Embrace My Heart(58)
Vibrantly textured furnishings complemented the wall canvases and throw pillows. They filled the open lower level and more private rooms on the second floor.
Vectra enjoyed her solitude even as she criticized her handling of the situation.
“You could’ve done this same thing in California, you know?”
She jerked into an upright stance on the lounge so fast that the chair’s legs scraped the brick deck.
“Sim? How...?”
Qasim didn’t need her to finish. “You mean, how did I track you down here based on the note you left? Well, I didn’t since you didn’t leave me one.”
“Sim—”
“So once I got past the shock of you doing something so stupid and impolite, I thanked Charlotte for sharing what little details she had about your sudden travel plans.” He lifted his hands slightly before letting them fall back to his sides. “Here I am.”
With slow, grounding breaths, Vectra left the lounge once she felt up to standing. She noticed the downward trail Qasim’s eyes took when he appraised the lavender bikini she had pranced around in for the better part of the day.
She’d decided against walking inside for a cover-up and leaned along the back of the deck sofa. She hoped the stance might de-emphasize her current state of dress.
“I knew you’d be busy after we talked...about Will.”
“Right...” His nod was deliberately slow. “So naturally you had to leave the country?”
“Sim...”
“Why’d you go, really?”
“Qasim, I don’t like having to step in on matters related to your business.”
“Vectra—”
She resisted the urge to wince when he growled her name. “I swear it’s true. Those kinds of deeds haven’t done me any favors in the past.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Qasim didn’t realize how angry he was until he was standing within touching distance of her.
After leaving Carro, where the housekeeper, Charlotte Sweeney, had told him of Vectra’s sudden and unexpected departure, he’d set out to find her. According to Charlotte, Vectra had skedaddled little more than an hour following his own heated exit. He’d expected that she may have been unsettled by his reaction to what she told him about Will, but enough to leave town? Hell, the country? He guessed so.
“How’d you find me?” she asked.
If Qasim noticed that she’d sidestepped his question, he didn’t mention it. “Charlotte said something about you checking out the Miami gallery. I checked with the gallery back home, told them I might want to see the one here, too, maybe organize a thing, considering how well it all went during the tasting event...” He shrugged. “They were all too happy to help—even called the gallery out here and they went the extra mile to tell me you were working—” he cut off to indulge in another scandalous rake of her body “—from home today, but they made sure to square things with the office downstairs. They granted me access when I arrived.” He studied the life lines in his palms as though the action calmed him.
“This was all after your father called to tell me you were in Italy and asked why wasn’t I there with you when he told you to take me.”
Vectra lowered herself into deck sofa. “You were busy...”
“You said that already.”
“Sim...”
“I’m listening.”
“He saved your life.”
“You’re my life.”
Her breath caught, and she sat there, blinking up at him in wonder.
Qasim roared a sharp, ill-humored laugh. “Did you think I was ‘just playing’ when I told you I loved you? What the hell do you think that means?”
“Not always what you think!” She cursed quietly over the slip and left the chair, holding her hands to her mouth as she paced the deck.
Qasim strode over and sank into the space Vectra had vacated. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows to the jeans shorts where they covered his knees.
“Everyone I consider a friend knows their parents—both of them,” he said. “Do you know how rare that is in the world I come from? Most folks at least know their mother. I don’t know either of my parents.” He studied his palms again.
“The only thing my mother did for me was to give me a name before she left me at the hospital. I fought my way through foster care and group homes knowing I only had to make it to eighteen.” He shrugged and turned his striking gaze out across the deck.
“It made me fight harder. That kind of living—that kind of childhood—screws with your trust, your security, Vectra. In my world, if you weren’t possessive of your stuff, if you didn’t stake your claim, it got taken from you and then...the rage sets in. I guess it set in for me at an early age, and I...”