Rani didn’t know how she managed to focus on work for the next four weeks. Her nights were spent tossing and turning as she tried not to think about that kiss, and fantasize about what more Arjun could do with his mouth.
She still hadn’t gotten over the fact that Arjun Singh was attracted to her. Plain old Rani. How she’d had the fortitude to turn him down was still a mystery.
The only thing saving her was work. As lead architect, she had to do more than just come up with the designs. She had to oversee the contractors and supply vendors, and take care of a thousand details. Enough to keep her traitorous mind from wandering.
Since the night of their kiss, Arjun hadn’t attended any of the meetings for the project. He’d sent Vanessa. Each time a meeting was about to start, Rani had waited breathlessly for him and he hadn’t come. She had politely asked about him only to be told that he was busy. She should’ve been relieved but was irritated. Is he avoiding me? What the hell!
She signed the last invoice on her desk and turned to her email. Despite being an architectural design firm, RKS’s offices were as bland as a government building’s. Her ten-foot-by-ten-foot space included a black functional desk, a gray mesh chair for her, and two guest chairs. The bookshelves were empty. With the promotion, she’d moved out of her cubicle and into the office and hadn’t had time to personalize it other than to put a picture of her parents and siblings on the desk.
Her office phone rang and she answered it, expecting it to be Vanessa again. The woman called no less than three times a day.
“Rani, it’s Bob.”
The voice was familiar but it took Rani a second to realize it was the Bob. Bob Seagel. She hadn’t spoken to him since he’d left RKS. The extent of their contact had been the occasional comment on a Facebook post.
“Bob, this is a surprise. How are you?”
“I’m great, Rani, how are you?”
She bit her lip. Why was Bob calling her out of the blue? “Fantastic. I finally made senior architect and am leading the remodel on the Mahal hotel. It’s keeping me busy.”
“I heard. Congratulations! That’s actually why I’m calling. A Vanessa Knott called me asking about you.”
Rani straightened.
“She made it sound like they hadn’t fully signed with RKS and she knew you’d worked for me and was checking a reference. I saw right through her of course. Every major firm in the country knows RKS managed to win the contract for the Mahal.”
That witch! What is she playing at?
“What did you tell her?”
“That you’re the best architect I’ve ever worked with. She kept digging, though, trying to get at our personal relationship, but I didn’t give her anything.”
Rani’s mouth was dry. “Bob, I appreciate you looking out for me. You left so fast two years ago we never got a chance to talk. I want you to know that I tried to stand up for you, to let them know you did nothing wrong. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t feel terrible about what happened to you because of me. I’m so sorry for...”
“Rani, stop.”
Rani bit her lip. She deserved whatever harsh things he had to say to her.
“I know you tried to protect me. Me leaving had nothing to do with our relationship.”
What! “Then why did you resign in such a hurry?”
Bob sighed. “Ian Rabat wanted me out. And not because of you. That was just a pretext. He offered me a really lucrative severance package to leave right away so he could promote Delia.”
“What? Why would he go to such lengths to promote her? She started a year before I did.” What Rani didn’t say is that Delia wasn’t even that good. Despite her years of experience, her designs were bland and her technical expertise was dated.
“Oh, you don’t know? Delia is Ian Rabat’s daughter from an affair he had almost forty years ago.”
Rani gasped. For all the sanctimonious advice Delia gave her about morals, she’d gotten the promotion because she was the boss’s illegitimate daughter.
“I found out when I was digging around for why Ian wanted me gone. Turned out that Delia was planning to leave for another firm so Ian needed to find a way to promote her so she’d stay.”
“And you agreed to this?”
“It was a good deal for me. And he hooked me up with a lucrative position at my current firm. But one of the conditions Ian had was that he wanted everyone to think I left because of you so Delia wouldn’t suspect he was pulling strings to get her promoted.”
“Does she know she’s his daughter?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly exhausted, Rani leaned back in her chair. “I wish you’d told me two years ago.”
Bob was silent. “I should have. At the time I was thinking very selfishly. Ian’s wife doesn’t know about Delia so he asked me to keep it quiet. I’m sorry you’ve been carrying the guilt around for so long, Rani. I would’ve told you if I knew you’d taken it so hard.”
“Well, thank you for telling me now. You can count on my discretion.”
“Oh, you don’t have to be discreet. Vanessa was nice enough to tell me the rumors Ian spread around Vegas once I left. He’s ruined my reputation in that entire town. By the way, watch out for Vanessa. After she called, I asked around about her. She’s Vegas all the way. Always after something better for herself.”
That’s rich coming from you.
Rani somehow found the words to politely end the call. Bob promised to keep in touch, though she had no intention of staying friends with him. All that time feeling guilty about Bob, standing up for him no matter how detrimental it was to my reputation, and he’s only been looking out for himself. Her entire life had been spent fulfilling other people’s needs. First her parents’, then her in-laws’, and then RKS’s. She’d let the company use her. She was done with that. It was time for her to get what she wanted, to take control of her life. She was going to do something for herself.