“Yes, I do mind.”
“Hey, what’s going on over here?” Rohan slipped through and landed an arm around Reema’s shaking shoulder.
“This is important, so please, give us some space,” Reema said to Kaajal.
“Um. Okay,” Kaajal mumbled and stepped away as I told her, “I’ll talk to you later.”
She barely nodded. I felt awful until she daringly looked at me and raised her chin, her voice having lost its quiver, and said, “Call me for that coffee.” With a wink at me and a glaring scowl at Reema, she meandered away.
“I’m not quite sure I know what just happened,” I muttered.
“Why did you treat Kaajal like that? What did she do?” Rohan asked Reema.
“She’s trying to get in between Jay and Liya,” Reema responded.
I choked out, “What? No, no, no. You have it all wrong. There’s nothing between us, with either woman.”
“Wait a minute. You asked us to go to bat for you,” Reema said.
“And thank you for doing that, but Liya made it perfectly clear that she’s not emotionally available for anyone. There’s no reason to keep trying, not when she puts up a fight every step of the way.”
“Did something happen, then? She stopped talking to us a few days ago,” Reema said, worry creasing her brow.
“Our second and last date. She ended it. Good run, though,” I added dryly.
“She’s gone MIA since,” Sana added softly.
I exhaled a rough breath and dragged a hand down my face. “Are you making this sound worse than what it is?”
They shook their heads.
“Liya never shuts down,” Rohan confirmed.
I shook my head. “What do you want me to do about it? She doesn’t talk to me unless she’s spitting fire.”
“She still goes to work?” Reema asked.
“That’s all she does.”
“Okay, then. Hit her where she can’t run.”
“Why would I want to take part in this? She made it clear she wants nothing to do with me.”
“Because you broke her,” Sana said.
My heart shattered at the accusation, at just knowing that Liya was in a bad place. “No. I absolutely did nothing to physically or emotionally hurt her. I wouldn’t do that.”
“But you must’ve gotten to her. No guy has ever made her close up.”
I hated to think that I had had anything to do with harming Liya. How could anything ever get to her, pry through her deftly constructed layers? But if I had something to do with her current state, then how could I leave it alone?
I marched across the fifth floor, earning a few curious looks from passersby and a haggard-looking Wendy. I waved and walked right past her into Liya’s office as I tugged on my suit jacket. All I had to do was ask a few direct questions and I’d know for certain if I had hurt her in any way.
That was the plan. In and out. But the moment I registered Liya bent over her desk, I halted dead in my tracks. She leaned over her chair and read files, her blouse sagging in the middle but any cleavage masked by a cascade of black waves. She tugged on her lower lip with her teeth and tapped the desk while humming.
A grin spread across my lips. Look at her, all sexy and hardworking.
I stopped in front of her desk. She stopped humming and peered up at me.
“Hello,” I said.
She straightened up. “What are you doing here?”
“Do you know how concerned your friends are about you?” I asked.
She furrowed her brows. “I’m busy. They know that.”
“They think you’re avoiding them.”
She rolled her eyes. “So they sent you? Talk about a fan club, Jay. You’ve got all the ladies in your court.”
“Look, I’m going to be direct, and I’d appreciate some directness in return.”
“Sure.”
“Did I hurt you?” I asked gently.
She paused. “No.”
“Do I have anything to do with your current reclusiveness?”
“You’re quite full of yourself.” She scoffed. I saw right through her, though. Her walls were coming back up.
“Directness, Liya. Your friends seem to think this is the case.”
She looked skyward, her lips puckered—her telltale sign that she was about to give me some serious, undeserved attitude in a circumvented response.
“Don’t do that,” I stopped her.
“What?” she asked.
“Whatever you’re about to say that is not an answer.”
She walked around the desk and stood toe-to-toe with me. She smelled of flowers and spice and a certain sweetness that my tongue tingled to taste. Despite how much we fought, my body always responded to her. She woke me up. I came to life. My heart beat as if it had never beat before. My pulse sizzled, my veins throbbed, my gut tightened.
And it was vexing—absolutely, insanely vexing. I hated it.
She said, “I will speak with my friends. You don’t have to worry about me, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t come here outside of work-related issues.”
“Don’t worry. With lawsuits in full force, you won’t have to see me much longer. But I came because I was concerned.”
“You’re like a puppy.”
I scoffed and looked at my watch. “This puppy has a date in twenty minutes.”
“Sure you do.”
“Across the street at the café with Kaajal.”
Her jaw clenched.
“If you feel the need to see proof, drop by,” I said and left.
Liya didn’t snoop around, and that disappointed me. Despite the accomplished and well-respected Kaajal in front of me, who didn’t hide herself and offered her entire background story, I found myself scouring the café for Liya.
The coffee date came and went, as boring and disenchanting as I’d presumed it would be.
Every day afterward, I fought the overpowering desire to go to Liya’s office with breakfast, to stay late with her. When we had to take up space in the same room during the weekly meeting, she was more distant than ever.
Every time she walked by, she did so with her head held high and her gaze always ahead. We never made eye contact, but her flowery perfume lingered long after she’d walked past. The scent took me back to all those non-dates, all those moments where we’d been around each other and where she had lowered her guard even the slightest.
And that made me miss her even more. I found myself glancing at her in passing or at meetings, willing her to smile or laugh, to see that shimmer in her eyes, to hear her voice again. I even found myself wanting to argue with her. Anything.
I left my tie and jacket in the car and headed up to her tenth-floor apartment. She didn’t answer after several knocks, or even after a few texts. But her gray Lexus was in the parking lot and light glowed through her closed curtains.
I paced the hallway. Was this stalking? Was I going too far? Would she think I was off my hinges?
I sighed. Well, the truth was…I needed to tell her the truth.
The front door finally opened, very quietly, as Liya ducked out of her place in a short, tight, cherry-red dress with shoes and lips to match.
Those lips. Good lord.