Page 143 of Sapphire Spring

“You mean the part I didn’t spend thinking about finallydoing this?”

Mason laughed. “Yeah, how did those thirty seconds go?”

Naser tightened his embrace around Mason’s back. “Well,Jonas got kind of religious on me, which was a little weird.”

“Wait, like,badreligious?”

“No, he was talking about you andmeactually, andhe quoted this Bible verse. John 8:32, I think.”

“Oh, I know that one. People say it in meetings a lot. Thetruth shall set you free, right?Sohe thinks we setourselves free by living our truth. That’spretty nice,actually.” Mason reared up, kissing Naser gently on the tip of his nose. “Andaccurate.”

“Absolutely. But Jonas never quotes the Bible.”

Mason extracted himself from Naser’s limbs and swung hislegs to the floor. “I doubt he was trying to convert you. That verse isreally common. I think it’s even the motto for the CentralIntelligence Agency.”

When Mason felt Naser go rigid behind him, he turned andlooked over his shoulder. “What?”

“Nothing,” Naser whispered.

He forced himself to smile, but he was thinking of the bouquetfrom Jonas currently resting on the kitchen counter downstairs.

Freesia, flowers that meant trust.

In the moment, it had seemed like an odd choice, since Jonashadn’t chosen to trust Naser with any information about his past.

Or had he?

“How about a shower before our next round?” Mason asked.

“Deal,” Naser answered, letting Mason pull him up off thebed by one hand, but all he could think as he followed Mason into the bathroomwas,Oh my God. Jonas was in the CIA!

Epilogue

Four Months Later

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Pari Kazemi’sshout turned heads in a conference room thick with hairspray fumes and thehumid smell of steam irons. “I would like to introduce you all to MasonWorther, the man who saves everything I love.”

Pari took his hand and raised it skyward. Mason’s face gothot as the applause from the runway models and their dressers surged. Then Parilooped an arm around her brother’s shoulders and pulled him close.

“EverythingI love,” she added, which made Naserbow his head and chew his bottom lip.

There was another smattering of applause and cheers.

Naser’s near murder and Mason’s heroic cliff dive had beensplashed all over the news for weeks, so even the folks who weren’t regularmembers of Pari’s staff understood the significance of Pari’s declaration.

Then Pari flipped the switch back to stressed-out diva.“Out, both of you. We’ve got work to do.”

“God forbid more than a minute of this night should be aboutsomething other than you,” Naser grumbled.

“Correct. Now go make sure Maman doesn’t walk out halfway through.”

Mason took Naser’s hand and led him into the main corridorof Sapphire Cove’s conference center, where other formally dressed guests wereprocessing through the open doors to the Dolphin Ballroom.

Pari’s introduction had given Mason a burst of pride thatwould fuel him for the rest of the night. Hopefully, it would also propel himthrough his nervousness over how he planned to end the evening.

With his investment money, she’d put together a new ballgown collection that was entirely her vision. The first few dresses had caughtthe attention of a Persian venture capitalist who’d previously dismissed herwork for the Bliss Network as too corporatized and bland.

Tonight, Pari would be given the fashion show she deserved,without the jerry-rigging and subterfuge of her poolside event almost a yearbefore.

---