Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
The door opened with a click, and Tejas grinned at her, a towel pressed into his curls. “Talking to yourself, Naina Stark?” His eyes had a playful glint to them, like he’d heard what she’d said.
Her cheeks flamed. God, Tejas looked good. The scent of pine and soap surrounded the corridor, and Naina, like a coat. He wore a loose-knit maroon sweater and dark gray sweatpants that perfectly outlined the curve of his—
“Want to come in?” he asked, and Naina’s gaze shot up from his crotch to his face. Fuck, she wanted to wipe that annoying, gloating smirk off his face. And she wanted to do it with her lips.
But she was no longer the fun, charming, sexy woman Tejas had met in Goa. She was just…her usual boring self, with her head firmly on her shoulders, a heart caged in her chest, and skin tougher than nails. After an eighteen-month dry spell, she had no idea how to flirt.
Least of all with the man who’d just found her on his doorstep, mumbling to herself.
Naina bit her lip and followed him in, taking her heels off by the shoe rack.
His apartment was simple and tidy, a five-seater sofa set and TV unit in the living room, a well-stocked minibar shelf, and a dining table with three chairs by the open kitchen; and…
was that a quick white blur zooming out from under the couch?
It raced into the hallway, which probably led to the bedroom.
“Was that Astrid?” She pressed a hand to her heart.
“You weren’t lying about her footsteps being loud. ”
Tejas bit the inside of his cheek, studying her. “You remembered that too. Naina Stark, is there anything about Goa you’ve actually forgotten?”
“Shetty,” she corrected him. She propped her work bag against the cream-colored wall, then straightened, fidgeting with her hands. “Nice place.”
“Thanks.” He hung his towel on a chair and smiled at her, his fingers hooked into the pockets of his sweatpants. “Want something to drink? A beer, or…”
“Beer?” Her gaze returned to the minibar, and she gave a sharp shake of the head. “How about something stronger?”
Tejas grinned. He grabbed a half-finished bottle of scotch from the shelf and rummaged in the kitchen cabinet for glasses. “Do you like your scotch with soda?” he asked over his shoulder.
She joined him in the kitchen, leaning her weight against the fridge. “Neat.”
“I figured,” he said, chuckling. “As for me…” He stepped closer, lowering his face to meet hers. She arched into him, pressing her hands to his sweater, waiting for him to close the space between them, but he simply murmured, “Rocks.”
“Hmm?” She stared up at him, dazed.
Before she could blink, he wrapped his arms around her waist, lifted her up, and placed her down on the kitchen island like she weighed next to nothing. Then he opened the door to the freezer. “I like mine on the rocks.”
Naina nodded, settling her butt onto the cold granite. Damn, he really could put those chiseled muscles to good use. “Right. Sorry, I thought—”
Tejas laughed as he made their drinks, adding one large ice cube to his glass. “What, you thought I called you here to hook up with you?”
“Didn’t you?” she shot back, her forehead wrinkling. She might not be the poster girl for casual relationships, but no way had she misread the signs or his note. He wanted this as much as she did…right?
He handed her a glass of neat scotch, his gaze softening when their hands touched. “I called you here because I like you,” he explained. “And I want to finish what we started in Goa.”
She forced herself to frown at him, though her stupid heart thudded uncontrollably. “And what exactly did we start in Goa?”
With a clink against her drink, Tejas lifted his glass for a toast. “Us, of course.”
Naina let out a small smile and sipped the rich, smooth liquid. “You don’t give up that easily, do you?”
Tejas licked his lips. He stepped closer so her knee bumped against his thigh. “Not when I think I have a fighting chance.”
“You do,” Naina said, shivering at his proximity, “but I can’t let anything, or anyone, distract me from my career or my goals.” At the downturn of his mouth, she added, “Look, I’m not the Naina Stark you liked in Goa. I’m just Naina Shetty, resident workaholic at AKC—”
“That doesn’t change how I feel about you,” he insisted, but she held up a finger.
“I don’t need a relationship,” she finished, resting her hand on her knee, where it grazed against his warm thigh. “My priority is winning Preethi’s case with no distractions whatsoever. At least not…long-term distractions.”
