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He waited for her to hop off the bike before putting on the parking stand and taking off his helmet. He took her helmet from her and placed it on the bike before running his fingers through his hair. “Come, let’s go in.”
“Jai, what is this place? It’s so beautiful.” She followed him up the few stairs to the porch, went straight to the bench, and sat down. “I could spend all day looking at this view. It is so awesome.”
He chuckled as he opened the main door with a key. Yet again a novel sight for her to see him do something like that, and it fascinated her. “Want to check out the inside?”
“Yes, can’t wait.” She stepped ahead of him as he pushed open the heavy door for her. In her excitement, she mis-stepped and ended up falling back onto him. She froze when her back hit his chest and his arm tightened around her.
Jai’s breathing was haphazard as he held her to him, neither of them moving. She had her own parade drumming in her chest as she turned around slowly to look at him. His eyes were dark, and his lips were slightly apart as he was taking in slow breaths.
Sanjana mustered up some courage and took both her hands to his cheeks and gently kissed him. “This place is really nice,” she said as he looked at her with a primitive hunger but did not move a muscle. Overcome by a sudden sense of shyness, she hid her face in his chest as she hugged him. “I don’t know what time we need to be at the resort, but I’d like a tour of this place.”
When he didn’t respond, she slowly pulled back, wondering if she had overstepped her bounds, and looked at him tentatively. “Or not. I was just—”
He silenced her with a sweet kiss that made a new set of butterflies take off from the pit of her stomach. “We can absolutely go, but before that, I’m hoping to take care of some business,” he said, pulling back.
“Oh, I can wait. Finish your work.” She smiled, taking a few steps away to look out the kitchen window.
Moments passed, and she expected him to disappear into one of the rooms with his computer. Instead, she saw him rummage through the bags set to one side of the counter. It wasn’t a normal sight to see him in such a setting, but she found it to be fascinating. She stepped closer to take a better look and saw that he was handling groceries. “Jai, what are all these for?”
He chuckled, looking up briefly and then setting up a cutting board. “I’m working on a meal for my wife. I’ll be ready to go in a half hour.”
His words made her blush, but she mustered courage to play along. “What does your wife like to eat?” She stood to one side of the kitchen, her eyes on his chiseled profile as he sliced the tomatoes.
“My intelligence report tells me that she loves a good homemade biryani. I’ve seen her attack the dish back at the palace too.” He winked, making her stomach flutter.
“No, I did not,” she objected, although he was on point about her love for biryani. Meat and flavored rice, she was set.
He shook his head. “I wasn’t talking about you. My wife loves the biryani, so I’m going to make it tonight and pair it with the wine from our vineyard.” He looked at her for a long moment. “Maybe you can help me pick the wine from the wine cellar.”
“Sure, I’ll help if I get a tour after,” she teased, enjoying the banter. Their conversations have been borderline formal and involved topics around the development of the region, an international crisis, or a national topic. Never a casual chit-chat, nothing as playful.
For the next half-hour or so, they worked side by side as he prepped for their dinner. The late afternoon transitioned to a cool evening, and it was beautiful with the cool breeze coming in through the windows. She got to know a lot more about him in the time they spent in the kitchen than she did in the last few months.
He talked about how he went abroad to study and gave up the professional cricket he was playing with one of his best friends, Siddhanth Vastav. He mentioned his other friend, Viransh Dharma, a businessman, who had recently modeled for Aish’s catalog since the models quit her show after the social-media fiasco.
She was happy hearing about him, his childhood, and some of the sweet family moments they shared in their many travels. She learned that the vineyard had been something the family owned for many years. It started as a project to see if the weather and soil would permit mass production and create jobs, but it didn’t work out. Instead of selling it as it wasn’t profitable, Jai had converted it into a place for the family to step away and unwind, and she could see herself enjoying it with his company.
Not for long, remember!That treacherous voice spoke up again, causing her annoyance.
Shortly after, she followed him down a muddy path with grapevines on both sides toward what looked like a building where wine would be made and stored. She could see the huge barrels that held the drink while the grape juice turned into exotic wines.
She looked around the place, surprised that she didn’t see anyone else around. “Jai, who takes care of the place when you aren’t visiting?”
“We have people,” he turned to look at her. “I just ask them to give me some space when I’m here. Cook something, get some field work done, and chill.”
“I didn’t know you enjoyed cooking. I would never have pictured you as someone who liked to cook.” The words blurted before she could add a filter.
He smiled, leading her down a flight of metal stairs, and pointed at the huge containers she had spotted from afar. “One has red, and the other is white wine.” She followed him to what seemed like another level lower, and that’s where she saw rooms with large barrels.
“Wow, who drinks so much wine?” Another no-filter moment and that made him chuckle. “Sorry, that’s not what I meant. Do you sell this wine?”
He let out a laugh, shaking his head. “Have you not seen how much wine gets consumed at the palace? Between Ma and Aish, we’ll need a vineyard for each of them and the gatherings they host.”
She smiled, thinking of a few social events she had attended at the palace. In the few months of hanging out with Aish’s clients and the queen’s friends, she had somewhat developed a liking and appreciation for wine. “If all the wine we have at the palace is from here, I’m never leaving this place.” She laughed, and he joined in.
“Let’s go find a bottle of wine and a hiding spot for it.” He winked again, making her shudder.
She nodded, unable to speak, and walked past him to the wine racks and started reading the labels. “This is an amazing collection, Jai.” She pulled out a couple of bottles of wine and held them out. “My choice to be paired with the yummy biryani that is cooking.”
