Chapter 12
Mina had just poured her second cup of coffee and sat down at her dining table in front of her laptop when the apartment phone rang.
With a heartfelt sigh, she got back to her feet and answered. “This is Mina.”
“Hi, Ms. Kohli, we have a Mr. Hemdeep Singh here for you? Should I buzz him up?”
Shit. They were supposed to spend the day together. She’d completely forgotten since she’d seen him the night before. Hell, she didn’t think he’d want to see her since their drive to her apartment had been so tense.
“Ms. Kohli?”
“Ah, yeah. Sorry. Send him up.”
She put the phone back in its cradle and looked down at her old NYU t-shirt and plaid boxer shorts. Her long hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and she was wearing her large blue light glasses.
She was about to make a mad dash to her bedroom to change when a loud buzzing echoed through her apartment.
Damnit.
With another audible sigh, she crossed to the entrance and opened her front door. Hem leaned against her door frame with a large canvas tote in one hand. “Hey, are you…not ready. You’re not ready.”
“I forgot,” Mina said as she motioned him into her apartment. “I figured we saw each other last night…”
“And that I wouldn’t want to see you again today? You should know me better than that by now.” Hem leaned forward and dropped a casual kiss on her mouth.
Casual. When did that happen? When had it become so easy for her to kiss a man, let alone someone like Hemdeep Singh?
If a person would’ve told her when she was a gangly twelve-year-old that Hem would be at her apartment on a Saturday giving her casual kisses that fed her soul, she would’ve laughed. Truth really was stranger than fiction.
“Oh boy…” she sighed.
He placed the canvas bag on her kitchen counter. “Uh oh,” he said. “That sounds like you’re about to give me the brush off.”
A pithy retort was on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she crossed to him, pulled his canvas tote closer to her chest, and peaked inside. “I hate that you just took the fun out of my pithy remark. What did you bring me?”
“Bagels,” he said. “The best New York has to offer.”
Mina nearly clapped her hands together. She loved bagels. Especially loaded with lox, red onions, cream cheese, and capers.
She remembered mentioning that to Hem at one point over their hallway conversations in between meetings. He’d been poking at her for more information about her likes and dislikes.
The man knew how to follow through apparently.
“Coffee is still hot,” she said as she began unwrapping the bagel.
Hem was already retrieving a mug from one of her cabinets. “What are you working on that has you so distracted?”
She wanted to tell him that he was the person who had distracted her, but to save her pride, Mina motioned to her computer.
“Still reviewing documents. I think in another week we should hit their thirty-day timeline and be able to provide a preliminary report to the board. We didn’t need that extension after all. ”
Hem turned to face her and leaned back against the counter. “What if it took longer than a week to finish the review?”
“It won’t,” Mina said as she wrapped the wax paper around the base of her bagel sandwich.
“But what if it did?”
There was something in his tone that had Mina’s head jerking up to look at him. “Hem? You better start talking.”
He watched her over the rim of her his coffee as he took a sip. “We don’t know how many shares WTA has purchased through shell companies yet. If we turn down their offer and WTA comes back at us hard, we’ll be vulnerable.”
Mina listened as he laid out the information he’d been reviewing on his down time. She put her untouched bagel down. A twisty, uncomfortable sensation bled into her gut. “I just don’t understand. Why now? I mean, there had to be other government contracts, right?”
“It’s the AI race that has everyone scrambling for the best resources,” Hem said. “People are getting greedy.”
One name flashed through her mind like a neon sign on the Las Vegas strip.
Sanjeev. Sanjeev. Sanjeev.
He had to be in bed with WTA somehow. She just wished she had proof.
If she approached her uncle, he’d do everything in his power to throw her off his scent, which meant Mina had to keep quiet a little longer until she could find some answers.
“You’re asking me to keep secrets, Hem,” she finally said. “First with your father, and now this.”
“This is my family’s business,” he said, simply. “We may not always see things in the same light, but I’d do anything for them.”
And wasn’t that the problem? Mina knew exactly what it meant to sacrifice for family. She couldn’t fault Hem for feeling the same way.
“There’s more, but I don’t want to skew your judgment on the document review,” Hem said sheepishly.
“Okay,” she said after a beat.
His eyebrows arched. “Okay?”
Mina nodded. “Okay. I’d prefer if you told me something was up, even if you weren’t able to specify.”
“It’s just one thing,” Hem said. “I’m sorry, but it’s important you stay neutral.”
“Fine. And I’ll stall for you, but only because something still feels off about this whole situation. Sanjeev is on my case about getting answers, but I’ll figure something out.”
Hem stepped forward until there was only a few inches between them.
He cupped the back of Mina’s neck, squeezed, then pulled her forward so that he could drop a hot, wet kiss against her mouth.
His tongue speared between her lips, and she gripped the fabric of his Henley at his shoulders when her knees became weak.
“Thank you,” he said through ragged breaths.
“For?”
“For risking your career, something you love more than anything, to give us time to save Bharat, Inc.”
Mina took a step back, cleared her throat. “Like I said. It won’t be forever.”
“Understood.”
Mina turned to her bagel. She was about to pick it up, before she whirled around to face Hem again. “I should probably tell you?—”
Hem’s mouth crashed against hers. This time she felt the heat consume her in a way she’d never felt before.
Oh my god.
Her fingers dove into his thick, curling hair at the base of his neck. A soft mewling sound erupted from her chest when the heels of his hand pressed against the side of her breasts. He touched her possessively, demandingly. God, did she want more.
Their tongues stroked against each other, their bodies pressed close, and Hem’s fingers slipped under the elastic waistband of her shorts. She let out a shuddering breath before tearing her mouth away from his.
