15. Naina
Chapter Fifteen
NAINA
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t dry.
The words repeated in my head as I ran back to Kash’s office and closed the door behind me. Samira had moved to the windows, looking out at the clear view of Golden Gate Bridge.
She hadn’t even told Kash all the horrid details, brushed over them like they meant nothing. I was happy she hadn’t let that asshole’s words get to her even though it killed me thinking it had happened under my nose.
The door opened behind me and I hurriedly stepped out of the way.
Kash came in, pushing a hand through his dark hair. He smiled at me, all charming and care-free. Because he didn’t know I had seen what he had done, heard what he said.
He had offered his protection to my sister.
“Andrew’s gone,” he said. As if he didn’t kick the man out of here and destroyed his career in one fell swoop.
I shouldn’t trust him, I knew that. Not only because I was lying to him. If Kash found out the truth, he would probably do to me what he had done to Drew.
No, I shouldn’t trust him because I couldn’t trust myself. The fact of the matter was, at eighteen, Samira knew how to keep herself safe from predators better than I did.
“He won’t be back, and you never have to worry about running into him again,” Kash said to Sami. “If he ever tries to contact you, let me know.”
Sami hugged Kash, surprising us both. Kash’s wide, shocked gaze met mine and I lifted a shoulder in a shrug. Like me, Sami kept to herself and wasn’t prone to physical touch.
“Thank you,” Sami whispered.
Kash wrapped his arms around her hesitantly, gently patting her shoulder. “You’re welcome.”
“I hope this is better,” the door opened and Kash’s cousin walked in, “although I don’t know why I am participating in this farce.”
She stopped short when she saw us, her eyes moving from Kash, to Sami, to me and back to Kash again. She was wearing a long, navy colored dress that fit the curves of her body perfectly, like it was made just for her. It probably was.
“Kassius?”
My eyes shifted to him. I was as surprised to see his cousin as she was probably surprised to see me. Kash had implied that this wedding was happening without his family’s knowledge.
Samira let him go, coming to stand next to me. Her arm slipped through mine, expression guarded.
“We don’t have a lot of time.” Kash looked at Sami and me. “Did you both eat breakfast?”
I could see his attempt for what it was. He needed to talk to his cousin alone.
“Yeah, I don’t think Naina is ready to eat anything after last night,” Sami quipped.
Thanks, sis. I poked her lightly in the side, silently chiding her for saying that.
Kash’s eyes snapped to mine, concern and curiosity shimmering in their blue depths.
“What happened last night?”
“Nothing,” I said hurriedly.
The designer dresses he had sent over this morning didn’t help the nausea. I barely kept down all the chocolate I had consumed last night. Sami had picked out a gorgeous green dress that suited her perfectly. I was wearing what I had intended to wear all along. An ivory saree.
“Naina.” The timbre of his voice changed, grew slightly more menacing. “What happened?”
I settled my hands on my hips, glaring at him. “That tone might work on your employees, but it won’t work on me.”
“If you answered me, I wouldn’t use the tone.”
“This isn’t an interrogation, and I am not under arrest, I don’t have to answer anything.”
Kash’s mouth tilted up into a dangerous smirk.
“Do you like arguing with me, is that it?”
The ego on this man. Why was I marrying him again? Oh yeah, to save my family’s inn.
“I don’t like doing anything with you,” I quipped.
Humor sparked in his eyes, along with something else I couldn’t determine.
“How can you say that on this glorious day of our wedding?”
“Glorious is stretching it a little. We should just be glad we both showed up.”
“Are they always like this?”
Our heads snapped around to find Sami and his cousin—whose name I still didn’t know—standing together to the side, staring at us with curious and amused expressions.
His cousin must have been the one to ask the question because Sami was nodding.
“For six months it’s been nothing but this,” Sami said. “It’s kind of entertaining, though.”
Her words startled me. Six months of nothing but this and still somehow, I was the only woman Kash could think of to marry. Which always brought me back to whether or not he knew about my involvement in his family’s lost lawsuit.
Why did I keep doing this to myself? The thing was, even if I somehow convinced myself to walk away, my feet would remain firmly planted. And it wasn’t because I needed the money, which was obviously the case.
No, it was because I made a deal with Kash last night knowing it wouldn’t end well. We’d been going back and forth for six months and some part of me that saw him as just a man wanted to know him better. Wanted to know the man I met five years ago.
Yeah, it doesn’t need to be stated that I was stupid. Who among us isn’t? No woman was out there actually fixing the man she told her friends she could. We were all depressed and delusional here.
“Maybe we should wait outside,” the cousin said.
“Vera, that’s not necessary,” Kash said. “Augusta will be here soon. In fact, she should already be here.”
“I’ll check,” Vera said. “Give you two a moment to talk. You clearly need it. You and I can talk later.”
She motioned with her head for Sami to follow her and a with a squeeze of my fingers, my sister left the room with Kash’s cousin. Leaving us together with his cats, who had both curled into black balls and fallen asleep in the stretch of sunlight coming in through the windows.
He was a cat dad. I would never have seen that coming in a million years.
I shifted on my feet awkwardly, twisting my mouth to the side. Looking around the room, I figured it was a kind of home office. A large glass desk was set against one side, his chair behind it. On the wall across from it was a TV currently playing the morning news. A soft looking leather sofa and two chairs were the only other furniture in the room.
It looked lived in. His scent assaulted me every time I took a breath.
“Are you going to tell me what happened last night?” Kash asked.
I groaned, tossing my head back. My jhumka snagged on the collar of his jacket and before I could release it myself, I felt his fingers, gentle against my neck removing the snag.
He had moved closer so I could feel his body heat. I watched his long lashes flutter as he worked, the smallest dip between his brows. When my earring was released, he dropped his hand but remained close to me.
“Why can’t you let it go?” I asked.
“If I let things go you wouldn’t be here,” he said. “You’re the most stubborn woman I have ever met and all it does is make me want to knock down all your walls.”
That was exactly what I didn’t want.
“I’m a great builder.”
“Sweetheart, I will destroy all the walls you build until you give in and realize nothing will keep me out.”
The term of endearment warmed something in my chest even as fear gripped me.
I breathed in his scent and in a split second, I decided I’d tell him. But not this him, the billionaire heir to a vast empire. No, I would tell it to the man he was last night. The man he was all those years ago on the rooftop.
“This is all a little overwhelming, and I was a little upset.” I released a heavy sigh. “I don’t know, Kash. This isn’t how I thought I would get married, if I ever got married. A part of me isn’t sure I’m making the right choice, just a choice. But if I had another option, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Sometimes making a choice is the right choice. What can I do to make you less overwhelmed and just whelmed?” He looked sincere, like he would give me whatever I asked for.
“I think you can only be that in Europe.”
I cracked a smile. The fact he was even willing to make a concession was enough for now. It might be fake but his offer made me feel like I had some say in this relationship.
I was being delusional again, wasn’t I?