“Shut. Up.The Bronze Shadowwas just using Shayne’s grandma’s pink toilet? This guy has been trending all week. People are saying he’s going to be amajorstyle icon.”
Nikhil preened. “Are you surprised that Mahreen Kamal can create a fashion icon?”
Ruby’s eyes narrowed. “Wait—Mahreen… How well do you two know each other?”
“Take out the clothes,” Marley said. “Let’s see them on him.”
Ruby gave Marley a suspicious look but then unzipped the garment bag.
“What do you think about those wide pants with the blue silk?” Marley asked. She was on her recliner, eyeing the latest outfit Nikhil was wearing. The blue silk shirt was supposed to be with the blue velvet pants, but the look ended up feeling a bit too “Christmas party” for her.
“Ooh, yes—try that,” Ruby said.
Nikhil saluted and headed upstairs to try on the new combination. Marley asked Ruby how things at the store had been while she’d been gone.
“Oh, you know, the same. You’re lucky to get away from that place for a while. I am so ready to get out of there. Eight months until I leave.”
“Are you serious about leaving Toronto again?”
Ruby nodded. “LeavingCanada. I have some details to work out… but yeah, it’s time to go. I’m twenty-seven, and my prospects are worse than Charlotte Lucas’s. I’m already a burden on my family.”
Marley snorted. “You’re thirty-two, Ruby.” And she had no immediate family to be a burden on. Ruby’s mother, Maryam Aunty, passed away when Ruby was twenty, and Ruby hadn’t spoken to her father since he left her mother.
“Twenty-seven-year-old spinster at heart.” Ruby sighed. “I need to find myself an English husband before I’m thirty-five. Not everyone has hot actors hanging around their house.” She turned toward the stairs. “Oh wow—that’s most definitelythe one.”
Marley looked at Nikhil, andwowwas right. The slightly shiny black wide-legged pants were amazing with the drapey navy shirt.
“You look hot,” Ruby said.
Nikhil put on his sultry face. The same one from the infamous lip-licking video. Marley felt herself flush… She had to turn away. This was exactly the devastating, sexy look the studio wanted to see. Nikhilwasgoing to be a style icon.
Once they had a handful of outfits, including a few casual ensembles for him to be seen around town in, Ruby left, promising to get the clothes to Fernando in the morning so he could rush the alterations. Marley couldn’t miss the flirty wave Ruby gave Nikhil when she left, and she didn’t blame her cousin.
Nikhil was… well,hottoday. More than that. Charming. Sexy. Charismatic. He was so different from the slack-jawed ball of self-doubt and existential angst he’d been when he first came into Reid’s. No wonder Ruby and everyone else, it seemed, couldn’t take their eyes off the man.
And if Marley was honest, she should add herself to the list of Nikhil’s fans around the world. She’d grown quite attached to him in the few days he’d been here.
They’d watched cooking shows again last night. Just watching, joking around, and not getting into anything heavy. She knew he was going through a lot and his family situation was a mess, and maybe that’s why he seemed so comfortable here. And for Marley, things were so much easier when Nikhil was next to her.
But also… whenever she was comfortably hanging out with him, memories of their night at that downtown hotel invaded her head. It had been incredible. The feel of his hands on her body was imprinted on her forever. On her back. On her breasts. She’d never again feel someone’s hands on her breasts like that. Nikhil would always be the last one.Ugh. Marley needed to stop thinking about it if she wanted this attraction to go away. No. Not attraction. More like…fascination.
Of course, she was usually smart enough not to move someone who looked tasty enough to lick into her house. Marley thought that having major surgery would have knocked her libido down, but apparently, Nikhil Shamdasani was too potent these days for mere pain to hold back.
But in the state she was in, a physical attraction was pretty much useless. Not to mention…
He. Was. Her. Client.
He might have felt like a roommate, or a friend, or whatever right now, but he was her client first—and mixing business and pleasure was always a monumental mistake.
Nikhil sat on the sofa heavily. He was wearing gray sweatpants and one of his old T-shirts. His hair was loose, falling in soft waves just to his shoulders. Marley thought he looked evenbetter than he did in the designer clothes he’d been in minutes ago.
She was in trouble.
“That was exhausting. I need a drink,” he said. He pushed his hair behind his ears. “I can’t find any of my hair ties.”
“Check under the fridge. McQueen steals them.” She winced with a twinge of pain.
Nikhil looked at her concerned. “It’s not time for painkillers yet. You okay?”
