46. Jenna

46

JENNA

W hat do you do after the most amazing date of your life?

What could possibly compare to the adventure I'd just been on—with danger and love and indescribable sex with Prince James?

And how could I possibly face Vas, knowing that I'd made my attraction to him more obvious than ever?

It was late, but when he suggested going to our favorite coffee shop, I enthusiastically agreed. It was conveniently open until midnight, and I wasn't tired, not in the slightest.

My body was still humming with adrenaline, and I couldn't quite look at my surroundings without wishing they were more like where I'd just come from. The Perfect Match Experience had been everything I'd dreamed of and much more, and now I was back in the real world, and I couldn't help but be a little disappointed by it.

Not by Vas, though. Especially not when he opened the car door for me, more attentive than ever, and how he looked over at me as he drove while we talked about everything that had happened.

Every glance felt like a touch, a warm brush of fingers or lips…

God, I needed to get myself together.

We finally got to the coffee shop, where Vas ordered something with more caffeine than I dared consume this time of night. I chose tea, and we finished the order with a slice of flourless chocolate cake to split.

We weren't the only people there, but the corner we settled into was comfortingly solitary. Music played, the lights were low, and I was ready to call this our last date. I was ready to go out on a high note and stop my obsession with a man I couldn't have.

Vas had a business empire to run, things to move on to, and I had an uphill battle ahead of me, but I felt recharged after the experience and was ready to take on the world. If the adventure had proven anything to me, it was that I wasn't a timid mouse. I was a warrior.

"A week ago, I was engaged," Vas opened with a non-sequitur.

My jaw dropped. I couldn't help it. I had been pining over a guy who was engaged this whole time? Who had treated me with enough blatant interest that I'd harbored hopes that his emotions, at least, resembled mine?

"It was arranged by our parents," he hastened to say, realizing I was stunned by his announcement. "Sonu and I have been friends from childhood. She's finishing her medical residency in England right now, and once she was done, our wedding would have been scheduled. But she fell in love with someone there and called off the engagement, and…" He sighed heavily. "And I was relieved because as much as I appreciated her, I was never in love with her. Love matches aren't particularly valued in my culture—it's more about creating a stronger family."

"I see."

I didn't know much about the particulars of Indian arranged marriages, but I wasn't about to judge. It wasn't as if the so-called love matches were a guarantee of a happily-ever-after.

"In my family, in particular, I was expected to make a good match because…" He fiddled with his mug for a moment. "Because my father is the king of Gujarat."

My eyes went so wide I had to look like a bug. King? Did they still have kings in India?

"I'm sorry?"

"Me too," he joked, but it fell flat. "Let me tell you about it."

Vas spent the next fifteen minutes describing his family situation to me. It was like something out of a fairy tale—his father a king, his mother a Bollywood star, the perfect older brother with his lovely wife and beautiful children, and him the restless younger one, businessman extraordinaire but still expected to toe the family line.

His father had given him seed money for his startups, but Vas was the one who had made the enterprises flourish—who had made his family one of the richest in all of Gujarat and thus, all of India.

"It's given my father back a level of prestige that he lost after marrying my mother," Vas finished. "But it's not enough for him. He wants to rehabilitate his reputation by returning me to the fold."

"Wow." I took a sip of tea to give myself a little extra time to consider my response. "I didn't realize how much of your story was autobiographical."

"Sonu is nowhere near as obnoxious as Lavanya," he said, and we both smiled for a moment. "But I didn't expect so much of our Experience to reflect my own life either. I should have, I know that, but…"

"It wasn't just you," I said reflectively. "Look at how I got set up. One little person against the world, fighting to elevate herself but getting nowhere on her own. I had more than my fair share of personal history coming in there as well."

"You're chasing your dream," Vas said. He looked at me with soft eyes. "I think that's admirable."

"I appreciate that." I did, but I also didn't want to talk about my dream's likelihood of success. "So, what does this all mean for you?" I asked, careful to keep my voice light. "Are you going to tell your parents you're not ready to get married?"

"I am."

I knew it. Of course, he wanted a break before another arranged marriage to some beautiful, successful Indian woman.

"And I'm going to tell them I want to marry whoever I fall in love with."

My heart skipped a beat, literally. "Oh," I said faintly. "That's—how will they feel about that?"

"They won't like it," he said with a little shrug. "I know that much already. But the truth is, in the real world, I'm not the heir to our historical position. My brother is. Ankar is a surgeon, very well-respected, and his wife helps my mother run our family's philanthropic organization. They love their lives, and they're dutiful children to our parents. There's space for me to do something different without feeling like I'm abandoning my culture's mores, especially since my work has played such a role in returning our family to prominence."

That was a healthy perspective if I ever heard one. "I'm glad." I impulsively reached across the table and took his hand. "I'm glad you've got that freedom. You deserve it, Vas. You deserve good things."

He bit his lower lip for a moment. "Could one of those things be another date with you? A real one?" He shook his head. "Not that the dates we've been going on weren't real, just—I'm doing a terrible job with this, hang on."

I laughed, but my voice trembled. I knew he heard it when he gripped my hand just as tightly as I was holding his. "Are you serious? I thought you were leaving."

"That was the original plan," he agreed. "But it makes more sense from a logistical standpoint for me to leave my manufacturing in place here, and if I do that, I've got a good reason to stay."

I held my breath. "For how long?"

He smiled. "For as long as it takes you to believe I'm falling in love with you."

"Vas…" This couldn't be real. Could it? No, it couldn't. "We're so different. I'm just a teacher, I'm barely making ends meet, and you're a billionaire! You're incredibly smart and attractive, and you are a member of a royal family while my father is in prison. It's not going to work."

His smile fell away. "If you don't want this, I promise I won't push, but?—"

"I'm already halfway in love with you," I said before he could get the wrong impression. "One little push, and I'll tumble head over heels, and then what will I do when you leave?"

Because how could such a magnificent person stay?

He took my other hand, brought them both to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. The touch of his lips was electric, even with them just touching my fingers.

I trembled as I stared into his beautiful dark eyes.

"No one can know the future," he said. "Not even a genie, but…give me a chance. That's all I'm asking for—a chance to be the man you deserve. You talk like you've given me nothing, but, Jenna, you've given me everything already. You've given me a whole new way of looking at my life, one that could make the difference between years of happiness or years of depression. Please." He kissed my hands again.

"All right," I whispered, and when he smiled this time, I already knew I'd fallen over the edge from infatuation into love.

I just hoped that our story would have a happy ending.