Priya in Heels (Entangled Embrace) (6 page)

“You should’ve kicked her ass.”

“And if I did, they’d label me a short-tempered, violent girl.”

“Who cares? They deserved it.”

“Yeah, but they’re older. They’re…family.”

“That’s effed up. No one would get away with calling my mom a whore.”

“That’s the culture. Had I snapped, I would’ve shamed her. See? Messed up, restrictive. Cylons wouldn’t care.”

He shook his head incredulously. “I don’t get that. Defending her honor, standing up for the woman who gave birth to you and didn’t do anything wrong?”

“Well, yeah. There’s a lot of politics in my family, too. My aunts are always talking about her behind her back, and I’m pretty sure about me, too. They’re the power holders.”

“I’d like to meet them one day.”

“If they met you, they’d call me a whore, too.”

“We haven’t done anything.”

“Doesn’t matter. Although it’s okay for their daughters to screw guys since those guys are Indian.”

He shook his head. “You’re right, I don’t get it.”

“It’s called judgmental hypocrisy.”

“You should really mess with them by dating a white guy.”

“Have any suggestions?” I played along.

“Yeah, Mike,” he answered with a serious expression.

His joking words—at least I thought he was joking—were stabs through my chest. I didn’t care for this feeling.

“Mike likes me?” I strived to ask without croaking to let him know I couldn’t care less. “Because Vicki has a thing for you,” I added, a bitter taste in my mouth.

My words didn’t seem to affect him. “Didn’t you hear him trying to hit on you?”

I shrugged. “I’m pretty oblivious sometimes.”

“What’s that smell?”

“What?” I panicked. Did I have bad breath, and could he smell it all the way over there?

He leaned into me, his shoulders barely pressed against mine as he sniffed my neck. I almost touched his chest but had enough self-control not to. I froze and got a whiff of his manly combination of shampoo, body wash, and deodorant before he backed away.

“Lavender, right?”

I nodded, unable to move.

“Nice.” We watched
Battlestar
and munched on popcorn while I sat, half dazed and half aroused. He’d turned me on with such ease that I couldn’t comprehend it.

We watched a
BSG
marathon with Ty’s commentary on trivia and little-known
BSG
facts. Some part of me wanted him to flirt a little more although a bigger part of me relaxed, knowing he wouldn’t try anything to put me in a compromising position. So we enjoyed
Battlestar
, and I loosened up. I was alone with a man in the middle of the night and he didn’t have any intentions or expectations of trying to get into my pants, which was wonderful because I liked Ty. A lot. And I wanted to be friends.

Chapter Nine

Tyler

Aside from Pree being the finest woman I’d ever seen, her intoxicating scent alone had me raring to go. I didn’t know what stopped me from kissing her neck when I leaned in for a sniff. Maybe I was afraid she’d run off.

She fell asleep in the middle of my
Battlestar
commentary. I leaned against the couch arm, one hand tucked beneath my head, and watched her. I was tempted to run my fingers up her legs and stretch them over me. She couldn’t have been too comfortable.

I pulled down the throw blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over her. I was content in this moment, halfway asleep with a beautiful woman. Sure, I wanted to taste her lips, touch her skin, but I enjoyed the peace of just having Pree near.

When she snored lightly, my lips quirked up. How could a woman jump from sexy one minute to adorable the next?

I forfeited to heavy lids when the faint beeping from my watch coaxed me out of sleep. I yawned and carefully moved off the couch. Pree jerked awake, sucking in a deep breath and looking around to gain her bearings. Her hand went straight to her neck. What I wouldn’t give to massage those shoulders.

Taking the opportunity, I bent over her, pulled the blanket to her chest, and whispered, “Go back to sleep.”

She yawned and obeyed. She was as tired as I was. I gently stretched her legs out on the couch. I stripped off my shirt on the way to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and brushed my teeth. Today would be hard to get through without sleep, but it was worth it to have spent so much time with Pree.

I turned toward a knock on the partially opened door. Pree stood there, confused and cute with squinted eyes. If I ran my hands through her untamed hair, would she hit me? Probably.

Her stare gradually widened as her eyes skimmed down the length of my shirtless torso and back up. I silently enjoyed the appreciation evident on her face, which was an unbelievable turn-on. There was no way anyone could convince me that Pree wasn’t attracted to me.

“Do you have to pee?” I asked, my voice deep, gritty.

