Page 80 of Stumped

“Appreciate it.” He helps me to my feet and after making sure she’s really okay, we walk out of her room. “I’m still glad she came,” he says as we step out onto the veranda.

“It’s going to be awkward and weird for a bit, but I think they’ll be okay.”

“About time someone putPatriciain his place,” a lilting voice says and I look over my shoulder to smile at Elias’s sister. Even though I’ve only seen one photograph of her, she’s hard to forget. A striking woman, she’s tall and lean with clear brown skin and dark hair in a shaggy pixie cut. Her big eyes are enchanting and when her lips curve into a smile, I realise I’ve been staring too long.

“Nina, right?”

“The one and only. I’m glad despite what the tabloids originally said about you probably being a bad influence, you’re the complete opposite.”

I lift a shoulder in a shrug and smirk. “I tried to steer your brother in the wrong direction a few times. He’s difficult to trick.”

“He’s the goody-two-shoes of the family, but getting in more trouble than I expected.”

“I like taking risks now,” he replies and gives his sister a hug. “Flight and room okay?”

“Yes and yes, great view as always. And that bed? Holy shit, what do they stuff the mattresses with?”

“Clouds,” I reply and she points at me with a wide grin.

“I also wanted to apologise on behalf of my bonehead big brother for whatever trauma he caused your friend,” Nina offers.

“My cousin, actually. And I’m starting to think it wasn’t intentional trauma, a lot of miscommunication.”

“Ah, adulting,” she says with a dramatic tone and I chuckle as she waves and walks away.

“What was in the water your mother was drinking, because three of you being this attractive is rude and unfair.”

Elias snorts, tugging me into his side. “It’s all good genetics, baby.”

Poking his stomach, I laugh. We look out at his friends setting up the grill, soft music floating over. “You should go check on your brother.”

“He’ll be fine.”

“Elias.” He sighs and nods. “If Tamara is shaken up, I bet he’s in the same boat.”

“Probably. You’ll be okay?”

Nodding, I extract myself from his grip. “I know we said no phones, but I’m gonna check in with my lawyer about the contract.”

“Please don’t stress about this. I’ll speak to Dhruv when I see him in Ahmedabad.”

I cup his jaw and stretch up to kiss him. “Until then, I want to make sure we’re protected, okay?”

He hums against my mouth and gives my ass a squeeze. I push him away, laughing as he wiggles his eyebrows and walks backwards out of sight. Sighing softly, I head up to our bedroom and pull out my phone. Zahira is a partner at a prestigious women-owned law firm in Chennai and when I started Lucky Shot, we met at a fundraiser and have been working together since.

“Hey, Vera. Is everything okay?”

I wince, because I didn’t consider the time when getting in touch. “I’m so sorry, I should have texted or emailed. I know this isn’t officially office hours.”

“You’re paying me a retainer, Vee. Office hours are whenever you need my help. What’s up?”

“Remember the Renegades contract we went through a few months ago? Was there anything in there about relationships or romance or whatever the terminology is?”

There’s some rustling and a young voice asking for something before Zahira speaks. “Not that I recall. I can go through it in the morning. Why?”

“I’m dating one of the players and his agent says it might be a conflict. But,” I groan and shake my head, “I didn’t know he was a player until after we were dating?”

Technically that’s not true, but we’d already slept together once before signing the contract and again after finalising our partnership. I know it’s a grey area, but I need to make sure everything is going to be okay.

---