Page 87 of Not the Plan

“You gonna tell her how you feel?” Khalil asked.

Karim squirmed. “What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, ‘what do I mean’? Are you going to tell Isadora that you love her?”

“I…don’t know that I love her.”

Karim braced himself to be teased when Khalil hesitated before answering. But his brother’s usual joking tone wasn’t there.

“It’s not for me to tell you how you feel. But, I know you better than anyone on the planet. I’ve never heard you sound the way you do when you talk about her. Never. And that’s when I can even get you to talk. We used to share everything. You don’t volunteer anything about this girl. I have to pump you forinformation like I’m drilling for oil.” They both chuckled, but Khalil wasn’t finished.

“I know it’s been a difficult couple of years. And the last thing I want is for you to open yourself up and get hurt again. But I can tell you something else: The way you talk aboutyourselfhas changed. You sound as excited about the future and as confident as you did when you first moved to Harrisburg.

“Maybe it’s the new job, maybe it’s being in a new place where difficult memories aren’t around every corner. Or, maybe it’s because Isadora has broughtyouback. Maybe there’s something in her that clicks with something in you just the right way. All I know is that I’m not worried about you anymore.” He chuckled again. “Haven’t met this girl, but I like her already. She gave me my little brother back.”

Karim was grateful for the work of the capitol landscapers. They’d given him something to look at as he tried to get the lump out of his throat and fight the tears away. He swallowed hard, taking a deep breath. “Three minutes, Khalil. Three minutes,” he managed to say, as always.

“Still counts,” Khalil answered, as always.

He’s right, I love her. Since she stopped me from talking bad about myself our very first night together. She’s been building me up this whole time.

“What if she doesn’t love me?” His voice cracked.What if she turns her back on me, like Laila did? The pain would be a thousand times worse.

“Is she worth the risk of finding out?”

“Yes.” Karim sighed.

“All right,” Khalil said. “Sounds to me like you’ve got your answer.” He waited another moment, then went back to his usual, joking tone. “So. Let’s get started. Gotta come up with a surefire get-Isadora-to-fall-madly-in-love-with-Karim plan.”

—

Two hours later, Karim was on the audience side at the Judiciary committee meeting, waiting to present one of Julian’s bills. It hadtaken a good twenty minutes to recover from his conversation with Khalil, and with a task to complete, he felt his emotions were under control.

Then they weren’t anymore. Isadora walked up to the dais, squatting next to a senator to say something. Both women’s expressions were measured. Karim might have been concerned about why Isadora looked stressed, if he could have gotten past her lips. Time slowed, everything else fell away. All he could see was the way they curved and pursed, pressed together and opened. He could feel them on his own again. Their silken heat on his throat, across his chest. The way they curled when she fought to hold on, keeping an orgasm at bay while he drove her toward it.

He didn’t know he was rapid-fire clicking his pen until the woman a seat away from him huffed and gave him a dirty look. He exhaled, long and low, and tucked the pen into the top of his bill folder with shaking hands.

—

Back in the office, Julian and Peter’s laughter resonated from behind Julian’s closed door. Karim went to his own office to type up his notes from the discussion on the bill.

While copy-pasting the relevant statutes he’d referenced in answer to a question, his imagination took a break. He hadn’t dealt with his anger from the previous day, seeing Isadora in tears because of the coldness of the person who should have held her the most dear. There had been a moment, when she’d gone to the other side of the couch, putting up a barrier. She’d been almost like a child, hiding. The strong, powerful woman he’d been getting to know replaced by a little girl.She was probably so cute, so spunky.He smiled at this imaginary little Isadora.Wonder what she would look like with green eyes? With skin somewhere between mine and Isadora’s? Hair with—

“Hello! Earth to Karim!” Peter was next to his desk, waving a hand in his face.

“Whoa, sorry. What can I do for you, Peter?” Karim shook his head to get back to the present.

Peter laughed. “It must have been good for you to be that hung up on it! Anyone I know?”

Karim’s face heated, and he searched for a comeback, but Julian spoke first.

“Don’t waste your energy, Pete. Our boy here is far too private to share the interesting bits,” he said from Karim’s doorway.

“Maybe he’ll trade?” Peter said.

What could you possibly have that I would be interested in?

“No, no. I don’t think he’s ready yet,” Julian said.

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