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“I have a question.”
His lips curved. “Really? Another one?”
She scowled. He raised his palms up in supplication.
“Why did you sneak into my home that night in Mumbai?” she queried.
“Because there was too much media stationed outside your house. And once they saw me, they’d keep following me around. The media in Mumbai is too curious about me, and I just didn’t want to get clicked that night.”
“I thought you like the media attention.”
Of course, she’d assume that. Everyone assumed that.
Sheena touched his hand, bringing him out of his thoughts.
“Sometimes it gets a bit much, and I don’t want it at all.”
He couldn’t tell her that he hated the attention. That he hated living in the public eye the way he had to. Which reminded him that it had been a month or more, and there had been nothing on him printed in the media. He ought to change that soon.
She nodded in understanding. “I know exactly what you mean.”
Her face fell, the smile wiping out. Her changing expressions were too much.
“What’s wrong, Princess?” he asked. “You look sad.”
“There was a time when I was too much in the media, and I’ve hated it since then. I avoid being in the media storm at all costs.”
Again, he wanted to ask, to know what had happened to her. But he wouldn’t probe. She was allowed to have her secrets. God knew, he had too many of his own.
She looked at him. “I have another question. Will you answer it honestly?”
He blinked in surprise. “Of course.”
“Twice now, you have heard some horrible gossip about me,” she began. “Yet you haven’t asked me about it. Why? Or have you already found out everything on Google?”
There, there was the vulnerability he’d noticed before. She looked sad, and he hated it.
He put his hand atop hers. She let him, as if they’d been doing it forever. Leaving that thought for another time, he said. “I don’t need Google, Princess. I have enough resources that can find any intimate detail of anyone on this planet if I so wish. But I have witnessed first-hand how upset you become whenever your past is mentioned. So, while I am extremely curious about you, I will not invade your privacy in any way. Besides, I’d be a fool to believe everything I can find on Google.”
Something had happened to her. He was certain about that. Something that had changed her. And he yearned to know about it. He wanted to know everything about her, but he couldn’t ask her. Because that meant sharing secrets, and he couldn’t do that with her. He made to move his hand away from hers. But she gave a wide smile, clinging to his hand, squeezing it. “Thank you for that.”
“Oh my God, that makes the thank you count to three in one day.” He gently removed his hand from hers and put it on his chest dramatically. “Dare I hope that you are beginning to actually like me, Princess?”
“Maybe…” She grinned. “But just a teeny-tiny bit. You’d have to be a lot nicer to me to make me like you more.”
He laughed. So did she. Her laughter tinkled all around him, hitting him right in the center of his ribcage. It lit him up from the inside.
Right up till this moment, he’d always considered that he was happy in life. His family and friends being safe and happy was enough for him to be happy. As long as his business was growing and prospering, he was happy. He couldn’t remember a time he’d been happy for himself, until now, until this moment, untilher.
Because now, for the first time, sitting with a woman he couldn’t allow himself to fall for, he felt truly and utterly happy for himself. The intense joy, the pure contentment and pleasure he was feeling simply by being with her like this, did not belong to anyone else, but him. And the feeling was electrifying. He wanted to store it in a bottle and keep sipping from it to feel like that every day of his life.
She and he were two lonely souls who could form a bond of friendship, if not anything else. That way, he could continue to feel the happiness she had managed to bring into his life for at least as long as she was here, living in Dubai. It may not be forever, but at least today and for a few tomorrows, perhaps, he could be happy for himself.
12
“Sheena, I don’t want to go to the mall,” Rajiv complained, even though he was driving in the direction of the mall. Fuck. How did he get roped into this?
She clucked her tongue. “Hey, you asked me to pick what I wanted to do this evening. Now, don’t grumble if you don’t like it.”
