Against All Odds

by Aarti V Raman

  She punched him again. “Now you’re being condescending.”

  “There is no winning with you, is there?”

  She shrugged. “This is true.”

  “Changing the subject then. What would you like to drink?”

  “Drink?”

  Bharat nodded at her empty water glass. “I assume you can have something stronger than water? Maybe even a drink or two? Unless you want to stick to water?”

  “You want to have drinks here?” She wanted to be absolutely sure she heard him right. “Here, where the drinks price includes GST times a million?”

  His eyes twinkled at her dramatics but he nodded with absolute seriousness. “Of course. Drinks. Here. Food also, here. You’re not dressed for a date at the Burger King are you?”

  Sophia straightened. “This is not --”

  “I’m sorry,” he interposed smoothly. “I meant, you’re not dressed for a meeting at the Burger King, are you?”

  Sophia nodded slowly, sure he was actually laughing at something about her but unable to make out what, exactly. Besides, it truly was amazing to sit here and think about ordering drinks without worrying about the tab.

  “I think if I have to pay for it, we’d have to go for Burger King.”

  Bharat shrugged. “I’m cool with that. We can go there next. I’ve actually had worse.”

  “Worse? Where?”

  “Madam, aapne kabhi engineering hostel ka khana khaya hai?” he said, deadpan. “The dal rice at IIT-Kharagpur was yellow piss that ambitiously called itself food.”

  Sophia smiled at the deadpan pun. Bharat smiled back and that damned dimple winked out.

