by Nisha Sharma
“Want some breakfast, too?” Hem asked. “Paranthas and aachar.”
“Seriously?”
“Absolutely.”
“Damn it,” she said with a groan. “How am I supposed to tell you to stay away when you’re trying to seduce me with food?”
He turned from the stove and placed his hands on her knees. Heat pooled at the juncture of her thighs when he slowly pushed her legs apart and stepped between them. His hands were at her waist, and he looked up at her, his dark stubble giving him a rugged, sexy appeal. She couldn’t help herself, as she curled a hand around the back of his neck.
“Mina. First, tell me honestly, are you interested in me or not?”
“We met a week ago!”
“And we don’t have to go to the gurdwara today and get married. Are you attracted to me?”
“That’s not the point—”
He squeezed her hips and yanked her forward so that her pelvis was flush against the hard ridges of his abdomen. “Tell me the truth,” he said. “Do. You. Want. Me.”
“Of course I do, damn it, but it doesn’t matter!”
He relaxed his hold and dropped a kiss on her collarbone. His stubble tickled the softness of her skin, and she had to hold back a sigh.
“It matters. We’ll be professional in the office and we’ll take some time to know each other. But I want you, Mina. And if you want me, too, then we’re going to happen.”
“I have too much riding on my role at Bharat for my personal life to interfere.” She tugged his hair at the nape of his neck, and her fingers flexed instinctively in the thick, lush texture of his waves. She couldn’t help brushing her thumb over the diamond stud in his earlobe.
“What do you mean by that?” he said, his voice hardening.
Shit. She wasn’t ready to tell him that she was trying to find out if her uncle was sabotaging Bharat’s offer. She needed more time to do some investigative work before she came clean to Hem and his brothers. If her uncle had a mole and was purposely affecting Bharat’s performance, she wanted to be the one to uncover it.
“I mean,” she said, stretching out her pronunciation, “that my uncle is on your board of directors, and if I screw up, my chances of becoming partner will be slim to none.”
“How about we let things progress, but we’ll keep it out of the office? We’ll keep this between us. Deal?”
“I’ll think about it,” she muttered.
He leaned forward and nipped her bottom lip. She let out a gasp and couldn’t help but lick the skin that he’d pinched with teeth. He didn’t notice since he was too busy taking the foil tray out of the oven.
She pressed her thighs together and tried to control her lust as she watched Hem assemble two plates with mango pickle and what looked like mehti paranthas. She’d always loved the smell of mehti paranthas, even though when she was a child, her mother made the fenugreek seeds ingredient into a paste and forced her to put it in her hair every Sunday so she’d have soft curls.
“Why don’t you grab your plate and chai?” Hem said. “We’ll eat on the terrace. I’ll even let you lecture me some more.”
She hopped off the counter, eager to see the view even though she knew she had to maintain the distance between them. Mina picked up her plate and Hem smacked her butt cheek.
“Hemdeep Singh!”
He grinned, the mischievous sparkle in his eyes already dulling her annoyance. “Just making sure you’re really wearing the thong.”
“You see, this is what I’m talking about,” she said as she stepped aside so he’d lead. “Are you seriously going to avoid this kind of behavior once we’re at Bharat headquarters? I doubt it.”
“Hiriye, I’m a sardar. A Punjabi Sikh man. Do you really think I can resist a challenge?”
“And I’m a sardarni,” she snapped. “Do you really think I’ll put up with your bullshit?”
He leaned forward and stole a quick kiss. “Challenge accepted.”
Chapter Eight
Spending time with Mina meant engaging in a constant battle of wit and lust. After breakfast, he’d agreed to drop her off back at her condo, even though he wanted to spend the day with her.
It was probably a good thing they cut their time short. When he went home, Hem began his own due diligence review. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Mina to make a fair assessment. His instincts about people were incredibly sharp and he strongly believed that she wouldn’t screw him over. But somehow, WTA had managed to surprise them, and he and his brothers had to find out what they were doing wrong.
