Of course I had expected that. Ziad was kind and caring but he was only eighteen and had so much more to explore and experience. I didn't want to hold him back at all. I wished for him to be happy as well. At least, it had been a much better break-up then the one my first boyfriend had subjected me to eight years ago. And he'd actually been a grown man. Ziad Qureshi could teach such men a thing or two about how to treat a female.
Life was lonely again but I was used to it. I missed him sometimes but never tried to get in touch even though Sierra still talked about him, and my new friend, Skye, knew him as well. I smiled a little as I put on a black dress with tiny flower prints on it. It showed off my curves which I was very proud of now thanks to one kind boy who'd always found them beautiful. Quickly, I brushed my hair which had now grown longer and fell almost to my shoulders before heading downstairs.
The shop was quiet as I walked between the tables to turn over the 'closed' sign. Then I prepared some of the fresh goods I needed to bake that morning and placed them in the oven, setting things up as I waited. Sierra had gone to Milan to see her dad on Friday so it was just me for the weekend. I played some music on my phone, Halo once again because I kept thinking about those lyrics and wishing I could be that lucky. Then I busied myself with making my special chocolate glazing for the doughnuts which had gained a lot of favour with the locals. They sold like hotcakes.
Due to the volume of music and my concentration on the task, it took me a while to realise that there was a man standing on the other side of the counter, just watching me.
"Oh my God," I gasped slightly, straightening and backing away a few steps. "Wha-? When did you come inside?"
The man narrowed his eyes at me, eyes that glittered with a kind of lazy amusement. "Just now," he said in a gruff, somewhat assertive tone. "You seemed to really be enjoying your work. I didn't want to interrupt."
Suspiciously, I pulled up the front of my dress by the straps, feeling like my 'work' hadn't been the only thing his eyes had been on. He smirked at my response. Perv.
"What can I do for you?" I asked again, curtly, pressing pause on the music and shifting into businesswoman mode.
He was so tall and muscular, it was a little intimidating since I was all alone in here with him. But he looked to be in his forties so I guessed I probably could outrun him. Or not. I mean, under that shirt and those jeans, his body appeared so well-defined and hard. So fit.
Okay, what the hell was I doing, standing there thinking about his body? He'd said something and I had missed it so I apologised and asked him to repeat his order.
"My kids asked me to get doughnuts from here while I was around the area," he told me. "They really seem to love it."
Kids... I didn't see a wedding ring though. Single dad? Divorced, maybe?
"It's a local favourite. How many would you like?"
As he placed his order and watched me put it in tiny pink boxes and ring up the bill, I felt more aware of him than I had of any male before. Even the slightest movements he made like folding his arms or rubbing a hand over his jaw caught my attention. I refused to blame myself for it. He looked like a cover model. A mature one, yes, but just as sexy and masculine.
"How's the business doing?" he asked me when I tried to hand him the doughnuts and his change. "I spoke to Logan last week and he mentioned Sierra would be in Milan for the weekend. You should hire someone to help you out."
My mouth opened slightly and I frowned at him, trying to figure out how he knew my niece and brother.
"Umm...I'm afraid I don't recognise-"
"Jasper Wells," he said, holding out his hand. "I dated your brother years back. Briefly. He was in Ireland at the time."
Oh, God. This was Jasper? This was Skye's…ex-boyfriend. She had come around a few times to hang out with me when we weren't too busy with other stuff and she'd mentioned he was Jacob's father. Jacob, who was now dating my niece.
"Oh...so...you're...wow. I had no idea, I'm so sorry. Hi." I shook his hand and it felt so big in my small grip. "I'm Iris."
He smiled at me and took his doughnuts, leaving the change on the counter. "Sorry if I scared you," he murmured and I couldn't stop looking at his mouth. It was so perfectly shaped, so sensual surrounded by that strong jaw and blond stubble.
"Iris," he said and I snapped out of my trance, embarrassed to have been caught staring like that. What was happening to my brain this morning?
"So that means you're not completely gay like Logan, right?" I laughed nervously and then clamped a hand over my mouth. I wanted to give myself a slap. Usually, I was so polite and didn't really behave this way with strange men, especially if they were my customers but he had the oddest effect on me.
I stared at him but he didn't appear to be offended or annoyed. Instead, his gaze travelled lazily down my body in pure male assessment and then back up until he was looking into my eyes again. I felt the brush of that appraisal like a tangible thing all over my skin and took a deep breath.
His dark eyes were glittering once more as he lifted a corner of his mouth and asked me, "Would you like to find out?"
I blushed, felt the heat creeping across my cheeks and shook my head quickly without removing my hand from my mouth. I was afraid that if I did, I'd be screaming, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
How unprofessional of me.
Jasper nodded at me once, as though my answer didn't bother him at all. I guess it didn't. I mean, he was probably teasing me. Women must react this way around him all the time.
"You have a good day, Iris," he told me before walking out.
