“Saif?”Jasper spotted him first, and for a second, the teen’s face lit up.
Saif felt it too—a flicker of warmth, of connection.Damn, he’d missed the kid.Jasper wasn’t some moody, brooding teenager.He was sharp.Curious.Constantly reading.Dreaming big.
He wanted to be a doctor.
He wanted to save lives.
He wanted to change the world.
In a flash, Jasper’s expression shifted—anger, then sullenness, followed by something harder to look at.
Shame.
“Are you here about the damage?”he asked, still pushing the stroller.The wheels bumped slightly as he came to a stop outside their door.“I got another job.I’ll pay for it.It was stupid, and I’m really sorry.”He bowed his head, then inhaled and met Saif’s gaze head-on.
Saif didn’t respond.
Because he wasn’t thinking about the damage.
He was staring at the stroller.
At the sleeping infant bundled beneath a thin blanket, wearing a red sweater and some kind of…baby outfit.Something blue.Whatever it was called, he didn’t know—he wasn’t familiar with baby clothes.
And he couldn’t tell if the child was a boy or a girl.
Or who the hell the parents were.
His gaze lifted and collided with Jemma’s.Her jaw was tight.Her chin up, stubborn.Daring him to say something.
Why wouldn’t he?
“Maybe we should take this inside?”she suggested coolly.She didn’t wait for a reply, just turned and walked toward the door, unlocking it as his bodyguards shifted to the side.Saif remained rooted, too confused—and too furious—to move.
Although furious wasn’t the right word.
It was something deeper.Hotter.A fury so sharp it had no name.
He heard the keys jingle, the soft snick of the lock.One of his guards grunted behind him, displeased with the weak security.That lock could be popped in seconds.
If the baby was his…
No.First things first,Saif warned himself.
Inside, the moment the door shut behind them, Jemma spun to face him.
“Saif, I told you the damage would be paid for.You said you’d take it out of my profits next season.So why are you here?”
Jasper stepped in, his eyes darting between them.“No.I did it.I’ll pay for the repairs.”He squared his shoulders.“I’m sorry, Saif.I was wrong.But I’ll make it right.”
Saif waved him off.“I don’t give a damn about the damage to my office,” he snapped.
They both froze.
Jemma bent to pick up the baby, and Saif couldn’t stop staring.Her skin was a soft brown—darker than Jemma’s, lighter than his—but that hair…
Black.
Just like his.
