“But nothing ever disrupts Dmitri. Nothing even touches Dmitri. He has his work and toys. The only lasting relationship he has in his life is with Stavros, and he has that insane...lifestyle.
“Whereas with you, it’s as if... He doesn’t know what to do with himself with you around is what I’m thinking,” Leah added, with a twinkle in her eyes that made Jasmine squirm uncomfortably.
Of course, she couldn’t tell Leah it was all one-sided.
“You’re so much in love,” Jasmine said without rancor. “You’re seeing rainbows and butterflies and possibility of romance where there is only guilt, Leah. Please don’t matchmake.”
“Am I that transparent?” Leah said. “All I wanted to say, Jas—I can call you Jas, right?” When Jasmine nodded, she went on, “Is that I know how it feels to not have a friend. And to deal with a man who, at least, seems to not like...”
“Hate is the word you’re looking for,” Jasmine pointed out sourly.
“Hates the very air you breathe,” she said pointedly, and something in her gaze told Jasmine how far Stavros and Leah had to have come. “And turns you inside out. And makes you wish you were anyone but yourself.”
Jasmine smiled, something in the other woman’s openness catching up to her. “I don’t believe Stavros could ever hate you. Even I can see that he worships you.”
A blush dusted her cheeks and Leah laughed self-consciously. “But we almost lost each other. The thing is, you have a friend in me. And it has nothing to do with Dmitri.”
Jasmine had never known such open acceptance, such genuine warmth. “Thank you.”
Walking into the center of the room, Leah looked at her wardrobe. “Now let’s talk about something fun. What are you wearing to the party tonight?”
Could one die of an excess of embarrassment? Jasmine wondered for the nth time in the past week.
“I...I don’t have anything to wear. And I’ve had a lifetime’s quota of being embarrassed and humiliated and whatnot by Dmitri.”
Such an effervescent smile dawned on Leah’s mouth that Jasmine forgot what she was going to say. “I’m a designer with an entire workroom full of dresses, and I would love to dress you in something that will knock the—”
Jasmine shook her head. “No, not for him,” she amended.
What was the harm in borrowing a dress for one night? In opening herself to a friendship? In letting, for once, something good enter her life?
Whether willingly or not, Dmitri had given her her life back. And she was going to live it, for herself, starting tonight. Not her mother, not the pain of the past, not a debt, which somehow she would find a way out of, and definitely not about a man who kept her around because it relieved the little guilt he had about the past.
She faced Leah and smiled.
“I want to look good for myself. I want to have an evening where I forget the past week and don’t worry about the future. I would love to borrow your expertise and your dress so that I can enjoy the party and be a part of my new friend’s happiness. That sounds good, right?”
Leah beamed, hooked her arm through Jasmine’s and said, “That sounds perfect.”
* * *
Take what you paid for.
Jasmine’s outrageous dare kept ringing around in Dmitri’s head as he stepped out of his chopper and waved the pilot away.
And her kiss... Theos, it had lasted a few seconds too long, because he could still feel her taste on his lips, could still feel the liquid longing flowing through him.
As if she had left something of herself in his very blood.
He turned and stilled, taking in the tableau of the evening spread out from his vantage point atop the roof.
Giannis’s estate, the very place that had shielded him and healed him, at least enough to move forward in life, was lit up like a bride. He was glad Leah had decided to have the wedding here. It would have made Giannis ecstatic to see Stavros and Leah begin their new life here.
A huge white marquee had been erected in the vast grounds behind the mansion. Soft, strategically placed ground lights lit up a path from the house to the marquee and all around the gazebo and the pool.
A profusion of stylishly dressed guests flitted in and out of the marquee, and he searched the festivities, only then realizing that he was looking for her. That all day, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind.
Cursing himself, he walked off to shower and dress.
He had dropped off Jasmine past midnight and gone back to the Katrakis offices in Athens, the very force of his need to keep her by his side pushing him to do the opposite.