29. An Unpleasant Meeting
29
An Unpleasant Meeting
Vera
W hen Vera walked out of Vihaan’s office ten minutes later, she could still feel him within her. He’d helped her straighten her appearance and was escorting her to their meeting. The entire time, instead of gloating that she’d given in to him, he’d worn a look of silent contemplation. She glanced beside her as he kept pace, wondering what was going through his mind. His eye caught hers, his mouth curving up softly under her scrutiny. The tender smile rather than his trademark smirk was more disarming than the orgasm he’d wrenched from her.
She had no clue how she’d gone from scolding him to begging him to fuck her in the course of a single conversation. She slid a surreptitious glance at the busy staff around them, wondering if anyone could tell what they’d been up to. Thankfully, everyone seemed engrossed in a busy workday. She drew in a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves as she stopped in front of the boardroom and reached for the door .
“Wait, let me,” Vihaan instructed, placing a hand on the low of her back. Despite his innocent touch, her stomach clenched in recognition, and she stilled, a heated flush rising on her skin when he leaned past her to click the door open. She raised her gaze to him, blushing at the look in his eyes.
“Finally, there you are!”
Their trance broken, both Vera and Vihaan turned towards the voice.
“Rahul?” Vihaan couldn’t hold back a frown when he saw his obnoxious cousin sitting inside the meeting room, at the head of the table, with one foot propped over his knee.
“Hey Cuz!” Rahul tipped his chin up, doing a double take when he noted her there. He stood up, walking towards them just as Vera and Vihaan approached the large conference table.
“Damn, is that you Vera?” Rahul asked, clearly not looking for an answer. His gaze traveled down her body and up at a languorous pace, his mouth curving in a pleased smirk. Vera tried to rein in her irritation with the way Rahul was cataloguing her, ogling as though he could see through her clothes. He licked his lips lasciviously, eyes lingering on her chest. Maybe Vihaan noticed this as well because the second his cousin reached a hand toward her, he stepped forward and placed himself between them.
Rahul startled, as if he’d just remembered that there was another man in the room.
“What are you doing here?” Vihaan asked, his tone giving away his impatience. “I was supposed to meet with your father to discuss the ad campaign for his textile brand.”
“Dad put me in charge of the brand launch. I have to do everything. Honestly, if I wasn’t around, his business would suffer,” Rahul boasted, shrugging in mock humility when he looked at Vera.
Vera knew she was capable of hiding her true opinion about the fool who was nattering about his greatness in front of her. She had an excellent poker face at work. But Vihaan knew her well enough to read the minor twitch of her brow as she reeled in her disgust, causing him to snort out loud. She pinned him with a look, her cat eyes sharpening in irritation, blaming him silently for bringing upon her the torture of Rahul’s presence. He blinked innocently, as though denying any wrongdoing.
“Should we begin the meeting?” she asked, pointedly turning towards the laptop that had been set up for them.
Before Vihaan could agree, Rahul’s phone rang, an obnoxious ringtone, loud and jarring. Vihaan’s jaw flexed, and Vera knew that he abhorred the idea of having to deal with this jackass as much as she did.
Rahul answered the call, his features bordering on sulking as he grunted in response to whoever was on the other end of the line. He extended his phone towards Vihaan, his voice tight with annoyance. “Dad wants to talk to you,” he grumbled, clearly unhappy that his father was not giving him free rein over this project as he had declared.
Vera tried not to watch Vihaan as he stepped out of the room to speak privately with their client, wishing that he’d taken her with him. She determinedly focused on the screen in front of her, tapping open the presentation to ensure all the slides looked ok. Despite not having a very high opinion of Rahul, given his behaviour at school, Vera planned to be every bit the professional she always was.
“Do you remember me?” Rahul asked, coming to stand beside her. Vera suddenly realised how much better she’d felt when Vihaan had forced Rahul to keep his distance. She hated her personal space being breached, especially by someone she was never comfortable with. She shuffled the slightest bit away, just enough to give her breathing space without having it be perceived as an insult.