  Sophia decided she needed alcohol to fortify her. Something like a Long Island Iced tea that could make her Bharat-proof.

  ~~~~~

  It was close to six thirty when they exited the restaurant. The early dinner crowd was making its way in and the bar was beginning to fill up. They rode a cab back to the quay where she would take a scheduled ferry back to The Lotus Dragon.

  It was a surprisingly fun conversation.

  She shared her experiences as a media major and fleecing classmates at poker. And he told her about writing code that spelled Kabhi Tatti Kabhi Cum on a fellow classmate’s laptop whenever he opened it.

  Sophia was grossed out by that anecdote, but forgave him when she realized he was only kidding. Maybe.

  They talked books, music, and films. They discovered a mutual passion for Imtiaz Ali films and decided it was because he did urban, sophisticated, confused romance very well.

  Sophia stuck to her single Long Island Iced Tea, declaring that she needed a clear head when she went into work. He’d ordered multiple iced teas (virgin).

  They nibbled on her favorite snack of all time – beer battered French fries. She was in love with the food and wasn’t ashamed to take a picture of the artfully presented dish.

  Then, of course, he had to take a picture of her with the fries.

  And she got the opportunity to take a peek at his phone under the pretext of seeing her picture, check out what it contained.

  Sophia let it go, didn’t see anything beyond her Bokeh’d pic.

  The moment passed and they continued talking. Getting to know each other. He was surprisingly good at math (haha!) so he understood how the odds system worked in blackjack. After that, it was a simple trick to teach him to count the combinations.

  And they did it without actually playing. The Aria was not the sort of restaurant where you cut open a pack of cards and played for stakes.

  “I need to see all this in action,” Bharat commented.

  They were at the quay; the ferry was almost pulling in.

  “See what in action?” Sophia murmured.

  “The cards. The combinations. I need to understand how it all plays out in real life.”

  Sophia fiddled with her bag strap. “Are you really that serious about learning to play poker?”

  Bharat shook his head and looked intently at her. “No, I just want to spend more time with you. And I figure cards are my way in.”

  Just like that, the atmosphere between them changed. Charged.

  “Bharat.” She huffed out his name, drawing his attention to her plunging neckline.

  “I’m about to get very personal, Sophia,” Bharat murmured. “Tell me to stop if you don’t want me to.”

  Sophia couldn’t bring herself to say the words. She physically couldn’t.

  “Are you wearing anything underneath this thing?” His finger hovered right above her cleavage.

  Sophia felt her spine give. She trembled and leaned back in the cracked leather seat of the cab. It made a squeaky kind of noise. “Bharat, I…”

  “This thing is driving me crazy,” Bharat confessed.

  He touched her bare skin. Just one fingertip. Right above her collarbone. His face completely bare of all expression but his eyes alight with some inner fire that caused her insides to melt too. Bone by bone. And just like that, with one careful touch, she was lost.

  Sophia pressed her fingers together on her lap and reminded herself that she was here to do a job - to gather information. That kissing him was wrong. It was a despicable thing to do. She was better than that.

  She deserved to be better than that.

  “Bharat, stop,” she whispered.

  He took his hand away, shutters coming down on his eyes.

  Sophia felt the loss of his touch down to her marrow but the feeling of it being wrong didn’t leave her.

  The cab jerked to a smooth stop in front of the quay and the moment dissipated.

  She breathed out a relieved sigh and stepped out of the cab. He stepped out from the other side, the wind whipping his jacket and hair. She shivered a bit at the sudden temperature drop.

  He immediately came around to her side and stripped his jacket off. Covered her with it. She felt swaddled, and shrugged it off.

  “I can’t take this.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Bharat said. “It’s cold. And you have to go to work in a bit. You can’t afford to be sick, no?”

  “I am not that fragile,” she muttered, although she snuggled deeper inside the jacket.

  It felt so nice, all warm and male. Like Bharat. She snuck a quick peek at him and he was smiling softly at her, like this thing they were doing made sense to him.

  Attraction and friendship and guilt swirled inside of her like a damned asteroid belt. She nodded. “I’ll give this back to you tomorrow.”

  “At breakfast? We could play some actual cards.”

  “I don’t think that’s a very a good idea.”

  He shook his head. “I thought you said you weren’t fragile. You can’t handle the pressure of being near me, huh?”

  “That’s a dick move, Shrinivasan.”

  Sophia reached out and hugged him once. Quickly. Just a small, friendly squeeze. She was about to step back, when he caught her to him. No more pressure than his arms around her. She stilled. Her arms sort of dropping off from his back.

  He clutched her close, closer. His breath wafting over her ears, making her aware. She didn’t want to be aware.

  His hands tightened and their torsos came in contact.

  Sophia shuddered because there was nothing she could do but be aware.

  Her hands pressed around his back, his spine. Felt the heat of him in the suddenly chill winter. She could hear the thudding of his heart. It was fast. Or maybe that was her heart. He pulled her closer, his shirt buttons digging into her chest and she rose up on her toes.

  They kissed for exactly one second before she stepped back; it felt like the rightest thing in the world to her.

  Chapter Ten

  Sophia didn’t know how she got through the rest of the night. She went through the motions – dispensing cards, collecting chips and making the right noises when someone won or lost. If asked, she wouldn’t have been able to pick out her clients in a lineup.

  She’d retreated deep inside herself.


  Reliving that one moment when her lips touched Bharat’s, igniting a wildfire of feeling inside of her. Reliving that embrace that had probably lasted no more than ten seconds in real life but was imprinted on her body forevermore.

  Ignited something so strong she was still reeling from it.

  He was tall and strong and built like a tank. He could keep her safe and she wanted so badly for someone to keep her safe…but she was the danger. She was the problem.

