Hush (7 page)

I could see his ears turn red and then it spread to his cheeks.

He looked like a little boy.

“Sloane, I was… uh… wondering… can I sleep in here tonight?”

Chapter Four

I gaped openly at the hunky man standing in the doorway looking like a lost child. I was at a loss for words.

But my mind was screaming, yes, yes, yes!

Hell no
, said my conscious.

Oh what was I to do?

The only reasonable thing of course.

“Yes,” I whispered.

He smiled shyly and came around the other side of the bed and climbed under the covers.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’ve uh… never actually slept with someone before,” he said.

“What?” I gasped in disbelief.

“I’m no virgin,” he said with a mocking laugh, “but I’ve never slept with someone. This is new for me.”

“Then why?” I asked.

“I… I don’t know,” he answered honestly.

“Well, I’m exhausted,” I said.

“Me too,” he said scooting under the covers.

“Goodnight,” I said.

“Goodnight Sloane,” he said softly.

* * *

I awoke the next morning with my body draped over top of Siva. Sandalwood invaded my lungs where my nose was pressed against his neck. He looked so peaceful and uncomplicated in his sleep. His lips turned up in a small smile while he slept. He looked like a completely different person.

I gently extracted myself from his arms, which were wrapped around my body, and climbed from the bed. I instantly missed his warmth. I looked longingly at him for a moment before I forced myself into action. I grabbed some clothes and headed into the posh bathroom.

The hot water felt like heaven against my skin. I scrubbed my skin until it turned a pale pink and then turned my attention to my scalp. I rinsed away last night’s stress and hoped and prayed that today would be much, much, better.

I turned the water off and dried my body before wrapping the towel around my torso.

The bathroom door opened suddenly and I paled.

“Oh,” said Siva. “Sorry.”

I held the towel tighter to my body. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten to lock the door. When I had lived with Dev we never locked the doors so I guessed it was just a leftover habit. I hoped.

“I- it’s not a problem,” I said.

He motioned behind him. “I’ll just head back to my room,” he said.

“Yeah,” I said nodding my head. I didn’t understand why I was suddenly filled with sadness at his absence. What was wrong with me?

The door closed behind him and I turned to face the mirror. I braced myself against the white marble countertop and took several deep breaths. I turned the water on and splashed my face.

“Get yourself together, Sloane,” I scolded myself.

My golden eyes gazed back at me. I could s
ee the panic shimmering in their
depths.

Three days.

Three days was all it took for Siva Kapur to burrow himself underneath my skin.

* * *

“Scrambled eggs?” asked Siva as I slid onto the stool.

“Please,” I said and he slid them onto the plate.

Siva wore a dark green suit with a white shirt underneath. He always looked so handsome. His dark black hair was still slightly damp and brushed away from his face.

Siva sat down beside me and poured some syrup onto his eggs. I laughed.

“You do that, too?” I asked.

“What?”

“The syrup thing,” I clarified. “Dev always used to
do
that.”

Siva shrugged. “Our mom did it,” he said.  “Want to try?”

“Sure,” I said and he dumped a generous amount of syrup onto my eggs.

“Whoa, that’s enough,” I commanded and he chuckled.

“Sloane uh-,” he said clearing his throat. “About last night…” He looked like a lost little boy.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said.

“I just-
I’m not normally like that.” He ran his hands through his hair in frustration but it stayed perfectly in place. “I feel very
protective
of you,” he whispered so softly it was no more than a breath.

“I have a question for you,” I said hesitantly gaging his reaction.

He stiffened and tugged on his green suit jacket. “Go ahead.”

“Why do you always wear long sleeved shirts?” I asked.

He swallowed thickly and squirmed in his seat.

“You know why,” he said.

I nodded my head.  “Your scars, I know. But… how did you get them?”

He slammed his hand against the counter. His jaw tightened and his teeth clenched. He turned to me and his violet eyes burned fire. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes?” I said hesitantly but it came out sounding like a question.

His face softened at my hesitance. He took a breath to prepare himself and then plunged. “My father threw me through a window,” he whispered.

I gasped. “No.”

“Yes, he did. That was ten years ago,” Siva took a sip of his juice. “I never did live up to what he wanted me to be. I was the oldest and he wanted me to follow in his footsteps. I wanted to please him but I went through a bit of rebellious stage. Well, rebellious is a bit of an understatement,” he conceded. “It’s funny now… Rajas disowned me but I’m the one that succeeded. Now I’m his biggest rival in business. My dad wasn’t always the hardened man you see today. My father changed after my sister died. He blamed me for her death. He drove my mom away and then he nearly killed me.
Only Devak stayed by his side.
Maybe that makes Devak the better man but after that I had no respect for my father.”

“Sister? I didn’t know you had a sister,” I breathed.

He nodded his head. “Her name was Saia. She killed herself when she was only fourteen,” he whispered.

Saia. The name tattooed on his chest. I breathed a sigh of relief and immediately felt ridiculous.

“I’m not surprised you didn’t know about her. My dad pretended she had never existed after she died and Devak followed suit. I couldn’t forget though,” he hung his head.

“That’s horrible,” I said and meant it.

“What’s done is done. You can’t change the past.” He cleared his throat and grabbed our plates. “We better get to work,” he said.

