Chapter 9
“Hello Raashi,” Janak Sehgal stood up from his desk and moved forward to greet Raashi as she walked into his office. He gave her a hug and kissed both her cheeks. “How are you, my darling girl?”
Raashi smiled at the old man who had been her backbone through several trials in her life.
“I’m fine. I’ve just been busy at work as usual.”
Raashi had decided to come and visit Janak first thing in the morning. He was the only one who could give her an insight into Sameer’s plans and maybe even help her to get Sameer to back off.
Janak leaned against his desk as Raashi lowered herself into the chair in front of him.
“I think you’re working way too hard these days. You need to go out more, have fun!”
Raashi raised a brow. “God! Not you too. Jiya says I’m a workaholic and a bore. She has been repeating the same thing every single day ever since she has returned.”
“Oh! Jiya’s in town. I didn’t know that,” Janak said.
“She just got in last week. Didn’t she call you?”
“That girl is too restless for her own good. She spoke to me for fifteen minutes, talking nineteen to the dozen and never once mentioned that she was in town.” Janak shook his head. “Anyway, you tell me what’s bothering you?”
Raashi sighed deeply and leaned forward.
“You somehow always know when something is bothering me, don’t you?”
Janak smiled at her affectionately waiting for her to speak.
“I want to know what Sameer wants with my land and what it will take for him to leave me alone?”
Just as Janak opened his mouth to reply, there was a knock on his door and before Raashi could as much as blink, Sameer walked in.
He momentarily froze as he laid eyes on her. Seeing her here was an unexpected surprise. A very pleasant surprise indeed, especially considering the way he couldn’t stop grinning.
He looked her over. He liked that she wore her clothes with such a confident grace.
She was dressed formally today in a short pin striped black skirt and a dark red shirt with black pointed heels.
From where she was seated, legs crossed primly, facing his grandfather, he could make out her long shapely legs.
He had a momentary flash of those legs wrapped around him as he had moved inside her.
He inhaled, clearing his head of the vision and walked towards them.
“Good morning,” Sameer said. His eyes moved from Raashi to his grandfather and then back to Raashi.
Raashi couldn’t bring herself to look away from him.
He was one of the few men she knew, who filled a suit just perfectly and today his charcoal grey suit looked like it had been stitched to his body.
She had always been a sucker for men in suits.
Correction, she was a sucker for Sameer in a suit.
No, she was an idiot ? that’s what she was to even think that. She cursed herself.
His dark eyes met hers and held them.
Try as much as he could, Sameer couldn’t bring himself to look away from her.
He remembered how she felt in his arms, warm and soft, her mouth crushed under his, her hand weaving through his hair.
And looking at her staring right back at him, he knew that no matter how hard she denied it, he made her emotions stir.
From the far corners of his mind he heard someone call out to him.
Raashi looked away instantly. Sameer turned to look at his grandfather, who was standing beside him now.
“Hi, Sameer!”
“Hello, Grandfather!”
“So both of you decided to give an old man some attention today,” Janak put his hands in his trouser pockets.
“Grandfather, you have my attention always.”
“So, does that mean you are not upset with me anymore for gifting the land that you covet so much to Raashi?” Janak queried, knowing that Sameer had been upset with him.
Sameer turned to look at Raashi. She was watching him carefully, waiting to hear his response.
“There is nothing to be upset about. You did what you had to,” Sameer assured his grandfather.
“If that’s the case then why did you leave so early from my birthday party?” Janak asked gently.
Sameer’s eyes widened. He never thought that leaving early with Natasha that night would cause his grandfather to think that he was upset with him. That was not his intention. He never wanted to hurt him in any way.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I’m not angry with you at all. I just left that night because Natasha had to be somewhere else and she insisted that I join her. Forgive me for making you think otherwise.”
Janak smiled.
Raashi had wondered why he had left the party so suddenly.
It was not like him to skip such a major event in his grandfather’s life.
She knew how fond he was of Janak. But then perhaps Natasha was important to him as well.
