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“No one told me a Rottweiler would be part of the dowry,” Harsh commented loudly.
“Shut up, Harsh,” Agastya bit out, his gaze lasering into Veda’s.
“I’d bite your balls off if I thought you were going to hurt my sister,” Raashi told him.
“Jeez woman,” Harsh muttered, stepping away from her, looking aghast. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Raashi just turned her back on him, dismissing him. She cupped Veda’s cheeks, forcing her to look away from Agastya and his brutally intense stare.
“What did he say to you when he proposed Akka?”
“Why do you want to know?” Veda asked, a lump rising in her throat.
“Because I want you to hear yourself say it. What. Did. He. Say?”
“He said ‘let’s do this.’” She took a deep, shaky breath and then repeated, “Let’s do this.”
Silence fell over their little group. Veda wrenched herself out of Raashi’s grasp and stumbled back on her heels.
“I’m going to refill my drink,” she said huskily. “You guys catch up.”
She walked past a motionless Harsh who was eyeing Raashi like she was a snake that had just slithered into their midst.
She made it to the bar and signaled to the bartender to bring her another Long Island Iced Tea. The beautifully backlit bar brought some light to the otherwise dimly lit space.
“One Scotch, neat please.”
The sound of his voice right behind her sent a shiver down her spine. Veda didn’t turn to look at him, instead focusing on tracing the detailing in the bar panel with one finger.
“Veda-“
“Not tonight, Agastya. Not now.”
He came to stand closer to her, his front to her back, his large frame enveloping her, wrapping her with a steady heat that didn’t burn but warmed.
Agastya dropped his head to her shoulder, his forehead touching the bare skin there and making her heart tremble. And for an endless, precious moment, he stayed there, silent, motionless and heartbreakingly distant.
So close and yet, so far.
For Veda Gadde, that had always been the truth of her life. Always an option, never a choice. So close and yet, so far.
Thirteen
AGASTYA
His phone rang and Agastya shut his eyes, wishing he could ignore it. But he knew that that wasn’t an option in the life he led.
He straightened, answering the call with a swipe of his thumb. “Hello.” The gruff greeting was received with a volley of complaints.
The bartender brought Veda’s drink over and she collected it, stepping around him to go and rejoin the party.
Instinct had his hand shooting out and closing around her wrist, halting her movement. She glanced at him, startled, her eyes going from his grip on her hand to his face, searching for an explanation and not finding one.
He continued to speak to the aide on the phone and listen to his agitated explanations on the rail project that was missing its deadline for what was the fourth time this year.
“I don’t want to hear excuses,” he growled, his thumb brushing against the soft skin of her wrist, an absentminded caress that had a shiver run through her.
His gaze snagged on the contrast of his darker hand on her paler wrist, feeling every second of the tremor that had run through her.
