by Nisha Sharma
Hem’s warm hand touched her fist and stroked the tightness in her knuckles. The pressure was so soft, so comforting that she began shaking. Minutes passed, until finally Mina’s grip loosened and she linked her fingers with Hem’s.
Chapter Eleven
Mina stayed quiet until Hem drove into the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel.
“Are you taking me to my condo?”
“No,” Hem replied.
He’d braced himself for an argument, for some sort of reminder about her independence and how they worked together. Instead, she sank back into her seat in silence for the rest of the drive. He understood the importance of being alone, but he wasn’t going to stand by without trying to take that haunted look off her face. After the weeks they’d spent together, circling each other, Hem knew that Mina was going to be his, damn it, and he’d protect her, even if he didn’t know what he was up against.
It didn’t help his mood that he’d just had an argument with his father. It was the first time Deepak Singh had been well enough to come downstairs for a meal, and he and Hem had ruined his mother’s dinner plans by picking at each other over business decisions, over Lisa, and the future of the company that he was no longer a part of. That he didn’t want to be a part of. Focusing on Mina was a much better use of his time.
He worked through the possibilities of what could have made her so upset as he pulled into his building’s underground garage and passed the keys to the valet.
Mina didn’t argue when he took her laptop bag and led her into the private elevator and upstairs to his floor. When the doors opened, the New York skyline glittered through the windows and stretched to the horizon.
Hem kicked off his shoes and walked over to the com panel to turn on the recessed lighting to a dim glow. Mina slipped out of her heels and let out a sigh.
“Want some wine?” he asked.
“Yes, please.”
“Any particular preference?”
“Surprise me.”
He walked over to the wine fridge and pulled out one of his family’s labels. “Why don’t you get comfortable while I pour this for us? Your things are still in the master bath.”
She turned away from the view and looked at him with puzzlement. “My things? What things?”
“The ones Rafael purchased for you a few weeks ago. Also, I texted him when we hit that traffic on 95. I asked him to drop off more clothes. Some variety this time. They should be on the bed already.”
“Hem, I’m going home tonight.”
“That’s your choice. But do you really want to sit around in the same work clothes you’ve had on since six this morning?”
“I’m dressed fine for one drink.”
He grinned at her mutinous expression. “I like buying things for you. Well, I like whatever Rafael buys for you, knowing that I’m the one who gave them to you.”
“Hem!”
“Please? I like it if you have things here. It makes me think that we’re moving forward even though we’re stuck because we work together right now.”
Her expression softened. She walked over to him and stood on her toes to press a kiss against his cheek. The tension in his shoulders eased.
“I’ll go look,” she said quietly. “Only because I know it means a lot to you to do this. But if I don’t like them, I’m not going to wear them. And I still may go home tonight. Understood?”
“Yes. Of course. I just want to make you happy.”
Hem stifled a laugh at the way she turned on her heels and strode down the hall toward the master suite. If he had it his way, she’d be in his space, in his room all the time. She looked like she belonged here. His need for her grew with every long conversation at the office, every teasing text message, and every secret date. He knew he was ruined for other women; at least until his and Mina’s time was up. And when she left him, he’d have to brace himself for a pain that would be so much fiercer than he’d ever felt before.
He’d finished pouring two glasses of Riesling when he heard the sound of the shower from the master bath. He left the glasses on the counter and headed toward the back of the penthouse to make sure Mina had everything she needed.
The bathroom door was closed, but there were multiple outfits laid out carefully on the bed with a discarded bag on the floor. Leggings, a thin jersey sweater, dark jeans, and a high neck sleeveless top with subtly sexy lingerie.
So she liked the clothes after all, he mused.
Since she was going to be comfortable, he might as well be, too. Hem took off his tie, button-down shirt, and slacks in favor of a pair of athletic shorts and T-shirt.
The shower shut off just as he returned to the kitchen. Five minutes later, Mina joined him in the great room, barefaced, her hair on top of her head, and dressed in the leggings and jersey sweater. She looked younger, more carefree, like she had the morning he’d showed up at her door, eager to see her again.
“I know this was a point of contention with . . . with your ex ,” Mina said as she sat next to him on the couch. “So I won’t push back on it, but don’t assume you have other rights if I’m wearing the clothes you purchased.”
“And get my balls chopped off? Never.”
“I’m glad you understand. Now. I appreciate the clothes. Honestly, they’re exactly what I needed.”
He reached out to run a finger along the see-through mesh panel that stretched from mid-thigh to ankle. “I like this.”
“Mmm-hmm.” She took a sip from her glass, her eyebrows lifting almost to her hairline. “The wine is really good, Hem. What is it?”
