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The party hadn’t been as boring and nerve-racking as Anya had assumed it would feel. She’d run into a couple of familiar faces and found it easy, even effortless to catch up. People who’d asked after her latest designs, about when she was traveling again...friends she’d kept at a distance because she’d thought all their interest in her was only because she was a Raawal.
Of course, there were opportunists and social climbers and even predators in the industry, but how had she become so distrustful of everyone? So afraid of her own shadow? Why had it taken her this long to step back into her own life and look outside of its margins?
She didn’t know if it was because she’d discovered Meera, or because of the bold step she’d already taken with Simon, but Anya felt this new...fizz of excitement in her belly for all the possibilities that were suddenly open to her.
But not for a second did she forget why she was at the party. All evening, she’d kept an eye on Simon and Leila, the possessive way the latter had clung to Simon. There was a familiarity in how they talked to each other but not once did Anya see him give the other woman his undivided attention. He also never touched her like he had Anya. So why was he marrying her then?
As the party wound down and guests began to drift into smaller groups, Anya, like an unscrupulous PI or journalist shamelessly followed the couple into the beautiful gazebo set in the expansive lawn. String lights and paper lanterns hung from trees, making the garden a perfect destination for lovers. And yet the argument that Anya had sensed brewing between the couple all evening finally seemed to blow up. The stiffness of Simon’s gestures as he faced the other woman took away the last hesitation Anya felt in interrupting them like a crazy groupie.
Neither did she miss the irony in the fact that she was judging Leila for clearly marking her territory when it came to Simon when Anya herself was this close to stalking the man. Of course, her primary motivation was Meera’s well-being, she convinced herself. Though she was beginning to wonder if there was a lot more to it than that.
Refusing to back out now, Anya moved toward him. “Simon...” She forced out a laugh which sounded utterly fake to her own ears. “It is you.”
His head jerked in her direction, searching for her in the darkness. The planets had to be on her side because Leila Sampson’s cell phone trilled at that moment. With one glance at her phone, then at Simon, she left.
Heart racing, Anya felt his gaze move over her face, then do a quick once-over of her body as if he was tracing the contours with those rough fingers. That single glance was enough to start a powerful hum beneath her skin.
She watched greedily as his long, powerful strides covered the distance between them, moonlight gilding the breadth of his shoulders, the tapering of his hips, the muscled thighs. Revealing him bit by bit, unwrapping him bit by bit, for her very own pleasure. Around him, Anya felt like a feral, possessive creature. A feeling she didn’t want to trust but couldn’t ignore either.
Hopefully hiding the intensity of her awareness, she beamed at him. Because she knew, on an instinctive level, that Simon should never know how much she longed to kiss him again. How much she thought of him, how much she liked herself when she was with him.
“Ms. Raawal,” he said, a hint of humor pulsing beneath the stiff formality of his address. His white linen shirt lovingly molded to the broad span of his chest and there was so much of him she longed to reach out and touch.
Her fingers twitching, Anya cursed herself for the non-intimacy of their one-night stand. She’d gotten no chance to explore his gorgeous body at all. “Fancy seeing you here tonight.”
“I should be the one surprised,” he said, his eyes gleaming. “Meera informs me—frequently and volubly—that you strictly avoid this kind of gathering.”
“Meera’s right. But I’ve long been a fan of Ustadji’s music so I made an exception tonight.”
“I noticed how lost you were to the music,” he said, surprising her. She hadn’t known he was aware of her presence even. He rubbed a finger over his brow and almost glared at her. “It seems you draw people to you as effortlessly as the rest of your family.” The humor lingered in his tone but there was something sharp in that statement that reminded her of the man who’d granted her everything she’d once asked for under the cover of darkness.
That small shift in his tone made liquid warmth unspool in her lower belly. At the simple knowledge that he’d been as aware of her throughout the evening as she’d been of him. “If you’re talking about Ustadji’s son asking for my phone number,” she said, heat rising in her cheeks, “that man is an irresistible poet in addition to the soulful music he produces. Magic in his fingers and words.”
“And?”
Anya pulled the edge of her shawl tighter as it slid from her shoulders. “And what?” she said, sensing the energy between them shift and grow. Becoming more than that constant hum.
“Are you going to take him up on his offer?”
Anya so desperately wanted to flutter her eyelashes and play coy. But it was more than her aversion for the limelight that had kept her from acting. She was bad at dissembling. Bad at playing games and pretending. Bad at acting as if she could just forget that night with him had happened.
“I enjoyed tonight more than I’d expected. But I’m not sure about...seeing him again.”
“Good.”
The emphasis in his word reverberated in the air between them. It felt like he was throwing a gauntlet down and it set her teeth on edge. Her spine stiffened and she realized maybe it wasn’t a bad thing to be like her brothers. They were arrogant and determined but they were also brave and loyal and hid hearts of gold. And it had taken them every single ounce of that courage to win their wives.
While Anya wasn’t looking for love, this thing with Simon...this relationship they were having without calling it so, needed all her wits. Maybe she needed to own up to having a little Raawal blood in her. Maybe it wasn’t all a bad thing after all.
“I might change my mind though,” Anya added, her voice low. “I know I should stop hiding so much, live life a little more. The last time I did that, I found it extremely...rewarding.”
He stepped toward her, sucking out all the oxygen from around them. At least that’s how it felt to her lungs. “Do you plan to go out and have arewardingexperience every time the fancy strikes you?”
“Maybe. No, the answer is yes. Definitely yes.”
“Is that such a good idea, Ms. Raawal?”
Anya took another step, feeling as if she was sitting at the very top of a roller coaster. About to drop off the edge. She knew she was going to scream, she knew she was going to have the time of her life, but there was only a little fear. Mostly, there was this...violent excitement in her limbs, anticipation a ball in her chest.
