Detached

CHAPTER 66

*MEERA'S POINT OF VIEW*

When my alarm sounded in the morning, I cracked my eyes open, wincing as the light from the window made my eyes sting. I squeezed my eyes closed again and rolled over to cuddle into Riyansh; I was actually pretty surprised he wasn’t all over me already. I rolled onto his side of the bed, instantly noticing that the sheets were cold against my skin. I pushed myself up, frowning at the empty space beside me.

The alarm was still beeping loudly, so I turned it off, wincing because I was still tired and didn’t want to go to university today. My heart sank when I remembered that this was the first day since the party so the cat would be out of the bag about who I was now. Things were going to change today, no doubt.

After slipping on a bath robe, I headed out of the room and made my way to the kitchen, needing a strong coffee. My eyes settled on Riyansh sitting there with both Dean and Pratik. I frowned as I poked Pratik in the back as I walked past. “Shouldn’t you be in bed? Don’t night shift workers usually sleep during the day?” I teased.

“Hey, Anna. Yeah I should, but my boss is a real hard ass,” Pratik answered jokingly, motioning towards Riyansh who was sitting there with a pencil and paper and a stack of notes and diagrams in front of him.

I waved my hand dismissively. “Don’t listen to him, he’s a pussy cat. Just go to bed.”

Pratik laughed, and Riyansh rolled his eyes. “We’re just going over some stuff for today as a precaution,” Riyansh explained.

I had to scoff at that. “Just chill, will you? Everything’s fine. Jeez, you’re going to work these two to death. Nothing’s going to happen. Maybe I’ll have a couple more people talk to me today, or maybe they’ll all avoid me like the plague. Nothing to be dramatic over,” I shrugged, genuinely not knowing what to expect.

Riyansh cleared his throat loudly and turned back to Pratik and Dean. “Ignore the interruption,” he stated, waving dismissively at me.

I laughed incredulously. “Interruption? Wow, rude much?”

A smile twitched at the corner of his lips as he carried on planning with the agents, obviously trying to ignore me and not react.

“Anyone want coffee? I’m making eggs if there are any takers,” I smiled wickedly as I interrupted again on purpose.

“No thanks. We’re working,” Riyansh replied tersely before the other two could answer.

I grinned. Wow, serious Riyansh is here today! I waited for him to start talking again before I spoke, “Orange juice, Dean?”

Riyansh sighed dramatically. “Seriously, Meera, are you trying to annoy me?” he asked, raising one eyebrow in warning.

I nodded, smiling sweetly. The idea of Riyansh getting annoyed with me was actually pretty funny; I didn’t even think he would. I could see Dean and Pratik trying to hide their smiles. Riyansh shook his head at me, obviously trying terribly hard not to smile and turned back to them, starting to plan again.

“Parathas anyone?” I asked, laughing wickedly.

Riyansh jumped out of his chair so fast that I barely saw him move. He grabbed me from behind, wrapping one arm tightly around my waist, pinning my arms to my sides and covering my mouth with his other hand. I laughed against his hand as he shushed me and pinned my body against his so I couldn’t move.

“Right, we’re done now anyway but just to recap, Pratik, you’ll come meet us at the end of school. Dean will move a little closer, and if I call, then you’ll adopt near guard position and ignore me completely,” Riyansh ordered. I squirmed in place as I started to find it incredibly sexy the way Dean and Pratik were hanging on Riyansh’s every word. I could see the respect for him and it made me practically overflow with pride. “I’ve already spoken to the university office this morning and told them that additional arrangements may need to be taken, and they were fine with it. There should be no problems, it’s just business as usual, but Dean can show his presence from now on seeing as everyone will expect Meera to have a guard with her now.” His grip loosened slightly around my waist, but I didn’t move away from him, I liked having him this close; I shifted my weight to my other leg and discreetly ground my ass across his crotch. His arm immediately tightened back up again, pinning me against him. “If there are any problems at all, I need to maintain cover, so you take her away. Don’t wait for me to make the first move, I’ll only move if I have to because I need to look like a boyfriend and not an agent. Right, well, Pratik, you’d better go get some sleep,” he said sternly.