Her smile was answer enough for him.
“I’d love to meet your parents,” Jacqui said.
“Then we’ll stay at my place in the city, and I’ll arrange a time for us to have dinner with them. They’ll still be asleep, so I’ll call them tomorrow before we land.”
Jacqui started to say something, but yawned instead. She covered her mouth and laughed.
“I promise I’ll be awake when I meet them.”
Khizar stood and held out his hand to her.
“It’s been a long day. Why don’t we get some rest?”
Jacqui followed him into the bedroom at the back of the plane. Khizar left her to get ready for bed, and went to check in with their pilot. When he came back, Jacqui was curled up under the covers, already half asleep.
Khizar prepared himself for bed and slipped under the covers next to her. Jacqui murmured when he kissed her on the forehead and pulled the blanket back up over her.
He watched her while she slept, and wondered what was happening to him. He’d never introduced any of his girlfriends to his parents before. There had never been anyone serious enough to warrant a parental introduction, and Khizar was unexpectedly nervous.
They would like Jacqui; he was sure of it. But they weren’t expecting him to bring home a fiancée. They didn’t know he was seeing anyone, and although they knew he had been in Milwaukee on business, he hadn’t shared that he had met Bill Bauer’s great-niece.
Khizar didn’t want to disappoint them and he wasn’t quite sure how to explain meeting and proposing to Jacqui.
But the tides had changed since his first flight out to Milwaukee. Somewhere along the way, he’d developed real feelings for the woman beside him. Jacqui was everything Khizar wanted in a partner. With her, he felt like a better man.
It was something of a surprise at that moment to realize that he truly wanted to be with Jacqui; that he wanted to make their relationship something real and long-lasting.
He didn’t know exactly when it had happened, or how he could make their situation different. If he could go back and do it again, he would have taken things more slowly.
It didn’t matter any longer to Khizar that Jacqui would inherit the diamond. It didn’t matter to him if they actually found it. He wanted to find out more about her family, to build that connection, and give her what would make her happy.
He had fallen for his fiancée, and now it was up to him to make their relationship real.
Chapter 16
Jacqui
Jacqui woke up to find Khizar already awake, quietly watching her. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair off her face.
“Good morning,” he said warmly.
She smiled at him. “Is it morning already?”
Khizar’s smile grew wider. “It is, actually. We’ll land in about an hour, I think. I’ll go check with the pilot in a minute.”
Jacqui hummed a happy little sound. “I can’t believe I’m finally going to be visiting someplace outside the United States.”
“We’ll do whatever you want. I’ll take you around the city, show you all the different sites, eat amazing food.”
Jacqui tucked her hands up under her head.
“Yes, please. All of it. I can’t wait to meet your parents, too.”
“They’re going to like you, I promise,” he said.
Jacqui felt the plane bank in a small turn. She shook her head and said, “It feels weird to fall asleep on a plane and wake up knowing we’re still miles above the earth. But it’s definitely the way to travel.”
Khizar chuckled. “It is indeed.”
She stretched and said, “Is it possible for a girl to get some hot chocolate on this plane?”
“If hot chocolate is what you want, then yes.”
“Please. I’m feeling decadent this morning.”
Khizar leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.
“I’ll ask Malik to fix you some hot chocolate. Would you like breakfast in bed?”
Jacqui thought about it, then shook her head. “I’m not feeling that decadent. Give me a few minutes to get ready and I’ll be out.”
Khizar lightly kissed her again. “Take all the time you need.”
Once Khizar had stepped out of the room, Jacqui stretched again and thought about how wild it was that she was on a plane traveling on a treasure hunt to a place she’d never been before. She didn’t think of herself as the type of person to do impulsive things; this trip was definitely on the spontaneous end of the spectrum for her.