Page 58 of Forbidden Desires

“I came here to apologize to you, Jasmine,” I said, my tone filled with contrition. “Everything that happened that day…was a disaster. Top to bottom, from the way I handled the information about my parents leaking, to assuming that it was you that did it. I know you would never do anything like that. You’re too kind, with such a caring, compassionate heart. You’re too…everything that I am not, and I lashed out at you because of all the complicated feelings that I have about my parents and where they are. All my insecurities not knowing if what I’ve done as a son is enough or even the right decision. I am so, so sorry for everything that I said to you that day. For believing the worst. I knew James had been at your place, and I just assumed you told him about my parents because that’s how it all looked. How he wanted it to look. I should have known it was James that was the cause of everything.”

I told her about what Chuck at the security firm had discovered, how James had paid Paula for the information about my parents that he then took toThe Affluent Collective, but elaborated the details with exaggerations and lies about the care they received.

Jasmine looked stunned. She just stared at me, as if my words had come out in some kind of foreign language.

Finally, she gained her composure and spoke. “He came to my apartment that day to give me information on the person that killed my parents. I didn’t ask for it, and my gut told me that it would cost me…something. I never knew that it would be you.”

I held back that impulse to fold her in my arms, to kiss her, to make her forget this entire conversation in order to prove that she hadn’t lost me—as long as I hadn’t lost her.

But there was more I needed to hear from her. More I wanted to know. “Tell me what happened,” I asked softly.

To my surprise, she relented. “Out of the blue, James came to my apartment with this file in his hands, and he was so goddamn smug. I don’t think I remember a time where he was never smug. And this file contained information about a wealthy family, and how they covered up the fact that their son was the one who was responsible for the hit and run on my parents.”

Jasmine kept her head lowered and her eyes on her hands. Her voice wavered just so, the tremble going all the way down to her fingers. I stepped toward her and took them in my hands, hoping to ground her, and her feelings. I expected her to pull away, but she squeezed my hands, looked up at me, and continued.

“So, after everything that happened between the two of us, I decided that I needed to take a trip. I needed clarity or closure on everything. James had provided me with an address, so my plan was to confront them. Show them all the evidence that paintedthem to be the terrible people that they were for covering up the accident…but the address James gave me was for a cemetery.”

I frowned in confusion. “A cemetery?”

She nodded, her voice wavering as she continued. “Another one of James’ sick and twisted ways of punishing me, I’m sure. Because the guy that killed my parents was a seventeen-year-old kid at the time and his parents were the ones that covered everything up. And he died. Overdosed a few years later, and then his mom did too of the same thing. Guilt. Guilt over my parents killed them both. Now only the father is left.”

She shook her head, her expression sad. “I met him, you know. He was at the cemetery that day. He said he’d had a strange feeling that he needed to be there. He said his son wanted to turn himself in. That he’d felt terrible about leaving my parents to die because he’d panicked. But instead of doing the right thing, he and his wife protected their son only to have him die of a drug overdose because he couldn’t cope with the guilt.”

I took everything in, her pain a palpable thing. Without hesitation, I instinctively wrapped my arms around her and drew her close, needing her to know how much I cared. She stiffened at first, then gradually relaxed against my chest, accepting my show of comfort.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered into her hair, even as I absorbed her warmth and the familiar scent on her skin. “So, now that you know the truth, what are you going to do?”

She glanced up at me, and much to my relief she didn’t try to move away. “Honestly? I’m ready to move on. I know my parents wouldn’t want me to dwell on what happened. I think they’d be proud of how far I’ve come from then.”

“I know they would.” I smiled down at her, and gently caressed my fingers along her cheek. “They would love that you’ve made a good life for yourself. That you’re doing all this,too,” I said, gesturing to the gallery just beyond the doors. “You’ve show how resilient you are, and you have so much ahead of you in life.”

Her eyes misted over, but I didn’t miss the vulnerable look in the depths. “Does that include you?” she asked softly.

Hope tightened across my chest. “Do you want it to?”

She nodded, her flattened hands so warm against my chest. “I do…desperately,” she whispered, an ache in her voice. “But you believing I could hurt and betray you so easily was excruciating and devastating. I need you to promise me that you’ll always trust me, and believe me, because that’s something I can’t compromise on.”

I nodded solemnly. “Are you giving me a chance to prove that to you?”

“Yeah, I am.” She nodded, and her soft smile was everything that had been missing in my life the past few weeks. “I’m really happy that you showed up tonight and apologized. That you let me tell you what really happened. That maybe, possibly, we’re going to be okay.”

“I promise, we’re going to be more than okay,” I assured her.

I brushed my fingers through Jasmine’s hair. I did not deserve this woman. Not her affections, her trust, nor her willingness to allow me back in her life after I’d been the one to tell her to get out of mine. But here she was, proving to me that even at this place in my life, something new and wonderful could happen.

“May I kiss you?” I asked gently.

She tipped her head up toward mine. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Chuckling, I leaned forward, pressing my mouth to hers. Too much time had gone by, and I had missed her, craved her. There was nothing about Jasmine that I didn’t want, whether it was her conversations, or her body, her passion for art, the way sheaccepted me so completely, and how she went about living her life to the fullest.

I deepened the kiss, and she let out a soft moan, pressing her whole body close to mine. Desire instantaneously sparked between us. Her heat was so tempting, her softness causing an ache in my chest and much lower as she chased away the last of my worries and gave me a sense of everything in my world being whole and right.

How could I have ever thought that she would hurt me? How could I have hurt her instead? Never again, I vowed.

I pulled back slightly, my lips still brushing against hers. “Marry me,” I whispered.

I heard her inhale, and she looked up at me with a startled expression. “What?”

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