“So… you could leave, but…” I meet his gaze. “You really can’t.”
“Once your hands are as dirty as mine, it’s hard to ever get them clean again.”
I don’t know why hearing that makes my heart heavy. I already knew I couldn’t keep him.
I shouldn’t have let him kiss me.
I’m not sure I did let him, really, but I need to make sure it stops there. I need to protect myself, and what that means seems to change with every hour this man is in my life.
At first, I was only afraid he’d take my life.
Now I’m worried my brush with him may be less fatal, but still excruciatingly painful.
Those fingers of his, so skilled at theft in its various forms… he needs to keep them off my heart.Chapter FifteenJasperBetween the roaring fire and Autumn’s body snuggled up against my side, I’m already way too hot to even think about touching the hot chocolate Nora brings over.
Not that I’m complaining. Tonight has been a lot nicer than I expected. Considering how behind I am getting to know my new niece, I got down in the floor with her and helped her build towers out of little pink and green blocks. She warmed up to me fast, all it took was a big reaction the first time she knocked the tower over and she was delighted.
After that, she seemed to like me well enough. She hung out with us until it was time for her to go to bed.
It was the craziest thing, seeing my little sister go into Mom mode and get her own baby ready for bed. I can still remember when she was climbing into my bed in the middle of the night because she had a bad dream.
Tom and my mom went to bed an hour after Amira. Autumn seems to be a night owl like I am, and my sister and Tarek only get alone time when Amira is sleeping, so they were in no rush to get to bed, either.
Nora and Autumn hatched a plan to force us to watch Christmas movies with them while eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate.
It’s safe to say, I’ve never done anything like this in my whole life. Not even as a kid.
Autumn sure seems to enjoy it, though.
When the movie ends, it’s nearly midnight. I imagine my sister and Tarek will probably want to head to bed soon, but I’m not ready for that yet. We may have spent the evening with them, but I haven’t been able to do any digging. Nora may be adequately convinced Tarek is a good guy, but I’d like to get to know him a little better and form my own opinion.
He already has a strike against him in my book, so I want to know more about it. Maybe Nora saw him being a single dad as a draw because she’s family-oriented, but me? I want to know why.
“So, how did you say you guys met?” I ask, before they can decide to announce they’re heading to bed.
Nora glances at Tarek, casually resting her hand on his thigh. “It was… what, three years ago?”
Tarek nods. “Amira’s first Christmas, so it would’ve been three years ago.”
She looks back at me, a relaxed smile on her face. “Okay, three years ago. Tarek and this adorable, absolutely angelic baby were alone on the flight I was working. They were going to visit his family for Christmas. And he just looked terrified. She was so small. I wanted to ease some of his anxiety about traveling with a baby, especially when she inevitably got hungry and started fussing. So, during my free moments, I popped over to check in and talk to him a bit.”
“Aw,” Autumn says, so easily enchanted by the beginning of a love story.
I’m torn between rolling my eyes at her and giving her an affectionate squeeze, but in the end I keep all of my focus trained on Nora and Tarek.
Nora grins and nods enthusiastically. “So, that’s that and I never expect to see him again. But then the following year, he’s on my flight again. He’s taking Amira home to see his family again. And now it’s a little less random. Now it’s starting to feel like fate.”
Autumn elbows me in the side. “Fate. This belief must run in your family.”
I slide Autumn a dry look before frowning at my sister. “I’m a little confused. You worked two Christmases in a row? I thought you usually insisted on time off so you could come home for Christmas.”
“Oh, I do. I was already back to work.” She glances over at Tarek, then back at me, “Tarek’s family is from Egypt, they’re Coptic Christians. So they do celebrate Christmas, but their calendar is different. They celebrate Christmas in early January, not the end of December. It works out perfectly for us. We’ll always be able to visit my family for our Christmas celebration, then go see his family for theirs. There’s no schedule conflict. I love it. My airline doesn’t, I asked for a lot more vacation time and they were not impressed, but…”