“Oh right,” I said startled.

I stood and smoothed the skirt of my dress down.

“Where’s Jacob?” I asked looking around.

“He left already,” said Siva, grabbing his stuff and heading for the door.

“I’m sure Mac will be awesome today,” I said sarcastically.

“That guy is a jerk,” said Siva and his fists clenched. “You should stay away from him.”

“Thanks for the advice but I think I can decide that for myself,” I said.

“Of course,” said Siva and his violet eyes flashed dark.

I strapped my messenger bag across my shoulder and grabbed my purse before climbing into the elevator which Siva kept open. The ride down to the garage was silent.

Siva unlocked the Porsche and I climbed in.

The ride to Avid News was a silent one. I kept wringing my hands together imagining five hundred different scenarios for my day. I hoped Mac wouldn’t bother coming in but I was sure my luck wasn’t that good. Siva parked at the front of the building. I opened the car door and started out but was pulled roughly back inside by Siva.

“Sloane,” he said and cleared his throat. “I sincerely hope that I did not cause a problem for you.”

I tried to smile. “It’ll be fine,” I said with a wave of my hand.

“Still,” he said. “My behavior was careless and I put you in a difficult situation with your job.”

“Siva, I really have to go,” I said pointing to the building and trying to untangle myself from his grip.

“Right,” he said and let go.

“I’ll see you for dinner?” I asked.

“Certainly,” he said and straightened in his seat tugging on his suit jacket.

I closed the car door and waved. I didn’t know if Siva waved back. The windows were far to tinted.

I scurried up the cement gray steps and hustled into the building. I could hear fingers clacking on keyboards and the sound of the coffee maker percolating. I made my way to my desk bracing myself for Mac’s wrath
. I knew he’d be mad about the scuffle with Siva.

He wasn’t at his desk and I sent up a silent prayer. I slid into my chair, pulled out my computer, and read over the assignment April had left on my desk.

I had just started typing when a dark, ominous, shadow crept over me. I shivered.

“Sloane.”

S
o much for my luck.

“Mac,” I said, saving my document and sliding my chair around so that I could lean back and look up at him.

His right eye was an ugly purple and green. Like Siva, cuts littered his face. His lip was split and he all around looked like hell.

“Whew, you look terrible,” I said
lightly
.

He laughed but it wasn’t his normal laugh. For some reason the sound frightened me. My grip tightened on my chair.

“I’m sure you already know what happened. That pyscho boyfriend of yours attacked me,” Mac said.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I defended bristling.

Mac
leered down at me. “I don’t care what he is. The guy is crazy and I think you owe me.”

I gulped. This was bad.

“A drink. One. That’s all I ask,” he said flipping his shaggy curls over his eye so he could leer at me better.

“One?” I swallowed thickly.

“One,” he grinned realizing he was winning.

“Fine,” I whispered.

“Tonight,” he said. “Across the road. We can just walk over after work,” he said smiling like the Cheshire cat.

I nodded my head and he took that as the affirmative and bounced over to his desk.

At least someone was happy.

* * *

Whenever you’re dreading something the time beforehand always flies by and that’s what happened to me as the minutes ticked by until
I had to share a drink with Mac
. Just one. Only one. One.

I hoped.

I buried my head in my hands. Was I never allowed one day of peace?

I pulled out my blackberry and sent Siva a quick email telling him that I was working late and I would take a taxi home. There was no way in hell that I was going to tell him that I
agreed to have a drink with Mac
. On the other hand… maybe I should. That way I would be able to get out of it. But knowing Mac, he would only finagle me into it at another time. It was best to do it and get it over with.

I shoved my hair back and grabbed a hair tie from my desk drawer. I tightened the band around my hair until it was almost painful.

My phone dinged with a return email from Siva.
He said not to bother with a taxi that he’d come get me when I was done
. I wrote back and said that was fine. At least I wouldn’t have to pay for a taxi.

I finished my article and turned
it
into April. Mac was right behind me. His cree
py hands touched me briefly on my
back startling me.

It’s
going
to be a long evening.

I went back to my desk, turned my computer off, and gathered up my bags.

Mac came back grinning.

“Ready for that drink?”

No.

“Yes,” I said instead.

“Great,” he grinned.

“As friends,” I said. “Just two friends getting a drink and hanging out,” I clarified for him before he got any ideas.

“Of course,” he said but his smile dimmed. “Just friends.”

I smiled
in a
friendly
manner
, I didn’t want to hurt the guy after all, “Well, let’s go,” I said motioning to the door.

He instantly brightened again for which I was thankful.

We went out and across the street to the bar. TV’s blared with some sport, sports held no interest for me, and men yelled loudly while swinging their beers around.
Lovely, just lovely.

Everything in the bar was dark blue and dark wood tones.
Very manly.

Mac sidled up to the bar where there were two empty seats. He pulled one of the leather stools out for me.

“Thanks,” I said taking the seat. I put my messenger bag and purse on the floor at my feet.

Mac slid onto the seat next to me and motioned for the bar tender.

“What can I get you?” asked the heavily tattooed man.

Mac rattled off what he wanted and then pointed to me.

“Uh- I’ll have water,” I said.

The bar tender disappeared to get our drinks.

“Water? That’s it?” asked Mac.

“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t drink.”