Bonus Chapter
Mina packed up her things, laptop included, and handed her bag to Hem so he could carry it. He linked hands with hers as they both walked out of the office and took the elevator down to the first floor. She pulled away when the elevator doors opened.
Hem looked briefly disappointed before he led her through the lobby.
He didn’t understand. Men rarely understood what it meant for a single woman to date in an office environment.
Even if he wasn’t her boss, even if they didn’t report into the same company, they were on the same project together.
That was why it was so important for things to remain professional.
The stakes for Mina were even higher because everything she worked for was riding on this one project, and if her uncles found out… well, she could be discredited.
And god, Hem wasn’t exactly discrete.
Maybe this was a bad idea.
Mina followed at a safe distance through the security machines and out onto Park. Right in front of the building was a limo idling at the curb.
“Your chariot awaits,” Hem said smoothly as he approached the vehicle.
“Hem,” she said with a sigh.
“Don’t worry, I won’t do this all the time.”
“This is not discrete, Hem,” she said, voicing her thoughts. He winked at her, and before she could convince herself otherwise, she slid into the back seat and waited for him to climb in after her.
“Henry?” Hem called out. “We’re good to go.”
The limo pulled away from the curb and into city traffic. Hem scooted to the edge of his seat and pressed a few buttons for the bar to slide out of the side panel.
“Champagne?”
“I thought we were just going to dinner,” she replied, ignoring his question.
“I realized that we never really got a chance to do your birthday right,” Hem said as he deftly popped the cork on a bottle and set it in an ice bucket to breathe. “So, we’ll have dinner for me, but we’ll also do something for you, to help you relax tonight.”
“That sounds promising,” Mina mused. She accepted the champagne glass and leaned back against the bench seat. “Do I get a hint of where we’re going?”
“Nope. You’ll see soon enough.”
The stress of the day began to ebb from her shoulders. The tension she felt when seeing her father’s text was a memory along with Sanjeev’s daily badgering. Her concerns began to fade into a low static hum in the back of her brain, easily ignored.
“Tell me about your day,” she said as he pulled her against his side.
“Well, how interested are you in the Philippine labor market?”
“Very,” she said, and enjoyed the smooth timber of his voice as he walked through some of his current findings on a project that he’d personally taken over for Bharat.
Fifteen minutes and a glass of champagne later, they arrived at the Amara Hotel in NoMad. Hem slid out of the car before helping Mina.
“Leave your bag,” he said. “Henry will be back for us.”
She shut the door and followed him up the marble staircase through the glass doors into a cool marble lobby in creams and veined gold.
Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and a live harpist sat on a round platform next to a Grecian fountain.
A woman in a pressed black uniform suit approached Hem from the left.
“Mr. Singh?”
“Yes, hi. Are you Veronica?”
“I am,” she said with a warm smile. She extended her hand. “Welcome to Amara. If you follow me, your dinner and treatments are ready for the evening.”
“Dinner and treatments?” Mina whispered.
Hem pressed a hand to her lower back and nudged her to follow.
Veronica led them to an elevator off the main embankment before she scanned a card. She stepped aside and motioned for Mina and Hem to step inside the small car. She followed, scanned her card again, and the doors closed before smoothly moving up to what looked like the top floor.
“You’re in for quite a treat,” Veronica said as she glanced back at Mina.
“We have a Turkish Humam that is at your disposal, and a couple’s massage next to the infinity pool along with a five-course meal prepared by our award-winning restaurant.
Mr. Singh, the entire spa has been cleared as per your request. You’ll have complete privacy. ”
Mina’s jaw dropped. “Hem?”
“Happy birthday, hirye,” Hem replied.
Her pulse raced. She’d never received such a lavish gift like this.
And it wasn’t even about the money, but the care that Hem had taken.
He knew that she was working long hours, and dinner with her father and uncles had been hard.
She’d casually mentioned getting a massage the last time they were together, and now here they were.
Mina felt the slow tip of her heart and knew she was doomed.
The elevator doors opened to reveal a domed rooftop designed like a forested sanctuary.
More harp music. The sound of running water.
The New York Skyline through two story windows.
The air was warm, but not uncomfortable.
An artificial stream snaked through the space, and a pool with vivid blue water poured over a ledge in front of the view.
“This is not the New York I’ve ever been exposed to,” she mused.
“I’m glad I could show you something new.”
Mina was still in a daze as she was ushered into the locker room.
There was more opulence here with mahogany and bamboo trim, heated tile and marble sinks.
She was given a key and a place to put her clothes as well as a robe and a pair of slippers.
She stripped to nothing but her underwear and luxuriated in the feel of the softest, fluffiest fabric she’d ever wrapped around herself.
Never in a million years did she think she’d be going on a dinner date with Hemdeep Singh wearing a robe.
She stood in front of the mirror for another moment, making sure her feelings were in check before she stepped outside. A waitstaff member was standing at the ready, holding a glass of iced mineral water with cucumber and lemon slices.
“Thank you,” she said, just as Hem stepped out of the men’s locker room.
Mina nearly spewed the sip she’d taken from her glass all over the tile floor.
Hem had been given a similar robe, except because of his broad build and height, the material barely cinched at his waist and was at least six inches too short.
“Oh, babe,” she said as she suppressed a giggle.
“Yeah, laugh it up,” he muttered. He clasped her empty hand in his and led her down the small pathway through lush greenery towards the infinity pool.
