Secret Words (Secret Dreams Contemporary Romance 1) (20 page)

"Okay, that sounds good. Hopefully that will finally put an end to this," Joe said.

"Are you still going ahead with the article about you?" Jasmine asked Kane.

"Yes. I'm still waiting for Hannah to let us know if she'd be happy to be interviewed for it or not. But regardless of her decision, we're going ahead with it."

"I'm glad we now know who the blackmailer is," she said as she burrowed her head in Kane's neck. She smiled as she felt his arms tighten around her in return.

"Yes," Kane agreed. "But I'm still mad at you for talking to George alone when you didn't know if he was dangerous or not. Don't do anything like that again."

She lifted her head to look at her overprotective boyfriend and grinned at his expression. He looked so cute when he pouted.

"I'm sorry." She tried to look contrite.

"No you're not," he muttered.

"Well, you have to admit, if it wasn't for the blackmail, you wouldn't have known how much I love you."

Kane's eyes glowed. "And
you
wouldn't have known how much
I
love you," he responded softly, placing a tender kiss on her forehead.

She sighed with contentment and leaned back into his embrace. If they didn't have an audience, they'd be tearing each other's clothes off by now. But her parents were watching them.

Her gaze flicked to her mum, who had a serene, happy smile on her face. Her parents had never seen her this lovey-dovey with a man before but considering the circumstances, she had no doubt they were very pleased. Her mother, especially, had been eager for her to find a man she could be serious with. Well, here he was, sitting in their lounge room and holding her close in front of them.

She heard Kane's tummy grumble softly and chuckled. Reluctantly, she disengaged herself from him and stood up. "Do you guys want to order home delivery or go out to dinner?"

"Go out to dinner," three voices said together.

"And have a drink or two," Joe added.

She sighed, knowing none of them would feel fully relieved until they had heard from Minerva herself that she would stop her ridiculous actions.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Jasmine sat patiently in one of the boardrooms of the offices of Krand Architects. She was glad she was alone for the time being, while she thumbed through the latest issue of
Lifestyle by Design
. Kane was taking an important phone call in his office and they were still waiting for Minerva's dad and Minerva herself to arrive.

She flicked the pages back to the four-page article she had already read numerous times, smiling again at the pictures of Kane, his co-directors and the properties for which he'd received nominations. Even the one photo of him and Hannah taken during the interview made her lips tug upwards.

Jessa had written a wonderful article on Kane. It highlighted his career achievements and his latest award nominations but it smartly incorporated details about his private life and the challenges he faced as a high-profile professional. His openness about his grief at Hannah's miscarriage and his honesty about his relationship with Hannah were raw, poignant and touching.

Hannah had agreed to participate in the interview. She had talked about Kane's generosity with his time and his understanding of her feelings while she was grieving. She'd even mentioned the new man in her life, who was her current source of support.

Jasmine hadn't been sure if Hannah had told the truth about having a new boyfriend but Kane had assured her she had. Apparently, the guy had accompanied Hannah to the interview. She felt relieved by that.

There was hardly any mention of her in the extra-long article except towards the end, and it was perfect. Jessa wrote:

As we were wrapping up the interview, I asked Kane if there was anything else he would like to add. This was his answer: Oh, just let everyone know I'm in love with your sister Jasmine.

She grinned. What had she done to deserve such a sweet, wonderful man?

The boardroom door opened, banishing her romantic glow and replacing it with nervousness.

In walked a distinguished-looking man in his late fifties and the girl who had once splashed water in her face. They were followed by Kane, who gave her a comforting smile.

She stood up as she was introduced to David Green and Minerva Green. Kane gave her hand a surreptitious squeeze before he invited everyone to sit down.

David Green cleared his throat and spoke. "I don't want to take up too much of your time, Kane, Jasmine. I just thought it was important to see the two of you in person so we could put this all behind us. My daughter here would like to apologise for her very childish and, quite frankly, disturbing behaviour." He glared at his daughter.

