Page 17 of Driven By Desire
Eyes guarded, Max nodded once in reply to his question. That left the terribly impractical sunny yellow with peach stars, pista green with white roses on it and the hot pink on the table.
“We’ll take all of them.” The loud gasp of excitement was reward enough for him. Smiling at the delighted grins both of them gavehim, he watched them scoop up their treasure and scurry to the fitting rooms. Belatedly realizing that they’d left him standing alone in the lingerie section, he tried to look casual while escaping as fast as he could to the men’s section.
He’d picked up a couple of shirts for Chirag and Aditya and was browsing the children’s section by the time the ladies, as he’d started to think of them, appeared by his side. Judging by the radiant expressions, the fitting had been a complete success.
“All okay?”
“Everything’s perfect.” Eyes straying to the pretty, mauve dress with white polka dots he held in his right hand, Max felt her heart melt into a gooey puddle at his feet. She could see two shirts in the bag that she was sure were not meant for him. Every time she tried to steel herself against the unattainable attraction of him, he did something that had her acting against her better judgment. “Shall we head towards the billing counter?”
“Not yet.” Crouching down near Pooja, he held the dress out to her. “Would you like to try this on?”
Hurting for him when Pooja did nothing but stare at the dress he held out with a blank expression, Max stepped forward to intervene. She didn’t get far though before Pooja threw her arms around her big brother. Muffled sobs exploded out of her for the second time that evening as she hid her face in the side of his neck. Dropping his shopping bag, Krish gathered her up in a ferocious embrace.
Finding herself once again intruding on what was a private family moment, Max picked up the fallen shopping bag. Rising, she was about to move past the two of them when Krish’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. Surprised, she looked downonly to find that Krish still had his face turned towards Pooja’s flushed and tear streaked face. Though he didn’t look at her, the gentle but unrelenting grip on her wrist telegraphed its own private message. Hefting the bag over one shoulder, she ran a tender hand down Pooja’s still heaving back and stayed where she was in silent support.
Knuckling her eyes, Pooja finally pulled back and mumbled, “Thank you.”
“You’re always welcome, Pooj. You know that.” Gently setting her down, he added, “Is there anything else you want or more importantly, need?”
Shaking her head with a restraint and maturity that did him proud, she said, “No. Nothing else.”
“Why don’t you try this dress on then? If it fits, we’ll take it.”
Sniffling back the last of her tears, Pooja held out one hand for the dress and the other towards Max. Smiling, Max took the tiny hand and started towards the fitting rooms. Raising a quizzical brow when that same hand tugged her to a stop, she turned along with her to see Krish watching them walk away.
“I’m sorry, Bhai.”
And just like that his bruised heart started to heal. “For what baby?”
“For being a brat.”
“Does that mean you’ll never again be one?” he teased.
“It means I’ll try.” Shooting him a cheeky grin, she scampered off in the direction of the fitting rooms.
Max shot him that gorgeous, brilliant smile that did strange things to his normally sensible heart. “Why don’t you pick something out for yourself while she’s trying on this dress?”
I’d rather pick out some lingerie for you instead.Gritting his teeth so he didn’t blurt out what he was thinking, he just shook his head in denial of both his thought and her suggestion.
“I think we’ve wasted enough time. I’ll wait for both of you by the billing counter.” The curt reply had her smile vanishing. Walking away without waiting for a reply, he forced himself not to look back. Some things, however attractive, were not for him. Could never be.
CHAPTER 8
“Shit! Shit! Shit!”
Cursing when she felt the wet seep through the seat of her overalls, Max scrambled back from the growing patch of motor oil even as she tried to straighten the overturned can. Setting it to one side, she grabbed a cloth and tried to contain the spreading mess.
“Problem?”
The amused drawl had her freezing in mid-motion. Perfect! Just perfect. It figures the sanctimonious prig would be the one to find her crawling on her hands and knees in motor oil that she’d spilled all over his otherwise pristine backyard. Acutely conscious of the fact that he now had a clear view of her soaking wet backside, she tried to rise to her feet with whatever little dignity was left to her. She looked up at his suspiciously straight face and barely held back a snarl.
“What?”
The abrupt question had Krish biting back a grin. Hair coming loose from her braid, oil soaking through her overalls inveryinterestingplaces, hands and feet black with oil, grime and other currently unidentifiable things, she made scruffy look good. Really good. When she swiped a hand across her cheek in a bad tempered gesture leaving another streak of grease across her cheek, he mentally amended scruffy to feral.
“If you came out here to smirk at me, you’re more jobless than I expected.”
“I came out here,” he said mildly, “to ask if you’d like some coffee.”
