“I’m…” her breath left her in a whoosh, the soft exhale shaky. “embarrassed,” she said finally.
“Why?” Daksh tipped her chin up forcing her to meet his eyes.
“Why?”
“Yes, why? What have you got to be embarrassed about?”
“I molested you!” she shouted, the words echoing around the large room, rebounding towards his shocked ears.
“You what?” Dumbfounded, Daksh stared at her.
“I am so sorry!” she wailed. “I groped you and I kissed you and,” she dropped her face into her hands, “I LICKED you. Without your consent.” The last three words were a horrified whisper.
“It wasn’t me!” Vedika said now, her words tumbling over one another. “It was ‘Not Vedika’.”
“Your alter ego?” he asked, amusement trickling through him. “The impossibly sexy one?”
She dropped her hands and glared at him. “Don’t mock me!”
“You were, you know,” he murmured, “impossibly sexy. In that hot as fuck haircut, the fuck me dress, dancing on the bar counter.”
A strangled moan escaped her. “It wasn’t me. I was just trying to be anybody but myself for one day. That’s all I wanted. One day.And then, I made the mistake of adding alcohol. I don’t normally drink alcohol.”
“You don’t say,” he murmured, biting back a smile. “I did Goa with you. I know exactly how much alcohol you drink, or rather don’t drink, even on vacation. I’ll have you know, Mouse, that no one does Goa like you. No one.”
Vedika glared at him. “Stop it. I know I’m not a fun train.”
His smile gentled. “You’ve had a hard, few days. If I had to count the number of days I ended up shit faced drunk because of my hard days, we’d run out of time and I don’t want that.”
Her eyes widened slightly, something in his tone catching her attention. “Don’t want to run out of time?” she asked.
“Yeah, because there’s something more important I want to tell you.” He dipped his head to whisper in her ears. His breath feathered over the nape of her neck, disturbing the short, fine hair there. The warmth of her body filtered through to his and he struggled to hold onto his train of thought.
“What?” she asked, her voice a husky gasp.
Daksh Mathur would never know if this single decision would make or break him…Either way, it would define his very existence.
He took a deep breath, letting the sweet fragrance that was all her fill his senses and said, “You have my consent, Vedika. For anything and everything you’d like to do with me, to me, for me…Name it and it’s yours.”
CHAPTER 33
VEDIKA
She stared up at him,eyes wide, pulse hammering in her throat. “Daksh,” she breathed.
He dipped his head, his lips coming within an inch of hers when the door to the living room banged open.
“We’re here,” Vikram announced, marching into the large hall. She jumped, trying to back away from Daksh but the arm he had around her waist tightened. He smiled, a crooked, lopsided grin, before, deliberately, slowly, releasing her and taking a step back.
“You don’t dim your light for anyone,” he murmured, before turning away from her.
She blinked at his back as her brother and cousins streamed into the room, a raucous, boisterous bunch. Kimi winked at her even as she ogled Daksh’s butt as he turned to talk to Kabir, Advik and Vikram. A second later, Rehaan burst into the room like a tornado, Tani following him, rolling her eyes. Kabir reached over to draw her into a hug and she kissed his cheek gently in response. Vedika grinned as Rehaan pulled a startled Daksh into a bro hug, introducing himself by shouting something directly into his ear.
The parents followed shortly after, smiling and introducing themselves to Daksh. Her father was the only one who glowered and gave him a curt nod before stalking over to the bar. Vedika rolled her eyes in Aakash’s direction and he turned his back on her in response.
“Sweet Lord, your mother wasn’t kidding,” Aayushi Bua came to stand beside her. “That man’s looks are unreal.”
Vedika rolled her eyes but she was smiling.