Minerva sighed exasperatedly. She was like a sulky teenager who had just been berated by her parent, not a woman who should be acting maturely.

"Listen, I've already told my dad it was George who told all those lies about you, Jasmine," Minerva said with a look that indicated she expected to be excused for her behaviour.

"Minerva," Jasmine responded in a soft but firm voice, "it wasn't George who sent those emails to Hannah and me. It wasn't George who made up those sex stories with pornographic pictures and said they were mine. It wasn't George who told me to stay away from Kane or else both our reputations would suffer."

Minerva glanced at her father, who was scowling at her. "Okay, well, I'm sorry about those," she muttered.

Kane sighed and sat up straight in his chair. "David, I appreciate you coming here with the intention of apologising. Jasmine and I accept
your
apology. We don't want to wallow in this any more than you do, so why don't we close the book on this? All we ask is that this ends here and now. Permanently. I'm sure you understand when I say that if something comes out in the press or the Internet or
anywhere
relating to the lies that were woven by your daughter, all gloves are off. If your daughter or any of her friends hassle Jasmine again, you know I'll do everything to protect her, and I won't be the only one."

"I understand, Kane. And Minerva also understands what she's going to lose if she carries on further with her madness, don't you, Minerva?" David asked his daughter authoritatively.

Minerva simply nodded her head.

Jasmine shook her head surreptitiously. She couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for Minerva. She seemed but a child in a woman's body.

"Okay. I think we're done here. Thank you both so much for your time," Kane said, rising from his chair.

They all stood up after him.

"Thank you for your patience and understanding, Kane." David shook Kane's hand then turned to her. "Jasmine, I'm truly sorry."

She gave him a genuine smile. "It's okay, David. It's all sorted out now."

She stayed in the boardroom as Kane escorted father and daughter out. She looked out the window, feeling appeased. Finally, this whole saga had ended. She could stop worrying about this now.

She chuckled to herself, knowing her next challenge could be just around the corner. But she'd learnt her lesson. Next time, she'd share it with Kane straight away.

She heard him walk back in and turned to face him, a happy smile playing on her face.

"I was going to ask how you are but I can see you're fine," he said with a grin.

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you?"

"Absolutely." He kissed her on the lips.

"I better go so you can go back to work," she said.

He looked at his watch. "Do you want to hang around in the shops for about an hour while I finish up here, then we could go out to dinner and celebrate the conclusion of this mess?"

"Great idea."

*******

Jasmine woke up to a hand gently frisking her body. She groaned and swatted the hand away. It was too early in the morning and she was not a morning person. It came back to knead her breast, making her nipple react. She grabbed the hand and held it between her boobs tightly to stop it from wandering.

A mouth started nibbling her shoulder and she pretended not to be affected by it.

"Wake up, sweetheart," Kane whispered in her ear.

"Why?" She peered at the clock to check the time. Just as she suspected, it was way too early on a Saturday morning.

"Because there's something I can't wait to do," he answered huskily.

She smiled but kept her eyes shut. "Didn't you get enough of me last night?" she teased. It had only been five hours ago when they finally went to sleep.

"You know I never get enough of you," he murmured.

"I'm still sleepy. Give me a couple more hours of shuteye and you can do whatever you want with me."

"Can I help you wake up?" Kane asked, his lips now on her neck.

She debated with herself. If she gave Kane two more minutes of kissing and caressing, she knew she would end up begging him for more. But right that second, she was still too drowsy to want anything but sleep.

"Umm," she murmured, uncertain herself of what she wanted.

"I planned to do it tonight but I woke up and I don't want to wait anymore," he said softly.

She snickered. "That's not surprising. I don't remember you having the patience to wait until nighttime to have sex on a Saturday. The latest we've done it on a weekend was around midday."

"I'm not talking about sex."

"Oh?"

