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Aarush snorted a laugh behind her, and she turned to glare at him.
“You’re talking about work life balance?” he asked her, taking a sip of his drink. “Is your nose growing, Ms. Pinocchio?”
“It grows for lies,” Priyanka retorted haughtily. “Not for hypocrisy,” she muttered under her breath.
Agastya laughed, the burst of amusement lightening the weight that seemed to permanently sit on his chest. God, he loved his sister.
“Veda!” Priyanka hollered in the next second. “Come here.”
God, he hated his sister, Agastya amended in his head. Did she have to do that?
The gentle fragrance of jasmine wrapped around him first and he breathed in deeply, wanting to soak it in before anyone noticed.
“You summoned?” Veda asked, her voice filled with gentle humour and affection for his sister.
“Your fiancé is here,” Priyanka pointed at Agastya.
Veda laughed, a breathy sound that went straight to his groin. “I noticed, Priya. It’s hard to miss a six-foot-tall brooding vortex of stress and worry.”
Agastya slid her a reproving glance and then forgot everything he planned to say.
Her dress, a shimmering silver sheath ended even before it began. Strapless, it hugged her breasts like a lover before skimming down her trim figure to end just below the globes of her butt. She’d teamed it with transparent, crystal studded stilettoes that brought her up to his shoulder height. Perfect kissing height.
He stepped away from her, ignoring the flash of disappointment in her eyes and turned to reply to someone who’d shouted a greeting. Harsh ambled over to join their little group and before long, his younger brother had Veda laughing again.
Was it Agastya’s imagination or did her laughter sound forced to him? And why did he care?
He was surrounded by people within minutes, someone or the other clamouring for his attention but through it all, his every sense stayed attuned to her. She shifted and his body shifted in synchrony. She spoke and he listened, at the cost of conversations he was meant to be part of. She laughed and he lusted…He was so fucked.
Twelve
VEDA
He was wearing jeans. She’d known this man almost all her adult life and she had never, not once, seen him in jeans before today. She didn’t even know he owned a pair. Regular old faded denims with a simple, black collared t-shirt tucked in. It was a boring outfit. Honestly, it was the most predictable, ordinary outfit in the world.
And the arrogant ass had the audacity to look devastatingly gorgeous in it. The well-worn denim hugged the curves of his taut butt and moulded perfectly to his strong thighs. The t-shirt clung to his pecs and biceps like a lover. More like it clung to him the way Veda wanted to.
Harsh wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her closer, “You’re drooling. Get a grip, sister-in-law, before someone notices.”
Veda flushed and looked away from Agastya. Was she really so obvious? And why was it an issue anyway? She was marrying the man, wasn’t she?
“You do know you’re getting a raw deal, right?” Harsh asked now, taking a swig of his drink.
Veda looked up at him, arching an eyebrow. “How?”
“I’m,” Harsh pointed a thumb at his chest. “Clearly the better looking brother. Also, clearly the funnier, not to mention fun one. Why would you marry that?” This time he pointed at Agastya’s back. “When you could marry this.” Back to pointing at himself.
She laughed, enjoying Harsh’s nonsense. He’d always been the most relaxed Kodela sibling. Veda loved Priyanka to death but there was no denying that until her marriage to Aarush, Priyanka had been like a tightly wound spring, ready to launch into orbit at the slightest disruption.
“She wants to marry him because she prefers a man with financial stability, a well-defined career path and a sense of ethics and integrity that even the world acknowledges and respects.”
The cool, cutting voice sliced through their conversation and had Veda spinning on her heel in delight.
“Raashi!” she screamed as she launched herself into her sister’s open arms. Raashi hugged her back just as tightly.
Before either of them could let go of each other, Ram’s arms came around them squishing them closer together. Despite being almost suffocated and strangled by her siblings, Veda had never felt freer and more weightless than she did in that moment.
“Hello.” That familiar, strong, patrician voice broke through. “Raashi right?”
