Zail rounded the conference table, his eyes bloodshot. “I had no choice. We’ve only had problems since you became COO. I won’t let you make our situation worse.”
The verbal blow was a staggering one. “Are you seriously blaming me for the attempted takeover? I never thought in a million years my brother would screw with our legacy, our family, because he’s angry over a woman.”
“It’s not just a woman!” Zail planted his hands on Ajay’s shoulders and shoved him two steps back. “Sahar is the key to us ever finishing this software.”
Ajay shoved him back. “You’re the head of the department, and it’s your responsibility to figure out how to fill her gap. If you can’t, then maybe someone should take over for you, too, because you’re just as much at fault.”
“I’m not the one who is sleeping with the enemy. And that makes me wonder how soon you’ll drive the company into the ground, because you just don’t have what it takes.”
The leash on Ajay’s anger snapped and he shoved Zail into the table. “Newsflash, dickhead. Sahar still hasn’t been cleared yet, so if you think I’m sleeping with the enemy, then so the fuck are you.”
Zail roared and tackled Ajay, and they both slammed against the wall. Conference chairs shot in every direction, while the awards on the walls rattled from the sheer force of impact.
His brother was built like a brick wall, Ajay thought as he took a punch to the gut. The pain was momentarily blinding, but he had adrenaline pumping through his body.
He did not have to defend himself to anyone, especially the little kid who used to look up to him and was now trying to undermine him in every way possible.
Ajay pulled his fist back and plowed it into his brother’s face. Zail’s head snapped back, then he retaliated by getting in a quick jab. Ajay tasted the blood, even as he shoved Zail against the windows. They rattled as the two men rolled on the floor.
Then someone looped an arm around Ajay’s neck and yanked him back. Zail was pulled out of his hold at the same time.
“Knock it off!” Hem snapped.
“Everyone can hear you two at it,” Bhram said sharply. “You’re both being bloody idiots right now. We’re not twelve anymore, dammit. You can’t punch each other to solve your issues.”
Ajay shrugged off his cousin’s hold and backed up. He wiped at the trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth, just as Zail stumbled away from Hem, cradling his cheekbone.
The quiet was as sharp as the sound of a gunshot. Zail didn’t bother waiting to talk about what happened. He rounded the conference table, giving Ajay plenty of room, and stormed out.
“What happened?” Hem asked as the door slammed.
Ajay waited until he caught his breath. “Zail brought in Uncle Frankie to pressure me into stopping the acquisition. With the board, and his vote, I think Zail expected me to give up Raj’s company so I could be CEO. It didn’t happen that way. Frankie started talking about how I wasn’t fit for CEO regardless of the acquisition and that he’s going to try to bring someone else in for the job.”
“Bullshit,” Hem and Bhram said at the same time.
“Exactly.”
“You have to resolve this soon, Ajay,” Hem said. “Otherwise it’s going to get uglier than it already is.”
“Don’t I know it.” He wanted to go home, to go to Raj’s house. But after the scene he’d just caused, he’d only make things worse by leaving. He had an office to run and people who depended on him. He’d do what he had to so that Bharat continued to rise.
“I’ll see you two later,” he said. He straightened his sleeves and ran his fingers through his hair. “I have meetings.” He turned on his heel and strode back to his office.
Ajay buried himself in work, but nothing he did took the edge off. His cousin and brother gave him a wide berth, and Rafael kept people away. He made one appearance in the break room on his floor to get himself some coffee, but he left when someone asked him if he needed ice for his bruised lip.
When he received an email request from Frankie and a few of the other board members to move up the end-of-year meeting, he shut down his computer and texted Raj.
AJAY: Where are you?
RAJ: Just got home with Khunda. Why?
AJAY: Your schedule clear tonight?
RAJ: I’ve just cleared it. See you soon.
When Ajay arrived at Raj’s brownstone, he got out of the car, well aware that he needed to purge his anger somehow before he could have a civilized discussion and evening.
He knocked, and when the woman who occupied so much of his thoughts opened her door, his anger morphed into bright, hot lust. Light filtered into the foyer and glinted along the edges of her hair. Her mouth was painted petal pink, and her feet were bare.
“Rafael called,” she said in greeting. “I heard you had a day.”
“Where is Khunda?”
“With Kaka. He took my baby for the night so you can have my full attention.”
“Good,” Ajay said. Then leaned down and scooped her up.
Raj looped her arms around his neck and raised a brow in that elegant, beautiful, regal way of hers. “Well, that’s one way to deal with work tension.”
He kicked her door closed behind him and waited for her to lock it before carrying her upstairs. Her short, manicured nails lightly scraped through his hair and across his scalp, igniting his nerve endings.
He entered her bedroom, kicked off his shoes, and laid her down on the bed. “You know what I realized?”
“Nope,” she said as she leaned back on her elbows. “Tell me.”
“That we haven’t gone slow, and I haven’t given you the attention that you deserve.” He removed his coat, his tie, his cufflinks, and then began unbuttoning his shirt.
She reached for the button of her jeans, but he shot her a glare that had her freezing. “That’s for me to do,” he said.
He stood in boxers, enjoying the way her eyes raked over his chest. After giving her another moment to appreciate him, he gripped her by the hips and scooted her farther up on the bed. The way that she spread her hair out and lay there waiting had Ajay instantly hard.
He picked up one foot at time, delighting in the peach nail polish on her toes, and kissed her ankles. “You have so many secret spots. Remember what I said?”
“That my secrets are safe with you,” she said with a sigh.
“That’s right.”
He stroked up her legs and moved so that he was able to kneel at her side and unbutton her waistband. Her breath hitched and he took a moment to kiss the slope of her stomach, nuzzling her there. Then, when he wanted more, he pulled her pants down, touching, licking, nipping, and kissing his way over every exposed inch.
Ajay purposely bypassed her beautiful plump pussy and smiled at Raj’s sound of distress.
“What’s that?”
“Too. Slow.”
“No, I don’t think so. I know my woman prefers fast, hard sex. I know she likes to order me to do things using her dirty words. But sometimes she needs to be worshipped like a goddess, too. It’s only right.”
He freed her legs, pushing her pants off the edge of the bed, then stroked up and under her thin cashmere sweater. She was wearing strings and skin. Her bra was barely there, and Ajay went a little delirious with the sensation. He fixed his mouth to hers, then reached up to squeeze her chin when she tried to rush him. He didn’t want to be rushed. He wanted every moment of this to be etched in his mind.