Page 62 of Everything She Wanted

I lower my eyes.

“Thank you. It was great.”

Nick walks toward me. “It really was.”

Then a wave of panic washes over me. What if she tells Henrik what Nick and I were up to in the sauna?

I shove it down and shoot her a grateful look. I follow Nick out the door.

The sun is too bright. I squint to look at Nick.

He’s appraising me and his eyebrows draw in as he brings a hand to his mouth.

“Shit, Nisha, your neck.”

I instinctively put my hand on my neck. Another wave of panic hits. “What is it?”

He pulls out his phone and puts it in selfie mode and that’s when I see the massive hickey forming. With my smudged makeup and frizzy hair, I look like we were doing way more than kissing in there.

“I can’t go back to the office like this.”

“I’m so sorry, Nish. I’ll drop you off at home.” He shifts on his feet. “I can tell Tom you’re not feeling well.”

The waves of panic turn into a tsunami of agitation as I walk beside Nick. The crowds from earlier are gone and the buildings are a blur.

Eshaan’s taking me jewellery shopping with his mom tomorrow. She wants me to pick out my own gifts for the ceremony. At least that was the plan, before the fight. I haven’t heard anything different, so I assume it still is.

My head is spinning worse than when I was in the heat of the sauna. How am I going to try on any necklaces that she’ll expect me to?

“Nish, talk to me,” Nick says as we approach his car.

“I’m just a little dehydrated.”

“I can go grab you something.”

“I’d feel better if we were on our way.”

He opens the passenger door for me, concern flashing across his face.

I muster a small smile even as my heartbeat thunders in my ears. I settle myself into my seat as he walks around and gets in. He starts the car but we don’t go anywhere. Instead, he rests his hand on the steering wheel and looks over at me.

“I didn’t intend for that to happen.”

Newsflash, neither did I.

I give him the briefest of glances and then stare straight ahead. “Can we just pretend it didn’t?”

He angles his body toward me. “Is that what you want?”

“Yes,” I lie.

Only then does he shift gears and start driving.

What the fuck am I doing? Eshaan is giving me everything on a silver platter, and I am one wrong move from destroying it all. I need to put an end to this.

This needs to stop. I’m getting engaged. I try to get the words out, but they get stuck in my throat.

I don’t want to end this. I only want more of him and I know he wants me too, and that makes this fucking impossible.