She’d decided to officially shift Bollywood night from weekly to monthly, since she’d be busy running her own business, and she no longer needed to use it as an excuse to see Rohan each week. On Friday morning, they got word that Potato was ready to be released from the shelter, so Kamila decided enough was enough. Dad was spending the weekend with Shelina and the boys, so it was time to see her boyfriend’s home for the first time.
After leaving the office early, she went home to pick up Darcy, then went to the shelter to get Potato. Kamila then drove downtown to Rohan’s condo. After the man at the security desk let her up, she took the elevator to the sixteenth floor.
She knocked once, and then he was there. Dressed casually, in jeans and a faded gray sweatshirt that brought out his pale-brown eyes and the silver strands in his beard. He was so…handsome. Dignified looking, even in his sweatshirt. She suddenly felt awkward and shy, which were not sensations she was accustomed to feeling, especially with Rohan. She was glad she had two excited dogs to manage right now.
“Hi!” She walked into the door. “Did Potato’s crate and food get here? Look at him! They gave him a bath and put a new bow tie on him and—”
“I’m going to need more than just a hi, Kam,” he said, locking the door and enveloping her in his arms. She dropped the dogs’ leashes, trusting Rohan had puppy proofed, and wrapped her arms around him.
After a few seconds of hugging, the awkwardness was gone and she looked up at him. “And I’m going to need more than just a hug.” She wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. He took control again, deepening the kiss and pressing her up against the wall near his door. His hand was straying very close to her butt.
When he finally pulled free, he lowered his head to touch hers. “Why haven’t we seen each other since Sunday?”
“Let’s not do that again,” she said.
He nodded and gave her another quick kiss. “No. Let’s not.”
“I think Potato is peeing on your kitchen cabinet.”
Potato was, in fact, not peeing on the cabinet but was clearly considering it. It was time to get the puppy acclimated. They could make out later.
After puppy pads, toys, water bowls, and the crate were all positioned, they were inspected, inventoried, and played with by both Potato and Darcy before Potato passed out in the middle of the kitchen floor and Darcy fell asleep in Potato’s crate. Kamila performed a sleepy switch, putting Potato in the crate and setting Darcy’s blanket nearby so she could keep an eye on her new puppy brother.
Exhausted, Kamila and Rohan fell on the sofa. She finally took a look around the place.
Rohan’s condo was pretty posh, as she expected. Huge picture windows, high-end appliances, gleaming quartz countertops. But what she didn’t expect was that it was also pretty…lively. Homey. Not the sterile corporate man cave she expected. Lots of family pictures, Indian-inspired art, a stunning Aegean blue-and-gray area rug that looked like an abstract Japanese wave painting, and to her utter shock, decorative throw cushions. Not a lot of color, but the place had a lot more Kamila-esque details than she had expected. And yes, he had a print of their momo cart on a shelf in the dining room.
“You didn’t do all this tzhujing for me, did you?”
He chuckled, burying his nose into her neck. “No. This is how my place has always looked.” He nipped her skin lightly with his teeth. Rohan appeared to be quite orally inclined. Nice.
“Huh. Looks nothing like your office.”
“Did you expect my home to look like my work?”
“No, I mean, I like it here. I still don’t understand why I’ve never been here before.”
He shrugged. “I…I was always at your place anyway.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good excuse.”
He raised his head from her neck and looked at her. “Fine. I didn’t invite you over because I thought…Kam, I never expected to get this far with you.Ever. I assumed I was destined to spend the rest of my life loving you from afar. It was easier for me not to have any memories of you in my own home.”
She smiled and pulled him on top of her. “Well, now that that train has left the station, we may as well make lots of memories.”
“Mmm…yes, brilliant idea,” he murmured before leaning to kiss her.
This wasn’t like their other kisses. Not like the soggy-sari one in the rain. Not like the one just now in the doorway. This was a whole-body kiss. He pressed himself on her, kissing her powerfully. This washerRohan. His hand was on her butt, and there was no weirdness in sight.
“Fuck,” he said when he pulled back, sounding overwhelmed.
“Language, Mr. Nasser.”
He chuckled, sliding his hand to her belly.
“I don’t want to go too fast,” he whispered into her neck.
“You’re not. I’m okay. We have time to go fast, then slow, and then everything in between. I brought condoms. A big box.” She smiled, then arched her back to press his erection into her.