The door closed as he exited my shop but I could still see him on the other side of the glass as he glanced back at me. The morning sun behind him made his short, blond hair shine somewhat. He then gave me a beautiful smile before getting in his car and driving away.
****
BONUS SCENES AND EXTRAS
Armaan
I let her kiss me at first, closing my eyes and blocking out all thoughts of how Jasmine would feel if she could see me. This was just a means to an end, that was all. I felt no attraction towards this girl, not even the slightest bit and I could imagine very well how repulsed Ziad must have been. It drove me mad but I gritted my teeth and bore it as she trailed her mouth along my neck and her hands grazed me through my jeans. Pretty soon she was going to notice that I wasn’t hard and that would complicate things.
“Put your hands on my tits,” she told me as she pressed harder into my body. “Squeeze them tightly.”
I felt a little nauseas but I did as she wanted, still feeling the pain and rage over how helpless she had made my son. This was what she had made him do amongst so many other things…against his will. This little bitch.
“Mmm, god, I want to taste you,” she said suddenly and began to unzip me. Slowly, without losing my temper which was a feat in itself, I removed her hands from my crotch and drew back, quirking my lips in a smile.
“You’ve been taking and taking ever since we got here,” I said to her. “How about giving me a little something before we really get down to it.” Deliberately, I lowered my gaze and kept it trained at the spot where her pussy was underneath the short skirt she was wearing while bringing the tip of my tongue out to lick my lips.
Giselle looked at me as though Christmas had come early. “Oh, it is so much more fun playing with you,” she drawled as she leaned back and parted her thighs. “At least you seem to be enjoying it. Keep it up, Mr. Qureshi and I will never have to bother your precious son again. Wanna take my panties off?”
Fuck no. Refraining from letting out an irritated breath, I reached under her skirt and shoved her pantries down her thighs before sliding them off.
She let out a throaty giggle. “Wow…you’re getting a little rough there. Can’t wait to get a taste of this, huh?”
I couldn’t look away as she bunched her skirt up around her hips and spread her legs even more. I couldn’t close my eyes either. I needed to see this thing through.
Forgive me, Jasmine. Forgive me. I love you…
My heart was pounding really hard. She would understand. She would understand why I was doing this.
“I want to watch you play with yourself,” I said to Giselle in almost a whisper.
I’d go home and pray tonight, ask Allah to forgive me for this unintended act of betrayal towards the woman who trusted me. My skin crawled as the minutes passed and I wanted to run. He must have wanted to run as well, my poor boy. But he’d stayed for Skye. For Jacob. To protect their family from public humiliation.
“Eyes on me, Mr. Qureshi,” Giselle said as she rubbed her clit. “I bet those gorgeous blue eyes on my cunt will make me wet ten times faster.”
It’s kind of strange how blue your eyes are, Jasmine still said to me sometimes when she was in the mood to tease me. They don’t even appear natural what with your colouring. Strangers would think that you’re probably some white guy with a permanent fake tan. Or a native who likes using coloured contacts. She would giggle then as though it was something only she found funny and then later, she’d come to me in bed at night and whisper, “By the way, I’m glad these gorgeous blue eyes and this bronze model-like body belong to me. I love you.” It had taken her years to be able to say those words to me as easily as I said them to her and with those words, she had handed me the keys to her heart. I hated that I was going behind her back this way when it was what I had lectured her on just hours earlier.
“Take your cock out,” Giselle’s voice rudely interrupted my thoughts and I blinked at her as she frantically moved her fingers over her wet slit while watching me hungrily. I’d zoned out about thirty seconds ago.
“I will,” I lied in a low voice. “I’m going to take it out and stick it in you very soon but first…I want to see you come. Spread those legs wider. Let me look at those tits too. Put on a show for me.”
I’d learned how to make commands sound sexy from one of the best and it worked on Giselle because she moaned hard and placed one of her feet up on the dashboard and the other on my lap while rotating her hips against her fingers. With her other hand, she shoved up her top until her breasts swung free and then began to massage them while making lewd sounds.
“That’s it,” I crooned, urging her on. “Come on, let me see you squirt. I know you can do it. Rub it harder. Fuck yourself with those fingers. God, I can’t wait to replace them with my cock. Wait till you see how big it is.”
She let out a soft cry followed by an ‘oooo’ and started to climax, moaning and shuddering while looking at me hotly and licking her lips.
It did nothing for me. She was cheap and deserved to be treated as such. With a satisfied feeling in my chest, I shifted to face the front and let out a long sigh.
“Please, I need your cock in me now,” she panted next to me. “Fuck me. Now.”
I almost laughed at the desperation in her voice. Adjusting my shirt, I calmly leaned back in my seat and said, “Or what?”
She kept quiet for a moment but I refused to look at her. I no longer had to because I’d gotten most of what I had come for. I heard her shifting as I glanced out the window, waiting for her to get dressed properly before I gave her my ultimatum and threw her out of the car.
“Have you forgotten the deal, Mr. Qureshi?” she snapped at me. “You give me your cock on the regular and I will leave your son’s alone.”
