Manny had always thought he’d initiate any intimacy first, but he should’ve known that Amal would amaze him. She always had and she always would.
He warmed quickly to their kiss, his experience kicking in and his need for her driving him to take over. Amal gladly followed, and their panting soon filling the air as he reared up and pressed her back to the sofa. They kissed until they had to give in to their breathlessness and pull apart.
He looked at Amal and found no frosty reception from her. The exact opposite, in fact, as she smiled and giggled.
“I’ve thought about that kiss for a long while,” she admitted.
He laughed huskily. “Same.”
“Mansur,” she said then, “ask me to marry you again.”
By coming to him in this eleventh hour Amal had taken a risk with her heart, too. She had put herself on the line for him, not knowing whether he’d abandon her again, and she had issues with that. Issues she’d been willing to contend with for him.
He saw that now. Loved her even more for it.
She loved him enough to take a chance on being heartbroken. And now she was asking him to take a second leap of faith with her.
Without needing to think it over anymore, Manny took her hand and kissed the diamond on her finger. “Amal Khalid, I love you. Will you marry me?”
She pulled him up for another brain-melting, heart-stopping kiss.
It was all the answer he needed.
EPILOGUE
Eighteen months later
“DO YOU MISS HARGEISA?”
Amal gasped softly as her husband’s rumbling question came from behind her. He’d snuck up on her. She had left him working in his home office, fully expecting they would have breakfast together a little later. But Mansur had found her. And now he had her in his arms, and she didn’t know a better place to be.
They were standing on their master bedroom’s balcony. The view of his American city—and hers now—was breathtakingly beautiful. Pittsburgh was her home because it was his. And yet he was right to ask. A piece of her heart would always remain in Hargeisa. Naturally she missed her other home.
“We could move up our flight. Head back a little earlier.” Mansur kissed her temple, his lips gentle on her long-healed scar.
Amal hummed teasingly, thinking over his proposal. “I wouldn’t mind that. It’d be nice to share our news with everyone earlier.”
“Done. I’ll buy the tickets tonight.” He palmed her swelling belly, smirking. “I’m surprised you haven’t revealed the secret yet and told my mother—or your office manager, Iman.”
She laughed. “I’m not that bad with keeping secrets. I think the amnesia’s taught me to appreciate every moment, that’s all.”
“Afraid you’ll forget our baby? You’ll forget me?”
She whirled in his arms and touched his beard, loving the feel of the coarse curls under her palm. Since he’d discovered she liked stroking it he’d been growing his beard, and it was thicker and wilder than ever. It was just one of the ways he pleased her.
“Never,” she breathed. “I’d never forget you.”
He placed a kiss in her palm and asked, “How is the firm doing?”
She’d left her architectural firm in the combined hands of Iman and her team of talented and capable technologists. They reported to her regularly, so she still had a hand in the numerous projects flooding in.
The influx of business was all thanks to Mansur funding the hospital she’d dreamed of for Hargeisa long before her amnesia, and long before he’d ever thought to propose marriage to her. She’d argued for him to keep his millions, but he’d said, “My money is yours—just as my heart is yours,” and she had found she couldn’t refuse him.
Now the hospital was built, and more lives were being saved than ever.
“It’s going great...and my living here hasn’t affected business,” she replied.
“Good,” he said, kissing her cheek and tickling her with his beard.
Amal snuggled closer to his chest. She thought of how they’d come to be here. Playing the events back in her head again as she sometimes liked to do.
Right after he’d proposed to her again—and very successfully that time—Mansur and she had discussed their living arrangements. It had been decided that they’d live part-time in America and part-time in Hargeisa. But mostly America, because Amal had known it would be easier on him and his company.
They’d married in Hargeisa shortly after their return from Addis Ababa. The wedding had been lavish and large as Mansur hadn’t budged about spending money on her. In the end it hadn’t mattered. Amal and Mansur had celebrated their love with their family and friends.
