Chapter 7
Needless to say, he was busy.
Too busy for distractions.
Too busy to have a woman in his bed.
And yet, he didn’t mind it one bit.
He’d slept in the guest room, periodically checking on Mina throughout the night to make sure she wasn’t sick again. When he’d gotten up at his regular time, he made coffee and sat down in his living room.
After a few minutes, he moved to his dining room thinking that might be less intimidating.
And when his palms began to sweat, he moved to the kitchen island.
He was debating moving one more time when he heard a grunt from down the hall. Then a long, tortured moan.
The sound was like a siren song that pulled him to his feet and had him walking into his main bedroom.
Mina sat up and pushed her rioting curls out of her face. Her lashes lifted and that slumberous, foggy expression had his gut tightening.
She was beautiful, even after the eventful night they had. Her makeup was long gone, and her skin looked a little tired, but there was no hiding the fact that she could make him weak.
He was not a weak man.
“Hem?”
He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest. “Morning, gorgeous.”
She looked more alert than he’d expected after the number of drinks she’d inhaled. She scanned the room, looked down at the t-shirt she wore, and with a long, pain-filled groan, she covered her face with her hands.
Hem bit back a smile. “Hydrate. Water with electrolyte powder is next to you on the side table. Take the Advil.”
“I can’t believe you held my hair while I?—”
“Projectile vomited into a gold-plated toilet? Yeah, we all saw that one coming,” he said, amused.
“I hate whiskey.”
“I never took you for a quitter, Kohli.”
Mina glared at him before she reached for the pills like they were a lifeline. She tossed them back and guzzled water like she’d been in the desert for three days.
“How’s the head?” he asked when she put the glass down.
She tilted her head side to side, as if waiting for the pain to rattle around and settle in. “Headache, but manageable. Maybe my Punjabi genes came through.”
“You probably did yourself a favor by throwing it all up last night.”
Mina groaned again and pulled her hand away from his. “You and that poor waitress?— ”
“She got a big tip for helping clean you up.”
“And the way I came onto you. Oh god.”
“What’s your address, honey? It’s time I take you home.”
Mina draped her arms around his neck, pressing her curves against his.
Hem swore like a sailor when she hiked her skirt up and wrapped a leg around his waist. She was the only woman he’d ever met who was tall enough to do it, too.
The revelation made him lightheaded. Dizzy with desire.
Damnit, why did she have to be a horny drunk?
“Take me to your home,” she whispered against his throat. Her lips pressed against the underside of his chin. “It’s been so long since I’ve been fucked properly.”
“Holy hell.” Hem tried to think of unsexy things as he carefully maneuvered her away from him.
The mewling sound of displeasure almost had him dropping to his knees in front of her. “Mina, you just spent quite a bit of time throwing up. You’re most likely going to get sick again. Let’s save the extracurriculars until you’re healthy, okay?”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Then she’d rested her head against his shoulder and went lax in his arms.
“You were definitely persuasive last night, counselor,” he said, amused.
And so damn sexy.
Mina looked down at her shirt again. His shirt. It was soft and hung off one shoulder. “Did you…ah…”
“I was able to wake you long enough so that you could do most of the changing yourself. Then you collapsed on my bed, and I slept in the guest room.”
“You didn’t have to do all that,” she said quietly.
“I did. I told you I’d take care of you. And technically the drinking was my fault.”
Mina’s cheeks tinted with the slightest hint of pink under her light brown complexion. Her expression relaxed into one of amusement. “I could’ve managed, you know.”
“I know,” he said. “But where we’re going …well. Anyway, I want you to feel safe with me.”
Maybe his words seemed a little more forceful than they should’ve, because her rueful smile disappeared. Her fists clenched on the comforter. “I should probably go home.”
The attraction he felt for Mina was so much stronger than he’d ever experienced before.
It was also the first time he’d felt something, anything for a woman after his engagement fell apart.
Mina ignited a fire in the pit of his stomach was alarming.
It burned hot and threatened to consume him if he wasn’t careful.
He admired the view she made in his bed for a moment longer before he straightened.
