The One She Was Warned About by Shoma Narayanan Read Free Book Online Page A

that hunk of a childhood friend of yours? I thought you’d finally seen the light when I saw you go off with him, but here you are back with Siddy-boy.’
    ‘Don’t call him Siddy-boy,’ Shweta said, feeling annoyed with Priya. ‘And I just spent the morning with Nikhil—we had a lot of stuff to catch up on. I didn’t “go off” with him.’
    ‘“Catching up”? How boring,’ Priya said, making a face. ‘If you aren’t interested the least you could do is introduce me to him properly—he’s sooooo hot...’
    ‘And you’re so not available,’ Shweta said, getting even more annoyed. ‘You have a steady boyfriend, remember?’
    ‘Someone’s getting jea-lous,’ Priya carolled, and Shweta longed to hit her.
    ‘Lunch over?’ a familiarly sexy voice asked.
    She turned to almost cannon into Nikhil. ‘Yes,’ she said ungraciously, wondering how much he had heard. Priya had a rather strident voice, and she hadn’t bothered to keep it low.
    ‘Sorry I had to rush off like that,’ he said. ‘Anjalika has this habit of creating problems halfway through an event.’
    ‘No worries,’ she said, sounding fake even to her own ears. It was a phrase she’d picked up from Siddhant, and she found herself using it whenever she didn’t know how to react to something. Then natural curiosity got the better of her and she asked, ‘Did she want more money?’
    Nikhil looked nonplussed for a few seconds, and then he started laughing. ‘I can see the team’s been talking. Yes, she did. But she isn’t going to get it.’
    The team had been saying a lot, she thought. But, looking at Nikhil, she couldn’t believe that he’d trade sexual favours for a reduction in Anjalika’s fee. That was as bad as being a gigolo—worse, probably, because he didn’t need to seduce older women for money.
    ‘Don’t look so horrified,’ Nikhil said, tweaking a stray strand of hair that had escaped from the barrette she’d used to tie it back. ‘This business is like that. There’s a lot of last-minute haggling, and you can lose all your profits if you’re not careful to tie people down with water-tight contracts before you begin.’
    Forgetting the fact that pulling her hair was anything but a lover-like gesture, Shweta’s relief at the businesslike way he spoke was overwhelming. She’d been right all along then—his team had just been gossiping.
    ‘Nikhil, the resort manager would like to speak to you,’ Payal called out.
    Nikhil made an exasperated gesture. ‘I’ll see you in the evening, then,’ he said to Shweta.
    Priya made a disappointed face once he’d left. ‘Very brisk and practical, that was,’ she said. ‘D’you think there’s something wrong with you? I was hoping you were on the verge of a mad fling with him, but you talk to him like he’s your cousin or something. No chemistry at all.’
    ‘Perhaps I’m more of a physics and geography kind of girl,’ Shweta retorted. ‘Grow up, Priya. Not every woman goes on heat when she sees a good-looking man.’
    Siddhant had come up in time to hear the latter part of her sentence and he looked completely scandalised. Good job, too, Shweta thought spitefully as she refused his offer of a lift back to the hotel.
    ‘I’ll go in the bus with Priya,’ she said. ‘I’m sick of sitting around while you talk shop with the other partners.’
    No chemistry. Perhaps Priya was right and she was imagining things, Shweta thought as she leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the bus window. There was that kiss, though, and the way he’d looked at her when they were watching the boat race...
    ‘Siddy-boy didn’t know what had hit him,’ Priya said gleefully as she took the seat next to her. Evidently she’d forgiven Shweta for the bitchy comment about not all women being like her. ‘He was so sure you’d be thrilled at being offered a seat in that stuffy old van with him and the other partners. There’s hope for you yet.’
    Shweta shrugged. ‘I was