By Monday morning, he walked into his brother’s office with a clearer understanding of what was happening to their company’s profit margins and reputation.
“I have some answers for you,” Hem said as he collapsed in one of the chairs across from Ajay’s desk.
Ajay put down the tablet he was reading and straightened the silver kara he wore on his wrist. “I want to hear about this weekend first.”
“That’s what I’m about to tell you, asshole.”
“Nope. I’m not talking about your reading material. I’m talking about who you were with while you were reading it.”
Hem swore. “Zail is a little tattletale bitch.”
“Rafael.”
“Damn it—”
“And Zail. Did you seriously expect him to keep quiet about that?” Ajay said with a laugh. “Is it true? Did you get Mina drunk and then take her home? Please tell me you were a gentleman until she sobered up.”
Hem thought of the rough, barely restrained kisses they’d shared. “She doesn’t want us to happen . . . at least not while she’s working on Bharat’s due diligence review.”
“Oh poor baby,” Ajay said. “I bet the rejection hurts like a bitch.”
“Blue balls are a great motivator. I spent all weekend looking at the company records, and I have a theory. We’re going to have to do a lot more work to prove it, but I’m pretty sure I know why we’re losing money.”
Ajay’s teasing expression sobered immediately. “Tell me,” he said; his voice became hard and cold as ice.
“Before the company went public, the sales teams were winning seventy-nine percent of the requests for proposals that came in. After the company went public, within six months, the sales team’s success with RFPs dropped to less than forty-eight percent.”
Ajay’s face turned thunderous. “Is this a commentary on my leadership?”
“No. I told you once, and I’ll tell you again, you were made to lead this company. You were made to lead all of the Singh companies.” Hem knew that people had given Ajay shit, and Hem also knew that for all the pride Ajay possessed, he’d step down if Hem wanted the top spot again. There was no way that would ever happen, but Hem didn’t have time to soothe his brother’s ego every time they spoke.
“Then why are you looking at the sales numbers?” Ajay grumbled.
“Because absolutely nothing changed from before Bharat went public. We’ve beat all the big boys. Google. IBM. WTA. But now, for some reason, WTA’s shell companies and subsidiaries are winning accounts that should be ours.”
Hem took out his laptop and flipped it to tablet mode. In seconds he pulled up the analysis report and slid it across the desk.
“Son of a fucking bitch,” Ajay hissed. “How the hell did this happen?”
“WTA has been sneaky about outbidding us on sales opportunities. It looks like random accounts for varying contract values, so you can’t really see a trend. Unless you’re specifically looking for WTA subsidiaries.”
Ajay stood, his movements jerky as he began to pace in front of the window. “The board is way too excited about the offer. Do you think some of them are also involved in trying to take down the company?”
“Could be. Mina’s uncle and a few others look like they were salivating at the offer letter.”
“Hem, do you think Mina’s dirty, too? I know you’re thinking with your dick, but I need your brain to be working right now. I can pull her.”<
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“No,” Hem said. “And I’m not thinking with my dick when I say that. We need more information and the fastest way to get it is to let Mina do her job.”
Ajay collapsed in his chair. He was so much like Hem, and yet they were so different. They needed to figure out a way to make their strengths and weaknesses work together. If WTA had a mole, it was a good one and had gone undetected for months. He needed his brothers to start thinking out of the box.
“Keep an eye out on Mina,” Ajay said. “I like her so far since she’s managed to keep Dad’s secret, but we can’t take any chances.”
“I know. We need to tell Zail the news. I feel like this affects him, too. Two of the bids that went out included prototype software information from our R&D team out in California. No one else should even be close to developing something like that, yet WTA undercut us on both opportunities.”
