Forbidden (Now Published On Amazon,Kobo, B&N and Apple Stores -FREE)

Black Sheep from Her Past.

4

No woman had ever looked at him that way in his entire life. As though she was disgusted by him. He'd been slapped before but never because a girl didn't want him to continue doing things to her. On the contrary...

But this slap had hurt... Not physically but...deep down in some corner of his heart, it had hurt that she'd reacted like that and now regarded him as some kind of monster. Maybe he was.

He hadn't meant to upset her. And he certainly hadn't counted on her saying no to him because nobody ever had. She'd wanted him. So why had she tried to stop something so natural from happening? Something that would've brought both of them such exquisite pleasure. Armaan studied his reflection in the bathroom mirror of his suite and frowned in irritation.

Sometimes he lost his temper and ended up behaving badly. He hadn't meant to insult her with his words. The anger that had erupted at his thwarted attempts to get her to surrender to him had caused him to say those horrible things. With an impatient sigh, he turned and walked out of the bathroom. What bothered him the most was the knowledge that he'd broken his one golden rule for a girl he'd only just met.

Time was so important to him. He'd known she was going to be late for something but he'd still decided to seduce her and not even cared if she got delayed. All of this merged into a complication he wasn't interested in tackling any further. He was living a perfect, carefree life in Italy and it was going to stay that way for a long, long time.

~~~~

"You're very quiet. Are you still mad at me?"

They were cruising along the streets of Milan because she had had to postpone the meeting with the estate agent. It was hot outside but Jasmine was safely ensconced in the air-conditioned Lamborghini so she hardly cared. She was typing the first chapter of her manuscript after making the final changes. The ride was pretty smooth so she was able to do her work without difficulty. Her anger at Alex had evaporated a while ago but he sounded worried.

"Actually, I'm mad at your friend," she muttered. "I really don't like him."

Alex let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, he's okay...once you get to know him a little better."

Jasmine went quiet again. The car slowed a bit as she made some adjustments to the last paragraph that she had typed, engrossed in the creative process.

"Did Armaan make a move on you, Jasmine?"

Her fingers stopped moving over the keyboard. Oh, shit. Alex would be so hurt if he knew that Armaan had hit on her. This was something Armaan
should have thought about before he decided to almost rape her in the elevator.

"It's just the way he talks, I guess," she hedged. "And some of the things he does...it's...shocking."

Alex visibly relaxed. "Armaan enjoys shocking people." His tone grew warmer. "He's the black sheep of his family but nobody knows it." A chuckle escaped him. "Wait till you see his tattoo and tongue piercing."

She gaped at Alex. "Seriously?" She hadn't seen any piercings earlier when he'd stuck that same tongue down her throat.

"Uh-huh. He hides this side of himself when he goes to Amira but it's there."

"Why's he so scared of his family?" Jasmine asked in confusion. "Are they dangerous?"

Alex did not respond and she went back to her typing but the image of Armaan with tongue piercing kept entering her head.

"Jasmine, I should probably tell you..."

She gave Alex a questioning look. "Tell me what?"

He moistened his lips and she panicked. Was he going to tell her that he had deeper feelings for her? This was truly going to be awkward. She should change the subject.

"It's about Armaan but you can't tell him that I told you," Alex said slowly.

Jasmine breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh. Oh!" She straightened abruptly and closed her laptop, startling Alex. "He's a recovering sociopath, is that it?" she whispered.

Alex gave her a confused look. "No. Why would you-?" Then he shook his head. "Never mind. Actually, he is a member of a very prominent family in Amira. One of the most influential and powerful families of the country."

Jasmine grew a little breathless at that bit of information. She knew all the prominent families in Amira. And plenty of non-prominent ones as well.

"Really?" She breathed deeply to control the trembling in her voice.

"Yeah. His is a big family with a lot of connections and a huge standing in society. Last year, Armaan was allowed to move to Italy permanently because he's got an older brother to look after everything if something were to happen to his dad. But he gets involved in certain activities that his family might not approve of."

"Are any of those activities illegal?"

"Christ, no." He laughed at her. "You really don't like him, huh." He actually sounded pleased. "Well, in your culture, the businesses he runs anonymously are considered unlawful. He saved plenty of cash in his college days, don't ask me how. But he owns an exclusive club here in the city and also the hotel we are staying at."

Wow. Now she realised why the alarm hadn't gone off in the elevator when he'd stopped it and why he had been so sure nobody would interrupt them. It had all been planned. That was what he had been doing on his phone before he'd decided to seduce her. It made her even angrier to learn just how easy he had believed she was. Son of a bitch.

"The architect thing is not something he needs to do for money but it is for his pleasure and for cover, in case his family asks him where all the cash comes from," Alex continued as he navigated the car through a busy lane.

Jasmine absorbed all the information that Alex had given her but she was scared to voice the one question that was rotating in her mind. Which prominent family in Amira?

He looked over at her. "Actually, if Armaan knew I'd told you, he wouldn't be mad as long as word does not reach Amira. But just don't rub it in his face okay."

She nodded, not really listening to him as she bit her lip. "You never told me his full name," she finally said as casually as possible.

Alex widened his eyes in surprise. "I didn't? I'm sorry, I thought I had. It's Armaan Ahmed Qureshi," he said pronouncing it perfectly despite his British accent. "There's a story behind that name too. It was just Ahmed Qureshi but he said it did not go with his image so he got his parents to legally change it to Armaan when he was fifteen." Alex shook his head. "They didn't like it but he was pretty convincing."

Jasmine turned her face away, her heart pounding in her chest, the darkness she had thought was banished, threatening to return in full force. Later that evening, she soaked in a cool jasmine-scented bath. She stayed in the ornate tub until her fingers turned into prunes, until her lips went blue and until she was...numb. Hot tears slid down her cheeks and she spent the whole night chasing away her demons but to no avail. They kept coming back...

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