All those possibilities suddenly fizzled in his brain like wet fireworks. One word from her demand sprayed them with ocean water before they could make it to the sky.
Need.
She needed this divorce. Needed to be free. And he found himself realizing out loud… “Those weren’t just words I spouted at your father. I truly love you. But if you do not feel the same way about me, then I must let you go. You’re not my possession. You’re a gift I was given by fate for a short, important time. So, yes, I will give you your divorce.”
His words didn’t lighten the resolve in her eyes. Not one bit.
“Prove it,” she demanded. She yanked off her ring, and to Han, it felt like she ripped his heart from his chest with the action. “Take this back.”
So this is what it felt like to give your heart to someone…and have them hand it right back like so much trash.
Hurt, deep and wounding, shattered his chest.
But he took the ring she’d extended. Every bone, every muscle, every nerve ending in his body protested the action as he did it. But he swallowed down the lump of pain that had formed in his throat and closed his fist around the band.
“Thank you,” she said with a happy smile. Her voice was breathless, as if she couldn’t quite believe she’d finally escaped the monster.
“Is it really so terrible being married to me?”
He’d asked her that just a few hours ago. Apparently, it was.
Time to go now. He opened his mouth to bid her goodbye, to leave her behind at this party with his men still stationed outside, so that he could slither off to somewhere dark and lonely to recover from this rejection.
“Now, ask me again.”
Her command made Han blink. It had fallen from Jasmine’s mouth, but he didn’t understand it.
Not until she clarified, “Ask me to marry you again.”
Han blinked several times, unable to understand, unable to believe what was happening.
But in the end, an emotion stronger than him came through. Hope…
Hope pushed him back down on one knee, made his arm strong as he extended the ring and asked his wife, “Jasmine, will you—”
“Yes!” she answered before the question was entirely out of his mouth. “Yes! I’ll marry you!”
She tapped him urgently on his shoulders, and he rose back to his feet just in time to catch her when she threw herself into his arms.
“I love you, too,” she whispered in his ear. “I love you so much! I wish it didn’t take me this long and a really weird public speech from you to realize it.”
Her words set off a fireworks show in his chest—better than any that were happening in Hawaii that night. And he realized how epically silly it had been to force her to marry him.
He should have realized, should have known…she hadn’t displayed such loyalty simply because she was a good person. She’d done it because just as he loved her, deep down inside, she’d secretly loved him too.
They loved each other, and now that they’d both admitted it, he declared, “I will spend the rest of my life—”
“No! Jasmine, no!” Mika Hayes, the woman who was still alive because Han had met her fierce, loyal, and loving sister before he could complete his mission, came forward. Her face was twisted and enraged. “Jazz! No! This guy is obviously a dangerous criminal! You can’t marry him!”
“Well, I am,” Jasmine answered her sister cheerfully, without taking her eyes off Han. “So either get on board or shut up, sis. Like he said, I’m stupid loyal.”
His heart…
For the first time in his life, he was grateful for the bad things that happened to him in the past. His mother’s abandonment had left him to struggle and hide feelings of powerlessness and unworthiness all of his life. But his relationship with Jasmine—it was the opposite of that, and because of his past, her love and loyalty brought him a joy like nothing he’d ever experienced before.
“I will be loyal to you too, Jasmine.” Han cupped her face in both his hands. “I will protect you until the day I die because I love you….I love you so much, too.”
Han kissed his fiancée, who was already his bride, sealing their new deal with those words.
And a collective aw filled the air, drowning out any further protests her sister might have had.
34
JAZZ
I woke up three days later in what was quickly becoming a familiar situation. Han’s fingers inside my folds, working me in the most delicious ways…and his voice in my ear, giving me all sorts of dirty commands.
“You are my wife in every way now, and you will not leave me. Nod.”
I nodded, oh so happy to submit. And he rewarded me by pressing his tip into the back of my pussy in a way that made me both moan at the added sensation and whimper because I wanted more.
