Chapter 9
Mina didn’t know how much longer she could hold out against Hem. On Monday, he’d delivered a latte at her elbow with a very clear message: he wanted to go out on a date. However, she would have to be the person who asked him out.
I don’t beg, Kohli. Unless you want me to.
The word ‘yes’ was on the tip of her tongue.
She spent the rest of the week staying strong, turning down his lattes while eagerly waiting for their next meeting so she could spend more time with him. The emotional pull was exhausting, and when she woke up on Saturday, her thoughts were as fragmented as her feelings.
She sat on her plush couch, looking through a window of her small condo at a sliver of New York sky while she cradled a cup of chai. Despite her perfect Saturday morning setup, which included her faded NYU Law shirt and glowing skin from a sleep mask the night before, she couldn’t relax.
Maybe her restlessness wasn’t because of Hem at all.
She still hadn’t found any indication of her uncle’s meddling in her first week leading the compensation committee, and that was wearing on her, too.
She had a long way to go before writing her final due diligence report regarding WTA’s tender offer.
“There has to be something I’m missing,” she muttered.
She looked around her condo, hoping to find a tool that could help her get organized.
She’d cleaned her space top to bottom the night before to blow off steam from the week.
She’d washed and pressed her laundry like she did every Thursday.
Her fridge was stocked since she had her groceries delivered.
Maybe she just needed something as simple as a walk.
She got up with every intention of going out for fresh air when her phone buzzed.
HEMDEEP SINGH: You up yet?
Like her mom used to say, when a person was on her mind and chose to reach out at that very moment, they had a long life. Hemdeep Singh had a very long life. Who would’ve thought that the man causing her such confusion would be the same one texting her first thing in the morning?
MINA: I’m up. Why are you asking?
HEMDEEP SINGH: I’ll tell you in person. Pick up the phone.
Mina looked at her cell, confused by the last message. When her intercom buzzed, her jaw dropped.
“What the hell?” She answered the building phone on the third ring. “George?”
“Ms. Kohli,” George from the front desk said. “I have a Hemdeep Singh here for you. Would you like for me to send him up?”
“Uh.” She looked around at her apartment and then down at the half- empty chai mug in her hand. Her adrenaline spiked. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, send him up.”
She practically threw the receiver against the wall, put down the mug on her kitchen counter before vaulting over furniture and racing to her bedroom closet.
She needed a bra before anything else. She pulled one out of her dresser and struggled into it.
Her satin sleep shorts and top went into the hamper, and she slipped into new underwear, jeans and a t-shirt without pulling a muscle.
Mina then ran to the bathroom and tied her hair up in a messy bun. The doorbell rang just as she finished.
She yanked opened the door to a delicious Hem with day- old scruff, dark jeans, and a thin black button-down shirt. His hands were tucked in his pockets, and he leaned against her doorjamb. “Morning.”
“Damn it, Hem.” He leaned forward and gently pressed a kiss against her pouting mouth. She sighed under the soft brush of his lips and the sharp scent of woodsy soap. It felt alarmingly natural, normal, to casually kiss this man who she’d truly known for such a short amount of time.
Her lips tingled and she refrained from brushing her fingertips against them while Hem let out a sigh so deep that his chest visibly expanded with it.
“I have been waiting to do that for days,” he said.
Mina backed away and opened her door wider so that he could come in. He was too persistent to go away without a debate, and she had to admit she was curious as to why he was at her door. “It’s Saturday.”
“So, I’ve heard.” He kicked off his loafers and began a slow perusal of her place. “This is really nice. It looks like you. Elegant and vibrant all at the same time.”
“I’m so glad I have your approval.”
“Don’t be prickly, hirye,” he said when he stepped into her kitchen. He looked at her mug, and after smelling it, he took a sip. “I’ll make you more chai if you need more time getting ready.”
“Where are we going?”
“On a date. I’m taking you out. You know, so we can get to know each other. Beyond the brief meetings and the one- time drunken whiskey night at a club.”
She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. “I thought we were going to keep it professional. You weren’t going to ask me out again until I made the first move. Wasn’t that what you said in your little speech on Monday?”
He moved closer to her, and Mina tensed, as if his presence in her space was enough to spark the arousal. “That was office Hem. We’re not in the office.”