“This is a shit show,” Ajay said, rubbing his hands over his face. “After this is all done and you go back to your firm, we’re going to need to beef up the legal team. I can’t even imagine the number of lawsuits we’re about to enter. Corporate espionage, trade secrets, you name it.”
The comm unit on the desk beeped and Ajay pressed the answer button. “I’m in the middle of something, Rafael.”
“Sir, your brother and your cousin called. They both would like to telepresence into the unit in your office. I can schedule them individually or together in a group conference at a later point if you’d like.”
Hem shifted toward the screens on the far wall and motioned to them. Since the bids were for the US military, Hem didn’t even think about the London offices and whether the mole could’ve hurt business dealings on an international scale. Maybe giving Brahm a heads-up would prevent any further damage to the business.
“Rafael,” Ajay called out. “Tell them to call the telepresence line. And if you could set up the unit in here, we’ll take their calls now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rafael entered the office a few seconds later and walked over to the Polycom unit. He programmed the screens, and when the first call came in, Rafael answered.
Hem grinned when his cousin’s face filled the screen. A partial view of the London skyline was visible from the windows behind him. He was also suited up, but unlike Hem and his brothers, Brahm had a bit more style. He was slimmer but just as tall. His face had chiseled edges and facial hair cut with sharp edges in a style that was distinctly European.
“Rafe,” Brahm said with warmth. “You look even more gorgeous each time I see you.”
“Mr. Singh,” Rafael said. His voice was tinged with frost. “Is the audio adequate on your end to continue the call?”
Brahm responded in Spanish. Rafael gave a sharp retort and made a visible motion of muting the screen. The second call came in moments later and Rafael asked the same question to Zail, who was calling in from the California office. Zail nodded.
“The call is ready for you,” Rafael said and handed Ajay the remote before exiting the room and closing the door.
“Oye kiddha,” Brahm said before switching to his crisp Cambridge accident. “How are my brothers from my other mother doing? Isn’t that what Americans say? Hem! Ki haal hai? What the hell are you doing in the office, man? Visiting or begging for your job back? I knew you couldn’t hack it in the real world. No one to wipe your ass for you, I’m afraid.”
Hem shot his cousin the middle finger. “You’re in a cheerful mood after Ajay’s assistant turned you down so quickly. You should’ve taken the offer when he first flirted with you at last year’s holiday party.”
Brahm grinned. “I was focused on work then. Now? Let’s just say that the Jack Frost impression is even more of a turn-on.”
“Yeah, why don’t you go back to Punjab and tell the other uncles and our six cousins that you found your Bollywood hero?”
Brahm waved his hand in dismissal. “I’ve got better things to do than deal with those homophobic alpha-fools. Is your dad there? He hasn’t been answering emails.”
“Send them to me,” Ajay said. “Brahm, we need to tell you something, but you can’t leak it to the family. Not your mother, your father, no one.”
Brahm’s face grew solemn. “Done. What’s going on?”
“Dad had a heart attack after WTA’s offer came in,” Zail said from the adjoining monitor. “We’ve been covering and now you have to as well.”
Brahm’s coloring became gray, his eyes wide. “Is Chacha . . . Is he okay?”
“Doctor said he’s going to have a full recovery, but Hem is consulting as our legal advisor and Zail has to spend more time on the East Coast.”
“Shit,” Brahm said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This is bad. Especially since Gopal is on a fucking bender and causing problems. It’s gotten worse, probably because Deepak isn’t there to take care of him. He needs to be . . . addressed.”
“Mom mentioned that he got into a bit of gambling,” Zail said.
“That’s an understatement. Our law enforcement connections in the area have confirmed that he’s now indebted to one of the drug lords that kills first and asks question later.”
Hem swore. If his uncle owed money to a drug lord, then the price for repayment would be extreme. Regardless of the family’s connections to law enforcement, the drug cartel in Punjab was no joke.
“How do we smuggle him out?” Zail asked.
“I can get him out,” Brahm replied. “But it’ll have to be a stealth mission.”
