Chapter Twelve
Chapter
Twelve
The next afternoon, Tejas awoke from his nap to the buzzing of his phone and sounds of nature from the balcony.
He yawned, then realized he was once again alone in the bunk bed, though he and Naina had fallen asleep together.
Wonder why she likes sleeping alone, he mused.
Sure, the bunk bed wasn’t large enough for both of their tall, muscled frames, but didn’t she enjoy cuddling?
He stood up and stretched, then looked around the tiny room, bathed in sunlight. Naina was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she was in the bathroom.
His phone had received a spam-worthy number of cat photos in the past few minutes, all from Latika. Grinning, he swiped through them, zooming in on Astrid’s face, paws, and bright eyes. God, she was the sweetest little thing.
Tejas
Fuck I miss her so much. What’s she up to right now? Send me videos
When he saw Latika’s reply, he laughed aloud. She’s digging in her litter box. I think we should give her some privacy
He resumed scrolling through the photos, his heart clenching with love.
He and Latika were born and raised in Jaipur, where their parents still lived, and they’d never had pets growing up, despite having a house with a front and back yard.
Adopting Astrid had been a spur-of-the-moment decision.
Last year, in Mumbai, he’d gone out to a new restaurant for lunch on a rainy afternoon, not knowing it was also a cat café.
Two hours later, he was in talks with the café owner’s sister, who was a foster mom, to adopt a kitten of his own.
Latika had been cynical, like always. “You know nothing about pets,” she’d said. “This is a lifelong commitment. Are you sure you can handle this?” But he’d fallen for Astrid the second his dark eyes met her light green ones, and the rest was history.
Naina returned from the shower, her hair damp, just as Tejas’s phone buzzed. “Be right back,” he said to Naina, rushing out to the balcony and closing the door behind him. “Hey,” he said, answering the video call.
Latika was holding Astrid, but when her video came into focus, her eyes narrowed. She set the cat down and said exasperatedly, “Bhai. You hooked up with your roommate, didn’t you?”
That was when Tejas realized he was shirtless, not to mention sporting a faint hickey on his collarbone. He averted his gaze and didn’t reply until Latika said “Bhai?” again.
Tejas lowered his voice. “Yeah, fine, I did.”
“What’s her name?”
“Naina,” he answered.
“So is she from Mumbai too?”
Oh no. His sister was not going to like what he said next. “I, uh…I don’t know.”
Latika’s forehead wrinkled, making her look much older than twenty-six. “You didn’t ask your roommate—who you hooked up with—where she’s from?”
He quickly filled her in on everything: the Anti-Honeymoon Checklist, the “wrong answers only” policy, the rave; and by the time he was done, Latika had one hand pressed to her cheek in concern.
“It’s fine,” he assured her. “This is just casual.”
“Except you can’t do casual,” she said, dropping her hand with a sigh. “We both know you suck at separating emotions from sex. Isn’t that how you got your heart broken the last three times before Rahul?”
She was right. He’d had his fair share of situationships before Rahul—men and women who’d wanted to “go with the flow” while he caught feelings two dates in.
With his ex, they had gone from friends to lovers after one kiss.
Then again, given how things had ended, perhaps Rahul had seen their relationship as casual all along.
That didn’t mean this thing with Naina would go the same way, though. “I’ve got this, okay?” Tejas said testily. A knock sounded on the balcony door, and he cursed. “I’ll talk to you later.”
Latika nodded. “Be careful. Bye.”
He went back inside the room, shaking his head.
Naina greeted him with a smile. “Ready to go out?” she asked, popping some snacks into her mouth, then putting the container away. “The gang is off to a beach club.”
“Sounds great,” Tejas said, throwing the cupboard door open.
This time is different, he told himself as he pulled on some clothes.
He headed downstairs with Naina, deciding he wouldn’t get his heart broken this time.
No, this trip would just be a fun, sexy, exciting memory to hold on to for the rest of his life.
A life that would not include Naina Stark.