  So, Sophia worked through her shift. She turned her phone off during her break because she did not want to talk to her brother right now. The players came and went and she deftly dealt hand after hand, even though she was so terribly distracted.

  Blackjack was as much about the mechanics as it was about understanding your opponent.

  It was only when one of the patrons from the night before, Harrison Grant, sat on her table that she perked up the slightest.

  “You are not your usual self,” Harrison declared as he sipped from his whiskey. It was some horribly expensive thing no doubt.

  She smiled, though it didn’t touch her eyes. “I beg your pardon, sir?”

  He toasted her with his glass. “Yesterday, you made an effort to connect. You were there. You were doing more than your job. Today, you’re standing here dealing cards. What’s changed?”

  Sophia controlled her shock with effort. Being a professional card dealer meant she had a pretty good poker face. This man had just disabused her of that notion. Shit!

  “Nothing has changed, sir. Everything is the same as it should be.”

  “Then why are you sad?” Harrison asked.

  “I am not sad.”

  “I bet, if you played right now. I could beat you clean.”

  Sophia chuckled. “I can’t play, sir. It’s against the rules.”

  “But teaching someone to play is not, is it?” Harrison asked shrewdly.

  Sophia dealt out the first hands to the both of them and was waiting on further instructions. Hit or Stay. Her hand froze on the table. “I…”

  Harrison shook his head. “It’s all over The Dragon, madam. How Shrinivasan made a fool of himself on this table over you. And you let him. It’s an interesting story. I wonder why social media hasn’t picked it up.”

  Harrison said Bharat’s last name properly, a fact which surprised Sophia.

  She was immensely grateful for her mocha complexion which hid her blush. “It wasn’t…that wasn’t what happened. Bharat…Mr. Shrinivasan was just joking. That’s all.”

  “Oh yeah?” Harrison challenged her. “Then what is he doing sitting at the bar when he doesn’t drink, glancing in this table’s direction and then his watch every five minutes? He has a presentation tomorrow with my company. One he should be working on right now.”

  Sophia’s fingers clenched under the table, even as pleasure bloomed through her like a pretty but poisonous flower. She resisted the urge to look at the bar and see him for herself.

  Things were getting out of control and that was not going to end well for either of them. If rumors of Bharat’s ludicrous proposition reached Juggy’s ears, she’d be fired. End of story.

  “I am sure Mr. Shrinivasan is here for reasons that do not concern me,” Sophia said shortly. “Now, would you like to stay or continue, sir?”

  “Tell you what?” Harrison continued, as if she hadn’t spoken at all. “If Bharat doesn’t come here within the next fifteen minutes, I will leave all my chips here as a tip. All for you. That’s five thousand AUD.”

  Sophia’s blood ran cold. “I don’t think so, sir. “My shift is about to end sir, if you aren’t interested in the game.”

  “Don’t you want to know what I want from you in case he does show up?” Harrison smiled, a cold, shark-fish smile. This man was very dangerous and she was out of her depth here.

  Her lips tightened as several answers swam in her head. None of which she could voice out loud. Fireable offence.

  Harrison put his hands up. “Before you take offense,” he glanced at the name stitched on her breast pocket, “Sophia, I am married. Happily, unlike most of these bastards. I just want to know I am right. I don’t want to fuck you or anything.”

  She flushed again and felt the onset of a headache. This night was interminable.

  “If he does come here, I want a tiny favor.”

  “What kind of favor?” Sophia asked warily.

  “Get him to bring you to the meeting with him tomorrow,” Harrison answered. “If you’re there, his focus will not be on the negotiation and I’ll have the upper hand.”

  Sophia trembled. “You’re wrong…I can’t…”

  “It’s business, Sophia,” Harrison finished his whiskey. “We want to invest in Bharat’s technology, but on our terms. I am prepared to go the extra mile to get there. Do we have a deal?”

  “No. Of course, not,” she said tightly.

  He laughed, a sound that grated on her nerves. “I think you will. Because I’ll tell you what I could do if you didn’t agree to my terms.”

  Dread filled Sophia. “Sir, I don’t --”

  “I could cancel my meeting with Bharat and blackball him so he would not be able to raise the money he needs to expand his product and release it in the market before someone beats him to it. All that hard work, five years of his life…would all be for nothing,” Harrison finished delicately.

  Sophia stared at him uncomprehendingly. “What is wrong with you?” she whispered. “Why are you doing this to me?”

  He sighed. “I am not doing anything to you, Sophia. All you need to do, if he shows up, is make sure you come to the meeting with him. It is at seven pm, followed by dinner, which you can skip if you have a shift. All you need to do is spend the day with him,” Harrison paused. “You both are single and unattached and attracted to each other. I actually don’t see the problem here.”

  “The problem here is that you’re manipulating two people to get what you want,” Sophia snapped before she could filter the thought.

  “So what?” Harrison shrugged, unconcerned. “The ends justifies the means, don’t they? You could end up having fun with him. Would that be such a bad thing?”

  Sophia almost lost it right then. Only the sure knowledge of losing her job and the fact that Bharat was not going to come see her before her shift was over, stopped her from doing so. She would return his coat, he would go on with his life.

  The end.

  She wasn’t like these tech people. Evil, manipulative, selfish to the extreme.

  “I appreciate your concern over my social life, Mr. Grant,” she said as blandly as she could. Sophia gathered the cards from the table. “But I am afraid we are closing this table down for maintenance. Maybe you’d like to try your luck at the craps table?”

  “Well,” Bharat said, as he slid down in the seat next to Harrison. “That’s unfair. I just got here. Hey, Sophia.”

  Sophia’s knees almost gave out. She shot Harrison an alarmed look.

  Harrison grinned broadly at his pal Bharat and said, “Yes, you just did. What say we have some champagne to celebrate?”

  Bharat answered, looking at Sophia, the knowledge of that kiss alive in his eyes. Burning her down to cinders. “Make mine an ice water,” he murmured. “But a celebration’s in order.”

