“Well.” Arjun spoke first. “We can’t sleep here tonight.”
She nodded. “The workers may show up really early to start on the other bedrooms. Um...it was a great. I guess I’ll see you around.”
He laughed and pulled her close. “Oh no, you’re not getting away that easy. I’m spending the night with you.” Her heart kicked at the fierceness in his voice. “We will go back to my place.”
Rani wanted to object to the plan but the thought of spending the night with him was too tempting.
They dressed quickly, then made the bed together. He stealthily held her hand on the way down to the almost completed lobby, then let go when they reached the circular driveway out front where Sam was waiting with the car. She appreciated Arjun’s caution; the last thing she needed was for RKS to suspect what had just happened between them. While she wasn’t so worried about losing her job anymore, she didn’t want people to think she got the hotel contract because she was sleeping with Arjun.
She followed his car and parked in the visitor’s lot. He met her in the lobby. As soon as they got inside his condo, he kissed her. She knew without a doubt that he was ready to make love to her again and that knowledge gave her a rush. It had been such a struggle to arouse Navin; she’d constantly felt inadequate.
In one night, Arjun had elevated her confidence, in and out of bed. A month ago a promotion was the best she could’ve hoped for with her career. Now, a world of possibilities lay at her feet. All because Arjun believed in her. When she was done with his hotel, all of Vegas would know her name. And this time for the right reasons.
Then doubt snaked through her.
He began undressing her but she stopped him. “Arjun, I need to ask. Did you give me the hotel contract because you’d hoped we would get together tonight?”
He frowned at her. “How could you ask me that, Rani? I gave it to you because you earned it. You did an extraordinary work with the owners condo. And I had no idea you were even interested in us getting together. You did a good job convincing me I was not worth your time.”
She laughed. “Not worth my time? You’ve been consuming my every dream since we met.”
He grinned, and she kissed that dimple that had been driving her mad.
“Well then, how about we make some more dreams come true.” And with that, he led her into the bedroom.
When she woke in the morning, all she could think about was how unreal it was to be in Arjun’s bed and not starting at the popcorn-textured ceiling of her apartment. She rolled over, expecting to find Arjun, but the bed was empty. She sat up. He wasn’t in the room. She looked for a note on the nightstand but there was none.
Is our time over? She quickly wrapped a sheet around her and raced downstairs to the great room. A room service cart next to the dining table where Arjun, dressed in a bathrobe, was seated with a cup and saucer in his hand. She let out a breath.
“Good morning.” He grinned when he saw her. “What do you eat for breakfast?”
“Usually it’s coffee and an oatmeal bar.”
“Well, today you have your choice.” He waved to the cart where there were no fewer than ten dishes covered by silver domes.
She gasped. “That’s enough food to feed half the building.”
“Well, I didn’t know what you liked, so I ordered one of everything through room service. There’s omelets, French toast, eggs Benedict, pancakes, Belgian waffles, oatmeal...”
Room service was a luxury she didn’t allow herself even when she traveled for work on an expense account. The very thought of how much all this food must’ve cost made her head spin.
“Okay, let me get some clothes on.”
“How about a bathrobe? It’ll save me some time when I take it off later. There’s one for you in the bedroom.”
A shiver of anticipation went through her as she went and got the bathrobe, then joined him at the table.
“I don’t have any morning meetings. How about you?” Arjun poured her a cup of coffee as she lifted the domes off the breakfast dishes.
“My first meeting is in an hour and a half, but I have to go home and change. I can’t show up in the same clothes I was wearing yesterday.”
“What size do you wear?”
“Um...none of your business.”
He rolled his eyes. “There are some nice stores downstairs in the building complex. Let me call down to the concierge.”
Rani stared as he called and got connected to the store he wanted. “Yes, this is Mr. Singh in P241. I need you to send up a few complete business outfits for my guest to select from. I’ll give you a credit card now for anything she decides to keep.”
