Page 25 of Half-Hearted
“Alexis, I’m telling you, that man has it bad. It’s excruciatingly obvious, and I am somewhat concerned about your inability to see it.”
“You’re wrong,” I insisted.
“He looks positively rabid at the sight of the two of us together, practically frothing at the mouth. You’re tormenting the poor man. If you would justlook—”
“Raj, he’s not interested. At all. I all but threw myself at him. Twice. And he rejected me…twice,” I said bitterly.
He didn’t believe me from the looks of it, not even a little. “You’re confident?” It was more of a tease, less of a question.
“Yes.”
He shrugged, a mischievous glint crinkling the corners of his generously lashed, mossy-green eyes. “Confident enough to make a wager?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn’t like that look. It reeked of trouble.
“I’ll sweeten the deal for you,” he crooned softly, moving somewhat closer to me. “Let’s say… if I win, I get to leave and enjoy a rare evening off doing absolutely nothing but drinking a bottle of pinot and reading a book.”
“Absolutelynot!” I hissed. How embarrassing would it be if my date ditched me before the party was over? The whole point of bringing him here was to save face. Also, he was my ride.
“—but ifyouwin,” he went on, placing a gentle hand on my lower back, “I’ll agree to accompany you to as many other events as you’d like for the remainder of the year.”
Oh. Oh, that could be useful. The IOU I’d cashed in for his attendance was a onetime thing, and I was already kind of stressing about…wait. “What are you doing?” I asked suspiciously. Raj had started to move closer to me, arm fully snaked around my waist.
“Nothing of note. What do you say, Miss Alexis? Do we have a deal?”
“Fine. Or, uh, maybe. Tell me the plan first.”
He smirked. “What’s the fun in that?”
Then he started to lean down.
I pressed two palms to his chest and slighted away from him as subtly as I could without garnering a bunch of unwanted attention. “Rajesh,” I sneered through gritted teeth.
“Relax. I’m not going to kiss you,” he murmured quietly. All the while, his face continued to be way too close to my face. “Because the man with the pretty bones isn’t… going… to… let—”
Someone cleared their throat.
Raj straightened with a devilish little smirk. “Oh. Hello again,” he chirped, keeping his arm unnecessarily linked around my waist.
My heart bounced, and I did my best to keep my eyes averted, but Joel’s presence was so looming that I unintentionally looked up and…
Oh.
I blinked. He was looking at me, eyes burning, arms crossed, and jaw set so tight it was straining random muscles in his forehead.
Raj pulled me to him, latching my hip to his. And I swear, the whole left side of Joel’s face twitched. It was… weird. He was acting weird. Almost like he was jealous.
“I was just wondering if you needed a top-up of your refreshments or anything.” The gruff wordsbarelychafed out of Joel’s throat before fighting their way through his tight jaw.
“That’s very kind of you,” Raj answered with a friendly smile, entirely unfazed by the literal death glare thrown in his direction as he spoke. “But I unfortunately have to run. Medical emergency, you see—one of my high-risk patients has unexpectedly gone into labor, and things are progressing at a quicker pace than we’d anticipated.”
There was a part of my brain that was telling me I was supposed to stop him from leaving, but my eyes were stuck on Joel and me… why the hell did he look so bothered and crossed about Raj?He’drejectedme.
Twice.
“Alexis,” Rajesh Khatri, Instigator Extraordinaire, purred, all but nuzzling my temple. Joel looked alarmingly close to popping several arteries. “Are you sure you’re alright getting home?”
“I can drive her if she doesn’t have her car,” Joel said without hesitation.
