of went over too.”
I handed him a card, and his face lit up with surprise when he opened it. “You wrote out your message in Chinese.”
“I mean, Chen wrote it out,” I admitted. “I just made sure to keep my handwriting as neat as possible when I was copying what he texted me down on the card.”
“To my favorite sprite king,” he read out loud, translating what I wrote into English.
“Yeah, there was some back and forth about how to write fae in Chinese,” I explained with a wince.
“Yes, I imagine.” He threw me a teasing look but softened his gaze to tell me, “Thank you for this.”
“Oh, don’t thank me yet. There’s more!” I tapped on the rectangular piece of paper tucked inside the card.
“What is this?” he asked, holding up the homemade voucher with “AS MANY AS IT TAKES” written across it.
“After I buy myself back, I want to give you more surfing lessons whenever you’re in Hawaii,” I explained. “As many as it takes for you to get really good.
I’d thought this would make him a little happy. I mean, I was basically telling him I’d still be willing to see him after our divorce.
But he lowered the envelope, looking liked I’d backhanded him out of the blue.
“Is it really so terrible?” he asked, his voice dipping low and angry. “Is it really so terrible being married to me?”
I blinked, then understood something I
hadn’t before Phantom shared the rest of Han’s backstory with me. Han wasn’t just insulted about me not wanting to stay married to him because of his ego. He was genuinely hurt. Triggered by the mother, who opted out of keeping him as a kid.
That was what this forced marriage was really about. Keeping me. Keeping me like he couldn’t keep his mother.
My heart flooded with empathy. But then I had to recognize to myself, if not to Han, that abandonment issues from the past wasn’t any kind of foundation for a current marriage.
“I…I don’t know how to explain this to you in a way you’d understand.”
I expelled a breath, feeling much like Phantom the day he came to my room to plead Han’s case. “My parents aren’t like yours. Not like you and me. My father didn’t buy my mother or save her from some terrible fate. He met her here, fell in love with her—just because she was awesome and didn’t put up with any of his bullshit. It only took four months for him to fly with her all the way to the Philippines to ask her father for his daughter’s hand in marriage. My mother cried happy tears the day they got married—I mean, you should see the videos and pictures. Everybody was laughing and having a good time. And you know what? Their marriage was great after that. They were happy and loving—and yeah, Dad was super strict, and Mom’s developed a horrible addiction to flower prints—seriously, we might have to stage an intervention. But Mika and I knew how much they loved us growing up….”
I set down my beautiful Christmas book, realizing out loud, “So yeah, that’s the example I grew up with. I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about who I’d eventually marry—hell, I wasn’t even sure I’d get married at all. But when I did, I always imagined it would be like that. Happy and loving, not…whatever this is. And with someone who loved me because I’m me. So, no matter how great the sex is, I’m never going to be okay with being married to you just because your possession turned out to be a lot more loyal than you expected, and you decided to keep it in the most official way possible.”
A look came over Han’s face—so harsh it verged on ugly. And I braced for another argument.
But in the end, he rose to his feet and said, “You are right. And I am sorry.”
Then he gave me a solemn bow.
And though I’d stated nothing less than the truth, for some reason, guilt churned in my stomach as I rose to my feet too. “Han, I…”
“We will talk of this no more,” Han said. He gave me a wry smile. “That’s an order. Now, I have arranged for a Christmas lunch. I would like us both to get dressed up before they come.”
“Oh, you don’t want me to wear this to answer the door?” I asked, stretching my arms overhead with an innocent look. The shirt moved up just enough to hint at but not show my nipples.
You’d think that trick would have gotten old by now, but Han’s eyes darkened, and well…
If you were wondering how to get a man to throw you down on the couch and make you nod until you come so hard you see stars—there’s a suggestion for you.
Hours later, I still had a nice sex after buzz when Han walked me down to meet Bui in the underground garage.
At least, I thought we were going to meet Bui. When we got downstairs, none of the other STs Infinitis were parked in their usual spaces.
“Is Bui running late?” I wondered out loud. He hadn’t mentioned having Christmas plans like Chen. But half the island became tourists during the holiday, so there was plenty of other stuff he could have opted to do.
As for Han, he must have had his own plans. He let go of my hand and went over to the only Infiniti left in the ST’s designated row of parking spots.
“Should I just wait here for Bui then?” I asked after him, not sure of the new security protocols. “Or maybe go back up to the apartment until he texts me he’s here?”
Han turned around and tilted his head at me. “Of course not, we are going to your Christmas party, as I promised. All of the guards are already in place outside your future brother-in-law’s home. Come, get in the car.”
I did so gingerly. But after I put on my seatbelt, I had to clarify. “So you’re driving me all the way to Diamond Head yourself?”
He kept his eyes trained on the rear camera as he backed out of the spot, and it almost sounded like an afterthought when he informed me, “Yes. Also, I will be attending the party with you.”
