He looked up.Froze.
Eight pairs of eyes were already locked on him.Bare feet.Bare chest.Low-slung jeans and tousled hair.A man who had very,veryclearly not been spending the afternoon alone.
There was a beat of silence.
“Oh hell,” Saif muttered.He crumpled the paper and shoved it into his pocket.
Someone snickered—an obvious attempt to disguise it as a cough, but the effort failed miserably.
Thankfully, Saif rallied fast.Like the seasoned prince he was, he slid an arm around Jemma’s waist and addressed the room as if nothing were amiss.
“Mom, Dad,” he said smoothly, “I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Jemma Stone.”He added a wink toward Jasper.“And that guy right there is my future brother-in-law, Jasper Stone.”
Every head swiveled to Jasper.
“And,” Saif added, “the little lady in the carrier is my daughter, Jayla.”
That did it.
The tension evaporated as Saif’s mother beamed and moved straight toward the tiny bundle in pink.Jayla stared up at her with wide, curious eyes, temporarily stunned by the sight of someone new.
“I’m your gramma!”the elegant woman cooed, crouching to peek into the carrier.“We flew all the way from a big country called Lativa just to meet you—and your amazing mom.”She gave Jasper a playful wink.“And your brave, strong uncle.”
Jasper blushed and quickly set the carrier on the floor.With practiced ease, he undid the restraints—but Jayla, clearly overwhelmed, reached straight for him, clinging like a baby monkey.
Then she spotted Jemma.
Immediately, she cried, arms outstretched.
The room chuckled in collective delight as Jemma shoved the plate of sandwiches into Saif’s hands like it was a live grenade and rushed to her daughter’s side.She scooped Jayla into her arms and held her like a shield, using her daughter’s tiny body to mask the fact that she was still wearing her lover’s boxers.And no bra!
“I know you flew a long way to meet your granddaughter,” she said, her voice somewhere between polite and panicked, “but I’m just going to get her changed and fed.Once she’s eaten, she’ll be much more…”
Jemma glanced down.Jayla was all sweet cheeks and curious blinking.
“…well, we’ll be right back.”
She shot Saif a quick, scathing glare—you owe me for this—then turned and bolted up the stairs.Her bare feet made only the faintest sound against the thick carpeting as she disappeared with her daughter in her arms and her pride trailing behind her.
Chapter 37
Saif rubbed a hand over his mouth, nodding to his parents.“I’ll just… go help her.”
He gestured toward the room off the foyer.“Can you make Jasper feel more comfortable?He looks a bit overwhelmed.”
Then he turned to head upstairs but paused, handing Jasper the plate of sandwiches.“Here.You need an after-school snack.”
He looked back at his parents.“He doesn’t eat enough.He’s been trying to save money by skipping meals.”
By the time he turned back to the stairs, his mother was already talking to Jasper, asking what he liked to eat.Saif figured the housekeeper would be booted from the kitchen in under two minutes.
But his focus wasn’t on food.It was on Jemma—because if he didn’t act fast, she’d be gone before dinner.
Sure enough, he found her in the bedroom they’d just vacated twenty minutes ago, seated in the cozy armchair with Jayla at her breast.The baby blinked up at him, her expression curious and utterly unconcerned with the chaos of the afternoon.
Saif moved to kneel in front of Jemma.“I’m so sorry,” he said, trying hard not to laugh.“I knew they were coming, but I didn’t expect them to arrivenow.”
“It’s fine,” she muttered, cheeks pink, eyes on her daughter.“Doesn’t matter since I’ll never see them again.”