Tejas drank his scotch, his throat bobbing. His gaze was fixed two inches above her head as he seemingly considered her words. “Fine,” he finally said, moving away from her. “Then let’s brainstorm about the case. You’ve got your laptop?”
Naina slid off the kitchen island, her mouth dry. The heat between her legs ebbed to a stop. “Wait, what?”
He led the way to the couch, picking up her work bag from the floor and giving it to her.
As Naina wondered when and how Prince Charming had morphed into this cocky, breezy version she hadn’t seen much of in Goa, Tejas sat down, turning on his laptop that rested on the coffee table.
“I went through the autopsy report again,” he said, typing on the keyboard while she stood in front of him, her jaw to the floor.
“The medical examiner should definitely be on our list of—” He paused and lifted his head. “Is something wrong?”
Naina exhaled and took another sip of her scotch. “Nothing.” She plopped onto the couch beside him, switching on her own laptop. “You were saying?”
“I liked your idea of focusing on Rohith Pai’s signs of struggle. I’m sure the prosecution will bring up Preethi’s crazy-difficult workout regimen, and we have to do our part.”
She pulled up their Google Doc. “Great. I already have a few questions I want to ask the medical examiner. Who else?”
“Gopal Krishnan and Jagannath have already been subpoenaed.” Tejas pursed his lips. “Pai’s wife too. I’m sure they’ll play up the ‘loyal husband’ angle.”
Naina switched tabs to the document with Rohith Pai and Preethi’s text messages.
Between Preethi being cast in his movie and up until the night of the murder, there had been only professional messages.
Nothing that insinuated Pai wanted to talk to her in any capacity outside of work.
“Whoever framed Preethi must have sent that text, so they had to have been close enough with Pai to know or guess his lock screen password.”
Tejas nodded. “I still think it’s fishy how Jagannath heard Preethi’s screams despite being farther away from Pai’s trailer, but Gopal—whose trailer was right behind the scene of the crime—said he only heard Jagannath’s.”
“Jagannath’s assistant said he usually wakes up early in time for work or with just one reminder call, so he’s probably not a very deep sleeper,” Naina pointed out.
“Fair enough, but let’s not rule either of them out just yet. For all we know, one of them might be behind the hate account,” Tejas said as Astrid shuffled back into view from the hallway. She stretched her body into a downward dog pose, then hopped onto the couch and curled up beside Tejas.
“The trial’s in two days,” Naina said, tearing her eyes away from the adorable cat. “Let’s think about potential motives for all our suspects and narrow them down from strongest to weakest.”
For the next hour, they worked on doing just that.
Gopal had problems with working with Preethi, to the extent he refused to even touch her during filming and had argued with Pai about it.
But if he’d had such extreme hesitations, why not back out of the project?
His career was stable enough to sustain one hit.
Was it because of his long-standing friendship with Pai?
Jagannath had deflected most of Tejas and Naina’s questions and hurried to get them out of his house, but he’d also been close with Pai for decades.
Could anything have caused enough tension between them for it to lead to murder?
And the discovery that his daughter was friends with Preethi was an interesting angle to explore too.
The crew, apart from Jagannath’s assistant, had all slept in the same trailer, but one of them could have snuck out and killed Pai.
They were all part of his usual film crew and seemed to revere him.
Vaishnavi had her own trailer—upon her boss’s request—and claimed she had been asleep until the police sirens had sounded, like everybody else.
Tejas shifted in his seat, jaw clenched, and Astrid roused from her nap with a soft meow. “We need to look into Jagannath’s background—and his daughter’s. Something about him feels off, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
“And…” Naina pressed her palms to her forehead.
“We still don’t know what made Pai take Preethi on for this project.
They hadn’t spoken in years, and her reputation was a mess.
Was he going to use the controversy to get people talking about the movie?
Did he really think she was the right fit for the role?
Or something else? We need to figure that out. ”
“That should be our next step,” Tejas agreed, stifling a yawn. He scratched a sleepy Astrid under her chin. “Fuck, it’s eleven p.m. Let’s reconvene in the morning?”
