Page 83 of Tempted

Jasmine nearly jumped out of her skin, in the process dropping the picture. She whirled around to see Jason step into the studio. “Jason, you scared me.”

He was in front of her in an instant, engulfing her into his embrace. “You had me so worried. When I came home to find you gone, I didn’t know what to think…I thought maybe you went out for a walk or something and I circled the neighborhood and I was coming back to call the police.”

“That wasn’t necessary, Jason. I’m a grown woman. I thought I was free to come and go as I please. Unless I’m being held prisoner here.”

He backed away from her as if he’d been burned; a genuine look of hurt crossed his handsome face. “Why would you say something like that? Do you believe I’m holding you hostage here?”

She shrugged feeling slightly irritated. “I don’t know Jason, but it would be nice to know why you took it upon yourself to hide the fact Victor has working on overturning my case. That’s who I was just with by the way.”

He stilled, all color slowly draining from his face. His topaz gaze darkened slightly. “Does that mean you’re going back to him?”

Jasmine sighed. “I think we’re well past that point. But why did you do it Jason? Honestly is important to me, and I don’t think you have been. No, I know you haven’t been.”

“I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t want you to be stressed. He’s caused you so much pain I believed if you talked to him, we’d have another scene like there was in the hospital. If you haven’t noticed, I care about you and this baby. I love you Jasmine and I don’t want anything to happen to you. Your happiness is important to me.”

“As you can see, I’m fine, but answer me this: did you actually put in a call to an attorney for me to get Star back?”

His slight hesitation gave him away before he could answer. “I can explain.”

“Why Jason? Why did you lie to me? Why did you get my hopes up like that? You know how badly I want my daughter back.”

“I know and I intended to do something about it after the baby was here. I thought a custody case may be too much for you to handle in your condition. I overstepped my bounds and for that I’m sorry. I only did it all to protect you. I love you Jasmine and I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. Please believe me.”

Oddly enough she did. However it didn’t excuse the lies or his taking important decisions out of her hand. “I’m so annoyed with you right now Jason, I…” she glanced down and remembered the picture she’d stumbled across. Bending over she picked it up and held it out to him. “Who is this woman?”

Jason released a big groan. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

“Why not? Who is this woman? And I’d prefer the truth because you’re not looking too good right now.”

“If I tell you, please don’t jump to conclusions. I just want you to know, I love you, Jasmine.”

“Who is she?” Jasmine snapped shaking the picture in his face.

Jason squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. Anguish was etched in every line of his face. “It’s Lisa.”

“Who the hell is Lisa?”

“My wife.”

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