A candlelit table came into view set with fine china and a single bud vase with a blooming rose. There was more champagne, and Mina sat speechless as waitstaff silently began bringing out courses of light meals that wouldn’t weigh them down before time in the Hamum and a gentle couple’s massage.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Hem said as they finished their first course.
Mina smiled. “I ah…Hem…no one has ever done anything like this for me before.”
“That’s a travesty, Mina. But one I’m glad to rectify.” He kissed her knuckles.
So much for keeping things professional.
Like her uncle’s warning, she shoved the rational part of her conscience deep in the back of her brain as she ate flakey fish in a creamy white sauce and listened to Hem recount travel stories with his brothers in their misspent youth.
She shared her own, and little by little, she relaxed.
Her blood began to heat because of the wine, or the food, or maybe it their near nakedness.
Their conversation veered into dangerous territory.
Let’s go to that one restaurant…
Maybe we can make a weekend out of it…
How about I take you up north and we can sight see…
Any reservation Mina had walked into the hotel with was a distant memory by the time desert was delivered and the waitstaff disappeared again behind a hidden panel.
“Mina?” Hem asked as she got to her feet and rounded the table.
“You know,” she said dreamily. “I never met a man like you, Hemdeep Singh. So arrogant and sure. You make me want to believe in the impossible.” She silently undid the belt of her robe and let it slip off her shoulders.
Hem’s gaze heated as he took in her nakedness. He turned in his chair, his knees spread, his bulge obvious through the briefs that were uncovered by the too-small robe.
Taking the invitation, she straddled his lap, settling against his erection, gasping at the size, the pulsing heat of him that radiated through two thin layers of underwear. His hands coasted up her back, his thumbs circling her nipples as she rested her hands on his shoulders.
“What’s this?” he said gruffly.
“You like me,” she said playfully, intoxicated by the scent of him, by the heat of their oasis. “You really like me.”
He chuckled and they both groaned as the friction zipped through their bodies. “I think that’s an understatement,” he said.
Mina tested both of them as she slowly rolled her hips forward eliciting another groan. Her breath caught and held.
“Mina, I didn’t do this for?—”
“I know,” she said quietly. “I know.”
Her lips landed on his, and he pulled her flush against his abdomen, chest to breast. The pleasure was instantaneous. Electric. His heat hummed through her body as his mouth took over, and she was consumed in the most delicious, delicate way.
Her fingers tunneled through his hair, and she rolled her hips again, torturing them both.
She wanted to show him how much he meant to her. How much his attention and sincerity and his affection was something she never expected but cherished with her whole heart.
On a gasp, Mina pulled away, then holding his gaze, she slowly sunk to her knees.
“No, baby, I just wanted to do something nice for you. You don’t have to?—”
“This is for me, too,” she said simply, then reached for his boxers, and slipped her hand inside to wrap around his hot, thick erection.
He was big, bigger than she’d ever had before, and her mouth watered at the sight of him. Pre-cum beaded at his tip, and she quickly licked it off eliciting a grunt from Hem.
He fisted a hand in her hair. “Stop teasing.”
“No,” she said before she stroked him once, then harder a second time. She fit her lips over the mushroom head of his cock and slowly took him into her mouth.
Hem was completely at her mercy as she sucked deep and firm. Up and down over and over again. His hands were in her hair, and her name was a chant, a mantra that he repeated as she took him so deep that she knew her throat would be sore from it. Deliciously so.
“That’s it,” he said gently, guiding her head. “You’re so good. You’re so fucking perfect.” She warmed under his praise as she slipped one hand under the waistband of her panties and rubbed at her clit. God, she was already soaking wet, vibrating and eager for an orgasm.
Hem’s erection thickened even further as she rubbed herself faster and harder while she sucked him deep.
His words became a mix of nonsense, of praise and want.
Her thighs trembled, her abdomen clenched.
Spots floated in front of her eyes, blurring Hem’s gorgeous features as he tilted his head back, the chords of his neck tightening.
“I’m going to come, hirye,” he said in torn, stilted words.
Mina squeezed him harder at the base and he erupted, filling her mouth. It was a rush to make him come so hard, so freely, and she swallowed every bit of him, sucking him clean just as her own orgasm tore through her body making her weak.
She was dizzy, lightheaded when he stopped, and Hem quietly slipped her robe back on her shoulders and pulled her onto his lap before tucking her head against the crook of his neck.
He was shaking, Mina realized. His entire body vibrated with relief, and even though she was wet with desire, his orgasm felt like she’d earned pleasure. Just like she’d told him.
This is for me, too.
Mina wasn’t sure how long they sat curled together, barely covered in their robes, breathing heavy as the New York sky twinkled behind them. The rush of water, the heat of the spa surrounded their bodies.
Hem’s wealth was astounding, intimidating, and sometimes off putting.
But in times like this, when she felt cherished, she knew that it afforded her the privilege of being cared for, too.
But his money was nowhere near as important as how much he catered to her specific wants and wishes.
A massage. A latte. A bagel on Saturday morning.
A long conversation about a particularly heinous case.
A quiet drive to forget bad memories. Those were all infinitely more valuable than being able to buy out an entire spa.
“Are you going to tell me what that was about,” he said as he tilted her head back and pressed a gentle kiss against her mouth.
“It’s just… you are the most unexpected birthday gift, Hemdeep Singh,” she said. “Thank you.”