“I sent your dress to the drycleaners downstairs because it needed to be laundered. I knew you needed some new clothes to wear in the morning, so I borrowed my brother’s personal assistant to help.
He’s apparently a magician and was able to buy a few things for you.
He dropped them off an hour ago. They’re in the bathroom.
Why don’t you get ready and join me in the kitchen for breakfast when you’re ready? Then I can drive you home.”
She gaped at him. “You had a personal assistant shop for me?”
He nodded. “My first plan was to get your real clothes, but that didn’t work out.”
“What? Why not?”
“Long story short, your friend Rajneet called while you were passed out in my car, so I picked up. I explained what happened and asked her if she had a key to your place since there wasn’t one in your bag.
She said you had keyless entry and she didn’t have your code.
Raj also threatened me if I didn’t take care of you.
Scary woman. You should probably call her. ”
The corner of Mina’s lip quirked. “That’s Raj.”
Hem nodded and turned to leave.
“Hem. Thanks. Really. You didn’t have to go all Christian Grey on me, but I appreciate the creature comforts.”
“Don’t mention it. And I prefer Mr. Moneybags.”
She snorted. “Yeah, okay.”
He was almost at the door when she called his name again. “Hem?”
“Yeah?”
There was a long pause, and he saw a flicker of something akin to need on her face. She shook her head. “Nothing.”
One minute he was standing across the room, watching her unsure expression and the cloud of hair tumbling over her shoulders, the next he was at her bedside, hands cupped on either side of her neck, thumbs tilting her chin up. Mina’s lips formed a perfect O right before Hem’s mouth claimed hers.
Fireworks. There was no other way to describe it.
The spark was instantaneous and he was consumed by her flames.
Mina’s arms wrapped around him, and she pulled the back of his T- shirt up to rake her fingers from shoulders to hips.
His erection grew full and thick. The kiss turned rough as his fingers speared through her hair, tangling with her curls and tugging her head further back so he could control the kiss.
God, he wanted her.
He stroked his tongue over hers and swallowed her gasp of pleasure, before pulling back. He had to stop. They had to stop. This was too much too soon.
His breath came short, fast and hard as he removed his fingers from her hair and dropped his hands at his side. He stepped away from the bed, from the woman who made his pillows smell like magnolias and spice.
“Get dressed,” he said.
“What?” she said breathlessly.
“Get dressed, Mina,” he repeated. “Before our relationship progresses faster than either of us are ready for.”
He strode out without another backward glance. If she called him again, if she looked at him with the need that mirrored his, he wouldn’t be able to say no.
Hem wasn’t used to this. These feelings he was experiencing were uncharted territory for him, and he didn’t want to mess things up when there was a chance that it could be so much more than he’d ever had before.
Mina was so turned on that she sat for a full five minutes in a daze after Hem walked out. He’d just . . . left. She would’ve completely let him have his way with her, but instead, he’d apparently been the only one with any sense between them.
She touched her swollen mouth and let out a ragged breath.
“Holy shit, Hemdeep Singh.” Never in her life had she been kissed with that much focus, so much passion that her head spun.
And she had to work with him for weeks. How was she going to handle seeing him in the office, wearing his restrained suits, and not imagine what they could be?
She had to think about something else, something less sexy, so that she could get dressed and put some distance between them. She looked down at the soft cotton shirt she wore and smelled the lingering scent of spice and man.
The memory of why she had to change was enough to tamper the effects of the kiss. Yup, she’d been sick everywhere in a public place.
“And now, it’s time to get up, Kohli.” Mina pushed the plush comforter aside and crawled out of the California king bed.
Sunlight streamed through the wall windows, stinging her eyes a bit as she stretched.
The dull headache was beginning to fade.
For the most part, she had a bucket load of embarrassment and a few aches. And now, wet panties.
Vaguely remembering the penthouse layout from the night before, she crossed to pocket doors that opened to the bathroom.
Every gleaming surface was white marble with veins of black and gray.
The tiled floor was a rich black with flecks of silver.
Pendant lights hung from the ceiling over ornate mirrors.
One of them had a digital reflection and a touch screen pad.
Mina spotted shopping bags sitting on the end of the countertop that stretched across one wall. Her replacement clothes.