  ~~~~~

  Something was wrong. Very wrong.

  Bharat followed Sophia to her stateroom, her hands stuffed deep in the pockets of her jacket, a frown marring her face, making him see the shadows that lurked under her skin. She was exhausted, poor thing. And no wonder.

  Her schedule was upside down and it required her to be nice to complete strangers.

  Now, here he was. Trying to take up more of her time.

  Bharat considered doing the gentlemanly thing and leaving her at her door, when she turned to him. A small, uncertain smile playing on her lips. Her lips were unpainted and instantly pushed him back to that one perfect moment when she’d risen on her toes and brushed them against his.

 
; That fleeting contact was heady. Tumultuous.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I am not much company tonight.”

  “That’s okay. I could leave. Come back when you’re up to it,” he was compelled to offer.

  Sophia regarded him for one long moment, shadows moving through her eyes, things he knew nothing about but which drove him crazy. He wanted to know what she was thinking at that precise moment.

  The way he was feeling, especially for her, the daughter of the man he’d ruined, was too enormous. Inconvenient. But there it was.

  Maybe this was God’s ironic sense of humor at play.

  Against all odds, he was here. He was looking at her and he didn’t want to go. If that made him a terrible human being...well, he’d always been one.

  Bharat lifted one hand and slipped it through her cold fingers. Gave it a quick squeeze.

  Sophia still didn’t say a word. But after a few seconds of thrumming silence, she squeezed his hand back. The slightest pressure and skin contact, but it gave him hope.

  “No. I was thinking…” she sighed. Untangled their fingers and pushed it through her mass of hair. His hands twitched to touch the strands but he let her talk, let her set the pace.

  “I am really tired,” she said.

  “Yeah. I can imagine.”

  “Have you slept at all?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t need much sleep.” His lips quirked and his voice dropped an octave. “Entrepreneur, remember? There is always an email that needs sending.”

  “Figured.”

  She looked longingly at the corridor behind them. Down the next level was her tiny stateroom. With its miniscule bed and doona.

  “I’ll see you in a few hours then?” she asked.

  Bharat nodded his head slowly. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever you want, Sophia.”

  Sophia opened her mouth but no sound came out, but he could see the indecision plain in her eyes. She didn’t want to let this end either, any more than he did. And it was all the opening he needed. So, he grabbed her hand again.

  “Will you get fired for going on shore with me? After your shift is over?”

  “What? No--” She sounded just a little stunned.

  Arousal surged through him as her quiet words wrapped around his skin, his spine. Crawling over them to sit at the base of his spine, until he had to resist the urge to bring her closer to him. Crush her to him while he kissed the daylights out of her. And did a whole lot more.