“No,” she squeaked.

“Okay.” I returned to brushing and spitting. I turned on the shower and unbuttoned my jeans.

Pree’s face turned bright red, priceless! She stared at my hand, the one gripping my fly. I slowly unzipped. She swallowed hard. This was fun.

“I…I should get home,” she stuttered.

I wiped my mouth with a towel. “Okay. Thanks for coming over. We’ll have to do this again, maybe on a night where I don’t work the next day so I’m a little more fun.”

“Oh my God! You have to work today?”

“No big deal.”

“Yes it is! Why didn’t you tell me? Why’d you invite me to watch
Battlestar
all night?”

I chuckled. “I wanted you to stay. It was fun.”

She crossed her arms. “Irresponsible.”

“Why? I’m fully awake and can perform my job duties just fine. I’m not just going to sit around all day. Moving from table to table helps me stay awake. It’s all good.”

“Well, thanks for everything about last night. It was really fun, and the popcorn was delicious. Sorry I ate it all.”

I flashed a smile that made her gasp.
Fantastic
. I took a big step forward so that I was only inches from her. My mouth was at her eye level. She watched my lips as I said, “I’ll make more.”

She stumbled back and almost tripped over herself. I caught her, one arm firm around her tiny waist. Her hands were warm against my bare chest as I pulled her up.

Pree gently pushed away and said, “Have a good day at work.” Abruptly, she walked to the living room and grabbed her cell phone and keys from the kitchen counter. I followed.

She opened the door and jumped when I spoke right behind her. “I’ll see you out.”

Pree spun around and slapped my chest, immediately retracting her hand and clutching her wrist. She hissed.

I took her hand and massaged her wrist. “Did you hurt yourself?”

She snatched it back.

“Didn’t mean to scare you.” I laughed.

She stepped out with a shake of her head.

I braced the top of the doorframe and leaned out into the hallway, toward her, so that I was fully flexed, half naked, and fly undone. Her gawking proved my point. She was definitely into me.

“I don’t get a good-bye hug?”

“Not with you half naked,” she shot back with a smile and walked away.

Pree had to know I watched her. She strutted. Ha! She liked me.

I continued to watch her backside, tempting and graceful in the world’s most perfect pair of jeans. I scratched my neck and groaned. Watching her walk away led to wicked thoughts.

Chapter Ten

Priya

The day flew by. Perhaps because Sunday was usually my only free day, or because Sunday had been declared get-everything-done-day. Shopping, bills, phone calls, notes, laundry…oh God, laundry!

I rummaged through a pathetic dresser. No underwear, no bras, no pajamas, and down to one pair of ankle socks. At least we had a washer/dryer inside the apartment, which worked for its keep all day. My sheets needed washing, as did the towels and the bathroom rugs. I did everything else on my to-do list in between loads, including providing lunch and dinner for Vicki and me.

“You cook once a week and it’s takeout?” Vicki asked.

I shrugged. “I’m busy.” And it was a good thing I was busy, because otherwise I’d lay around all day fantasizing about Ty and his insanely ripped body. I bit my lip just thinking about him.

Speaking of Ty, my phone buzzed with his text.

Ty:
Wanna go to dinner?

Priya:
Just ate.

Ty:
Wanna come over?

I nibbled on my lower lip.

“Who’s texting you?” Vicki tried to snatch the phone but missed.

“Ty wants to see me tonight.”

“And? Are you going to shave your legs and go over there?”

“What? Shut up! I’m not shaving for him. He’s not going there.”

“You might as well shave every day because he’ll get into your pants when you least expect it.”

I rolled my eyes.

Priya:
I’m swamped. Gotta get to bed early, long week.

Ty:
Another time.

“I’ve got to stop hanging out with him,” I muttered.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to like him too much.”

“Are you scared?”

“Yes! It would break my mom’s heart. How can I do that to her? I’ve always done what she asked me to do. The only things I haven’t done yet are marry the guy she picks and have two children, a boy and a girl.”

“You’re being stupid. Your parents love you. She would be happy if you married the man you love.”

“First of all, I don’t love Ty. Second, he’s not anything like the guy I should marry. He’s a musician. I’m a doctor. That’s not even balanced. Well, he said he was an astrophysicist, but I can’t tell if he was joking. Anyway, that doesn’t matter. He’s still American, still white. How could I hurt my parents, who are good people and want nothing but the best for me, and who put up with crap they don’t deserve as it is?”