God! Natasha! She had to remember that Sameer was with her.
She hated herself for kissing him, for forgetting that he was dating someone else.
“It’s alright,” she heard Janak say, “but I hope that I’ve not started a war between you two because of this land.”
Janak looked from Sameer to Raashi.
“Don’t worry. Raashi and I will work something out, won’t we Raashi?” Sameer asked her pointedly.
Raashi looked up into his eyes and caught the challenge in it.
They were at a deadlock in this situation and he knew that, but he still insisted on inciting her.
She didn’t want to work anything out with him.
She didn’t even want to be in the same room with him after the way she had responded to his kiss yesterday.
She had sought Janak out because she wanted his help to figure out this issue between Sameer and her.
She didn’t want to interact with Sameer by herself any more.
But before she could form an appropriate reply to Sameer’s question, Janak said, “Raashi, you need to talk to him. Will you do that for me please?”
“Hmm,” Raashi replied.
Taking that as her acceptance, Janak continued, “Good. You two are both important to me and I want both of you to be happy. So, for my sake please work it out.”
Janak checked his watch for the time before continuing, “Anyway, I have a meeting to get to and since both of you are here, can you please talk and clear it all out?”
Without waiting for their reply, he walked out, leaving the two of them alone.
Raashi stood up to leave the minute Janak left, but before she could take a step forward, she heard Sameer say, “Running away? I thought you just agreed to talk to me.”
“Firstly, I am not running away from you, I am staying away from you. Huge difference. And secondly, I didn’t agree to take part in any kind of discussion at all. Definitely not right now,” Raashi said and took a step forward.
Sameer took a step to his right and blocked her. It brought her in closer contact to him. He was so close to her that she had to look up to talk to him. Raashi hated how he towered over her.
“We are not finished,” Sameer said.
Raashi met his steady gaze, refusing to back away, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was making her feel flustered.
“We were finished long back. Stop this nonsense and let me go.”
“We need to talk Raashi, whether you like it or not. So, if not now, choose a time and place. I will call you or come to your office or your house every day, whatever it takes till you agree to a meeting.”
Raashi stiffened. “Are you threatening me?” she asked, crossing her arms on her chest.
Sameer leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Not threatening you, beautiful, just warning you. You will find me at your door step, morning, evening and night till you don’t agree to talk to me.”
Raashi shut her eyes for a second, desperately trying to stand still, controlling her body’s reaction to him. It was so damn hard to do so, when he was so near, whispering in her ear.
She schooled her thoughts and her expression.
“Move,” she ordered.
He raised his hands in the air and took a step back and she let out the breath she’d been holding.
She took two steps forward, threw him a sideways glance and said as calmly as she could, “Tomorrow at one.”
Sameer felt victorious.
“I’ll come by to your office,” he told her.
Round one to me, he thought as he watched her walk out, her hips swaying and her soft hair flowing behind her. The woman had a body made for sin.
Fuck! He was spending way too much time thinking about her.
Yesterday, the entire day had gone by and Sameer hadn’t been able to get any substantial work done.
She haunted his thoughts. He remembered her scent, her softness, her warmth and how she fit into him so perfectly.
Damn! He wanted Raashi. His body craved for hers and even though he was aware that she really didn’t like him very much, her body still responded to the call of his.
She had been an equal and willing participant in the kiss they had shared yesterday.
The ring of his cell phone brought him out of his daydream. The screen flashed with Natasha’s name.
It was ironic. He was not the least bit attracted to the woman he was considering to spend the rest of his life with and the woman he craved for was a bad bet for his heart.
Perhaps therein lay the answer to his dilemma.
Natasha was most definitely not a threat to his heart.
But Raashi, with her sharp tongue, razor wit and gorgeous body would be challenging him at every turn.
She would want his complete surrender, heart and soul.
He was indeed better off without her. He should have never kissed her again.
Big mistake, big bad mistake! Convincing himself of that, Sameer answered Natatsha’s call.