He turned and saw her framed in the doorway to the powder room that was at the end of the hall. Her curls tumbled around her little, pixie face in wild abandon. She was wearing ripped jeans and a tank that was crumpled and riding up, exposing the pale skin of her stomach. But it was only when she looked up at him, met his gaze, that the fire in his chest banked.
“You’re here,” she said, a wondering note in her voice, like she couldn’t believe he was. His stupid heart did a slow roll in his chest.
“Tani, are you okay?” he asked, striding over to her. His hand raised to touch her but then curled into a fist in the air and fell back to his side. “Our mothers were worried. You weren’t taking their calls and they said you were not making sense when you called before that.”
“Of course she’s okay,” Jay answered from somewhere behind him. “Why wouldn’t she be? We’re celebrating the happiest day of our lives.”
Kabir kept his gaze on Tani’s. Her wide, hazel coloured eyes looked soft and unfocused.
“You’re here,” she whispered again.
What the fuck? Was she drunk? Or –
“What is she on?” He turned on Jay, fury riding him like a demon.
“Happiness.” Jay grinned, his smile triumphant as he faced Kabir. “And champagne, of course.”
Kabir didn’t answer. Behind him, Tani shifted, coming closer. She wrapped her arms around his waist, her cheek coming torest between his shoulder blades. She inhaled deeply, kissed his back and murmured,again, “You’re here.”
Kabir tensed, his hands clenching to fists at his side. The demon inside him purred at her touch.
Jay’s smile dropped a little as he looked at Tani’s arms around Kabir’s waist. “Aren’t you going to congratulate us, Bro,” he asked, flashing a hard, brittle smile. “After all, we just got engaged.”
---***---
Tanisha Bakshi woke the next morning feeling like gremlins were demolishing the inside of her brain, banging away at her skull. What the hell had happened? She cranked one eyelid open and took a bleary survey of her flat. Oh good, whatever had gone down last night, at least she’d made it home.
She groaned and turned over on her side, snuggling deeper into her comforter. A deep sigh escaped her as her tired, aching body melted into the ridiculously comfortable bed her father had got her on his last trip out to New York. He’d taken one look at her modular, laminated bedframe and springy mattress and shaken his head.
“No,” he’d said succinctly before disappearing for the day and arriving with a moving van full of brand new luxury furniture.
“Pa!” Tani had protested. “I want to do this my way. I’ll buy a new bed when I can afford it on my pay cheque.”
“No daughter of mine is sleeping on a piece of cardboard masquerading as a bed.” Her father had fixed a ferocious glare at her. And Karam Bakshi’s glare was legendary. Tani’s lips curvedat the memory, even as she mentally thanked her father for the bed he’d bought her. It felt like she was sinking into a cloud with very firm support for her spine.
The door to her bedroom clicked open and she groaned again, burying her face into her pillow. She wasn’t in the mood for Jay right now. Off late she wasn’t in the mood for Jay at any time of the day or night.
“Jay,” she snapped now, one hand bracing her aching head. “What the hell did you give me to drink last night?”
“That’s what I’d like to know too.” The deep, raspy voice had her freezing in her bed, the comforter still pulled over her head, a handy cocoon.
“Kabs?” she asked cautiously, slowly emerging from the depths of her comforter.
“Tani?” he mimicked her, his low voice a mocking drawl that had her clenching her thighs together.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Tani sat up in bed and gaped at him. “And where is your shirt?”
Kabir Kashyap, the broody bad boy of rock, was standing in her bedroom wearing jeans and nothing else. Low waist jeans with the top button open, she noted, her body giving another involuntary shiver. This jeans were hanging on to his lean hips with a hope and a prayer.
Speaking of hope, something a little unbelievable and a lot wonderful dawned on her. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “Did we…” Her voice cracked. She swallowed hard, firmed it and asked, “Did we spend the night together? Did we-”
“What?” Kabir jolted like she’d prodded him with a live, electric wire. “NO!”
Okay…the horror in his voice was totally unnecessary, she thought disgruntledly.
“Then what the hell are you doing in my bedroom, half naked?” Tani pushed the comforter aside and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She hung her head, cradling it in her hands as the pounding in her temples intensified.
“We’ll get to that in a minute,” he said, glaring at her. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorframe, watching her.
