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“Saying please toyouhurts my ego.”
He laughed, enjoying seeing her riled up. “Why? What have I done?”
She squinted. “Do you know that you have this arrogance going in spades? You think you just have to say something, and people will bend over to do what you ask.”
“Actually, most people do.”
“See, this is what I’m talking about.” She huffed out an agitated breath. “So much insufferable arrogance, and that’s why I willneversay please to you, ever.”
Each time she said those words, it gave him a heady rush. He knew exactly how he’d make her beg. His mind had painted that scenario so many times in his head that he’d lost count. Unfortunately, all that was a pipe dream, one he could never afford to make real, no matter how tempting said dreams were.
“Never say never, Princess,” he teased lightly.
She glared at him. “Stop being difficult and take me to the fair.”
“Fine, whatever,” he gave in. He knew there was no stopping her when she had set her mind on something. Seemed like he was stuck going to a ridiculous fun fair.
She put a hand on his arm. His heart picked up speed like it always did when she touched him, and God, she touched him a lot.
“You’ll enjoy, I promise.”
Her phone rang. She took her hand off his arm and grinned at her phone.
“It’s Keya and Raashi,” she told him, answering the call.
By now, he knew that these two girls were her closest friends and confidantes and that she missed them loads. In fact, he’d even met Keya during some online meetings since she was in charge of a software system that Sehgal Systems was designing for Poseidon. It really was a small world.
Over the last week, Sheena had opened up to him a lot, and he’d learnt so much about her. Like how fond she was of her family and friends. Of how close she was to her brothers and cousins, and to her grandfather—one of the most important people in her life. He knew now how apprehensive she was about moving to Dubai and living by herself, and how much she liked being here now. He’d learned how wild she was as a teenager and how much mischief she’d gotten into. She seemed to have sobered up since then and definitely looked to be more responsible now. The more time he spent with her, the more he liked her.
She wasn’t spoilt or nasty despite being so rich. She was warm and kind to everyone around her. She even wept during a romance movie she’d made him watch last week in the theatre—such a softie she was.
Sheena Sehgal was a damn sweet woman. Had she not been such, he may have been able to resist her and walk away from her. But now, knowing that she was a good person, he was even more drawn to her. No matter how much he met her, it wasn’t enough. The need to be with her, hear her ask her questions, hear her tell him about her day, her friends in Mumbai and anything and everything under the sun had become the highlight of his life.
And that scared him a lot because the truth was that he wasn’t able to stay away from her, and he knew that one day, he’d have to let her and this friendship go before it became more. But until then… God… Until then, he just wanted a little more time with her.
He let out a breath. Their first dinner together had been an icebreaker. They had completely warmed up to one another post that. She hadn’t even hesitated to seek him out the next afternoon and demand that he take her out for lunch. He, in turn, told her that he’d take her on the condition that she agreed to go out with him for an early dinner as well. And that had set the tone of their friendship, or whatever it was that was evolving between them. They constantly challenged one another, arguing, debating, bantering, but thoroughly enjoying one another’s company.
From that day on, they met each day for lunch and dinner. As the office cafeterias were very crowded, Rajiv took her to different restaurants close by for lunch and explored the more formal dining scenes of Dubai with her at night. They’d even gone to the theatre once for a romance film she’d been wanting to watch.
Like her, he too didn’t have too many friends, except for the Rajpoots, and he couldn’t be seen with them in public places, except for the restaurants that they owned. It just took one nosy person and one sly camera click, and everything he’d protected them from would come crashing down on their head.
And so, the only time he went to restaurants was for business meetings, or with his family. Contrary to what got published about him, he didn’t date a lot, and the few women he took out were those who knew that it was temporary and for a night only.
During those times, he went to the various nightclubs around Dubai for a fun night out. But there hadn’t been any of those dates ever since Sheena had stepped foot into his life. To him, suddenly, every woman paled in comparison to her.
And this, experiencing Dubai with Sheena, was a thrill like no other and a first for him as well. That didn’t mean he was dating her. Not at all. They were just two friends who shared a common love for food. That’s it. He sighed. That was it. There was nothing more to it.
He’d finally exchanged phone numbers with her. And as he’d rightly expected, he’d ended up constantly texting her. He’d known he wouldn’t be able to stay away from communicating with her once he had her number, but now the die was cast, and there was nothing he could do about it. He kept telling himself that his friendship with her was just that…mere friendship. That it didn’t matter that Sheena was seamlessly and effortlessly weaving her way into his life. That it wasn’t a big deal that he was spending too much time with her because, in the end, she wasn’t his destination. He’d always known that. So, all this with her was temporary and that he’d put an end to it soon. But just not yet. He couldn’t, not yet.
It was dark by the time he parked his car in the buzzing parking lot. Sheena disconnected the phone and looked at him.
“Okay then, let’s go,” he sighed.
“Wait. Stop.”
He frowned. “Now, what?”
“Take off your tie and jacket. You look like an old boring uncle who’s been forced to come to the fair.”