“Are you listening to yourself? You don’t go to
mandir
unless there’s a wedding or your mom drags you, so who there do you need to please? Indians are the worst hypocrites, so who gives a rat’s ass if random strangers on the street give you the evil eye because you’re with a white man? The world is changing. The old ways are
old
. Indians have interracial marriages, interracial relationships, and interracial naughty sex.”

“I’m a good girl. I’m trying my best to uphold the old ways.”

“Why?”

“Because my mom wants me to.”

“You are such a mama’s girl.”

“I am. I’m not ashamed that I love my parents and want to do everything to make them happy. They only want what’s best for me. Had I not paid heed to their wants, I wouldn’t have learned three languages, I wouldn’t have graduated high school as valedictorian, wouldn’t have gotten scholarships, wouldn’t have made it into med school, wouldn’t be where I am now. They wanted me to concentrate on school and not date. So I did. I wasn’t distracted by boys.

“Above everything else, I can’t handle hurting my parents. That would tear me apart. And what kind of man encourages a woman to drag her parents through the mud just so he can get into her pants?”

Vicki rested her chin in her hand and shook her head. “You’re hopeless. And still dumb.”

“Vicki. When are you going to tell
your
parents you’ll marry who you want?”

She broke eye contact.

“Yeah, go find your own white guy, or better yet, a black Muslim and see how that works out. I will not destroy my relationship with my mom because of an irrational connection to the guy down the hall. I’ll move if I have to.”

“Life is too short to spend it with someone you don’t love.”

“Love is superficial and temporary. These feelings of elation pass, but marriage doesn’t. I’m not ruining my chances at a good marriage because I stupidly did stuff with another guy.”

“And there’s that idiotic ideology. What are the chances the guy your mom picks hasn’t had a fair share of women already?”

I paused.

“And don’t even think the world is so eighteenth century where it’s acceptable for men to have sex when women can’t.”

“Unlike most people who wander this earth, I’ve had a plan since forever.”

“Your plan, or your mom’s?”

“Are we seriously arguing about this?”

“Yes!”

“About Ty?”

“Yes! You like him and it’s only going to get worse.”

“All right, so I like him. I like a guy who my mother would never approve of. A white guy. So what? I like him, but I don’t love him. I’ve had crushes before. They’re intense and they fade. This isn’t any different.”

“Then why are you freaking out?” Vicki asked calmly.

Because it scared me how much I liked Ty, how much I wanted him. Instead of admitting it, I grunted and went to my room.

Chapter Eleven

Tyler

I had to go the extra mile with Pree. Not that she wasn’t practically floundering the last time she saw me, but she was well worth the effort to do things right. Neither of us were about sex and games, and according to my intel, there were a few major hurdles to leap before I could shatter her barrier of self defense.

“You got the stuff?” I joked when I secretly met Vicki in the hallway. I felt like we were dealing drugs or something.

She handed me the bag. “Let’s get something straight.”

“Hit me.”

“Priya is not the type for a hit and run. I’m not helping you so you can get her into bed.”

I put my palm up. “I’m offended you think I’m that guy.”

She sighed. “I know you’re not. But in case my gut is wrong, I will hurt your man parts if you hurt Priya.”

“I wouldn’t hurt Pree. In fact, I’d hurt someone if they hurt her, like her aunts.”

“She told you about them?” Vicki looked shocked. “Wow. You might not need my help after all. She doesn’t tell anyone about her aunts.”

“I figured. She doesn’t seem the type to bad-mouth anyone, and even then, I could tell it was difficult for her to get the words out. Look. I’ve been trying to talk to her since I moved in, when she almost bulldozed me on the staircase because she was late for work. I can’t get her out of my head. I’ve never tried so hard to get a girl to notice me. And I’ve definitely never studied for one.”

I opened the bag. “This is all I need to know about Gujarati culture, religion, language, and…Bollywood?”

“Don’t skimp on the last one. Priya’s a die-hard Bollywood fan.”

“I can learn a language for her, but I don’t know if I can sit through an entire musical.”

“What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Nothing. Why?”

Vicki raised her brows and grinned. “Get your sexiest trunks ready. This shiznit is about to get real.”

I laughed. “Shiznit?”

“Yes.
Serious
shiznit.”