She went a sweet, rosy red and he laughed, enjoying embarrassing her, her sweet, quiet, innocence an absolute joy to witness. A second later, the t-shirt hit him square in the laughing face. He yanked it off to see her glorious, gorgeous naked body on full display. His laughter disappeared in a second. Daksh dropped the phone and stalked towards her.
With a squeal of laughter, she disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door in his face.
“Open the door, Mouse,” he demanded, one hand resting on the door, palm flat.
“Get me my breakfast,” she tossed back, “and maybe I’ll let you have me for dessert.”
With a growl, he went back to ordering breakfast as she took her own sweet time in the bathroom. He heard the shower turn on and resigned himself to a long wait. He went back to working on his emails, one eye tuned to the bathroom door. The minute she came out…The door began to open and he put his laptop aside, getting ready to pounce when the room’s bell rang. Cockblocked by room service! Daksh groaned, slowly going to stand.
“I’ll get it,” Vedika said, looking fresh and rosy from her hot shower. She was wrapped in the hotel robe, her wet hair slicked back from her face and trailing down to her shoulders. She looked like a precious treasure and one he couldn’t wait to unwrap the minute the damn server left. He straightened, clearing out the table so the server could set the heavy tray down. And then he heard a voice that chilled his blood.
“Well, hello dear,” Prasun Mathur drawled, from his spot by the door, in front of a frozen Vedika. “What a pleasant surprise.”
CHAPTER 39
VEDIKA
Vedika’s heartstuttered in her chest as she met Prasun Mathur’s cold, hard eyes.
She’d known…she’d always known that one day she’d have to come face to face with Daksh’s family. But she just hadn’t anticipated that day to be today. Her face flamed as she realised she was wearing nothing but a bathrobe and answering the door to his son’s hotel room.
Not the son she’d been engaged to. The other one.
“Dad.” Daksh appeared behind her, his voice as cold and glacial. She felt rather than saw him come to stand by her side. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to talk to you, to convince you, to help the family out.” Prasun’s gleeful eyes scanned Vedika’s face leaving her feeling soiled and cheap. “But I guess I didn’t have to,” he murmured. “You did it anyway.” He looked away from Vedika and directly at Daksh. “We’re even. All your debts are paid.”
Vedika stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
Prasun smiled, condescension dripping from his pores but when he spoke, all he said was, “I’ll leave the two of you to talk.”
And then, he turned on his heel and left. Vedika’s gaze followed his stiff back as it disappeared down the corridor. Daksh’s long arm appeared in her peripheral vision as he shut the door, cutting off her line of sight.
Vedika stared at the dark wood of the closed hotel room door. “What did he mean by that, Daksh?”
He placed a calming hand on her shoulder. “Mouse, listen-“
“No,” she whirled to face him, anxiety and pain flaring in a toxic mess inside her. “Don’t patronise me.” She shook her head as she backed away from him. “Answer me.”
“I’m trying to,” he told her, his voice calm and level but his eyes spoke of a panic as old as time itself. “Just sit down. Let’s have breakfast and I’ll explain.”
“Explain what?”
“It’s not what you think.” He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at it like it would help make sense of his thoughts.
“Do you know what I think?” she asked, her voice chilly. “I have a couple of options. One is that you seduced me as revenge for your brother’s current predicament. Two is that you figured one member of the Mathur family, it didn’t matter which one, should cash the Thakkar cheque.”
A tense, fraught silence fell as they stared at each other, pain and anger mingling like an unexploded bomb between them.
“My brother’s predicament, as you put it, is entirely his fault,” he said finally, his voice deathly quiet. “I don’t see why anyone,especially I, would want revenge. As for the Thakkar cheque,” he walked over, cupped her face, his fingers tightening when she flinched away from him, “I couldn’t give a flying fuck. I swear to God, life would be a lot easier for us if youweren’ta Thakkar. And last but not the least, you came to me. I didn’t pursue you, Vedika. You. Came. To. Me.”
“What. Was. Your. Father. Talking. About?” she gritted out.
“He found out we were attracted to each other and wanted me to use it. He wanted me to do what Ashish didn’t manage to. He wanted me to seal the deal.”
Devastation flooded her as she looked at Daksh. How could she have gone so wrong? How couldeverythinghave gone so wrong?
“What was he talking about when he mentioned your debts?”
