Page 106 of Earned Husband

“Exactly.” She grinned and tossed back the last bit of her drink, but as she started chatting to him about her plans for the rest of the day, I thought about everything they’d just said.

I’d known Colin had been through a lot, but I hadn’t realized just how deep this ran for him. In a way, it felt like he defined himself by what had happened and proving that he and his family were innocent—even if their father likely wasn’t.

Given the numbers they’d mentioned when they’d given me the details of what the authorities had found in the offshore account, he wasn’t well-off. Compared to my family or even myself, that was. I winced when I thought about the massive dowry he’d paid despite what a setback it must’ve been for him.

Before I could fall too far down that rabbit hole, however, Jane pushed her chair back and came over to our side of the table. “Right. I need to get back to the office, wrap up a few things there, and then I’m taking my kids someplace fun this afternoon.”

Colin let go of me and stood up, wrapping her in a tight hug. “Give the little ones lots of kisses from me, will you?”

“Of course.” She hugged him back, murmuring quietly to him before she let go. “You should get back to your leave of absence now. Ryan has been coping just fine and you deserve a break after everything you’ve done for this family, little brother. You kept our heads above water for so long and now you’ve saved us from drowning in the long run. I don’t want to see you back at the office for at least a couple months.”

He chuckled, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead before she left him to come and say goodbye to me. She gave me a hug that rivaled the one she’d given him, holding me tight. “Take care of him for me, okay? Make him take a break. He needs it.”

“I won’t rest until it’s done,” I promised, hugging her back and smiling. I watched her leave. “You have a pretty amazing sister, you know that?”

“Yeah, she’s awesome. One of the strongest women I’ve ever met.” Colin was still standing when I turned back to him, and instead of sitting down again, he held his hand out toward me. “I can’t believe you came straight from the airport to our offices. You must be exhausted. Let’s get you home.”

Home.

The word made me tingle a little bit. Here, home meant his house, but he’d said it like it was mine as well.Ourhome, a place where no family members would barge in at any given moment and we would truly be alone. In my head, it was a beacon of peace and tranquility. Hell, we could walk around naked all day and no one would know.

I placed my palm in his and smiled up at him. “I can’t wait.”

He smirked, tugged me closer, and slid his knuckles gently across my cheek. “I know what you’re thinking, and I approve, but we just have one quick detour to make on our way there.”

My eyebrows swept up, but I didn’t argue, too curious to know where he wanted to take me that was so important that he wanted to do it right away. Less than twenty minutes later, I found out when he led me into an exclusive high-rise right in the heart of Chicago.

We ascended in an elevator that felt as fast as the GlobalStar jet, but only once Colin had activated it with his fingerprint. Surprised laughter tore through me as I realized my fingerprint worked as well, and then we were walking into the luxury condo he’d bought me as part of the dowry.

My jaw went slack as I trailed in after him off the elevator, taking in the massive wall of windows that spanned almost the entire story. Natural light filtered in from everywhere, painting the modern tiles and countertops in warm gold.

“This is stunning,” I breathed as I looked around, almost too scared to touch anything even though this place was, ostensibly, ours. “Oh my God, Colin. What did you do?”

He grinned, those gray blue eyes lighting up with pride. “So you like it?”

“I love it.” It was every bit as luxurious as the homes I was used to, the view was spectacular, and the furniture made it feel cozy despite the modernity, but it also felt almost wrong. “I’ll admit that I like your townhouse better, though.”

He laughed. “No, you don’t. This place is a palace compared to that.”

“True, but I’m serious.” I strode over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. “That’s where I want to be, Colin. With you.”

His hands slid to my hips, a slight furrow appearing between his eyebrows as he looked back at me. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then I suppose we can use this place as a landing pad for your family when they come to visit,” he said thoughtfully. “We’llbe splitting time between Chicago and Cairo for at least a few years after we get married and there’s plenty of space here for all of them.”

A thrill shot through me. “Does that mean the wedding is still on?”

“If you can forgive me for essentially running away.”

I rolled my eyes. “You didn’t run away. You ran to your family to help when they needed you, and it sounds like it was a darn good thing you did. Just like you ran to Egypt when my family asked, to do whatever they wanted just for me.”

A slight smile spread on his lips. He lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me deeply, turning every bone in my body to goo. We finally broke apart just as things started to get heated, and he ran his nose along the length of mine before taking a small step back.

“How about a quick tour and then I’ll take you home?” he asked.

I nodded, inhaling a deep breath to clear my mind of the haze of lust, and then took his hand again. “Lead the way, fiancé. I can’t wait to take a real look around.”