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“It sounds like a plan. If you’re sure that you can accept the baggage that I tote along, I’m game. Just give me a couple of days to get used to the idea before we announce it to the world, Deep.”
* * *
ARYAN
He cursed the mobile network in the Club’s dining room. It was awful, which was why he was called away to attend a phone call just when that louse, Deep, grabbed Jessie’s hand.
After a long morning of running tests on the triplets in the NICU, Aryan was hungry enough to eat a horse, and since the Club was a stone’s throw from the hospital, he had decided to eat there. The first in a long line of bad decisions, he realised.
When he had spotted Jessie and Deep, seated at a table by the window, he should have turned on his heel and left. Instead, he had allowed the waiter to seat him at a table near them. Instead of keeping his eyes on his phone, he had allowed them to wander over to Jessie and almost jumped out of his seat with sheer lust at the sight of her savouring her food. Whatever she was eating must have been delicious, judging by the pleasure on her face. He should have looked away right then. But he hadn’t. That was his worst mistake.
Because Jessie had caught him looking. She had opened her eyes and turned her head to look right at him, and her eyes had widened at whatever she saw on his face.
Still, he hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off her. Why was she sitting with that royal Neanderthal who found his phone more entrancing than his companion? When she had met his eyes again, Aryan had smiled. Jessie had tried to smile back, but it was clear that his staring had made her uncomfortable. Stalker much, Dr Sharma?
He resolved to bolt his food and leave. Just then, Deep had leaned forward to grab Jessie’s hand, and even though Aryan almost willed her to pull her hand away, she didn’t. And that was when the waiter arrived to tell him that he was wanted on the phone.
Since he had instructed the NICU to call him with the results of the triplets’ blood work, he’d had to put down his napkin and head to the reception desk. And now he wished he hadn’t. Because it wasn’t the hospital. It was his mother.
As Aryan tried to tune out the sound of her squawking over the phone, he tapped his foot impatiently. He wasn’t a bad son, but sometimes he wished his mother would be less… everything. Less of a social climber. Less of a helicopter parent. Less domineering. Less garrulous.
He murmured noncommittally into the phone and promised her that he would get home as soon as he could. Which he wouldn’t, not even if he had to sit in the hospital parking lot until his mother went to bed.
He hung up the phone and headed back to the dining room, his appetite having deserted him completely. Now he was just going to pay his bill and leave.
As he walked towards the door, it swung open, and Jessie walked out, followed by Deep, who still hadn’t seen him.
“Jessie, why don’t you wait at the reception? I’ll only be a minute,” he heard the prat say. Deep went back in and the door swung shut behind him.
Jessie walked towards the reception and froze in place when she saw Aryan. As did he.
“Hi,” she whispered.
Aryan nodded in response. His throat felt too tight to get any sound out.
She licked her lips nervously as she looked over her shoulder, and Aryan stifled a groan. He would have liked to trace those lush lips with his tongue, and see if they tasted as sweet as they looked.
“I didn’t expect to see you here. Is Arshia’s family here too?”
His brow furrowed at her question, and it took a few seconds for the fog of desire to clear before the meaning of her words sank in. She thought his parents were meeting Arshia’s parents today.
“Actually, I’m working today. We… postponed the meet,” he replied.
Even if he had almost broken up with Arshia, it was only right to confirm that with her before he told anyone else.
He ran a hand over the back of his neck, wondering how to mention the elephant in the room. It wasn’t anything to do with him, but he still wanted to know why she was out with Deep.
“How’s Deep doing? Haven’t seen him around these parts for ages,” he said.
Jessie nodded.
“Yes, he’s here for the polo match.”
“Good luck to him,” replied Aryan.
“I’ll tell him, thanks.”
She looked over her shoulder again, but Deep was nowhere to be seen.
