Page 24 of Power

Memories of last night flooded my brain. The bar. Drinks. Some annoying guy trying to get into my pants. A very sexy guy actually getting into my pants.

I looked down and saw the huge t-shirt I was wearing, with just panties underneath.I had sex with Shyam!It wasn’t a dream.

The bed was empty. I looked to the nightstand for the time and found two tablets and a glass of water next to the bed. Pain relievers. I gulped them down with desperation.

The scent of bacon lured me out of the bedroom. I hadn’t eaten dinner last night, and my stomach grumbled to remind me of it. I was sure my hair was a damn mess and I had morning breath, but I was too hungry to care.

I followed my nose downstairs to the kitchen. Shyam stood in front of the stove in a t-shirt and low-slung jeans that hugged his tight ass. He turned to look at me.

“Hungry?” he asked, scooping eggs onto a plate.

My belly let out another loud growl. I grabbed my midsection to quiet the noise. “I skipped dinner last night,” I replied.

He grinned at my defensiveness.

He set the plates on the kitchen island, which was ready with cutlery and cloth napkins—one plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast and another with egg whites and spinach.

I pulled out a barstool in front of the one with the bacon. “I call dibs on this one!”

“Good, because that one’s for you.” He placed a piping-hot cup of coffee in front of me and a protein shake in front of his plate.

I helped myself to an ample helping of sugar and cream from the glass serving tray. Everything he did oozed class. It constantly surprised me that a drug lord could be so well-mannered.

I cupped my coffee mug with my hands to absorb its warmth. “That’s the most boring breakfast I’ve ever seen.”

He smirked. “How else do you think I get those abs that you love so much?”

I blushed hard, reliving last night. His abs really were so cut. I wanted to run my tongue along them now, just to get a taste.

I cleared my throat to change the subject. “I never have time for breakfast. I’m always rushing out of the door in the morning.”

“How come?” he asked, taking a bite of his omelet.

“I go to bed late,” I replied between nibbles of bacon. “I like coding through the night. I get my best work done after midnight.” I didn’t have the best diet. I pretty much just ate whatever I could find in my fridge or order as takeout from a nearby restaurant.

“That must be a developer quirk,” he said.

“Quirk?” I asked.

“When Jai was in high school, he used to stay up until dawn coding because he loved it so much,” he said as he wiped his mouth with his napkin.

“I guess we’re all night owls.” There was nothing like programming at night. The rest of the world was asleep, so there were no interruptions while I worked. I felt that I could think clearer in the night. If it weren’t for work, I would probably stay up all night to code for fun and sleep all day.

I stared at his healthy breakfast. “Are you a vegetarian?” I asked.

“What makes you think that?”

“Aren’t a lot of people from India vegetarian?” I’d had a few Indian friends in college who were strict vegetarians, so I was aware that it was common for the culture.

“Most are. The ones that do eat meat don’t eat beef or pork. Well, in your case, bacon.” He winked at me.

“Why do you have it in your fridge, then?” I was genuinely curious and extremely glad that he had bacon in his fridge.

“I used to be vegetarian when I lived in India. But the minute Jai and I moved here, we decided it was more fun to sin after tasting our first bacon burgers.”

I giggled. I couldn’t imagine Shyam scarfing down a bacon burger like a hungry college kid. He seemed too proper to eat one.

“I’m guessing no bacon burgers now?” I motioned at his abs with my chin. Those weren’t the abs of a man who lived off burgers.

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