“God, this is so relaxing,” Tejas said, exhaling loudly as the sunlight warmed his face. He stared up at the cloudless sky—now tinted red thanks to his sunglasses—and lifted his bare arms to stretch.
Naina, who was sharing a sunbed with him at the beach club, patted his thigh absently and flipped to the next page of her book. A romance novel, from the looks of it, which surprised Tejas—he hadn’t pegged her for a romantic.
Naina’s hair was up in a loose braided bun, and she wore a strappy orange bikini top with denim shorts. The outfit, coupled with that eye tattoo now visible under her ribs, made her go from sexy to completely irresistible. Tejas couldn’t wait to bite that tattoo tonight.
“More drinks?” a passing server asked, an empty tray tucked under his arm. Raziya ordered a virgin pina colada, and Tejas agreed to split a pitcher of beer with the guys. “Naina?” He nudged her. “You want another Bloody Mary?”
Naina looked from her book to the half-finished cocktail on the small side table. “Probably not a good idea. I don’t want to overdo the alcohol unless it’s for my list.”
Jonah snickered. “It’s been two days since that party, and we’re on vacation! Get her a refill,” he said to the server, who left before Naina could protest.
Tejas sidled closer and slung an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he whispered, “I’ll drink it if you won’t.”
“Thanks.” Naina smiled at him. “Although I’ll have to pluck up the courage soon. I still want to have one night where I get so shit-faced drunk I can barely wake up the next morning.”
“Considering we’re in Goa, that’s the easiest thing on the list.” He planted a kiss on her cheek, then returned his focus to the sparkling gray Arabian sea in the distance and how the waves swept closer and closer to the club’s private beach, where a group of white men were playing volleyball.
Their cheers and jeers, loud enough to ring in Tejas’s ears, reminded him of the time he’d played beach volleyball with Rahul and some guys from work.
That was, what, three and a half years ago?
Was it the very night Rahul kissed him for the first time, turning their best friendship into a doomed romance?
Tejas gulped, raking a hand through his hair. He had wasted so much time imagining a happily ever after with a man who was probably swimming with his new wife in their private pool in the Maldives. A man who had, in hindsight, never really loved Tejas at all.
Speaking of which…Tejas pulled his phone out from the pocket of his shorts. His urge to check his now-married ex-boyfriend’s social media was toxic and would only bring him pain, but he had to know.
Rahul’s green story ring greeted Tejas right as he opened Instagram, practically begging him to click on it. His eyes narrowed. Why was he still on Rahul’s Close Friends list? They were exes in every single way—romantic or otherwise.
Changing his mind, Tejas opened his Gallery app and scrolled through the cat photos Latika had sent earlier that morning. Astrid sitting by the windowsill, soaking in the sunshine. Astrid yawning, her mouth wide and her eyes scrunched up. Astrid doing a biiiiig stretch along the floor, her paws—
Fuck it. Tejas couldn’t bear the suspense.
He switched back to Instagram and tapped on the Close Friends story, his stomach churning.
Rahul’s new wife stood at the edge of an infinity pool, her face looking away from the camera toward the ocean in the far distance.
She wore a modest one-piece swimsuit and red bangles on both wrists, signifying her newly married status. The text read: What a view!
“Beer, sir?”
The attendant was back. Tejas accepted the beer and took a sip, ignoring his friends, who’d raised their mugs for a toast, but the chilled beverage offered no respite from the whirlwind of thoughts in his head.
Was Rahul happy in the arranged marriage he swore he didn’t want?
Was he already in love with this strange woman he’d met two months ago?
Was he sending some sort of message to Tejas by not hiding this story from him?
Ugh.
“You okay?” Naina asked, patting his shoulder as the attendant set her second Bloody Mary on the table beside her first unfinished one.
Tejas forced himself to smile. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You’re fake-smiling,” she challenged with narrowed eyes.
He frowned. “No, I’m not.”