“Hem—”
“Mina,” he said back, his voice just as hoarse as hers.
“Maybe we should stop.”
His lips brushed against hers as he spoke. “Do you want to?”
She’d barely managed to shake her head before he took her mouth again. His kiss was fierce and all- consuming. Mina’s thoughts splintered and she gave into the overwhelming sensation of being devoured whole.
How long did they stand in her kitchen, touching each other? Kissing until their lips were swollen and their breaths were coming out in pants?
Mina wasn’t sure, but Hem grew impossibly hard against her abdomen before nipping at her until their kiss turned gentle. She didn’t recognize the soft sob of passion that erupted from her throat.
Hem pulled away, degree by slow degree, as his hands ran up her back. “Tell me this is new to you,” he whispered against her lips, sipping from them, teasing her with the tip of his tongue. “Tell me what you feel is different.”
“Hem— ”
“I told you,” he said. “I’ll wait to show the world that we’re in a relationship until you’re ready, but this won’t work for me if you’re going to cut me off at the knees and refuse to even acknowledge there is something between us.”
Mina looked into his dark, probing stare. The firm set of his mouth and the hard lines of his jaw told her of his barely restrained patience.
She remembered how he shared his feelings about his relationship with Lisa. This, she realized, was Hem being honest with her about his insecurities. But their situation was different than what he had with his ex. Their careers were on the line, but their family legacy was at risk, too.
And yet…
“There is something between us,” she whispered.
Hem kissed her again, this time desperate and needy.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed against him, wishing things were different, hating that they had his father’s work between them.
Hating Sanjeev for complicating the one relationship she never knew she wanted.
Cursing their timing because why didn’t she notice him before?
Why hadn’t he walked into her life the way he walked into that boardroom before they were obligated to family?
Then Mina stopped thinking all together and groaned into the kiss as Hem’s grip in her hair tightened.
She protested when he finally tore his mouth from hers, dragging in a deep ragged breath when Hem lifted her in his arms as if she weighed nothing.
She was flat on her back on the couch a moment later with Hem coming down to lie on top of her.
The t-shirt was pushed over her breasts, and he pulled down the soft cotton bralette until her nipples popped free.
Her sex clenched with need when he began sucking and caressing her breasts like a starving madman.
She whimpered and rolled her hips, wanting more, mindless with need for him.
The shorts were yanked off her hips, and she felt cool air just as Hem pushed her legs apart and pressed a kiss to her navel, then to the apex of her thighs.
“Hem,” she panted. She pushed her hips forward, wanting him to taste her, wanting the feel of his hot tongue against her clit, wanting to come in a way she’d never experienced before.
“Mine,” he said, then firmly licked the length of her pussy. With one hand he pressed his thumb against her clit, shooting sharp needlepoints of pleasure through her body as he feasted.
Mina gasped and all the air released from her lungs as he pushed her legs farther apart to focus all his attention on giving her pleasure. Her clit throbbed, aching from his ministrations and soon he was pushing two fingers inside her cunt.
“Hem!”
“We’re just getting started, hirye,” he said, as he began pumping fast and deep. He sucked on her clit at the same time, and her thighs began to tremble as she gripped his hair, rolling her hips against his mouth and touch.
Minutes. Seconds. Centuries. She didn’t know how long it lasted, nor had Mina prepared for the avalanche of sensation that rushed toward her. She plucked her nipples, panting his name, and screamed as Hem’s fingers plunged deep and curled.
Sparks burst inside her, and the orgasm flooded her system. She arched, suspended in that moment, quivering with desire and the feeling of Hem’s fingers, his mouth, his tongue.
Her body trembled in aftershocks as she succumbed to the floating, blissed out feeling of orgasming hard thanks to the work of another person.
She couldn’t move even if she wanted to because of the way Hem’s large body had pinned her legs and abdomen as he pressed his cheek to her stomach.
For a long time, the room filled with heavy breathing and silence as Mina began to pull away, distinctly aware that his fingers were still buried inside her.
“Hem,” she whispered.
“Just another…yeah.” He slowly pulled out and she felt the slick wetness between her thighs. The rush of her pleasure was mildly embarrassing, so she snapped her legs shut and sat up as she adjusted her clothes.
Hem started to chuckle and she shoved him hard enough that he landed on the floor.
“Come on, you can’t be embarrassed now. You just came all over my face.”
“Hem.”
“Mina,” he said as he continued to laugh. He got to his feet, then helped her to hers. Her t-shirt managed to cover her ass since she wasn’t sure where her shorts had gone. “That was the best morning breakfast I could’ve asked for.”
“Hemdeep Singh!” she shouted just as he collapsed on the couch, roaring with laughter.
Despite his ridiculous reaction to his own joke, Mina realized that there was a notable bulge in the front of his jeans, but he didn’t seem like he was ready to do something about it.
She should’ve realized that Hem was the type of person who would be interested in giving oral, freely, because he enjoyed it, not because he was expecting something in return.
“Go get ready, hirye,” he said when he was finally able to take a breath. “We’ll have breakfast and go see some museums today. Maybe catch a show.”
“Seriously?”
His smile was warm. Endearing. “Yeah, baby. I want to spend the day with you. I think we’ve wasted too much time knowing each other without being together, don’t you think?”
Mina planted her hands on her hips. There was still that afterglow energy coursing through her bloodstream, and she could feel her arousal sticky on the inside of her thigh. God, she desperately needed to take a shower.
“You’re overwhelming, Hem.”
“So are you, Mina,” he said simply. “In the best possible way.”
At that, she smiled and dropped a kiss on the crown of his head just as he pulled out his phone to start reading emails. Then, she went to take her shower and get ready for their date day.