Page 151 of One Hellish Desire

“Great. Good work, Darcy.”

“Thank you, Ma’am. But be careful. He’s powerful and…”

“Leave it to me.”

I head to the exit. Whoever this man is, he will end up beaten tonight if he doesn’t apologize. I don’t mind men flirting, but there are limits. If Vikram was here today, he’d be worse to him than I plan to be.

I reach the third floor and barge into the VIP booth where someone is sitting, facing the glass wall, which overlooks another party below.

“How dare you text those messages to me? You know whose wife I am?

“My wife,” he says, swirling his chair. I see his face. A shock sweeps through me. It’s my husband.

“What the!” I mouth, but words fail me. He’s here? Really here? Am I hallucinating?

Vikram takes his time to enjoy my outfit, his gaze burning every inch of my skin. I press my feet together as a surge of awkwardness and excitement gushes through me. I finally get to see him, but there are hundreds of questions running through my mind, waiting for his honest answers. Vikram rises to his feet and strides toward me.

“That’s one heck of a dress, Mrs. Maahi Singh Grover. Far less than what I had imagined. I didn’t know my wife had a fetish for such western outfits.”

His fingertips brush across my cheeks, down my throat.

“You’re blushing,” he says.

I hold his hand, taking a few seconds to absorb the fact that he’s here and we’re seeing each other after seven weeks.

“You... you sent me those messages from that unknown number?” I ask.

He nods. “Each one of them. To screw with your mind. I wanted to surprise you here, in this VIP booth. With me. Alone.”

He’s about to grab me for a hug, but I push him hard.

“How could you do this? I almost thought some stranger was texting me, and I was going to beat him up if he didn’t apologize.”

“Good. I want you to do that if it happens in the future. But I didn’t like you asking Darcy not to keep me in the loop. What was that for?”

Now it's my turn to feel awkward. Vikram gently grabs my jaw.

“Two things, Cub. Don’t hide anything from me, and never believe the people I work with will keep such things hidden from me either. They know who they have to deal with if they don’t obey my orders.”

I swallow painfully.

“While I have a lot to teach you on those fronts, I’ll ignore it for now to kiss you first. I’ve been waiting for this ever since you left New York.”

He’s about to kiss me when I rest my palms on his chest.

“What are you doing here, by the way? Shouldn’t you be in New York, earning a few more billions?”

“I came here to earn my wife’s love instead.”

His lopsided smile is enough to turn my legs to jelly. Love? Does he even realize he said that? He pulls me to his body.

“For... for how many days?” I gulp, crossing my fingers, hoping it’s at least a week. I’m not ready to say goodbye again so soon.

“A year…”

“What?” My eyes widen in shock. I pat his chest. “Vikram, stop teasing me. I’m serious.”

“I’m here for a year or even more, with a week off to New York every two months.”

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