He handed the phone to her. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
Was he for real? Did he really expect her to order clothes like it was room service?
“Rani?”
She realized he was still holding the phone. As soon as he handed it to her, he disappeared upstairs. The woman on the other end efficiently asked her about size, color preferences and whether she preferred any designers. Designers? Her clothes came from discount department stores.
She hung up the phone and found Arjun. “I’m not letting you buy me clothes,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not one of those women who lets a man buy her things and tell her what to wear.” She crossed her arms and a minute of silence passed between them.
“It’s not that, Rani. I just figured that it’ll give us more time together. Every minute I get to spend with you is precious.” He touched her arm and her heart squeezed. It was a sweet gesture and the words were even sweeter, but a part still stung. Every minute together was precious because they wouldn’t have too many. She knew this was temporary and was really okay with it when all it was about was hot and lusty sex. But his tenderness was something else.
She shook her head. “Let’s not waste time arguing over this. I need to leave in forty minutes.”
He opened his mouth to object but then gestured to the dining table instead. They dug into the scrumptious breakfast.
“Tell me about your family,” he asked after a minute of silence.
A piece of egg stuck in her throat and she coughed. “What do you want to know?”
“How about telling me more about your siblings.”
She relaxed and a smile spread on her face. “My brother, Sohel, is two years younger than I am. He’s trying to break into Hollywood as a screenwriter and director. My sister, Anaya, is much younger. She’s still a teenager. What about your siblings?”
She already knew he had three sisters and a brother but she wanted to see how he described them.
He took a sip of his tea. “Well, my brother, Sameer, is three years younger than me and is proving to be a handful. We are so careful about our media image and he is constantly getting in trouble. I have a budget just to pay off reporters, a full time IT guy to sanitize his social media accounts, and an entire PR team that monitors all the news outlets.”
His family did do a good job of keeping the dirty laundry under wraps but she didn’t realize how much it took. “And your sisters? Are they just as much trouble?”
He sighed. “Divya, Karishma and Naina. They are harder to handle than Sameer. My mother is constantly calling me about some issue with them.”
“Like what?”
“Well, yesterday, just before I got to the hotel, she called because Karishma and Divya snuck out of the house to go to a nightclub with their friends and Naina, who is the youngest, put pillows under their bedsheets to cover up for them.”
Rani tensed. “Why did they have to sneak out?” She knew that his sisters were only a few years younger than him. Definitely old enough to be independent.
“Because it’s not safe for girls to be out late at night by themselves in India.”
Rani set down her fork a little harder than she intended and it clanked on the plate. “But it’s okay for the boys to go out late?” Her tone was sharp but she didn’t regret it.
He looked up. “It’s different in India. Police enforcement is not what it should be and harassment is not punished the way it is in America so the bad elements are a little more aggressive.”
She was well aware of the horrifying statistics regarding women’s safety but it was not an excuse to curtail their freedoms.
“And do you know how many men get murdered every night around the world? No one uses that as an excuse to lock them at home at night.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it. “You’re right. I know how chauvinistic it sounds. My parents are very traditional. There are rules in our house that have existed for generations. And yes, they are sexist, but I have to choose the battles I fight. My role in the family is to run the business. My battle with my parents has been to expand outside of India—they were very reluctant to go that route. But one of the benefits is that it will open up so many opportunities for my sisters to experience the world.”
Your parents sound as bad as my ex in-laws. Rani would never say the words out loud to him; it wasn’t her business. They weren’t in a relationship. She had fought her own battles, and paid the price for her freedom. What did she care what Arjun’s family was like? It wasn’t as if they were ever going to meet.
He leaned forward and placed his hand on hers. “I know my parents are old-fashioned. It’s something I deal with every day in our house. I’m working on them, one day at a time.” He smiled. “Luckily they are far away and the only thing we need to worry about right now is how to delay your first meeting.”
She sighed, feeling herself give in to his charm once again. After all, what did she care about his family? She wasn’t going to marry him. This was just a casual affair.