“Yeah?” he asked with an eager, wolfish grin and bent so he could see her eyes better.
“Yeah.” Victoria nodded and stepped closer to him to lay her head on his chest. “What does it mean?”
“It means I’m gon’ get to have my horny way with you, lil’ lady, and that you’ll lahk it,” he said playfully, exaggerating his Southern accent.
She chuckled and snuggled closer, rubbing her nose into his shirt to inhale his scent. “You already have that,” she told him, “and I already do like it.”
Sanjay hugged her tight, not just because he wanted to, but because she seemed to need it. He’d never seen this Victoria before, this soft, shy one that seemed to need assurance. “Victoria?”
“Hmm?”
“Why are we whispering?”
Victoria froze as she realized that she had been whispering during the entire conversation. She shrugged. “I don’t know; the situation just seemed to call for it. The way you made me feel…what you did to me a few minutes ago—what we did to each other—was so powerful, I suppose I was so awed by it that I guess I automatically adapted my voice to fit the situation.”
Sanjay had taken his hands from her pockets, and now he wrapped them loosely around her waist. Swaying back and forth, he kissed her hair. “I’m sorry for this, but I didn’t use a condom this time.”
“I noticed,” Victoria said with a grimace, “but I’m okay right now as far as pregnancy is concerned. And I trust you’re not disease-ridden so—”
Sanjay threw his head back, his laughter booming out. “Did you just say ‘disease-ridden’?”
Victoria grinned and laughed with him. “I thought that would get you. But seriously, before tonight I always used a condom. You?”
“Same here, but we’ll do the tests anyway. All right?”
“All right.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Yes, starving. I’m anxious to try that homemade Bengali meal you promised me.”
“You won’t be disappointed,” he promised. “I suppose you’d like to wash up first.”
“Of course.”
“All right, there’s a small bathroom off the dining room through there.” He pointed straight ahead. “You take that one; I’ll use the one upstairs and meet you back here in a few minutes.”
Chapter Ten
“What is this I’m eating again?” Victoria asked as she forked up the last of her fish dish.
Sanjay smiled. “It’s called macher jhol, a traditional Bengali dish of fish in gravy. It’s usually made with steamed hilsa, a fish found in India, but since that’s hard to get, I used a fish quite similar to it. It’s called shad, and it’s found on the American East Coast.”
“Hmm.” Victoria nodded. “I love that it had coconut in it. It was a great blending of flavors. Loved the vegetables too.”
“Panch Mishali Tarkari,” he enunciated for her. “It’s a vegetable medley; that’s all. Are you full? Would you like more?”
She shook her head. “No, but thanks. It was all delicious.”
Sanjay sat back. “Where did you grow up, Doc?”
“Boston—born and raised.”
“And what are you doing here in Bay City?”
“I got a job offer and decided to take it. I needed to get away from Boston. I felt stifled.”
“How so?”
“My dad’s a US senator, and my mom’s a socialite—”
“Wait. Your dad is Senator Peter Howell?”
She smiled when she saw his frown. “Ah, I see his conservative reputation precedes him. Yes, Senator Peter Howell is my dad. My mother is the socialite Regina Howell, nee Stanton, of the Cambridge Stantons. Her parents owned a chain of restaurants.”
“Your parents are Episcopalian, right?” He thought he remembered reading that in the newspaper about the senator.
“Right.”
“So, I suppose you are too, right?”
“Right again,” she confirmed.
“And how would your parents feel about your dating me?” he asked her.
“As my grandmother reminded me when she arrived in town yesterday, they’d hate it.”
“Because I’m Indian and Hindu?”
“Nope, because you’re not black, nor are you a Christian. Do you believe in God?”
“As a Hindu, I believe that there is one God, capital G; but I also believe that there are many gods, small g. They help us to understand what God—capital G—is like.”
“So you do believe in God?”
