“What?”
“I want you and Bella here. I’ve been wanting to get Amira full time, but I haven’t been able to make it make sense.”
“That’s a lot, Nicholas.”
“I know, but I want you to already be settled in when you have the baby.”
“We will cross that bridge when and if we even come to it.”
“We are already at the intersection, habibti.”
“What does anta taj'alni majnunan mean?” she asked.
The careful way she enunciated each syllable made me smile. “You drive me crazy. Where did you get that? Let me find out you’ve been studying.”
“Really, Nicholas? You kept saying that.”
Not that I recalled, but I believed her. She was damn sure driving me crazy. I was thinking about the unthinkable.
“Anta taj'alni majnunan, habibti,” I repeated for good measure as I kissed her temple and pulled her closer.
“Me too.”
She smirked, looking up at me with those sensual brown eyes. The afterglow of sex made her even more gorgeous.
“You’re so radiant, you look like a light sitting next to me. You smell different, taste different, and even feel different. I couldn’t even move once I was inside you. You’re pregnant, Jameela.”
She rolled her eyes playfully and shook her head. “I haven’t even missed my period, crazy. Even if Iwaspregnant, that’s not grounds for us to just up and move in together.”
“I want to take care of my girls, all three of them, and whatever the new one will be. I’m not trying to have you come here to be a live-in babysitter for Amira. I want to be with you. I want to be around you. I love you, Jameela. Is that a good enough reason?”
“Nicholas, this feels crazy. Does this not feel crazy to you?”
“I already told you that you make me crazy. What’s so wrong with being crazy if we’re doing what makes us happy?”
She sighed as she moved from her position next to me to straddle my lap. “I love you too,” she said, giving me a quick peck on the lips. “I’m just so scared. I don’t even know how this happened.”
“Can we just try it for a while? Spend some time here and see how you like it. If you decide that you don’t like the way things are, then I will accept that you don’t want to make it permanent.”
“Let’s just take it one day at a time.”
“That’s all I’m asking. Come on. I need to get up and pick Amira up from school, then we can go get Bella and pack you guys a bag.”
“Oh, so this is starting now?”
“Day one to eternity, mi reina.”
“Te amo, mi rey.”
I love you, my king.I knew this woman was my wife from the moment I laid eyes on her. If I had a ring, I would have proposed to her right then and there. Soon, and very soon, I would have everything I desired: my lady and my girls all under one roof.
13
Jameela
The days and weeks since I’d gotten my latest assignment seemed to blur into a mixture of ebbs and flows of emotions. Highs from making love to Nicholas and spending time with him and the girls to the lows of trying to snoop and find anything incriminating that I could. I told myself that I could do it.
This was not my first ballgame. This was my third undercover assignment. It should have been the easiest since I was already close to the mark. I didn’t have to find a way in. I was in. This was my job. Still, I felt like a traitor. Iwasa traitor. I cared about Nicholas more than I would ever care about my job.
