“What is it?”
“You remember Gaspard.” She covered his mouth when his frown turned into a scowl. “Anyway, he referred me to a modeling agency. The head of the agency, this superstylish, sophisticated woman, she was here this afternoon. She said Gaspard had excellent taste when it came to faces, asked Leah about me, and Leah introduced us. Dmitri, she wants me to come in for a screen test in Athens as soon as I can manage it.
“It’s true I’m older than the models they sign on but she said I had a different kind of face, whatever that means. Isn’t that just great?” Her tone trailed off at the end there as Dmitri’s expression remained the same. “Dmitri?”
“It sounds great, pethi mou,” he said finally, his brow clearing, “but a career in modeling, this is what you want?” His accent suddenly became more pronounced than she had ever heard it.
Her shoulders slumping, Jasmine struggled to keep her voice upbeat. “I’ve no idea what I want, but it’s not as if I have a degree or experience in a worthwhile field, is it? And I’m broke. I thought, why not give this a chance? Eventually, I have to start making a living again and then there’s that gazillion pounds that I owe you.” The last bit she had added with a smile, because her skin cooled as if there was a chill in the room.
The look in Dmitri’s eyes was near lethal. “That debt means nothing between us after what happened two nights ago. As for making a living, I’ll take care of you, Jasmine.”
She tilted her chin. “And I told you that I won’t be your mistress. You can’t just come to me at midnight and send me gifts in the morning. That’s not what I want, now or ever.”
“No, I don’t like that option, either.”
As if he were a magician, he pulled out a small box from somewhere. Her heart slammed so hard that Jasmine gasped. A diamond ring, a princess cut with tiny ones set around it, glittered and winked at her. His gaze remained shadowed as he looked at her. “Marry me, thee mou, and we’ll never talk of debts and mistresses ever again.”
Every inch of her froze as he slid the ring onto her boneless finger and the damning, breath-stealing, soul-wrenching thing was that the ring fit her so perfectly. The cold weight of it felt unfamiliar against her skin, her breath ballooning up in her lungs.
Jasmine looked at the ring for several seconds. Shock and joy roped together in her veins, and beneath all of it, fear pulsed.
She looked up and tried to smile, but it wouldn’t come. Her hands on his chest, she expelled a long breath. “I don’t know what to say, Dmitri. Wow, I just... This is... I...”
Clasping her cheeks, he took her mouth in a long kiss that stole all the air from her lungs again. “Say yes, Jas.” His hands moved to her back and pulled her closer to him, until all she knew was Dmitri and his broad shoulders, and his corded strength and his thrilling words. She felt as if she was floating on a different plane, far removed from reality.
“I have the license ready and we can marry here tomorrow evening. Once we tell them, Leah and Stavros will stay on. Leah undoubtedly will have a dress that’s as gorgeous as you are in her wedding collection, and everything else has already been taken care of.”
Burying her face in his chest, Jasmine willed her racing pulse to slow down, to give her a chance to breathe. And the moment her heart settled to normal, something else followed. “Tomorrow?” Only the one word escaped her.
Stroking her lip with his tongue, he breathed his answer into her mouth. “Yes. I want us to marry as soon as possible. That way...you don’t have to worry about making a living, don’t have to jump into something that you’re not sure about.
“Take a couple of courses at the university if you like. Just take it easy, matia mou. Or if you decide all you want to be is Mrs. Karegas, that’s perfectly fine, too.”
Her head spinning, Jasmine pushed away from him and slid off the desk. “You don’t want me to work?”
He shrugged, his hands in his trouser pockets. “I don’t ever want you to worry, Jas, about anything. Everything I have is yours.”
“Wow, Dmitri. I...I’m drowning here,” she said, feeling dizzy with the number of emotions claiming her.
“All you have to say is yes, Jas. And tomorrow night, we can set off on our honeymoon to wherever you want to go.”
Impulsively, she hugged him, the scent of him pushing the word yes to her lips.
And yet something held her back; something punctured the utter joy of the moment. Panic fueling her movements, she jerked away. “Wait, Dmitri, let me breathe, won’t you?”