“I believe in Vishnu. He’s a part of the Hindu Trimurti and is responsible for the maintenance of the world. There are two others who are responsible for the creation and destruction of the world, but I worship Vishnu, as he preserves the universe. I’m a Vaishnava.”
“Okay,” Victoria said with a troubled frown. “So you worship Vishnu. Is he the only one you worship?”
“Yes, though my parents are coming to town in two weeks for Maha Shivaratri, which is in honor of Shiva.”
“Shiva? Which one is that—the creator or the destroyer?”
He smiled at her. “He’s the destroyer.”
“But if you only worship Vishnu, why are you participating in this Maha Shi—Maha Shi—”
“It’s Maha Shivaratri, and I’m not; my parents are. They’re coming to Bay City because there’s a temple dedicated to Shiva here. It’s one of the largest in the States.”
Victoria took a sip of her wine. “Would your parents like me?”
Sanjay smiled. “You, they’d like. The idea of me dating you?” He shook his head. “Hmm…not so much.”
“Because I’m African American?”
“Because you’re not Bengali. Hell, you’re not even Indian. And of course there are points against you for not being Hindu. And my parents—he’s a professor of engineering at the university back home, and she’s a homemaker—are very strict in their beliefs when it comes to that sort of thing. Nobody can make a better spouse for me than a Bengali Hindu in their opinion.”
“And to my parents, the best mate for me would be an African American Episcopalian.” She grinned. “Well, shit, our parents are a lot alike, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they are. Imagine what your parents would say if they knew that I, a Hindu heathen—would they call me a heathen? I bet they’d call me a heathen, wouldn’t they?” He smiled when she nodded and said her father probably would. “Okay, so imagine what they’d say if they knew this heathen had had their daughter everywhere but in a bed.”
“‘Defiler,’ they’d cry. ‘You, sir, are a defiler of good Christian girls!’”
He laughed. “But do you care what they think?”
“Of course I care. Now ask me if I’ll let what they think affect my decision to be with you.”
“Will you?”
“Nope, and I think I already know that you won’t let your parents’ beliefs affect a relationship with me.”
“What gave you that idea?” he asked her. “The fact that I practically stalked you by phone and e-mail?”
Victoria giggled and, surprised and embarrassed by the sound, frowned at the wine. She pushed the glass away.
“Why didn’t you call me back or answer me, Doc? I know you had the same great experience I had that night.”
Victoria sighed. “That night—the night I ran into you at the hotel—I’d just been dumped by a guy I’d been seeing. That was okay. I mean, I’d been dumped before, and we weren’t heading toward anything permanent. What really hurt me was that I realized he’d been lying to me the entire time.” She told him about Keenan’s duplicity.
Sanjay was quiet, and Victoria thought he looked as if he were waiting for the punch line. Finally, he said, “You’re kidding, right?”
She rolled her eyes. “Now honestly, San. You know me. Would I joke about something like this?”
Sanjay studied her. “No, I guess not.”
“Right. So, anyway, Keenan putting one over on me like that was the last straw. I�
�d already been ditched two days before my wedding—”
“Wait, wait, wait, hold up.” Sanjay had one hand up and was shaking his head in disbelief. “You were engaged to be married before?”
“Yes.”
“And the guy ditched you?”
“Yes. I was twenty-five, and I’d known him for years. We’d grown up together. Both sets of our parents were thrilled with the match, and I thought everything was fine, but obviously it wasn’t.”
“Sounds almost like it was going to be an arranged marriage, like in my culture,” Sanjay commented.
Victoria frowned. “Not exactly arranged, but our parents did encourage it. He was acceptable to my parents, and I to his. Our parents were in the same income bracket, we were both college graduates, and we’re both Episcopalian. But anyway, all he left me was a note saying that he couldn’t go through with the wedding. I really couldn’t stay in Boston after that, so I packed up my stuff and moved here. It was at that point that I decided I couldn’t trust my own judgment when it came to men.
“Fast forward a few years to where I’m learning to trust myself again, and in walks Keenan Saphmen, who managed to break me down all over again. And that in a nutshell is why I was in the hotel bar that night.”