Then Mansur had left for America and filed for a spousal visa. While he’d been away from her Amal had kept busy, journaling and having talk therapy with a psychologist in Addis Ababa over video sessions. She’d since stopped therapy, but she was still journaling.
She was at peace with her amnesia now. It was a part of her. She didn’t recall all her memories. And she wasn’t certain she ever would. But, given all the memories she was making day in and day out with Mansur, Amal found herself less inclined to care about those lost memories.
She was happy—and had been even happier when her visa had been approved and she’d been able to fly over and start her life with Mansur in their American home.
She’d been away from Hargeisa for six months now, and already a lot had changed. She was managing her firm remotely and learning on the go. Meanwhile, Mansur was doing extremely well, juggling married life, his demanding position as CEO of the company, and his most recent building project with Hakeem—a five-star over-the-top luxurious hotel in Abu Dhabi.
And finally, happiest of all, they were expecting their first child in five months.
“What about Zoya?” she asked, curious about her good-natured sister-in-law. “How is she? And Salim, her sisters and her mother?”
Manny smiled. “The flower farm is thriving on our father’s land. Everyone’s pitching in to help Zoya—my stepmother included. And apparently she’s totally booked for several seasons in advance for leasing out the rest of the farmland.”
“Is it that popular with the local farmers?”
“Very. They’re happy a big company hasn’t moved in to displace their farmsteads and their homes.” He paused, and then said, “I’m glad I had the sense to sign over the land to Zoya. She’s done more with it than I ever could have.”
Amal kissed his chest, right over his heart. “You’re forgetting she wouldn’t have been able to do anything if it were not for you.”
Manny chuckled. “I suppose that’s true.”
“It is,” she chirped, beaming up at him with a mix of pride and love.
She couldn’t believe this was the same man who had been certain that he couldn’t have an amicable relationship with his half-sisters and stepmother. To see him at peace with himself...she didn’t think anything in the world could be so pleasing. Not even the wondrous sunrise view of the Liberty Bridge and the Mon River from his million-dollar home.
Amal went on tiptoes and touched her lips to his bearded jaw. Manny didn’t let her go and leaned down to give her what she desired. A kiss that warmed her soul.
“What do you think your mom will say once she learns she’s to be a grandmother?” she asked.
He gave her a toothy smile. “I imagine she’ll be less shocked than when she learned I’d contacted my stepmother and half-sisters and given them my land inheritance.”
“I still can’t believe you hadn’t told her anything.”
“I’d hoped not to upset her.” He laughed breezily. “Though Zoya’s certainly won my mother over now, with her regular deliveries of coffee.”
“Stop, or you’ll make me want a cup.” She’d had to cut her intake of the delicious Ethiopian brew drastically si
nce learning she was an expectant mother. And Manny, being the doting husband that he was, had gone as far as to abstain from his regular caffeine jolts, too, for her sake.
She couldn’t love him more—and yet she did.
Amal stared deep into his eyes and knew she could stand there snuggling in his arms and looking at him forever. “I’m glad it all worked out for the best,” she said.
“Even better than I could’ve dreamed it would,” he murmured against her lips, and he kissed her slow and sweet and nearly robbed her of breath.
But not before she asked him, “Have I mentioned how much I love you?”
“Only every day. You’ll never let me forget, will you?”
“No, not ever,” she vowed with a smile, kissing him again.
And she never did.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9780369712974
Second Chance to Wear His Ring
Copyright © 2021 by Muna Sheik
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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ISBN-13: 9780369712981
Copyright © 2021 by Harlequin Books S.A.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
Caribbean Nights with the Tycoon
Copyright © 2021 by Andrea Bolter
Falling for Her Convenient Groom
Copyright © 2021 by Jennifer Faye
The Millionaire’s Melbourne Proposal
Copyright © 2021 by Ally Blake
Second Chance to Wear His Ring
Copyright © 2021 by Hana Sheik
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