Page 38 of To Tango, with Desire

It was all his fault.

No, I wasn’t going to seriously contemplate his offer, but I wasn’t going to break my parents’ heart. Not tonight at least. Zane had gotten me into this mess, and he sure as hell was going to get me out of it. He could call it off. He could make up some excuse and leave me the hell alone.

Marry Zane Nasser? Over my dead body.

TEN

AMIRA

Iwoke up the next day groggy and restless. Sleep, when it had come, had been fractured at best. Finding yourself stuck in a sham engagement kind of did that to a person.

I’d hoped that it’d been a nightmare, but the voicemail message from my sister, along with a dozen or so missed calls from my brothers meant only one thing: I was engaged. Or soon-to-be engaged to a complete stranger. Well, not in the biblical sense, but then again, nobody in my family was ever going to find out about that. Ever. According to my parents, I would be the virginal bride married off to one of the most affluent men on the planet.

No wonder Dad wanted to broadcast it on the radio. According to my parents, I had won the husband lottery. I wanted to scream.

It was my fault. I should have told them last night that I wasn’t going to marry Zane. I should have kicked his smug ass out of the house, but I’d sat down with them and drank coffee and eaten sweets like this was normal.

I groaned into my pillow. I’d never seen my dad so happy. So damn hopeful. What the hell was I thinking going along with this? It was going to crush them when they found out.

Heart pummeling in my chest, I got up, determined to speak to them both. Like a Band-Aid, Amira. The quicker you do this, the less painful it’ll be.

I stormed into the living room, only to find it empty. I looked in the kitchen, their bedroom, the yard. Empty. Then I saw the note: Going to church. Our prayers have been answered.

Great. Here they were praising God almighty and I was trying to break their hearts.

Stalking to the bathroom, I turned on the shower and stripped naked. I wasn’t going to deal with this right now. I had work to do and a business to run. Scrubbing myself until I was raw, I rinsed off and got into my sweats. I was going to get some work done and forget that Zane Nasser had single-handedly turned my world upside down in the last twenty-four hours. Screw him.

For good measure, I switched off my phone and took my time heading into the city.

Designing always made me happy. So I was going to work off some of the mad and create a gorgeous tailor-made dress in my gorgeous shop.

And nobody was going to mention the words Zane or engagement if they wanted to live.

Satisfied, I started the day on my terms.

AMIRA

A few hours later, I was in the zone, pinning fabric as if I was backstage at a runway, when I heard a rap at the shop front door. I ignored it, focusing on the soft satin that would flick and swish by the time I was done with it. The bodice was going to be eye-popping, but this skirt was going to sing.

When the rapping turned into banging, I sighed. Then swore when I saw who was standing behind the glass.

I unlocked the door and yanked it open with enough force to rattle its hinges.

“You’re the last person I wanted to see this morning.”

“Actually, it’s nearly afternoon.”

I blinked, looking down at my watch. “So?”

“So, hello, fiancée.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“It’s what we are.”

I wiggled my ring finger in front of his face. “No ring, no fiancée. Too bad, so sad.” I walked back to my workroom, which was lovely and warm. The weather was turning and I was glad for the rectangular windows that let in the early autumn sunshine. This was my happy place, and he had no right to be in it.

“That’s why I’m here.”