Page 64 of Yes Boss
Raghav caught her wrist, pressing a kiss to her palm. “Ten more minutes.”
“Five,” she countered, trying to sound firm despite the heat still flickering through her body.
His smile was slow and dangerous. “We’ll see.”
Seven minutes later, Ishani slipped out of Raghav’s office, smoothing her hair with trembling fingers. She’d just settled at her desk when the elevator doors opened, releasing the first wave of morning employees. Her lipstick was hastily reapplied, but she couldn’t do anything about the flush that still colored her cheeks.
By 9:30, Khanna Consolidated’s executive floor buzzed with the usual Monday energy. Ishani kept her eyes on her computer screen, trying to ignore the whispers and glances cast her way. The Valentine’s gifts had made her the subject of office speculation for days. Now everyone wanted to know the conclusion.
“So?” Kavya appeared beside her desk, coffee in hand, practically vibrating with curiosity. “Did you find out? Did Mr. Secret Admirer reveal himself?”
Before Ishani could answer, three other women from marketing joined them, forming a gossip huddle around her workstation.
“We’re dying to know,” one of them said.
Ishani set down her pen, schooling her features into a mask of disappointment. “Actually, there was nothing. No contact on Valentine’s Day.”
The collective groan was almost comical.
“What?” Kavya’s face fell. “Nothing? After all those gifts?”
“Complete ghost,” Ishani confirmed, shaking her head. “Maybe he got cold feet.”
“What a bummer,” someone muttered. “All that build-up for nothing.”
“Total waste of a betting pool,” another added.
Kavya squinted at her. “You don’t seem that upset.”
Ishani shrugged. “It was fun while it lasted. But honestly, I didn’t know him. How attached could I get?”
Through the slats in Raghav’s blinds, she caught a glimpse of him watching her, arms crossed, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. He’d heard every word.
“Besides,” she added, turning back to her computer, “it’s just Valentine’s Day. It’s not like it means anything real.”
As her colleagues drifted away, disappointed by the anticlimax to their office entertainment, Ishani bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. If only they knew what had really happened. How she’d stood in a hotel suite surrounded by photographs of herself. How Raghav Khanna had looked at her with hunger in his eyes. How he’d claimed her mouth with a possession that still made her knees weak just thinking about it.
Her phone buzzed with a text. Raghav’s name flashed on the screen.
“Liar,” it read. Just that one word.
She glanced toward his office, saw him watching her through the blinds.
“You love it,” she typed back.
Three dots appeared, then: “My office. 11:30. Don’t be late.”
The flutter in her stomach had nothing to do with professional obligation. Ishani set her phone down, forcing her expression back to neutral efficiency. Let them think the secret admirer had vanished. Let them wonder and gossip and eventually forget.
The truth was far better kept between her and the man behind those drawn blinds.
The clock hit 11:28.
Her phone rang. Raghav’s direct line.
“Yes, Boss?” she answered, keeping her voice neutral despite the quickening of her pulse.
“My office. Now.” His tone was clipped, all business, except for that slight roughness at the edges that she now recognized as desire.
