"Okay, Mom."

Continuing Flashback...

He closed his hand over hers as she turned the key in the lock. She was so lost in her own head that she would have gone in the apartment without saying a thing to him. She looked up. His brows were drawn together with worry. 

“Are we okay?” he asked. 

“Sure,” she said and watched his expression harden. 

“Jasmine.” 

She released her keys to dislodge his hand on top of hers. She couldn’t think straight when he was touching her.  

“I didn’t mean to make you mad. It was just an observation, one that was out of line. Ending the night on a bad note instead of being the highlight of your week is the last thing I want to do.”

Even as her shoulders dropped at that smooth apology, she scuffed her shoe on the carpet. “I don’t like talking about my father.” 

“Noted.” 

She sighed and ran her hand through her hair as she leaned against the wall and looked up at him, relieved and irritated that he’d taken the choice out of her hands to end things. “How many meetings did you have today?”

“Four.” 

Her eyes bulged. “Didn’t your last one go on for three hours?”

“Yes.”

“Were your other meetings in New York?”

“Yes.” When she stared at him, he shrugged. “I work long days.” 

“How long?” When he didn’t answer, she pushed, “What time did you wake up?”

“Two.”

Her mouth dropped. “In the morning?”

“Of course.”

She straightened away from the wall. “And you still asked me to go to dinner? You should be in bed!”

“Okay, Mom.” 

He didn’t even crack a smile as he threw her words back in her face. She burst out laughing and then clamped a hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t wake her neighbors. 

“Touché.” She shook her head. “You’re insane. And you’re driving an hour and a half back to New York tonight?”

He nodded.

She raised her wrist to glance at her watch. “By the time you get home, you’ll have been up twenty-four hours.” She pushed her door open and flipped on the light. “Come inside and have a coffee first.”

**This is a raw draft of Bitter Sins. Please do not share or distribute.

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