“You will not only leave my son’s cock alone from this moment onwards but you will make sure you never cross his path again. His, Jacob’s, Skye’s or any member of both our families. You will make yourself invisible if you have to, Miss Maroni and pretend you never even knew us. You will keep that filthy mouth of yours shut because if you don’t…if you even think to show up around anyone I care about, this right here...” I said and retrieved the mini spy camera which I had attached behind the steering wheel at such an angle that it faced the passenger seat, “…is going to go viral. The second you step out of line, the whole world is going to see exactly how much you enjoy touching yourself.”
A shameless girl like her shouldn’t be bothered by a little exposure but that was where I had the upper hand. This particular girl preferred being a predator in private and publicly presented the image of a popular, respectable member of society who had to keep in line with her parents’ expectations. Her parents, who had a good reputation in the Pavian community and had put aside an exorbitant amount for her trust fund. She was not going to get a single penny if this debacle came to light.
Giselle gave me a panicked look and began to flounder, looking from me to the camera in my hand and then back at me with a pale face. “You can’t do this. My parents will disown me. My friends...everyone at school. I have 4K followers on Instagram!” she shrieked.
I laughed at her cruelly. I already knew that. “Well, I’m sure they’d love to see this,” I told her with a thin smile. “And don’t think of running, Giselle. Ask anyone who knows me well around here, I will find you no matter which part of the world you hide in. Actually, you wouldn’t even be able to leave the country without my knowledge. You see, you’re not the only one with connections.” I held out my hand calmly. “Give me your phone.”
She was gritting her teeth at me, clearly looking like she wanted to rage and call me names, maybe even assault me but I was going to sort this mess out once and for all.
“Give me your fucking phone!” I finally yelled, making her jump. With wide eyes, she gulped at me and then slowly handed me the device which had fallen on the seat.
“And the details of that hacker,” I ordered. “You better not have back-ups of Zi’s private messages and photos. I won’t hesitate to have you killed the next time I so much as get an inkling that you’re harassing him or even looking his way. Am I clear?”
With another hard swallow, she nodded stiffly. I held up the camera and smirked as she eyed it like she wanted to destroy it so badly.
“Rest assured I am going to back this footage up on every storage platform I have,” I told her and then held out a pen and notepad so she could write down the name and contact of the person who had helped her gain access to Zi’s phone. Thanks to my crazy writer of a lover, there were always these things lying around amongst my own stuff.
How was I even going to face her when I went home? She would see right through me with those dark, observant eyes. My anger had left just as soon as it had come but I wasn’t going to let her know that. Right now, pretending to be mad and keeping my distance was my best option. I simply couldn’t look into her eyes and lie to her. Ever.
After getting everything I needed from Giselle, including her phone password, I drove her back to her house and told her to get out, waiting only until she had closed the car door before taking off. I could have left her at the ruins but that place had been deserted and if anything had happened to her, it would have been one more thing on my conscience which I wouldn’t have been able to shake off.
I was going to put this unpleasant, nauseating episode behind me and go home to my son now. Let him know he no longer had anything to worry about. That was the only thing that made me smile for real since the moment he had first come to me in the kitchen this morning with tears in his eyes, and the tiniest hope that I would make everything better.
~~~
An Interview/Live Chat with Jasmine Khan (Transcription from my BookTube channel)
Me: Thank you so much for taking out your time to attend this interview, Miss. Khan.
Jasmine: No problem, Zee. Happy to be here.
Me: Okay, so let's get started. Could you tell us a bit about yourself? This is for those new readers who maybe aren't familiar with your books. Just a short intro.
Jasmine: You want me to talk about myself?
Me: Yes. A little bit. And then we'll move on to your books.
Jasmine: Oh...okay...um...I am Jasmine Khan. I'm a writer. Obviously. YA fantasy is my genre but sometimes I dabble in a little romance or thriller. So far, I have written thirty-nine books and I’m hoping to writ
e about a hundred before I die.
Me: (Laughing a little) Wow. A 100 books, huh? That would be something. How'd you get started with this career? Did you always want to be a writer?
Jasmine: Yeah. I knew since I was a kid that writing stories was something I really wanted to do. My parents supported my choice and encouraged me heaps during my adolescence. At around age 22, I came to Italy and contacted a few agents here. The rest is history.
Me: Did you ever think you'd become so successful?
Jasmine: Yes.
Me: ...
Jasmine: ...
Me: Okay, then. Um...so what's your inspiration? What drives you to be creative and produce such amazing stories that got you a fan base of almost 2 million readers?
Jasmine: Hmm. I don't know...I mostly just wing it. Sometimes, my brain doesn't let me rest. There's this suppressed energy and the only way to calm it down is by writing stuff down. Except instead of writing about reality, I prefer to lose myself in fantasy worlds.
Me: Uh-huh. That's pretty interesting. I'm curious. Why don't you write about reality?
Shameless Page 25