And if he couldn’t do that, he’d make it happen anyway. He wasn’t an extremely successful and wealthy man for nothing. He knew how to get the things he wanted, and Yasmin was the one thing he desired most.

His phone dinged with a message and he glanced at it.

Yasmin: Too much, Volkan! But thank you. I love the desk ❤

Satisfied, Volkan slid into the back of his city car and told the driver to take him to the hotel. He didn’t want to leave Yasmin, but he would respect her boundaries for now. He would give her all the things she wanted in life, and right now, she wanted her education.

Volkan didn’t care about her studies. She wouldn’t need her degree once they were married, but it seemed important to her that she finish. She would be done in a few short months anyway. Then he could move forward with his plans. Until that time, he would do his best to please his pretty princess.

* * *

It was late afternoon when Yasmin’s phone rang. She looked at it and rolled her eyes. Why couldn’t Aisha get it through her head that people didn’t call anymore, they texted. Honestly. Maybe she should quit answering her sister’s calls and force her into using messaging instead.

“Aisha, why can’t you be normal?” Yasmin said, smiling as she answered her phone.

“I am normal!” her sister defended.

“Oh yeah, what are you doing right now?” Yasmin rolled off her bed and walked to the new desk, running her hand over the smooth white surface. She traced the intricate hearts carved onto the wooden legs.

There was a long pause before Aisha answered. “I’m cleaning out litter boxes in the cat cafe downtown.”

“Uh… what?” Okay, Yasmin had suspected her sister was doing something outside of the societal boundaries that dictated what was normal, but this was bizarre, even for Aisha.

“But you’re a lawyer,” Yasmin stated. “Did you get a second job? One that, I have to say, is pretty far beneath what you’re educated for and capable of.”

“Cats are never beneath me!” Aisha defended herself. “I need an easy job so I can destress from my lawyer gig, so I’m volunteering at an animal shelter.”

It was Aisha’s ability to look and sound like a ditz that made her so deadly in a courtroom. She was one of the smartest women Yasmin had ever met and absolutely no one suspected she was a shark underneath her adorable, easy-going exterior. Yasmin, for darn sure, never wanted to be on the wrong side of a courtroom while her sister was working.

“You know cat cafes aren’t animal shelters, right?” Yasmin pointed out. “They’re like, for-profit, regular businesses, only they also have cats.”

“Not these ones,” Aisha insisted. “Most of these fluffy beauties are up for adoption. Hey, do you need a cat?”