“This is a bad idea.”
He closed the distance between them. “I think it’s a great idea. We’re going to get brunch and then go to the planetarium.”
“The . . . Wait, what?”
He dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Do you want to go out with me or not? Say no, and I’m gone, Mina.”
“We should be working together to assess the?—”
“—Do you want to go out with me?”
“Making partner at the firm is important to me, and?—”
“—Do you want to go out with me?”
“I don’t really date because these are just ridiculous complications?—”
Hem gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Do you want to go out with me? If I can protect you, save you from any repercussions, would you do it?”
“Y-yes.”
Hem’s smile was slow and disarming. His hand dropped from her face, and he took a step back. “Great. Get ready. We have planets to see.”
She didn’t know why, but after a few more moments of staring, she went to take a shower. Twenty minutes later she was dressed in a maxi dress and a pair of walking boots. Her hair hung loose around her shoulders, and she’d applied the barest hint of makeup.
Through every step of her beauty routine, she reminded herself that this was just a way to blow off some steam. She was going to pursue this attraction, briefly, but keep her focus on the things that mattered most in her world. Like taking down her uncles.
“I’m ready,” she said, looping her cross- body bag over one shoulder as she exited her bedroom.
Hem stood in the kitchen in front of two of her portable tumblers. “I made more chai as promised.”
“Thanks, bab— I, uh, I mean, Hem.” Her cheeks flushed and she was pretty sure she was going to die of mortification.
Hem’s gaze darkened, and her stomach fluttered under his stare. “Go ahead. Call me your baby.”
“Don’t read too much into it,” she said, lightly. “I call Raj babe, too. It’s just a word.”
“Not when you use it on me,” Hem said cheerfully.
She took a sip of the chai, and almost moaned. When she saw that Hem was still watching her, Mina’s grip on the tumbler tightened. “It’s soon, Hem.”
“I know, hirye. Faster than I’ve ever moved. But I really want to get to know you. To be with you today. But instead of fighting it, how about going with it just for a little while? See how it feels? This is uncharted territory for me, too, but I won’t lie. I want this. I want you.”
Mina moved towards her front door. “Fine. Where are we eating first?”
“Dosa Hutt.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Hem led her down to his car, which he’d parked in front of the building. He slipped a few large bills in the doorman’s fist before opening her door and then getting behind the wheel.
“So,” he began. “NYU Law, huh?”
“Let me guess. Harvard?”
“Columbia, actually. I wanted to stay in the city.”
“Makes sense to me.” They slipped into first date conversation. The no-pressure, ‘get to know you’ territory that helped Mina relax into the passenger seat.
Hem talked about growing up in Bharat and working at his father’s company since he was fifteen.
Mina talked about alphabetizing discovery for her uncles when she was in high school.
Then they moved onto favorite movies, music, travel destinations.
Mina added locations to her travel bucket list while Hem made a note in his phone about restaurants to try.
Mina was surprised to find the number of similarities they shared.
How easy the conversation was. The low thrum of attraction pulsed underneath their banter, but that foundation was quickly being reinforced by two attorneys from cutthroat business families that were determined to make their mark.
There were no regrets in the limited experiences with friends or social occasions they’d amassed over the years, either.
But, when Hem reached out to brush his knuckles over her wrist and promised they’d try the new Thai restaurant that opened up in East Village together, Mina didn’t correct him.
They crossed over into Flushing, Queens, faster than she could’ve imagined, and Mina watched in surprise as Hem navigated through the borough with deft familiarity.
He parked in a small lot off Bowne Street and held her hand as they walked to the restaurant.
It was a small hole- in- the- wall with cheap wobbling tables and random decor.
The scent, however, was mind- numbingly delicious. Spicy and rich all at the same time.
They walked to the back of the restaurant and ordered paper dosas, sambaar, and coconut chutney at the counter before sitting at a small table in the corner.
“This is nice,” Mina said. “It’s not every day I get to eat South Indian food with a North Indian man. A Singh brother no less. I wonder if anyone knows that your watch is worth more than most mortgages in this area.”
Hem rolled his eyes. “Like my family’s butler likes to say, don’t obsess over appearances. Good food is good food.”