Page 42 of Sheltering You

Jasmine grinned. “He is a very polite man.”

Derrick asked a blessing over their meal, and they dug in.

After half a slice, Jasmine asked, “What did Michael say?”

“I left a voice mail.”

“They were going to a play tonight, right?”

Oh, yeah. His brother was in New York with Sophie and Bryan. He sort of remembered something about tickets to Hamilton.

After dinner, they put together one of Rabie’s puzzles, and then Jasmine declared it bedtime and shooed him into the next room. Before she closed the door, she said, “Do you wish to sleep, or should I come back?”

He glanced at his watch and lifted his eyebrows. “It’s eight fifteen. I think I can stay up a little longer.”

“I’ll come back, then, if it’s okay, so he can sleep.”

While she was settling Rabie down, Derrick hopped in the shower, thankful the suite had two bathrooms, and changed into his sleep pants and a T-shirt. He hadn’t been back on the sofa five minutes before Jasmine tapped on the door.

“Come on in.”

She did, settling on the club chair catty-corner to him. “No word from Michael?”

He checked his phone, not that he hadn’t done that every few minutes since he’d left the message. “Nope.”

She seemed to relax at the news. “He will get back to you when he can.”

“Good thing it’s not an emergency.” He’d meant the words sardonically—he’d never had more of an emergency—but Jasmine only smiled.

“We’re safe here, yes?”

“I’m worried about those guys at the airport.”

“That man could have been anybody. He was probably an American businessman waiting for his wife or a partner or something. Since we escaped Iraq, I am quite paranoid.”

He leaned toward her. “I don’t think it’s paranoia if people are actually out to get you. We call that wisdom.”

Her lips tipped up at the corners as if he’d said something amusing. He wasn’t trying to be funny, though. Somebody was after her, and he’d been a fool to take her away from the safety of Shadow Cove.

Michael was going to kill him.

“Do you want to tell me about your escape?” Derrick asked. “I’d love to know more. All I know is that Michael rescued you and Leila from your father’s house and got you out of Iraq. What was it like? Probably a lot worse than today, huh? Were you afraid the whole time?”

“From the moment Michael showed up at the compound until your jet lifted off from Mytilene, I was afraid. I’m still afraid he’ll find me.”

Jasmine wasn’t afraid right now, using all those contractions. That was the kind of thing only somebody obsessed with her might notice, which was why he’d never mentioned it.

“Your father.” Derrick named the one she feared.

She looked away.

“That is who you’re afraid of, right? Your father? Because the other guys, the ones who pursued you across Turkey, are dead.” And there’d been an uncle, but he’d been arrested in Germany a few weeks before and was still in custody. Derrick didn’t know much about that, just what Bryan had been free to share.

“Correct.” Jasmine added a smile, but it was tight at the corners. Derrick had missed something, and by the way her expression shuttered, it was something important.

His brother’s words from the morning before came back to him. There are things you don’t know… It’s possible your feelings for her will change.

No chance of that. But what didn’t Derrick know?