He pauses, turning to Zeek who nods. “If signed, all other points are void, only the final page is relevant.”
“Wow.” I was ready for fire, for fury, but that slow, disbelieving smile curling her lips?
That works too.
She points at Julien. “You need to teach me French. And you two…” To Zeek and Kane. “Whatever languages you know.”Finally, she looks at me, and I’m already grinning. “Might as well throw in Faeish while we’re at it.”
“We’ll only teach you the important phrases, baby.” I push off the desk, closing the distance. “Things that sound good when you’re moaning—”
“Or things to insult Sai with,” Zeek mutters.
But I don’t give a shit, because my girl’s smiling at me. But that smile… there’s something off about it, almost a little crazy as she slowly turns the contract around to face us.
Our eyes drop to the line. The empty line.
“Thank you,” she says sweetly, “for telling me about the hidden clause.”
Kane finally steps out of the shadows behind her. “I had no involvement in this, Jasmine—”
“You knew absolutely nothing about it?” She quirks a brow at him, and he silently retreats once more.
“And here I was, about to suggest two of you stayed over tonight.” She shakes her head and tuts like she’s so, so disappointed, but the smirk on her lips says otherwise.
She’s caught us out and she knows it. Likes it.
“As I said, this isn’t a transaction, Jasmine,” Zeek explains, back to being all calm and lord-like. “We’ll always give you what you want. Anything.”
He pulls out a small envelope, and a black card like the one we all have. That discreet kind the rich prefer, but I doubt Red knows that.
“There’s a letter inside with details for your private account. It’s separate from ours, only you can access it, and it’s under your name.”
At first, she doesn’t move, like part of her thinks it’s some kind of trick. Like if she reaches for it, someone’s gonna snatch it away.
Her fingers are white-knuckled on the contract, around the pen, eyes flicking between Zeek and the card. Back again. Like she doesn’t know how to believe it.
And it pisses me off. Pisses us all off. That this piece of paper and a card is a damn mountain for her to climb.
“I know you haven’t had one before,” Zeek says, even softer. “But you can access the account online. I’ve already added the app to your phone.”
Silence.
“I can show you, if you’d like?” His voice trails off, the way it does when he thinks he’s messed something up.
She still doesn’t answer, and when those silver eyes glance at me, I immediately step in.
“I know, I know. What could be sexier than Zeek explaining how to use a banking app?” I smile, all teeth, feeling my dimples pop.
Finally, she makes a sound, a small, shaky breath. It’s almost a laugh, but it’s also almost a sob. That tiny noise is worse than anything, because it’s disbelief.
It hits us all over again: she’s never had this before.
My smile slips into something smaller as I step a little closer. “We wanted you to have something that’s yours, Red. No strings. Promise.”
Her chin trembles, just a little. And when her lips part, no words come. So she swallows, takes a nice deep breath, and lets her eyes move over each of us. I swear she’s never looked at us like this.
And I know we’ll never forget it.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
