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He crossed his arms on his chest. “I’m not going to answer that.”
“Oh, come on,” she clucked, “I figured it out after my conversation with him anyway.”
“What did he tell you, Tiya?” he asked his tone calm, while inside he was burning to find out the details of her conversation with him.
Sighing, she narrated her encounter with Dev to him.
“Asshole,” he muttered after she finished.
“What do you have of his, Vihaan? He said he’d go to battle with the world to get it from you. Why can’t you just give it to him?”
Her words brought forth a torrent of rage, not at her, but at Dev for making her ask these questions. He was also annoyed with himself for putting her in this situation without thinking it through. His brother was right. He was bloody reckless as hell. And he didn’t want Tiya to ever pay the price of this irresponsibility. He should have found another way to buy her dad’s company.
Using her was wrong, but it was too late now. Besides, he had to learn in what way, if at all, was Jatin Sood involved in the events of his past. Had he known what Pritam Luthra had been planning? Had he been complicit? Jatin Sood had already left Shimla twelve years ago. And so, how much had he known of Pritam Luthra’s plan to destroy Vihaan’s family while living in Dubai?
“Just give it to him and end this enmity,” she pushed forth. “It’s not worth it. He just seems dangerous.”
“Never,” Vihaan growled. “He will never get his hands on…”
He halted. He shut his eyes and willed himself to calm down. When he opened his eyes again, she was watching him carefully. Seeing nothing else forthcoming from him, she glared at him and hopped off the table.
“The thing is Vihaan, Dev threatened me last night when he said that he won’t hesitate to use me to get to you. For what, why and how—I have no clue. However, I’m not stupid and I can clearly understand that he and you have a history that goes long back. I’m not going to ask you to tell me your story as you clearly don’t trust me, and that’s fine. But I won’t be used as a pawn by either of you.”
He crossed the distance between them and stood in front of her.
“You are not a pawn to me,” he said softly. And while he’d wanted to use her as a pawn before she’d taken his name in front of her mother, now, however, he couldn’t see her as such. She was too bright and sharp, and didn’t miss anything.
“And yes, you are right,” he accepted. “Dev and I have a bitter history, one which I can’t share with you because it’s not only my story to share.”
“You know you ought to let people into your life. I could just end up helping you when you least expect it.”
He remained silent, refusing to reply.
She threw her hands in the air. “Fine. Keep your secrets. But you and I are linked together for the unforeseeable future. So now, let’s discuss how we are going to proceed withthis—you and me pretending to go out. My parents need to believe we are real so you will have to attend some dinners at my place. They might invite you for some events as well. And they need to see me go out with you on a few dates. My dad wants to meet you to get to know you better.”
“Okay.”
“I’m leaving tomorrow night for Doha. I’ll be back on Friday. We can plan something then. We need to maintain this charade until my dad sells his company. After that, I’ll pretend to be heartbroken when you and I break up. Hopefully, that will put off their matchmaking for a long while.”
At his nod she continued, “We also need to have some rules in place.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“No kissing. And touching only when needed, that too in public.” She ticked those two off on her fingers. “Also, no physical relationship, which means no sex—”
“—with just each other or with others too?” he teased.
Her cheeks pinkened. “Not with each other and not with others too. I won’t have you going out with another woman while pretending to be my boyfriend.”
His lips quirked. “Now how will I survive being celibate?”
“Please, I’m sure you’ll survive,” she muttered, looking anywhere but at him.
“What if I can’t be survive the celibacy? What if I die?”
“Vihaan, be serious.”
“I am serious.”
