Page 57 of Djinn in Love

“To an extent. We don’t fully mature into our power until the completion of puberty. I fully came into my power at seventeen.”

“Wow, that’s young.”

“What about you?” he asked. “When did you fully come into your abilities?”

“I’ve always had them,” she admitted. “Even as a kid.”

Jasper fell silent. That was painful to hear. She’d never had a chance to be a child. She’d always carried the weight of other people’s emotions on her shoulders. It was clear that Veronica loved her parents, but Jasper also got the sense that they didn’t protect her as they should have.

“It is what it is,” she murmured, her eyes closing as she sighed.

“I hate that saying,” Jasper rasped, flattening his palm on the center of her back between her shoulder blades. He left it there, feeling her slow, deep breaths.

“Why?” she asked, her eyes still closed.

“It’s too accurate. There are some things that just shouldn’t happen, yet there’s nothing to do be done about them. So, it’s true that it is what it is, but it shouldn’t be.”

“You have a strong sense of justice,” Veronica mumbled, her tone sleepy. “It’s one of the reasons I love you.”

Jasper didn’t say anything else as she slid into sleep. But he didn’t follow her. For a long time, he lay on his bed, feeling her back rise and fall beneath his hand, listening to her quiet breathing, and he wished he could have protected her twenty years ago when she was just a little girl.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

They hittheir first major bump in the road a week later. Veronica should have known that it was too easy.

She didn’t get out of the office until late on Friday night. Dominique had finally put out an ad for an administrative assistant. Once they’d hired and trained someone, quite a bit of Veronica’s time would be freed up because she wouldn’t be handling basic paperwork and bookkeeping tasks.

Until then, she and Dominique were both working ten- and twelve-hour days just trying to keep up with everything.

It was her night to go to Jasper’s. The rotation suited her for now, but it was early days still. Veronica wasn’t sure how she would feel in a month or two. Right now, she was just enjoying her time with him.

When she pulled into his driveway, there was a strange car parked in front of the house. For a second, Veronica thought about going to the front door and ringing the bell. If he had company, she hated the idea of waltzing right into his house.

Then again, if he was dealing with business, she didn’t want to interrupt that by ringing the doorbell.

After vacillating for a few moments, Veronica finally drove around to the garage. She used the opener that Jasper hadgiven her and opened the garage door. Her car slotted in neatly between Jasper’s Range Rover and a low-slung black sports car that he occasionally drove. Once the car was off, she took a slow breath. The day had been stressful and now she wasn’t sure what she was walking into. Surely, if it was something important, Jasper would have texted her. A quick check of her phone revealed that he hadn’t. Maybe it was just a friend, then.

She gathered her purse and her laptop bag and walked over to the door leading into the mudroom. Once the garage door was down, she opened the door to the mudroom and kicked off her shoes. Her purse was hung on a hook, and she stooped down to pick up her heels. As comfortable as they were, no shoes felt good after twelve hours wearing them.

Her footsteps were almost silent as she padded through the mudroom and laundry room and into the kitchen. As soon as she stepped inside, she froze.

Jasper stood across the kitchen, his back against the countertop of the coffee station, and a woman with long, dark hair was practically climbing him as though she wanted to devour him.

At first, the sight was like a punch to the gut. A sound escaped her, half groan and half sob. Jasper and the woman broke apart, turning toward her. With her brain still stuck on what she’d just seen, Veronica felt nothing from either of them. Only her own pain.

Especially when she saw the woman’s face. It was Jasmine Shah, Prema’s younger sister. And she wore a smug smile.

It was that smile that broke through the haze of pain and disappointment that clouded her mind. Veronica suddenly focused on the woman and sensed her triumph and her loathing. That, coupled with the satisfied smirk on the woman’s face, told Veronica all she needed to know about what she walked in on.

Jasper’s mental shields were completely down. His emotions careened wildly from anger to sadness, to absolutely fury. None of it was directed at her. No, it was all for Jasmine.

“Veronica—”

She lifted her hand, stopping his words. Jasper fell silent. Veronica tried to give him a reassuring look, but he didn’t seem to notice. So, she focused on Jasmine, whose smug smile was now a wide, wicked grin. Though she was no telepath, Veronica could still almost hear the other woman’s thoughts. She’d planned this. She wanted to drive a wedge between Veronica and Jasper. Whether it was so she could truly have Jasper to herself or to “teach” Veronica some sort of lesson, it was unclear.

Either way, all she wanted to do was insert herself between the couple and drive them apart.

Well, that wouldn’t be happening.

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