“Did you love him?” Sanjay asked her.
“No, but I did trust him.” She stood. “Let’s clean up. I don’t like sitting around talking when there’s work to be done.” So saying, she grabbed her plate and his and strolled toward the kitchen.
He found her at the sink making up dishwater. “So, you’re over him?” he asked her as he handed her their wineglasses and picked up a dish towel for drying.
She frowned contemplatively. “Well, he was really nothing to get over. As I said, I only saw him on Wednesday nights. My friends and I have discussed Keenan ad nauseam, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Keenan was just a convenience.”
“Don’t forget ‘creep.’”
She laughed. “Yeah, that too. So,” she said as she cleaned a fork, “tell me about your prototype.”
“Well,” he began, taking the utensil from her to dry it, “I had the idea for it years ago, and I started working on it then, but there was a glitch I couldn’t figure out, and I put it aside. Then one day about a year ago, I picked it up again. I worked on it every spare minute I had. I started feeling guilty about it because I wasn’t giving the company my all. So, I decided to quit.”
“Okay, I get that. So word around the Universe is that you walked out on a meeting the other day.”
“Yeah, I did. I had other things on my mind.”
Frowning, Victoria pulled up the drain stopper and then dried her hands. Her frown deepened as she took his face in her hands. “Why are you trying to ruin yourself?”
Sanjay took gentle hold of her wrists and kissed the tip of her nose before saying, “What do you mean?”
Victoria sighed and released his face, turning to walk toward the living room when he let go of her wrists. “I mean that you need to just produce your proof that the prototype was developed before you started working at the Universe and then just move on. Stop playing games.”
Bemused, Sanjay followed her. “What makes you think I have proof, and that I’m just playing a game?”
Victoria stopped abruptly and turned to look at him. She saw what he knew was an unholy light of glee in his eyes…shook her head…rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Of course you’ve got proof. Now be a good boy and share it with the nice robber barons, hmm?”
“So you believe me when I say the prototype was always mine?”
Victoria looked insulted. “Well, that’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”
Sanjay lifted a brow. “Is it? Obvious to whom?”
“To me.”
“Really? How is it obvious that you believed me?”
Victoria tilted her head to the side and just looked at him. And looked at him.
Her eyes were so full of suspicion that Sanjay laughed. “What? I’m serious!”
Eyes narrowed, she studied him some more, as if he were some sort of irritant that she was about to rid herself of at any minute. Sanjay laughed harder, making her emit a frustrated sigh and throw up her hands before she turned away.
Sanjay was laughing so hard now he almost lost his grip on her arm after he’d reached out to grab her. “No, really, Doc,” he said once he’d gotten himself under control. “I’m serious. How was your belief in me obvious?”
Another few seconds passed while she gave him a jaundiced look. “All right,” she began. “I believe you’re serious, but you so often joke around, it’s hard to tell.”
“I’m not joking now, so tell me,” he demanded, because he knew that she was now stalling.
Victoria’s gaze was like a boomerang as she looked everywhere but at Sanjay. Finally, she settled it somewhere in the vicinity of his ear. “I’ve had sex with you. That’s how it should have been obvious to you that I believed you.”
Sanjay scoffed playfully and snagged her waist. “You’re kidding, right, sweetheart?” he asked as he bent his head toward hers. “You know and I know that you slept with me because you wanted the happy-happy, joy-joy special—”
“What? What on earth is happy-hap—” Clearly perturbed, Victoria looked at him and found her mind emptying of all thoughts as she stared into in his heated gaze.
“My dick in your pussy, making you whimper, sob, and scream.” She melted against him, and Sanjay took her mouth quickly, his tongue plunging inside from a huge, greedy lust that he found impossible to control.
Victoria simply held on. “Hmm,” she murmured when he came up for air. “What was that for?”