“Wait...what? No!” I answered as we rolled out of the garage toward the complex’s gates.
“This…” I wagged a finger between the two of us…. “It is supposed to be a secret. This needs to stay a secret!”
Han glanced over at me, his face a work of shadow and stone in the car’s dim light.
“You are my wife, Jasmine. And I am your husband,” he bit out. “I will not be your secret anymore.”
32
JAZZ
“I’m tired of waiting. We will go in. Now.”
I sat in the passenger seat of Han’s car, my right hand curled over my left hand. Like a prayer made of fists.
“We don’t have to go in,” I rasped. “I don’t understand why you’re making me do this.”
He glanced at me, then back at the house. The party inside carried on so bright and loud we could hear all the people talking and music spilling out, even though we were parked on the street since the carport was full.
“I would like for both you and your family to understand,” he answered.
“Understand what?”
“That you’re mine now.”
His…
“I hate you,” I whispered, meaning it. That he would double down on this possessive bullshit after what I shared with him earlier…
“And yet you are still going to take me inside and introduce me to your family,” he answered. He almost sounded bored.
Yes, I guess I was. I could ask if this was an order like I usually did. But I already knew it was. That question now felt like a childish game, considering what he was about to make me do. After tonight, this thing with Han would no longer be a secret. They’d know. Everyone would know.
I swallowed down the bitter lump in my throat and pushed open the door to introduce my family to the worst mistake I’d ever made.
My head ticked, threatening to explode as we walked toward the enormous Balinese front door of my brother-in-law’s Diamond Head villa. How were we here? Actually, about to go to my house to meet my family?
Han wrapped my hand in his and bit out, “Order,” before I could protest.
So I didn’t.
Weirdly, having my hand force held wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The Fae King’s larger-than-life presence grounded me somehow—even though he was the one causing me all this turmoil.
Eventually, we made it to the front door, and Han took it upon himself to ring the bell.
“I got it!” Albie yelled on the other side of the door.
But any relief I might have felt at having my nephew answer the bell instead of an adult who’d I have to explain Han to was completely short-lived. Albie opened the door. But Faizan stood directly behind him. Like The Ghost of Past Holiday Mistakes. Who knew I’d fallen into a Scrooge retelling set in Hawaii?
And just in case I had any illusions about getting through this without any weird feelings, Albie looked from us to Faizan and announced like a character in a Disney sitcom, “AWK-ward!”
Faizan’s gaze dropped to my left hand—to the steel and onyx ring that easily stood out against the backdrop of my red party dress.
“It is good to see you again, Jazz,” he said after a tense beat. “Right this way, please.”
Oh God, this already felt so terrible. Conflicting compulsions to both hide my face and explain everything hit me hard.
But Faizan turned his back before I could do either. Leaving me, the woman who ignored his politely worded “figure your shit out” last Valentine’s Day, to follow.
Albie grabbed my other hand. He was way more enthusiastic about our arrival than me. “Aunt Jazz! Aunt Jazz! There
are so many people at this party who don’t know how to surf. I promised them you’d get them up on their boards before they left Hawaii.”
Typically, this would be the point where I reminded my nephew that he couldn’t just volunteer me to his friends like surfing lessons were PTA mom cupcakes. But all the butterflies in my stomach had gone into apocalyptic mode, basically seizing up and dying one by one, rather than having to face what came next.
The Broken Billionaire, and now Albie and Mika, lived in one of those architectural wonders that managed to infuse Polynesian culture with modern sensibilities. So nearly the entire downstairs was an open-plan space with floor-t0-ceiling sliding windows that made it hard to tell where the inside stopped, and the outside began when they were fully open.
I imagined the living room area right next to the kitchen was perfect for entertaining. But everybody at the party had gathered out on the lanai, listening to K-Pop and watching the fireworks that Hawaiians loved to set off at Christmas as well as the Fourth of July…and New Year’s—both Western and Lunar—basically, we just loved fireworks.
However, all interest in the very illegal firework shows going on along the beach disappeared when Albie announced, “Hey, Everybody! Aunt Jazz is here with the boyfriend Brad didn’t replace—what’s his name again?”
Every single conversation came to a stop. And every single body at the party turned to stare at us as whoever was in charge of the music cut it off with an abrupt record scratch.
I could only stare down at my nephew in complete and utter horror. But Han answered, “Han. My name is Han.”
“His name is Han!” Albie yelled out.
The partygoers stared at us in shocked silence—including my parents, who were seated at the outside dining table right next to the pool.
I stood there frozen, wondering if I’d ever figure out what to say.
But then Mika appeared, pushing her way to the front of the crowd. And my sister seemed to speak for everyone gathered when she yelled, “What?”
She looked at Han, looked at me. And like Faizan, her eyes dropped down to the ring on my finger.
HAN: Her Ruthless Mistake: 50 Loving States, Delaware (Ruthless Triad Book 4) Page 22