“I remember. How have you been?” she asked, mostly just to be polite.
“How do I look? ”
Like a sunburnt Ken-doll who overdosed on steroids . The man’s neck looked like a tree trunk.
She smiled in a way she hoped passed for a compliment, but it didn’t matter. Rahul wasn’t really paying attention to her words. He pointed to the room around them, making an imaginary circle in the air. “I didn’t realise you worked here. With Vihaan.”
“I’ve been at Ethos for a few years,” she replied.
Rahul nodded in that slow exaggerated manner that always reminded her of old gossipy aunties who never believed anyone because it didn’t fit with the narrative they’d already set with their overactive imagination. “Having your old schoolmate as your boss. Must be awkward.”
“Not at all.”
“Ah, I remember what he was like in school, skipping classes, partying, being utterly useless. He probably makes you do all the work instead of him.”
“That’s not true,” she bristled, her protectiveness for Vihaan lending her voice a stern edge. No one was allowed to talk shit about him except her. And she’d do it to his face, not behind his back. “He’s a fantastic boss, has incredible business sense, is much smarter than most men I know, and I’m better at my job because he demands excellence.”
Rahul laughed, humming like he suspected her of lying. “Still, if he’s bothering you, you can come to me.”
She held back a scoff, focusing on pulling up the appropriate graphic on screen. She’d rather get stuck in the archive room again with a full bladder than go to Rahul for help.
“Looks like a nice presentation.” Rahul pointed, reaching down to place a hand over hers, moving the mouse under her palm to click to the next slide.
“My team has worked hard on it,” Vera politely replied, sliding her hand from under his, resisting the urge to wipe the back against her skirt to remove his unexpected touch .
“I want you to be my direct contact on this project. In fact, I’m going to insist you lead it.”
The look on his face told her that he thought he was doing her a big favour. Vera’s irritation grew. First, the uncalled-for judgement on Vihaan when he wasn’t in the room. Now this?
She knew that Rahul’s underlying expectation was that she fawns over him. She bit her tongue hard enough that she winced, very much aware that despite her distaste, he was a client of the firm where she was employed and as a result, not someone she could dismiss.
“I’ll do my best to prep the ad the way you like,” she said, unclenching her teeth, hoping this would be enough for him to leave her alone. Unfortunately, he took it as an invitation to stand even closer.
“Oh, I know you will. This is a big account. But I’m an easy man to please.” Rahul stroked his way up her arm. “And I think we should work closely together. Meet often to discuss. . . progress.”
Vera stiffened, shooting him a withering glare. “Don’t touch me.”
“C’mon,” he guffawed. “I saw how you looked at me when you came into the room. Don’t pretend.”
“Your delusions are not my problem. Keep your hands to yourself.”
Rahul’s eyes gleamed with ill-intent, his mouth twisting in a conceited smirk when he leaned in. “Still an ice princess, aren’t you? You were always a stuck-up little bitch, pretending like you were too good for everyone even though you had no status and no money.”
Vera’s hands shook as she pushed him off, her nostrils flaring as irritation turned to disgust. “I don’t know about everyone but I’m certainly too good for you,” she spat, unable to keep quiet anymore. She tried to leave when Rahul gripped her arm, uncaring that she winced at his tight hold.
“If you don’t listen to me, I’ll walk away from this project and you’ll be the reason Ethos loses a big client. Keep me happy if you want to keep your job,” he hissed, his palm sliding around her to forcefully grab her ass.
The next instant, Vera’s pointed heel landed on Rahul’s instep. A shrill screech erupted from him, the sound abruptly cut off when her fist landed hard at the junction where his ear met his jaw. Rahul shoved Vera back before stumbling away, howling like an injured animal, cursing profusely at her. Vera barely registered the impact of the table hitting her hip bone, her feet flying towards the door the second Rahul’s hold on her loosened.