“Works for me.” Naina stood, smoothing out the crinkles in her skirt, and packed her laptop bag, which sat beside Astrid and had three or four white hairs near the zipper. “Astrid is cuter than I remember from the photos,” she said, chuckling.
Tejas got up and grinned, his fond eyes on the cat sprawled on the couch. “It’s all the extra weight. The vet wants her on a strict diet, but she gives me one sad meow, and I bring out the bag of treats.”
Naina sighed as she looked at him, a man who was funny and sexy and so, so sweet. “Sometimes what you want isn’t necessarily what you need.”
“I agree.” Tejas patted Astrid on the butt twice, and she made a garbled meowing noise and zoomed into one of the rooms. Then he turned to Naina, his eyes hooded as they fell to her mouth. “Which is why I haven’t pushed you up against the wall yet with my hand under your skirt.”
A strangled moan escaped Naina just at the thought of it. At the thought of him touching her again.
“But you don’t want any distractions.” He shrugged, his mouth pulling up on one side. “And I respect that.”
Naina could hardly register his words. Her mind was on the barely there dimple creasing his cheek, his woodsy, clean smell tantalizing her senses, and that smoldering gaze, perfectly contrasting with his soft smile.
“Fuck it,” she breathed as she fisted the front of his sweater with both hands and pulled him in.
His lips moved along hers with a familiarity she hadn’t noticed in the archive room, hot and yielding, as he kissed her with the intensity she wanted and the softness she needed.
“Fuck,” he groaned as she flicked her tongue over his lower lip, a silent plea to give her everything he had.
He opened his mouth, his hot breath mingling with hers, and she raked her hands over the wool of his sweater, wishing there was nothing separating them.
She walked backward, pulling him with her, until her shoulders pressed against the wall.
Tejas broke away from her, a question in his eyes. “Are you sure?” he asked.
She took his hand, kissing the side of his wrist, and pressed it to her inner thigh.
“I’m sure,” she said, and then his fingers were exactly where she wanted them, his lips raking over the sensitive skin of her neck as desperate need snaked up her core, begging for release, aching for Tejas to keep going, faster, harder, to never stop—
Stars exploded beneath her closed eyes, and she fell into Tejas’s arms, her chest rising and falling with deep breaths. “I—I—oh my God,” she whispered, touching her lips to his mouth. “Shit, I can barely stand upright.”
“Was that good?” Tejas said, though his grin told her he already knew the answer.
“Yes,” she said. “It was…just like I remembered it.”
His chest rose and fell, the hunger evident in his gaze. The intensity in his eyes was overpowering; she had to look away for a second before speaking again. “Tejas, I want to make you feel that good too.”
“Are you sure?” Tejas licked his lips as his eyes fell on the wall clock. “It’s late. Your dad’s probably wondering where you are.”
“I’ll be quick,” she promised. “I just, I want to taste you again. I…I need to.”
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing, then closed the space between them, his hands curving around her waist. Naina took off her glasses and veered him toward the couch. She pushed him down and straddled him, then moved to take off his sweatpants and boxers. “Is this okay?”
“God, yes,” he breathed, shuddering as she kissed a line down his collarbone, his neck, his stomach, until she could finally take him in her mouth.
Tejas’s hips moved in time with her hands and lips, and Naina closed her own eyes, relishing in the unparalleled joy of making someone feel as good as they made her feel.
Eighteen months since she’d seen him like this in Goa, vulnerable and aching for her, and yet Naina remembered it all: biting that sensitive spot on his upper thigh, licking him slowly and gently to tease him, and the loud moan he let out when he came, hard and fast, before pulling her into his lap for a kiss that gave her shivers long beyond the touch of their lips.
It lingered as Naina kissed him goodbye and went downstairs to hail an auto rickshaw home.
It lingered as she evaded Appa’s questions about where she had been and why her hair looked so disheveled.
It lingered even as she hopped into the shower, soaping herself up and wishing Tejas’s hands were on her body instead, where they seemed to belong.
Good lord, she was truly fucked.