Detached

CHAPTER 51

*MEERA'S POINT OF VIEW*

He laughed and pulled me closer to his side, winding his arm around me securely. “Seriously though, I actually I don’t mind what we do now. How about we go to the races or something?” he suggested.

My heart leapt in my chest. I could barely suppress my girly giggle of delight. “The races? Really? That’d be great!” I enthused, bouncing on the spot with excitement.

“It’s horse racing,” Riyansh mumbled apologetically.

My excitement jumped up another level. “Well that’s even better. I’ve never been!”

Riyansh grinned and pulled me into his embrace, our chests pressed together. “You’re so very easy to please,” he whispered, looking at me gratefully.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck, going up on tiptoes and pressing my lips to his again softly, just once before pulling back. He made a growling sound in the back of his throat before his lips claimed mine in a scorching kiss that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“Holy fuck, would you two cut that out? Jeez, I’m all for a live porn show but damn,” Jush scolded.

Riyansh groaned and pulled his mouth from mine, not letting me pull away from him as he scowled at his best friend. “I hate you,” he grumbled.

The boys behind me laughed. “You love me, Bhutt, don’t even try to deny it,” Jush joked. “So, are we invited to the races or what?”

Riyansh sighed and rested his chin on my shoulder. “Yeah sure, if you want to.”

  

Three hours later, and collectively a couple of hundred bucks down, we were all crammed into Riyansh’s lounge eating Chinese takeout while the boys argued over the Game. I’d had a fantastic day with them, and even losing on the races didn’t put a dampener on the day. Pune was, so far, surpassing my expectations. I loved it here.

As I sat there watching him quietly, seeing him fool around with his friends, laughing and joking, I realised that my insides felt a little weird. Riyansh Bhutt actually frightened me witless. I cared about him way too much for my own good. Seeing him happy seemed to make me happy, and that wasn’t a good thing in my book. I just loved having him in my life. I was starting to depend on him too much already. I had no idea what I was going to do when his assignment was over. I had no idea how I would cope without seeing his smile or hearing his voice. I was already in too deep.

Forcing my eyes away from him, I looked up at the clock. It was almost nine in the evening. They had all arranged to go to some bar at ten, so I knew it was probably time for me to start getting ready for that.

“I’m gonna go get dressed,” I announced, standing up and stepping over Varun, who was sprawled out on the floor, his eyes glued to the TV.

Rahul frowned and pouted. “I should probably go too,” he agreed, looking at the controller in his hand and frowning as if he didn’t want to leave it.

I smiled and left them to it, heading in for a quick shower but being careful not to wet my hair. As I stood in front of Riyansh’s closet, deciding what to wear for the night, I felt the excitement bubbling up in the pit of my stomach. I was actually genuinely looking forward to going out tonight, and I had a plan to finally see Riyansh drunk. He didn’t know yet, of course, but I’d use bribes if necessary to get him to have a few drinks with me on his birthday.

After pulling on a pair of black shorts and a pink short-sleeve top with pink heels to match, I sat on the bed and started to curl my hair. Just as I was finishing up, Riyansh came in with a towel wrapped around his waist and water glistening off of his well-sculpted chest.