Chapter 16
DAKSH
In the quiet of the night, voices carried…even the ones that came through a device.
“Is he as good looking in person as he is online?”
“Better.”
Daksh had no illusions about the way he looked. He’d gotten enough and more attention over the years to know that it appealed to people. Until he’d picked up a camera, it had been the only thing that had appealed to the world. He could enjoy its perks and still resent the hell out of it.
Vedika had been the first person to take one look at him and detest him. It had been… refreshing. But as flattering as it had been, it was still an illusion. It seemed like she saw him just like the others did. A nice looking shell with no substance.
Daksh waited for her to be done talking to her parents, watching the smile on her face, the way she twirled her hair around one finger, the way her hair floated around her like a cape. He could see her relax, one torturous inch at a time.
When it looked like her conversation wasn’t wrapping up anytime soon, he got up, stripped off his t-shirt and ran into the ocean for a quick swim and to wash the sand off his body.
He ducked beneath the waves, allowing the cool, dark, quiet of the ocean to soothe his frazzled nerves.
What did it matter to him what his brother’s feral fiancée thought of him?
When he finally surfaced with a gasp, it was to find her splashing towards him, her eyes wild and her movements frantic. He thought her swimming technique would be best called ‘trying not to drown.’
“Are you okay?” she asked, spluttering around a mouthful of sea water.
Daksh’s eyebrows shot up. “Am I okay?”
He grabbed her before she disappeared under the water again, hauling her up. “I’m fine. I was swimming. I’m not sure what it is that you are doing.”
She gaped at him, her mouth opening and closing like a surprised goldfish. “I was saving you!”
“With those strokes?” Daksh burst into laughter. “You were barely saving yourself.”
She shoved at him with a low growl. “Let go of me!”
Daksh shrugged and let go. She disappeared beneath the water again. Swearing, he ducked down, grabbed her and hauled her up, gasping and wheezing.
“Don’t you know how to stay afloat?” he demanded. “Why are you such a shitty swimmer? What the hell did you think you were doing coming in after me?”
“I thought you were drowning!” she screaming before dissolving into a coughing fit. “I was trying to save you.”
She’d come for him? She’d risked her life with her questionable swimming skills for his miserable life?
That was more than his family would have done for him, or would consider doing in the future.
His father would probably have dusted off his hands and muttered something to the effect of good riddance to bad rubbish.
Daksh pulled her close, gently rubbing his hand on her back until she stopped trying to cough up her lungs. A lifeguard appeared on the beach, shouting and calling them in.
“Hold on to me,” Daksh said quietly, as he started towards the shore, towing her along. They made it back in record time. Daksh apologised to the irate lifeguard for going into the water at night and moved to gather their things and head back to the shack.
But then, he made the mistake of turning around and getting a good look at Vedika. Her hair lay in matted tangles around her face, her lip quivering as she shivered in the night breeze. Her dress, that horrible, shapeless dress, was plastered to her body. Her fucking glorious body.
Lord in heaven, give him strength.
Daksh swallowed hard and looked away. He grabbed his t-shirt, smacked it against his thigh a couple of times to dust the sand off and held it out to her, not looking directly at her.
“Put it on,” he said gruffly.
“N-n-no, thank you,” her voice trembled as she spoke.
“Put it on, Mouse. It will help until we get to the boutique attached to the shack. You can pick up some clothes there.”
She shook her head stubbornly and started to walk towards the shack in the distance, the dress lovingly moulding to every sinful curve of the killer body she’d been hiding under her grandma clothes.
“Wear it. I don’t need the Thakkar heir falling sick because she tried to do me a favour.”
She stopped walking, her spine going ramrod straight. Daksh walked up to where she stood and held the shirt out again.
She grabbed it and pulled it over her head. It swamped her, the fabric pooling around her knees, the sleeves slipping off her shoulders. It was baggier than her ugly dress but for some reason…the sight of her wearing his t-shirt had his chest tightening ominously.
Her gaze dropped to his naked chest and fluttered back to his face. “And if the Mathur heir falls sick?”
“Nobody would care,” he told her brusquely before turning away. “Let’s go.”
They walked back to the shack in silence, both lost in their thoughts. Daksh left his camera and the rest of their belongings with the manager before ushering Vedika into the little boutique attached to the entrance of the shack.
Vedika grabbed a few dresses from the meagre collection and disappeared into the trial room. Daksh picked up a plain black t-shirt, paid for it and shrugged into it as he waited for her to appear again.
When she did, it was in a bright pink sundress that left her shoulders bare and hugged her bosom, flaring out to fall in soft waves around her knees.
Her hair was still damp but fell in a heavy waterfall over one shoulder as she self-consciously tugged at the neckline trying to get it to cover more of her.
And for the second time that night, Daksh felt his chest tighten. Apparently, it didn’t matter what Vedika Thakkar wore. A shapeless, brown dress, his fraying, threadbare t-shirt or a pretty, pink sundress. She was brutally captivating in all of them.
As he stood there staring at her, his words from earlier came rushing back to him, a prophetic whisper.
Even the fiercest predators know fear.