Secret Words (Secret Dreams Contemporary Romance 1) (18 page)

Something sparkled outside and her breath caught in her throat. A swimming pool hugged the whole living area side of the house and the clear floor to ceiling glass wall gave the impression the house was floating on water.

"Wow," she said under her breath as she walked towards it.

"You want to go out?" Kane asked, opening a glass sliding door that led to the outdoor deck.

Wordlessly, she stepped out and felt the gentle warmth of Sydney's winter sun.

"It's beautiful out here," she murmured, already imagining herself lounging on the day bed with her laptop not far away. "What's in there?" she asked as she spied a small building separate from the house.

"It's a cabana. I've also got some gym equipment in there."

She grinned. Kris and Sam would love visiting her here. Oh, and Ari, too.

"What do you think?" Kane asked softly.

"It's breathtaking, Kane," she said sincerely. "You've designed an incredibly beautiful home."

He smiled, pulling her in an embrace. "I'm glad you like it," he said huskily. "You can redecorate it however you want. You have free rein."

An unpleasant thought entered her mind. Was some of the current decor Hannah's? Or a previous girlfriend's? When he designed this house, did he have a girl in mind? Perhaps one he had wanted a family with? It was most certainly not a bachelor pad.

"May I ask you something?" she asked with a hint of trepidation.

"Sure."

"Did, uh, one of your previous girlfriends help you decorate?"

He laughed. "No. One of our interior designers did the work. My company has an interior design arm."

