I was puzzled. "You're not going to keep the house?"
Jasmine gave me a smirk. "Funny story about that house," she said. "He built it himself but he'd used dirty money to do it so when he turned religious, he decided to sell it and give the money away to charity. Except I was the one who bought it and gifted it back to him."
I was a little confused but I nodded anyway. "Okay. That's...that was very nice of you," I murmured.
She snickered at me. "Jasper...let's stay a couple more days. Give me some time to sort out what I need to take from Pavia and then we can go back."
I didn't have to go on another work trip abroad for a fortnight. I thought of the cottage in Ireland, how it had turned into some kind of cave for me to sulk in and distance myself from the world. I thought of Friday nights. Going back would also mean no more Skype calls. Enough. I had to let Cole go for real this time. Skye loved him too much to let him go through life heartbroken. They would work it out without me.
"Two days, Jasmine," I told her firmly. "Two days and then I'm out of here."
****
Chapter Eighteen
Armaan
My phone rang at about ten in the morning while I was busy getting dressed after my shower. I was going to take Layla out for lunch in Milan. The rest of my family would be going as well but as a group. Some of them had never been to Italy so they had decided to stick around for a few more days. Now that all the formalities were over, they could all just relax and take the time to actually enjoy a proper vacation.
"Who is this?" I said into the phone while buttoning up my shirt. It wasn't a number I recognised.
"Your worst nightmare."
My fingers stilled on the buttons and I licked my lips. "I'm surprised you still remember my number."
"Where are you? I need to get some of my stuff from the house."
I blew out a breath. "You don't need me for that, Jasmine. Nobody's going to throw you out. Just...please don't come in here dressed like a slut."
"Okay. See you soon."
She hung up before I could reply and just two seconds later, the door to my bedroom opened and Jasmine walked inside before casually shutting the door behind her.
I should have known she would try something like this.
My eyebrows slanted together at her intrusion, the absolute arrogance of her demeanour. Like she owned the world or something. Maybe she did. But she didn't own me. Not anymore.
"Armaan," she said in a husky voice, her eyes roaming the length of my body leisurely. "Hi."
I concentrated on fixing the watch on my wrist. "What do you want, Jasmine?"
She didn't answer me for a long while so I felt compelled to look up. Jasmine gave me a wicked little smile as she walked closer to me. I stood my ground, unmoving and unblinking while she approached. She was standing right in front of me a few seconds later, her fragrance, which was just like her name, drugging my senses, making me hard against my will. Involuntarily, the tip of my tongue slipped out to moisten my lips and Jasmine's eyes darkened at that.
She smirked at me. I shook my head a little but it was no use.
Her hands came up to my chest then and stayed there, palms flat against the hard muscles which she had enjoyed admiring whenever we had-
I didn't have time to finish that thought before she shoved me back on the bed and I landed on the mattress, feet on the floor, knees wide apart and my upper body supported by my elbows. She stepped between my knees with her eyes focused on my growing erection.
"Jasmine, stop it," I told her curtly. "What the hell do you think you're-?"
I sucked in a breath when she leaned forward to knead me through the fabric of my pants, her touch so possessive, so fucking familiar.
"I think I want this," she whispered to me, shifting closer until one of her knees lifted to brace against the mattress. "I missed it so much."
I let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah? Was that before or after you sampled the entire male population in the UK?" I taunted angrily.
Jasmine didn't appear to be upset. In fact, her lips curled into a feline smile. "You're really asking to be disciplined you know, running that mouth of yours this way," she murmured, sliding down my zipper.
I froze as she concentrated on her task of freeing my cock.
"Don't," I said even though we both knew I didn't mean it. "You can't just come in here and pick up where you left off."
By the time I finished speaking, she had my cock out and I closed my eyes at the brush of her hot breath against the head of my dick. Oh shit.
"It wasn't very nice of you to send me those divorce papers and then have the audacity to invite me to this pathetic excuse of an engagement," she said to me, her voice hardening slightly.
I moaned a little because I couldn't help it. Her hand had closed around my erection and was squeezing it slightly.
"You were supposed to wait like a good little boy while I finished doing whatever I wanted and decided to send