“It’s from our family’s winery. Saffron Fields. The Riesling. I figured you’d like it.”
“Saffron Fields is yours? No wonder it tasted familiar. This is like a hundred dollars a bottle. Is that part of Bharat, Inc.?”
Hem shook his head, distracted by the way some of her curls escaped the topknot and rested against her slender nape. “Saffron, along with our other ancillary businesses, are under Haz Industries. My father diversified after we were all born and decided to keep that part of his work separate from Bharat. Smart move on his part.”
“Very,” Mina mumbled behind her wineglass.
Hem grinned as he put his glass on the coffee table. He tossed one of the throw pillows at her legs, and before she could move, he lay down so his head rested in her lap. He expected her to push him away, but she began stroking her fingers through his hair. The feeling of her fingertips against his scalp sent sparks of sensation through his skin. He groaned and closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of her, the fresh floral scent on her skin.
“Hem?”
“Mmm-hmm?”
“Bharat has a little over a thousand employees, a location in California, London, Canada, and New York, and operates in a niche industry. And Saffron Fields has a great reputation, but it’s not a large-scale operation. How has your father made it to the billionaire list two years in a row with a few, albeit successful, operations?”
Hem took her wineglass from her hand and put it next to his. Curling his fingers around the back of her neck, he pulled her down for a kiss so achingly sweet that he had to control himself from taking more. She tasted better each time.
Mina pushed against his chest and he reluctantly let her go.
“Hem,” she whispered.
“Yeah. We have a sizeable agricultural business outside Vancouver managed by my mother’s brother and wife,” he said, pressing a kiss to her wrist. “Then there are the luxury high-rises in LA, Miami, Toronto, the hotels on Ibiza and the Amalfi Coast, and the shipping business in Mumbai. We have people we trust on-site to manage all of our extended property interests, but Ajay pulls the strings for most of it.”
“You have other income streams. Why is it such a big deal if WTA buys out Bharat?”
“Because Bharat represents more to my father than a software company. It’s his American dream. When his brothers and cousins were playing with toy guns and pretending to be cops, he was writing code. His greate
st achievement in this world is something he wants to pass to his children, and we’ll do whatever it takes to help him with that goal.”
Mina brushed her fingertips against the diamond stud in his ear. “Family is important to you. You trust them to have your back when you need them the most.”
“Yes.”
“My mother trusted her family, too. It got her killed.”
Mina knew that if something was going to happen between them, then she’d have to tell him the truth. She hated her history, but it was hers, so she’d tell it honestly.
“My grandparents on my mother’s side died in a hate crime.”
“God, Mina.”
She gripped his fingers, holding onto them like a lifeline. “My mother had just graduated law school and ended up with two younger brothers in her care while grieving for the loss of her parents. She raised her siblings, though, while building a name for herself. She told me that my father didn’t care that she was constantly worrying about her siblings. Her nurturing skills were attractive, apparently. They were both working for a top ten firm, and she’d just made partner when she got pregnant with me. She wanted a child of her own but knew that with her job, she’d just be an absentee mother.”
“So she chose you over work?”
“Yeah, you can say that. She left to start her own firm. She was amazing, Hem. She ran a business, but I never felt neglected for a second. When we spent time together, she was one hundred percent focused on me. No distractions.”
Hem sat up and pulled Mina onto his lap. The feeling was novel, and she enjoyed the rock-hard thighs under her, the supportive arm around her waist. She curled against him and tucked her head against his neck as she told him the rest. She mentioned the journals she found in the attic the day she moved the rest of her things out of the Edison house. She talked about the fight she had with her father and how he admitted that he and her uncles were celebrating the takeover of her mother’s firm. She told him about Sanjeev’s accusations over dinner and how her father didn’t say anything at all to protect a woman he once had to have loved.
“That’s why I’m determined to make partner,” she said. “I’m going to take back Kohli and Associates and turn it into the firm that my mother always wanted it to be. We would’ve practiced side by side, you know. Instead, Sanjeev is at the helm, and god knows how he’s managed to keep it a success.”
“Hiriye,” Hem said softly as he stroked her back from shoulders to hips. “I’m so sorry that you lost your mother like that, that your uncles are trying to ruin the precious memories you have of her. But I need you to think like the lawyer you are for a second. What was Sanjeev’s motive?”
“What?” she asked. “What are you talking about?”
“If this was a dinner party, then why would they bring up such a sensitive topic in front of guests? Is there a reason why your uncle would say something like that in front of company? Airing family business doesn’t seem his style.”
Mina sat up. “I know. I know that Sanjeev is up to something like he always is. That he wants to prove a point. It’s playing into this master plan of his that I’m a part of. I just have to figure it out.”
