Sequoia Valley: Risk (Free Preview)

15

Long before today, Aileen had seen the evidence that Jâsim Zakarîyâ was slightly odd. Somehow, buried beneath the blind fear of marrying a man she hardly knew—putting her safety in his hands—she had forgotten that fact. But now she remembered that he was the man who liked to play on the swings on his day off and shared the see-saw with the neighborhood kids. 

As he escorted her out of the restaurant and toward his car, she subtly looked up at him—as men went, he was probably one of the tallest she knew—and tried to look beyond the nature he portrayed to what could lay beneath. Is he really this playful, good person I’m seeing? Or am I being fooled again? 

A part of her acknowledged that Jâsim seemed nothing like Jeremy. He’d had plenty of time to take advantage of her in the time they’d known each other, yet he hadn’t, and when she’d found herself lost with no chance of moving on, he’d given her the protection of his name and a permanent home. They were not the actions of a man with a duplicitous nature. 

But she couldn’t help remembering how charming Jeremy had been in the beginning. He hadn’t seemed duplicitous either. But he had been. Jâsim’s approach had been very different from Jeremy’s. He didn’t exude the practiced charm of her ex-boyfriend that had lured her in; instead, he was sincere and honest. He’d made no false promises of love or romance, nor had he tried to manipulate her the way Jeremy had. But still she worried. 

Jâsim unlocked the car and opened the door for her. As she slid in, he closed it, circled around the car, and then got in beside her. As soon as the engine was running and they were buckled in, he reversed out of the parking space. 

After their departure from the restaurant, Jâsim parked his car in front of a bookstore. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he unbuckled his seatbelt, got out of the car, and closed the door. 

He returned within minutes carrying a bag which he stowed in the trunk before getting back in. Then he made another unexplained stop at a small grocery store and put another bag in the trunk. 

He didn’t explain either stop to her, and she wasn’t brave enough to question his movements. Jeremy had always slapped her when she asked questions like that. She didn’t honestly believe Jâsim would hit her, but old habits were hard to break and a part of her deep down feared she might be reading Jâsim’s kindness wrong. 

At each stop, he came out with a bag, which he loaded into the trunk so she had no glimpse of what he’d bought. Finally, he drove in the familiar direction that led back to the apartment. Since he’d made no more mention of the game she owed him, she began to once again wonder if he’d been joking after all. 

When Jâsim turned into the parking lot of the apartment complex, he pulled into an empty parking space and switched off the car. 

Aileen’s heart stopped with the engine, and dread crept over her as an unexpected realization came to her which she hadn’t considered. He was coming in with her—and she couldn’t stop him. Not only did the apartment rightfully belong to him, but he was her husband now. She couldn’t stop him from entering, nor had it been part of the agreement. 

Her heart pounded as she watched Jâsim unbuckled his seatbelt from the corner of her eye and then get out. Moments later, he opened her door for her. As fear and dread battled within, she avoided his gaze while unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out of the car. 

Jâsim closed the door and went to the trunk, removing the bags he’d stored, and then locked up the car. “Come on,” he said, leading the way toward the entrance. 

She had no choice but to follow. With every step, her heart pounded and her legs trembled. Though she of course knew that marrying meant she had to share her living quarters with him, she wasn’t quite ready to do that. Plus, a part of her feared that once they were really alone together, he wouldn’t think he had to keep the promises he’d made. She’d been pressured and forced into physical intimacy before, but this time it would be his right to ask it of her as her husband.