Page 50 of The Rules of Playing with Fire

Don’t let sparks fly near combustible materials.

SONA

Montréal was a maybe, I had said to him, but I hadn’t really expected him to show up. Not after how I had slipped out of his home the last time.

We had exchanged a total of two texts since Dallas. The first was him sending me his number. The second was a brief Hey, stranger in response to my acknowledgment of his text.

Yet, here he was, sitting in the audience, engrossed in Payal’s talk. He had snuck in when the lights were dimmed for pictures of marble quarries for Payal’s presentation. I had spotted him instantly, his distinctive big frame quite hard to miss. Taking a seat at the rear of the room, as if that would somehow hide him, he kept his eyes off me the entire session. But my heart kept strumming during my entire presentation. It took some willpower to keep my composure during the Q&A while I responded to questions directed at me.

When the audience started trickling out at the end of the session, Mihir approached the podium with relaxed, confident steps.

“Congratulations, Dr. Thomas,” he said in his sexy, commanding voice. “That was a brilliant presentation and a very interesting session.” As if I lived for his accolades. When I thanked him, he proceeded to congratulate Payal in the same calm, professional demeanor. Payal lifted her heavily pregnant body from the chair gently.

“Thank you,” she said warmly. “Where do you teach?”

“Oh, I’m not here for the conference. I’m here for her.”

The water I had just begun to sip quickly circumvented my esophagus and traveled directly to the trachea. I caught a flash of amusement on Mihir’s face as I whacked through my cough.

“What’s that?” Payal said after I’d regained my dignity. She cast him her evil, flirty smile. “I spent all last evening with her, but she didn’t mention you.”

With finesse, Mihir gleaned my friendship with Payal. It was one of his superpowers. Maybe that’s what made him good at his job.

“That’s because she ran out on me, slipped out in the dark of the night without telling me.”

Payal squeaked. “Did you really?”

“He loves to exaggerate. It was late afternoon, I left him a note, and he did see me at the airport.”

“Ah, you’re the boyfriend, then?” she asked him.

“Nope, she’s noncommittal. I’m more of a…playmate. Well, was.”

Payal burst into laughter, and I buried my face in my hands. “I want the ground to swallow me up right now.”

“Stop being dramatic,” Payal chided. “Sita, we’re not. And if, by some unseen force, the Earth does split into two, he won’t have any trouble finding another playmate, pronto.”

I scowled at her, which seemed to put a grin on Mihir’s face.

“Alright, you two, have fun. I’m going to haul myself to my room, put my feet up, and relax between cozy sheets.”

“We’ll walk you back to your hotel. May I carry your bag?” he asked, extending a polite hand.

Payal offered him a warm, casual smile and handed him her laptop tote, but behind his back, she mouthed a silent squeal at his charming appeal. It took everything in me to resist rolling my eyes into my head.

“So what now?” I asked when we walked out of Payal’s room, having settled her with a cup of hot tea and the TV remote.

“I wanted to see you. I’ve seen you. Now we go our separate ways.”

“Did you come all this way only to see me?”

“And to hear you speak. I think your argument about the subversive potential of gendered public spaces is quite radical.”

My brows launched upward. “Why, thank you!”

“I particularly enjoyed Payal’s talk about the marble mafia. That’s bold work, given she’s a woman in what’s a through-and-through men’s domain right there.”

My eyes widened again. “Now I’m doubly impressed!”

---