"Oh." She relaxed a bit and let go of her other question. She didn't want to know if he had designed the house for an ex he had wanted a family with. That shouldn't matter now.

~~~~~~~

Jasmine surveyed the master suite with a critical eye while she waited for Kane to finish an email he had to send to someone in Japan. It was an impressive room but she noted that the decor, even the bedding, was a little on the masculine side.

A certain part of her approved. It meant that it was mainly Kane's, even though Hannah had stayed there for a couple of months. It hit her that she needed to see herself in this room to erase the irrational jealousy she felt.

She decided to go shopping and spend some money making this room hers and Kane's. And since she'd have to buy a new car, she could only afford to touch this room. She'd need to watch her spending now that she was no longer an employee with a guaranteed salary every two weeks. Her books had started selling well but there were no guarantees they would continue that trend month after month.

She jumped as strong arms encircled her waist from behind.

"Why are you standing here staring into space?" Kane asked as he kissed her near her ear.

"I'm going to buy us some new bed sheets and towels and maybe put up some photo frames and candles in this room. Is that okay?" she responded, rubbing her cheek against his.

"Of course. I've said you have free rein to do whatever you want."

"Thank you. Just this room would be fine."

"What about your own study? You can convert one of the other spare rooms. Get yourself a desk you'd love to work on."

"I can work on the dining table, even on the bed."

"But you'd be working from home most of the time. Wouldn't you want a dedicated work space for yourself?"

"Yeah. But I have to wait another month for my big royalty payment."

"What do you mean?" Kane turned her around to face him, frowning.

"I have to buy a new car and I want to buy stuff for this room first. The other rooms can wait."

"Jaz, I don't want you to spend your money on the house. I'm getting my bank to issue you a supplementary credit card. You can use that, even for your car."

"What? No!" she cried in alarm.

"Jasmine …"

"Kane, I don't want you to support me."

"Why not?" he scowled. "I make way more than enough for the two of us."

"But I want us to contribute equally! I don't want to feel like I'm sucking off you."

Kane sighed and tightened his arms around her. "Honey, I certainly don't want you to feel that way. But until you're regularly getting good royalties from your books—which I have no doubt you will soon—could you think of yourself as contributing to this relationship in a different way instead of focusing on the financial aspect?"

"Like how?" she asked, her mind already trying to seek the answer to his question.

"For me, your most important contribution is how you relax me."

She snorted. "Relax you? After all the stress and drama you just went through because of me?"

He laughed before resuming a serious countenance. "Let me say that again. For me, your most important contribution is how you make me feel good. I'm not just talking about the sex, which is incredible with you, but generally, you make me feel like I'm doing what I love."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I love looking after you. I love keeping you safe. I love being with you. You inspire me to reach for more stars, to conquer more mountains, to achieve more goals. You make my life so much more meaningful. For me, my way of thanking you for all that is to give you what you need so you can make your own dreams come true."

Her eyes filled with tears. She had never felt so loved and appreciated as she did in that moment. She wrapped her arms around Kane and buried her face in his neck. "Thank you."

"It's my honest-to-goodness pleasure, baby. Now will you let me give you a credit card? And will you use it? This is not me being driven by my male ego to provide for my girl. I'm never going to stop you from making money for yourself. But I want you to earn your money from your writing, because I know that's what you most love to do."

She leaned back in his arms and smiled. "Okay. And I promise to write great books that people will love to buy, not because I want to stop you from looking after me, but because that will be my way of thanking you for supporting my dreams."

She sealed that promise with a kiss.

*******

Hello, Jasmine. You really are something, aren't you? There I was thinking your hotshot boyfriend dumped you after seeing him in the papers with another woman, then the next thing I heard, you've moved in with him!

Well, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. What else could I have expected from a gold-digger like you?

But you know what? Life's a bitch and you have to be able to take what you dish out. You've stuffed up other people's lives so you should know what it feels like to have yours stuffed up.

By the way, congratulations! I heard your stories just got picked up by a XXX magazine (wink-wink). How much did they pay for them? Where did you get those really naughty pictures from? Did you get those people to pose for you?

You know what? I could just imagine how much more popular you would be if your smutty stories included an author's profile—with a naked picture of you with your bio…

Jasmine gasped in shock. Surely George didn't have a naked picture of her. She had never allowed any boyfriend to take a naked picture no matter how hard they pleaded. Could he have taken one when she wasn't looking? She honestly hoped not.

And what did he mean about 'her' stories appearing in a XXX magazine? Did he submit them on false pretences? Which magazine? It worried her that a porno magazine might be carrying stories with her real name and picture as the author.

It was clear from the email what George's motivation was. Revenge. But why was he blaming her for stuffing up his relationship? She hadn't done anything but set the record straight with his ex. What was more, she didn't approach the woman, his ex was the one who found her!

She shook her head in disbelief. The guy was clearly insane. It was obvious he meant to continue to hound her until he got tired of it—or until he was stopped.

