Page 18 of The Secret She Kept in Bollywood

She reached out and delicately flicked the edge of his collar, as if she was dusting off a leaf or a petal. Barely touching him but wanting to claim a small part of him. “Maybe you shouldn’t be butting into my life while you call me Ms. Raawal in that forbidding tone?”

Tension rolled off him in waves. “I have no right to forbid you from doing anything. But as someone who’s aware of the distressing discovery you made not that long ago, in fact as the only one who knows of it, I’m more than entitled to caution you.”

“And what is the caution you think I should exercise?”

“You should be careful with whom you...associate, Angel. You’re in a vulnerable place.”

“Associate...hmm,” Anya said softly, a thread of hurt winding itself around her heart. “So having sex with you is okay even though you were a stranger but it’s wrong to do it with someone who’s not you?”

His nostrils flared but his voice stayed low, steady. “That’s not at all what I said. Even as an outsider to the industry, I know the kind of games Ustadji’s son is known for. You were lucky with me. Not every stranger is going to be...”

“As generous and giving as you were?”

“As harmless as me.” He pushed a hand through his hair, his frustration translating itself to Anya. He obviously didn’t want any kind of relationship with her, but he didn’t want her to be friendly with any other man? She shouldn’t have been able to understand that but strangely, she did.

“You said Meera was your priority right now,” he added.

“If you’re worried that I might turn into some kind of bad influence on Meera, you should...”

His fingers landed on her chin, tilting her up to meet his eyes. Just the tips of two fingers and yet, she felt the contact all over her body. “I don’t think that at all. I... I’m only thinking of you. Damn it, I feel responsible, Angel. For you.”

Something about the possessive gleam in his eyes, the firm grip of his fingers, the scent of him filling her nostrils, her very lungs, goaded Anya. “What shall I do then, Simon? Lock myself away for another decade? Or should I just call you when I need a reward for good behavior?”

Simon pulled away his fingers, as if her words burned him. “Why are you really here tonight, Anya?”

“I’ve something important to say to you,” she said, trying to find her way through the dark. They were moving farther away from the gazebo and the fairy lights.

“Talk then,” he said, his hand immediately grasping her elbow when she stepped onto an uneven path.

A cold breeze flew past and Anya pulled the shawl around her neck tighter. Instantly, Simon pulled her against his body as if he meant to shield her from the elements. By the time they reached the outer edge of the gardens, hidden from the other guests, her resolve that she was only doing this for Meera’s sake weakened.

Whatever he saw in her face, Simon’s mouth tightened. “You’re nervous.”

Anya scrunched her nose. “A little.”

“Did something happen with Meera?”

“No,” she hurried to reassure him. “Well, there’s the thing with one of the young light boys but I dealt with it.”

He scowled. “What is the thing with the light boy?”

“A harmless crush.”

“For God’s sake, she’s only thirteen. What did he do?”

“He? He did nothing. She’s the one who keeps finding reasons to talk to him. If you didn’t know this about her already, she’s bold as brass.”

Mouth pursed tight, Simon looked like he still wanted to find the light boy and straighten him out.

“Meera’s fine,” she repeated. “We all went to get ice cream together. I sat at a different table and they talked for a little bit. She has no friends of her own age here yet, Simon. This is good for her.”

“You’re not a parent. You don’t know that.”

Anya flinched. Just because she’d spent the better part of three weeks with Meera now, didn’t mean Anya knew everything about parenting. But try as she might, his words hurt.

He raked a hand through his hair and grabbed her wrist gently. “I...didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

“I know that,” Anya said softly. Why the hell was it so easy to trust this man? Why him when he clearly didn’t want to have anything to do with her? “It has come to my notice that you’re getting serious about Ms. Sampson,” she blurted out, reminding herself why she was here.

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