“Shit,” Ajay said. “That means he’s in deep.”
“Very, bhai. Very. If you’re acting as your father, then give me a week and I’ll have Gopal in detox here in the UK.”
“Thanks, Brahm,” Hem said. “We owe you one.”
Brahm lifted a white teacup and sipped. “A raise would be nice. Now that conversation is dealt with, in addition to the news on my favorite uncle’s health, none of you fuckers debriefed me on last week’s impromptu board meeting. Whatsapp messages don’t count. What the hell is going on over there? Am I going to have to pray for another family member to get rich and secure my employment at a London office? That’s damned inconvenient.”
“No one’s getting rid of you yet, British boy, but we do have a problem.” Hem walked through his weekend discovery one more time for Zail and Brahm. The joking was quickly put aside and Hem watched their expressions cloud with the anger that had been sitting inside him.
“I’ll get our cyber security team on it,” Zail said. “They’ll have to search computers and email accounts. If there is a tiny slipup from any of the employees, my teams will find it. I know that the security work is already overflowing, so if we need to hire more heads, let’s start the process now.”
“We won’t need bodies over here,” Brahm said. “But if I have to clean house, I will. Deepak worked too hard for his company. And Hem? Mina’s decision could end this in either a good or bad way. She holds the key. Watch your back, bhai.”
Zail scratched his facial hair and cleared his throat. “Hem, I have a suggestion that you’re not going to like.”
“What is it?”
“I know you want to sleep with her—”
“Zail—”
“So if you finally convince her that you’ll wear a paper bag over your head and your dick isn’t two inches—”
“I’m going to kill you, Zail.”
“—then why don’t you do a little forensic investigation on her? Get one of the security teams to dedicate some time on her background, her uncles, the firm, everything. If she suspects that she’s being watched, you’d have already earned her trust by then.”
Hem hated the idea of lying to Mina, but at the same time, he knew that his brother had a point. He trusted his gut, but there were too many jobs relying on Mina’s decision for Hem not to be a little cautious. “I’ll think about it.”
“Think fast,” Ajay said. He pointed at his tablet. “Rafael said she’s here and he’s going to set her up in a conference
room near the senior managers in the finance team. You’ll have to go downstairs to see her.”
Hem stood and straightened his tie. “Brahm, let us know if you need us to provide additional support for Gopal’s extraction. And instead of paying the drug lord, let’s pay our connections to get rid of the bastard so he doesn’t come back and make things difficult for the family.”
“On it, brother.”
Thankfully, his family wasn’t squeamish about the dirty work. Punjab was not like the United States. Sometimes, corruption needed to be dealt with through vigilante justice, not through a court system. He waved at Zail and turned to leave when Ajay called after him. “Where are you going?”
“I’m getting Starbucks.”
Brahm, Zail, and Ajay all gave him puzzled expressions. “Why don’t you send someone to get it for you? That’s why you’re rich, chutiya.”
“Because knowing Mina, she’d reject anything I didn’t get myself.”
All three men in the room burst out laughing. Hem gave them the finger and walked out, but he could still hear them cackling and making whooshing sounds like a whip as he walked to the elevator.
He was not whipped. He was . . . being strategic. If he was going to get Mina to let him into her bed, he had to follow her rules. Her quick wit kept him on his toes, and her sense of humor tore down his barriers. To have a chance with her, he needed to be two steps ahead.
He was halfway through the lobby doors when he realized that it had been so long since he’d ordered from Starbucks that he’d probably make a fool of himself if he didn’t do some recon first. He called Mina’s office and asked for her assistant. A cheerful woman answered.
“Hi, this is Hemdeep Singh over at Bharat. Mina is here, but she’s in the middle of something. I wanted to ask, what does she usually order from Starbucks?”
Chapter Nine
Mina didn’t know how much longer she could hold out against Hem. She spent the week turning down his Starbucks 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.