*******

"I'm going to kill this fucker when I see him," Kane said vehemently as he paced the length of their bedroom, raking his hand through his hair repeatedly. "Are you sure he doesn't have a naked picture of you? Or one lying somewhere that he could have accessed?"

"No one has ever taken a naked picture of me. And I don't know how he could have taken one without my knowledge."

"Perhaps when you were asleep? Did you ever sleep naked with him?" The thought of Jasmine having slept with someone else was enough to make his gut clench. That she might have slept naked next to a deranged man made him feel sick.

"No. We never stayed overnight in each other's places. No wonder he was against it. He was hiding me from his fiancée."

Kane breathed a sigh of relief.

"We're going to the police with this, Jaz. And we're seeing a lawyer, too," he said quietly. "If this guy is as loony as he appears to be, he just might do something really stupid, beyond sending you these disturbing emails. We still don't know for sure if he does or doesn't have a naked picture of you."

"Okay," she agreed after a short silence. "I thought you're the one we're trying to protect, not me," she said teasingly.

"This is serious, Jasmine," he chided.

"Yes, Kane," she said in a chastened voice.

"I just don't want this guy destroying your reputation."

Jasmine smiled. "That's what I've been saying all along about
your
reputation. Now you know how I feel."

"Well, this time, we're working on this together. Not you taking matters into your own hands and breaking my heart in the process," he said, his tone tinged with hurt from the memory.

"Oh, honey," Jasmine said softly. "Will you ever forgive me for that?"

He exhaled loudly and reached out for her. "Of course. I love you."

He frowned as worry enveloped him. "Maybe you shouldn't stay in the house all by yourself when I'm at work."

"Kane, your house is so secure you don't have to worry."

"
Our
house. Still, I worry you're by yourself. Maybe you can work in one of our boardrooms in the office."

"I'll be fine here. Honestly, you're the most overprotective person in the world."

He heard the exasperation in her voice and smiled. "It takes one to know one."

Until this blackmailer was stopped, Kane could see himself having hellish days at work, missing her and worrying about her.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Jasmine hummed to herself as she loaded her groceries into the boot of her mother's car. As she pushed the empty trolley to the bay, she turned her mind to the dinner she'd cook at her parents' place tonight.

She loved that Kane had business to attend to in Melbourne today. It was a pleasant surprise to her parents that they were visiting unexpectedly. They were even staying overnight at her mum and dad's before flying back home tomorrow.

"Jasmine?" a voice called out.

She froze. She knew that voice. Her head turned to where the sound came from. There was George, staring at her in amazement.

"Hi! I'm surprised to see you here. I thought you'd moved to Sydney," he said conversationally.

Anger flared within her. Here was the man who had singlehandedly messed with her head and had threatened to ruin her and Kane's future, yet he stood there as if he hadn't done anything wrong.

"How dare you," she hissed, daylight and other people walking about the public car park cloaking her with a sense of safety.

George's jaw dropped, seemingly taken aback by her fierceness.

"What do you mean?" he asked, astonished.

"You know perfectly well what I mean, George. Don't you have a heart? Or a conscience? You are a liar, a thief and a blackmailer." She looked at him straight in the eye, her voice full of venom.

His mouth opened wider, along with his eyes.

"Why did you do it?" She wanted to hear his reason straight from his mouth.

"I can't believe you're still mad at me for …" He paused and sighed. "But I guess I never really explained or apologised. I'm really sorry, Jasmine."

"Why did you do it?" She asked again, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at him.

"Where do I start?" he asked as he looked around, as if searching for guidance.

"From the beginning," she responded coldly.

"Do you want to go sit inside a coffee shop or something?" he asked, gesturing towards the shopping mall.

"No, George. Here. Now."

"Okay," he said resignedly. He inspected the ground before glancing up at her and looking away again. "When I read your sexy story, I assumed you were … adventurous in bed. See, my ex-fiancée has a cousin who used to go out with a girl who wrote stories for porno magazines. I guess that was my frame of reference because she was
very
adventurous. Although I must say your story was a lot classier than hers. Yours was hot but nice hot, if you know what I mean."

Her eyes narrowed at him but she kept silent.

"Anyway, when you got angry and you threw me out of your apartment, I knew I got it all wrong. I was too embarrassed and ashamed of myself to even see you again to apologise to you. I know I shouldn't have looked at your laptop and I don't know what came over me when I sent myself a copy of your story from your computer. But Jasmine, I'm truly sorry. I'm not really that kind of person. My only excuse is that I was so angry about why I became bankrupt that I wasn't thinking straight."

She closed her eyes to clear her head. She didn't even know George was bankrupt. "What did you tell Tim about me?"

"Tim? I haven't spoken to him since that time he confronted me for going out with you. I wouldn't be surprised if he's still mad at me."

"Look at me, George," she demanded. When they were eye-to-eye, she asked, "Why are you blackmailing me? What do you get from threatening to ruin Kane's and my reputations?"

She saw his expression turn from apologetic to full-on disbelief and incomprehension.

"What on earth do you mean?"

"Why did you contact Kane's ex and send me those threatening emails?"

George continued to look at her incredulously. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about, Jasmine. I was at pains to avoid you ever since that day I did that stupid thing. And who on earth is Kane?"