She turned toward him, her muscly body on full display, and said, “You have this tiny dimple that only shows itself when you smile for real. I don’t see it right now.”
Tejas chuckled. “Maybe you need glasses, because I don’t have any dimples.”
Naina leaned closer to him with a twinkle in her eye, her delicious lavender perfume hanging in the air. “Did your sister share any more pictures of your cat today?”
Despite his sour mood, Tejas grinned as he showed her the photos, swiping through them one by one.
“Doesn’t Astrid look so cute here with her sharp teeth showing?
And this one, it’s like she’s doing cat yoga or something.
” He paused when Naina whipped out her phone.
Before he knew it, she’d clicked a picture of him.
“See,” she said, showing him her phone.
“Huh,” he said as he looked at the photo.
She was…right. Something poked his cheek, and he looked up to see a triumphant Naina smirking at him.
“That’s where your dimple is, when you actually smile.
” She pressed her finger into his cheek again.
“It’s faint, but it’s the cutest thing in the world, so don’t you dare let anyone make it disappear, least of all your own self. ”
A funny sort of feeling tickled the corners of Tejas’s eyes. Tears? “No one’s told me I have a dimple before,” he said, his voice thick. “Nobody ever noticed.”
“Well,” she said, chuckling as she finally finished her first cocktail, “then maybe they’re the ones who need glasses.”
“Maybe,” Tejas said, kissing her briefly on the lips, tasting vodka. It’s just a casual fling, he reminded himself. She’s only being sweet and nice and cute because we’re hooking up. It doesn’t mean anything—and I won’t let it mean anything.
The others decided to head back to the hostel after sunset. When Tejas stood to follow them, Naina stopped him, coiling an arm around his shoulder. “There’s this lake a short distance away. Want to go there? Just us?”
His eyebrows rose. “Skinny-dipping?”
A smile slowly formed on her lips. “Yes. It’s getting dark, so now is the perfect time.”
They’d already brought towels and spare sets of clothes to the beach club, so they headed straight to the lake.
It was a twenty-minute walk, and like Naina had said, there was nobody around.
Hidden behind a large, mossy rock, the lake’s dark waters sparkled in the light of the crescent-shaped moon.
Tejas’s clothes clung to his body with sweat after the walk, and although the possibility of catching pneumonia—or something worse—loomed over him, he couldn’t wait to shed his layers and plunge into the cold depths of the lake.
They undressed, their eyes raking all over each other. Naina tied her hair up, then took his hand in hers. “Ready?”
He nodded and inhaled deeply before they jumped in together.
“Oh fuck!” Tejas yelled, running a hand over his face. “The water is so refreshing.”
Naina giggled, then sank her head underwater before resurfacing. “We did it,” she said with a grin. “Skinny-dipping.” She swam a few feet away, her strokes precise and well-trained, yelling for him to follow.
Tejas’s gaze lingered on her toned legs and the dip of her low back as they did a few laps across the small lake.
“You know,” Naina said, when they stood facing each other, their breathing shallow from all the swimming, “I might have put on a brave act, but I was really anxious about doing this.”
He smiled and swam close enough that his chest skimmed the peaks of her breasts. “Anything else on the list you’re worried about?” he asked as his growing arousal pressed against her thigh.
Her throat bobbed. “Not worried as much as…anticipating.” When her gaze flitted to meet his, adrenaline and lust surged through Tejas’s bones.
He dipped her head back to kiss her neck, his desire fueled by her moans.
She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him closer, and that was when he shook his head and stepped back.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I don’t have a condom,” he said. “We shouldn’t. Not here.”
Naina’s eyes softened, and then she jumped out of the lake without warning, giving Tejas a full view of her perfect body, dripping wet. Holy fuck. “Hostel. Now,” she announced, tossing him a towel as he got out too.
They dried off, changed back into their clothes, and ran to the hostel, giggling and squealing like horny teenagers. Tejas realized, with a smile, that his heart hadn’t been this light and happy in months.