Vihaan
Vihaan had been in a fabulous mood. Despite Vera chewing him out for trying to give her gifts, he’d come out of that argument with an orgasm and a woman who finally seemed less combative if he wanted to show her a little affection.
He’d barely been able to stand it, watching her stress out because she was flustered with a few simple tokens of gratitude. He’d been tempted to grab her face and kiss her senseless because, after months of trying, he’d gotten a glimpse of a Vera he recognized. A frugal girl who found it overwhelming to receive anything for free, even something as simple as coffee and flowers.
His belly quivered with an excitement that he couldn’t understand. Like an overeager pup who’d smelled a long-lost friend. If he had a tail, it would probably be wagging right now.
Yeah, he’d been having a wonderful day. Until Rahul had shown up at Ethos.
Vihaan grimaced, grunting at the appropriate times as his uncle detailed some of the project requirements for him .
There was no love lost between the two cousins since their altercation during the end of their schooling in Nagpur. Rahul Gill had a penchant for being lazy, jealous, and stupid, a combination that he’d never grown out of. One phone call with his uncle told him this was a last-ditch effort to see if Rahul would finally learn to do something of use.
Vihaan wished his uncle well before disconnecting the call, sighing internally at the realisation that his respect for the elder Mr. Gill meant that he’d have to somehow put up with Rahul for the duration of this campaign.
Grumbling under his breath, he pulled the conference room door open, barely stifling an oomph when Vera crashed into him. His automatic response was to hold her close, his brows furrowing when he realised she was trembling. He helped her straighten, drawing back to see if she was hurt. One look at her face and his senses went on high alert.
“What happened?”
Vera shiftily glanced behind her back, her features tight with a mix of revulsion, fury, and fear.
Vihaan’s keen eyes missed nothing, noting her ragged breathing, the cloud of anxiety around her, her heightened colour, and the popping vein in her throat as she swallowed hard. She opened her mouth, and then, as if she’d thought better of it, Vera shook her head.
Defeat?
He never thought he’d see Vera wear such an expression, and the idea made him uncomfortable.
No, not that. It made him angry .
“What the hell happened, Vera?”
“Nothing,” she croaked, trying to walk past him when he worriedly grabbed her arm. She flinched and let out a startled cry, her reaction shocking him into dropping his hold immediately. His concern exacerbated when she didn’t meet his eye, hunching like she was trying to make herself seem small.
Movement deep within the boardroom drew his attention, which is when he noticed the flush of colour on Rahul’s face, his previously perfect hair dishevelled, as if by force. But it was the nasty look in his eyes when his gaze dug into Vera, and the angry twitch in his jaw when he gingerly touched his ear that gave Vihaan a hint of what might have occurred in his absence.
His first thought was murder. He didn’t need to know the details. He didn’t even need confirmation of what happened. Vera’s body language and Rahul’s reddened cheek could only mean that he’d said or done something to offend her. And that was reason enough for Vihaan to want to annihilate his dumbfuck cousin.
It was only Vera’s presence that stopped him from unleashing the violence brewing within him. She didn’t need to see destruction when she was so clearly disturbed. Vihaan allowed Rahul’s pestilent presence to fade to the periphery while he focused on the woman who mattered more.
“Take the rest of the day off and go home,” he said quietly. “I’ll text my driver to meet you outside. Don’t refuse the ride.”
Troubled eyes met his. “But—”
“Boss’s orders,” he gently interrupted her.
Vihaan watched as Vera slipped past him with a silent nod, her gait nowhere as assured as it normally was. She turned to look at him, still unsure, when he caught sight of the handprint on her arm, her creamy skin slowly darkening, unknowingly providing proof of what he’d already suspected.
“Go,” he told her, smiling for her benefit despite the bloodlust filling his veins. “I’ll take care of everything.”
I promise.