He chuckled before checking the time. “Ha! It’s not even five. Going to have to kick you out soon. I’m making dinner for this chick I’m really into.”
She grinned. “Oh really? What are you making her?”
“It needs to be spectacular to impress her—she’s a fantastic cook. I’m doing shrimp and scallop linguine with a white wine sauce.”
Reena twisted onto her side and ran her hand down his side, resting it on his solid hip bone.
“I’m sure she’ll be impressed. And I’m sure she’ll be willing to help you cook, if it means we can spend more time in bed together.”
He laughed out loud and pinched her bottom. “Have I mentioned you have a rather amazing ass?”
She laughed harder as he grasped her hips and pulled her on top of him, kissing her soundly. She took that to mean they weren’t going to get out of bed quite yet.
Later, Reena was resting her head on his chest again, her hand drifting across one of his hip bones to the other. It still felt unreal that this was happening, that she had access to touch the body she’d been admiring for weeks. “Can I ask you something? Actually, two things.”
“Of course.”
“Your stomach…” Her hands skimmed over his belly. “You have those big arms but no…six-pack. And…don’t take this badly but…do you even lift anymore?”
He laughed at her bro-dude impression. “Nah, not much. Not at all, really. And you keep feeding me bread…You mind if I lose the biceps?”
She readjusted herself so her head rested on his arm instead of on his chest. “Nope. Not at all.” She knew better than to ever say it out loud, but she didn’t care one bit if he was squishy or built like a tank. Both had their benefits. And right now, during after-sex snuggles, a layer of squish covering the hard muscles would be welcome.
“Okay. Second question. You keep saying that I’m not what you expected. What exactly did your father tell you about me?”
“Well, he said you weregood. Not that you’re not good”—he squeezed her—“but you know what I mean. Wholesome. They told me you worked in finance and were still single because you’d been focusing on your career. I thought you were a devoted daughter who lived with your parents. That’s why I was shocked to see you across the hall.”
“You didn’t know what I looked like?”
“I did see a picture in your dad’s office. But it didn’t really look like you. You were wearing this purple salwar kameez and standing with your parents. And your hair was straight. I could tell you were cute, but—”
“I know that picture. From my brother’s wedding. Mum’s makeup artist totally overdid it.” She chuckled, remembering the ridiculous high heels she’d been forced to wear. No wonder he didn’t recognize her. She’d felt like an illusion that day. In fact, the whole day had been a charade. Despite Khizar and Nafissa being so madly in love, both their parents’ interference on the wedding day ruined any chance of them enjoying any of it. Mum even hired that makeup artist, despite Nafissabeinga makeup artist and wanting to hire one of her friends. Reena decided then not to have the big Indian wedding her parents would insist on, and to never even consider one of the arranged introductions they forced on her.
And now she’d slept with one of them.
She pushed away the feeling of impending doom and squeezed him playfully. “And now that you know I’m not what they sold you, you don’t want to marry me anymore?”
His other arm snaked around her and pulled her on top of him again. “No. I don’t.” He buried his head in her neck and inhaled. “I’ve been restless for a long time,” he said. “Actually,restlessis the wrong word. I was too busy to realize how bored I was. Too many people around to realize how lonely I felt. But then you came along and turned everything upside down.” He smiled. “I’m not sure about the future. But Iamsure about the present.” He pulled her head up and kissed her gently. “And all I want right now is to make you happy.” He kissed her again, deeper this time. Reena lost herself in the perfect embrace. He pulled back again. “You’re unexpected, Reena Manji. Never unmemorable.” He kissed her again, before murmuring against her lips. “Twelve boyfriends?” he asked, smiling. “Is it too unlucky to try for a thirteenth? Am I doomed to fail?”
She shook her head. “Thirteen is a baker’s dozen. The extra one always tastes the sweetest.” She kissed him again.
“We still can’t tell our families,” she said as they broke apart again. Not when Mum wanted to start wedding planning and Dad wanted her to report back everything she learned about his new mentee. They wouldn’t understand simply dating Nadim with no plans for a future. There was a reason why Reena stopped telling them about her dating life by the time she was twenty-seven—that was the arbitrary age when every conversation about men turned into interrogations about his marriage prospects. Reena couldn’t see where this would go naturally without keeping her families out of it.
“We’ll create a bubble in this place, just you and me,” he said.
She kissed him again, letting herself sink into a replay of their earlier entertainments, but a thought invaded her mind at the same time. As a bread baker, she knew a thing or two about bubbles. The glorious pockets of air captured in bread dough that made it rise were not as delicate as they looked, so long as the dough had a well-developed gluten foundation. Without the foundation, the bubbles would deflate when exposed to the heat of an oven.
She really hoped their foundation was strong enough to keep their bubble.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
After finally emerging from his bedroom, Reena was delighted to learn that her new boyfriend was a pretty good cook. The shrimp was perfectly cooked, even if the pasta wasn’t quite as al dente as she usually preferred. And as she suspected, the bread was good, too. After they ate, they sat on his couch to watch theHome Cooking Showdownvideos together.
They’d seen their own clip, of course. But watching it with the other seven couples’ videos confirmed three things to Reena. One, as a fake couple they had more chemistry than most of these real couples. Two, FoodTV wasn’t kidding when they said they were looking for diverse contestants. There were three same-sex married couples, including one where both men were unfortunately named Jeff, and half the pairings had one or two people of color in them. Reena and Nadim weren’t even the only Muslim pairing. And three, Shayne and Marley were geniuses. Because Nadim and Reena were lit better, dressed better, and edited better than all the other videos.
There was no question in Reena’s mind, with only two contestants being eliminated this round, that they had a definite shot at moving on. And now that they were a real couple instead of a fake one (although not engaged), their chemistry might be even better in round two. Reena could practically hear the crack of the baguette crust she’d be making in that course.
“How do we know how we’re doing?” Nadim asked after they had voted for themselves. Because who else would they vote for?