“I don’t know. Because I hadn’t had my hands on you in more than an hour… because you’re irresistible when you’re frustrated or embarrassed…because you’re still wearing your lipstick even after a full meal.” He shrugged. “Because you only have to be, and I want you.”
“Oh, San,” Victoria said with a shaky smile. “How am I supposed to resist you?” Sighing dreamily, she pressed a slow, sweet kiss to his mouth and then wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. After a few short moments of listening to the soothing sound of his heartbeat, she spoke, “Happy-happy, joy-joy special?” She lifted her head to look at him, cocked a brow. “Really?”
“Otherwise known as Sanjay style.”
Victoria nodded as if in full agreement. And then she burst out laughing. “S-s-s-seriously?”
He shrugged. “You oughta know.” He grinned when she began to laugh so hard that she bent over hugging herself. “Hey!” he demanded and yanked on a curl when the laughter went on a little long.
Victoria yelped. “Ow!”
“Am I going to have to prove it to you? Pull down your pants.”
Rubbing the side of her head where he’d pulled the curl and still chuckling, Victoria backed away. “No, no. I believe you!” she said with enthusiasm when he started walking toward her. “Stop, Sanjay, please!” she begged and held up a halting hand as she continued to back away. “I want to hear about your prototype!”
Sanjay stopped. Hands on hips, he inclined his head. “Really?”
“Really.”
“All right. Would you like something else? Coffee? Tea? Another glass of wine?”
Victoria shook her head. “I’m good, but thanks.”
“Then come.” He held his hand out. “Let’s finish this conversation in the living room.”
“All right.”
They sat hip to hip on the sofa.
“It’s software, that’s all. I’ve developed a program that will help regular everyday people prevent identity theft.”
“Aren’t there plenty of companies that already do that?”
“Yes, but my software will enable people to do it for themselves. Every time a person’s social security number or anything else connected to the number is used, the person will get an e-mail or text message informing them. The message will have all the per
tinent details in it: location, phone number, what was being purchased, time of use, etc.”
“Sounds impossible.”
“You’d think that, yes, but it isn’t. And for the very nominal fee of thirty-nine ninety-five, you too can protect your identity,” he teased.
“Go on,” Victoria prompted. “Finish telling me about this big moneymaker of yours.”
“There’s nothing more to tell, except I want you to come work with me.”
She didn’t hide her surprise. “Have you started your own company?”
“Yep,” he confirmed, studying her hand as it lay in his. Her hand was narrow and elegant with long tapered fingers. He picked it up and kissed the fingers. Ignoring her surprise at the gesture, he continued, “The company’s called Rock Solid.”
“I wonder why I haven’t heard about it. There’s been absolutely no gossip about it down at the Universe.”
“That’s because no one knows about it. My lawyer and I have kept things hushed.”
“Okay,” Victoria said as he played with her fingers. “Why do you want me? What would I do?”
“Be my head of research and development, of course. The Rock Solid software isn’t the only idea I’ve had, Victoria. There are plenty of others. I wouldn’t be able to pay you quite as much as you’re making now, but you’d get full benefits, vacation time, stock options in the company, and here’s the clincher—you’d get to have hot creative sex with the boss as often as you want.”
Victoria grinned and leaned in close. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said and pressed his lips to hers for a lingering kiss.
“Well, your offer is tempting,” she said when they’d broken apart for air, “but I’ll have to think about it.”
“Of course. Take your time, but don’t take too long, because things are hopping, and I’m going to need someone soon.”
“You have my word that I’ll think about it and get back to you as soon as I can,” she promised before leaning back into the cushions.
Chapter Eleven
“San?” Victoria’s voice came from the vicinity of his shoulder. She’d made herself more comfortable and was curled up at his side with her head on his shoulder. She snuggled in more and felt the warm glow she’d been experiencing get even warmer when he tightened his arm around her. She was having such a good time just sitting and talking with him. She closed her eyes when his fingers massaged her scalp, but that was distracting, and she did have other questions for him. “San?”
After the Morning After Page 7
