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She threw her hands in the air. “What is wrong with you? You attended a party to celebrate his engagement—the one my parents organized a few weeks ago. Jash is going to be married soon.”
“And yet he has the hots for you.”
She slammed her hands on her hips. “At one time, yes. Not anymore. Not after I rejected his marriage proposal. He’s perfectly happy with his fiancé now.”
“Great. Bloody great,” Vihaan retorted, “You’re too blind to even notice that he’s still in love with you.”
“He’s not…” She exhaled and then her nose lifted a fraction. “Even if he’s in love with me, what’s it to you, huh? Why do you care who I talk to or not?”
Her words melted his anger. Shit! He had behaved ridiculously just now. Seeing another man’s hand on Tiya had been like a punch to his gut. Another man looking at Tiya like he was madly in love with her had made his stomach roll. He’d hated it. He’d hated seeing her laugh with someone else. He wanted to be the man who made her laugh. He wanted to be the one she gave all her smiles to. He wanted to be the man for her.
He blew out a breath. Fuck! He was going crazy. He liked her, no he lo… NO. He wasn’t finishing that sentence. He couldn’t. But he’d thought it and now he didn’t know what to do about it.
“God! You’re bloody impossible,” she raged. “I don’t know what makes you think you get a say in what I do or whom I talk to. You don’t want me, you’ve said it over and over. So why do you care who else is in love with me or not?”
“Tiya,” he began, but she didn’t look his way.
He caught her chin and turned her to face him. “Is that what you think? That I don’t want you?”
“That is what you said.”
“What I remember saying is that I can’t be with you, not that I don’t want you.”
Her answering expression was one of hurt.
“As if that is any different.” She shook her head. “Look, let’s not talk about this. Since you’re not going to be able to buy dad’s company anyway, I think we can call this whole thing off now. We don’t need to continue the charade for a minute longer. I’ll tell my parents everything tomorrow. They’ll be mad at me for a bit, but they’ll eventually understand.”
His shoulders slumped. God! He wished things were different. But it would be easier for her this way.
His heart hurt even thinking that tonight would probably be the last time he’d get to be alone with her like this. He hated that it had to end this way. But she was right. Better end it now before things got out of hand between them.
She wasn’t in his future no matter how much he wanted her so.
21
Tiya watched the play of emotions on Vihaan’s face. There was sadness mixed with resolve. And in the next second, his face hardened as if coming to a decision.
She knew this was goodbye and it hurt. For days now, she’d refused to put what she felt for him in words because even saying it aloud, even in her own mind, would destroy her.
“I want to go home,” she said. “I’m calling a cab.”
Vihaan opened his mouth to say something and stopped short when his phone rang. He squinted as he saw the caller ID and answered it immediately.
“Hey,” he greeted the caller over the din of the music. “Wait…calm down. Tell me what happened. What?”
His brow marred as he listened to whoever was calling him.
“Bloody hell!” he swore. “Why didn’t you call me earlier? I’ll be there soon.”
He disconnected the line and raked a hand through his hair.
“Fucking hell,” he cursed.
“What’s happened?” she asked.
“You have to come with me.” He spun around, walking faster and Tiya followed him.
“Where are we going? What’s going on?”
