Secret Words(51)

"I can work on the dining table, even on the bed."

"But you'd be working from home most of the time. Wouldn't you want a dedicated work space for yourself?"

"Yeah. But I have to wait another month for my big royalty payment."

"What do you mean?" Kane turned her around to face him, frowning.

"I have to buy a new car and I want to buy stuff for this room first. The other rooms can wait."

"Jaz, I don't want you to spend your money on the house. I'm getting my bank to issue you a supplementary credit card. You can use that, even for your car."

"What? No!" she cried in alarm.

"Jasmine …"

"Kane, I don't want you to support me."

"Why not?" he scowled. "I make way more than enough for the two of us."

"But I want us to contribute equally! I don't want to feel like I'm sucking off you."

Kane sighed and tightened his arms around her. "Honey, I certainly don't want you to feel that way. But until you're regularly getting good royalties from your books—which I have no doubt you will soon—could you think of yourself as contributing to this relationship in a different way instead of focusing on the financial aspect?"

"Like how?" she asked, her mind already trying to seek the answer to his question.

"For me, your most important contribution is how you relax me."

She snorted. "Relax you? After all the stress and drama you just went through because of me?"

He laughed before resuming a serious countenance. "Let me say that again. For me, your most important contribution is how you make me feel good. I'm not just talking about the sex, which is incredible with you, but generally, you make me feel like I'm doing what I love."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I love looking after you. I love keeping you safe. I love being with you. You inspire me to reach for more stars, to conquer more mountains, to achieve more goals. You make my life so much more meaningful. For me, my way of thanking you for all that is to give you what you need so you can make your own dreams come true."

Her eyes filled with tears. She had never felt so loved and appreciated as she did in that moment. She wrapped her arms around Kane and buried her face in his neck. "Thank you."

"It's my honest-to-goodness pleasure, baby. Now will you let me give you a credit card? And will you use it? This is not me being driven by my male ego to provide for my girl. I'm never going to stop you from making money for yourself. But I want you to earn your money from your writing, because I know that's what you most love to do."

She leaned back in his arms and smiled. "Okay. And I promise to write great books that people will love to buy, not because I want to stop you from looking after me, but because that will be my way of thanking you for supporting my dreams."

She sealed that promise with a kiss.





*******





Hello, Jasmine. You really are something, aren't you? There I was thinking your hotshot boyfriend dumped you after seeing him in the papers with another woman, then the next thing I heard, you've moved in with him!

Well, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. What else could I have expected from a gold-digger like you?

But you know what? Life's a bitch and you have to be able to take what you dish out. You've stuffed up other people's lives so you should know what it feels like to have yours stuffed up.

By the way, congratulations! I heard your stories just got picked up by a XXX magazine (wink-wink). How much did they pay for them? Where did you get those really naughty pictures from? Did you get those people to pose for you?

You know what? I could just imagine how much more popular you would be if your smutty stories included an author's profile—with a naked picture of you with your bio…





Jasmine gasped in shock. Surely George didn't have a naked picture of her. She had never allowed any boyfriend to take a naked picture no matter how hard they pleaded. Could he have taken one when she wasn't looking? She honestly hoped not.

And what did he mean about 'her' stories appearing in a XXX magazine? Did he submit them on false pretences? Which magazine? It worried her that a porno magazine might be carrying stories with her real name and picture as the author.

It was clear from the email what George's motivation was. Revenge. But why was he blaming her for stuffing up his relationship? She hadn't done anything but set the record straight with his ex. What was more, she didn't approach the woman, his ex was the one who found her!

She shook her head in disbelief. The guy was clearly insane. It was obvious he meant to continue to hound her until he got tired of it—or until he was stopped.





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