“Are the guests part of the plan, too? The ones invited to dinner.”
The roiling in her stomach grew stronger, and she got up from the couch and circled the coffee table to face him. “You could say that. Hem. Before I met you, there was . . . Well, let’s just say that there’s something else I have to tell you.”
His expression darkened, but he braced his elbows on his knees and faced her. “I’m listening.”
“My uncles have been trying to merge with an immigration law firm in New Jersey. The firm’s owner is very traditional. His son Virat is single.”
“No,” Hem said. He shot to his feet, the words bursting from his mouth. “No, damn it.”
“Sanjeev offered me equity partner if I went through with an arranged marriage to Virat Aulakh.”
“You can’t possibly believe they’ll give you the partnership just like that. Look at how they screwed with you over dinner! Look how they screwed over your mother, and your mother raised them.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Mina said. “I have no intention of marrying Virat, partnership or not. It wouldn’t be fair to me . . . to—to us.”
She saw him take a deep breath, and when he was about to step toward her, she held up a hand. “But all of this with my uncle has just made it all the clearer that we need to push the brakes until after the due diligence is over. I need to stop Sanjeev from destroying my mother’s legacy, and what we have is just distracting me when my focus should be on work.”
His face clouded with anger. “Like hell we’re slowing down,” he said, his voice controlled and low. He stepped over the coffee table and when he took her in his arms, Mina went willingly.
“Do you think we can stop this now?” he whispered as his mouth hovered over hers. “Do you want to?” She’d barely managed to shake her head before she was consumed with need. His kiss was fierce and all-consuming like a fire that swept over her. Her fingers dove into his hair as their mouths fused together. Mina’s thoughts splintered and she gave into the overwhelming sensation of being devoured whole.
She didn’t know when the kiss turned gentle, nor did she 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 and pressed against the sides of her breasts.
“Tell me you don’t want more,” he whispered against her lips, sipping from them, teasing her with the tip of his tongue. “Tell me you don’t want this.”
“Hem, you know I do, but we work together right now. We can’t—”
“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 remembered his comment about how Lisa hid their relationship, and she wanted to soothe him, to give him everything he wanted just so he wasn’t faced with old insecurities because of her. But their situation was different, and they had to be careful about different reasons.
He 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. Then Mina stopped thinking all together and groaned into the kiss as Hem’s grip in her hair tightened, as he pressed her impossibly closer.
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 jersey sweater was pushed over her breasts and he pulled down the delicate lace cups of her new bra 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 leggings were yanked off her hips and she felt the cool air hit her thighs 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 touching her clit, wanting him to make her come in a way that 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.
Mina gasped and all the air pushed from her lungs as he pushed her legs farther apart and devoured her. He touched her clit with firm strokes and then pushed two fingers in her hard, jerking them fast and deep. Mina didn’t have time to prepare for the avalanche of sensation that rushed toward her. She plucked her nipples, panting his name, and screamed a
s Hem’s fingers plunged deep and then curled to hit her G-spot. The orgasm rushed through her and she arched, suspended in that moment, quivering with desire and the feeling of Hem inside her.
Hem rested his forehead against her stomach. 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.
He pulled out, and she felt the slick wetness between her thighs. She reached to adjust her clothes and was grateful when Hem stood and helped her to her feet.
Mina knew that it was natural, and she wasn’t a stranger to sex, but she’d never met a man who enjoyed oral, who offered it so freely. Everything with Hem had been a first, and she knew in her heart, in her gut, that they’d hit another turning point. There was no going back now.
She grabbed her leggings. “I’ll just be a moment,” she murmured and rushed to the bathroom. She made quick work of cleaning herself up.
She felt a little bit more composed when she returned to the living room. Hem held out her glass of wine.
“Are you okay?” he asked, running a hand over her disheveled hair.
“Yes. I’m . . . Oh, you’re still—”
“It happens. Around you, more often than not. What I gave you was for my pleasure, too. I don’t expect it in return.”
“Hem, I don’t . . . I don’t know what to do, and I always know what to do. You’re throwing me off my game.”
“Haven’t you figured this out by now? It’s not a game anymore. We’re in this together. And one thing is certain. You have to tell him no, Mina. Goddammit, look at us. You know it’ll be good. Forget Sanjeev. Tell this Virat guy that he doesn’t have a chance. Be with me.”
With a sigh, she reached out and stroked his cheek, feeling comforted by Hem’s evening stubble. The rough, prickly sensation grounded her.
“Even after what just happened between us, there is so much at stake I still have to consider.”
“You can handle your uncle.”
“No, Hem, that’s not all of it. Let’s think this through for a second from Bharat’s perspective.”