"I want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I need you to be definitely awake before I ask, so I know for sure you mean your answer."

Her foggy mind tried to make sense of what Kane was saying. He wanted to ask her a question. What question?

Something clicked and she was fully alert.

"I'm awake now," she said as she shifted to fully face him, her eyelids opened wide.

He chuckled. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. See?" She grinned brightly and gave him an exuberant little wave.

He laughed out loud and rolled on top of her, capturing her mouth for a lingering, I-love-you kiss.

She moaned and kissed him back enthusiastically. Now she was really awake. Her body had started wanting more. But first, she wanted him to ask his question.

"So what do you want to ask me?" she asked against his sweet mouth.

Her phone rang on her bedside table and she groaned. She'd forgotten to put it on silent again. It was Kane's fault. He'd distracted her last night.

"Let me get that first," she said reluctantly, thinking it must be something important for someone to call so early.

Kane rolled back on to the bed as she reached for her phone. It was Ari.

"Hi, Ari," she said cheerfully as Kane lazily ran a hand over her thigh and belly.

"Hi, Jaz. Am I calling too early? Am I disturbing you guys?"

Something in Ari's voice made her frown. "No, it's fine. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything's okay," Ari replied a little too quickly. "I just want to tell you something before you hear it from someone else."

"Okay," she said, starting to get nervous.

"Last night when I went out clubbing with my workmates, I bumped into Dylan, Kane's brother. And, uh … well … I slept with him."

"What?" She bolted to a sitting position on the bed, making Kane sit up too.

"It was just a one-night stand," Ari explained. "We're both very clear on that and we're both okay with it. I wanted to tell you because I'm not very good at keeping these things to myself. And it was already starting to bother me that you might hear it first from Dylan or one of his friends instead of me."

"Okay," Jasmine responded, too stunned to say anything else.

"You're fine with it, right, Jaz? And Kane would be okay with it, too?" Ari said worriedly.

"Of course. As long as you and Dylan are okay with it."

"Yes, definitely. Like I said, we're both very clear it was just a one-night stand and we're both totally fine with that."

"Then there's no problem," she assured her friend.

"Good," Ari replied with a relieved sigh. "Well, I'll let you go. Please let Kane know what I just told you. And I'll see you in a few days."

"Okay. Bye."

"What was that about?" Kane asked as she placed the phone back on her bedside table.

"Ari and Dylan bumped into each other at a club last night. And they had a one-night stand." Her voice still held the astonishment she felt at the news.

Kane's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Your friend Ari and my brother Dylan?"

"Yes."

"And … is she okay?"

"She's fine. She said they're both fine."

Kane nodded. "Are you worried?" he asked.

"Well, I'm just wondering if they'll be okay being in the same room together after that. Or will they feel uncomfortable with each other from here on in?"

"Don't worry. Dylan seems to have a knack of becoming good friends with women he's had one-night-stands with."

"Really?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I don't know how he does it."

"Okay. I guess I won't worry, then."

"Good. Now come back here. I haven't finished kissing you."

"You were going to ask me something first," she reminded him.

Kane's mouth curved into a nervous smile and she saw excitement in his eyes. He got out of bed and reached for her hand. "Come."

Eagerly, she took his hand and let herself be led to the spare room next to his study. Out of all the rooms in the house, this was the least furnished. It only had a two-seater sofa bed against one wall, a tall lamp beside it and a big, round rug in the middle of the floor.

Her heart was beating fast. Was he going to pop the question in here?

Kane put his arm around her shoulders. "Jaz, could we go buy you a desk and everything else you need to make this your study?"

She gaped at him. That was the question he wanted to ask?

"Uh, sure," she said, trying to swallow her disappointment.

"Good. Because you really have to start treating this house as yours." His voice was serious and his expression deadpan.

She smiled at him. "I just need to get used to the idea, that's all."

He pulled her in his arms. "I want you to treat everything of mine as yours."