& Then They Wed (Ampersand Love #2)

21. Rian, the Wrecking Ball

21

Rian, the Wrecking Ball

Aditi

“ A re you done yet?”

Aditi glanced up from her conversation, startled to find Rian standing next to her table, his lips drawn in a severe line. Granted it was his restaurant, and his presence wasn’t entirely a surprise. And she had been thinking about him all evening. She simply couldn’t figure out why he looked like she’d taken his favourite toy away.

“Rian?”

“We should go home. Nanamma sounds ill.”

Her gaze swung across towards her date, her surprise turning into an awkward embarrassment when Rian continued to ignore his presence.

If someone had told Aditi that she’d be on a date with a man who had stood her up once, and would be enjoying herself, she’d have called them crazy. But when Tarun Nair had messaged her that afternoon, apologising for having missed their matrimonial meet and asking for another chance, she had agreed.

Nina had been there with her judgy eyes, shaking her head when Aditi had stubbornly insisted upon continuing with the arranged dates. After all, one kiss with Rian and a situationship that sometimes felt real did not mean anything in the long run.

A kiss, a situationship, and a blissful night spent sleeping in his arms.

She had woken up draped over him in the wee hours of the morning, horny and grinding against his thigh. When she’d fallen asleep with him on the couch, she didn’t know. But it was clear that the two of them had spent the night with their limbs tangled and their bodies pressed against the other. In her sleep-induced haze, she’d arched and rubbed against him, gasping awake when the pressure between her legs had built up too much to allow her to remain in that liminal space between sleep and wakefulness. Her shocked sound had woken him up as well. Under the dull pre-dawn light, his eyes had locked with hers, widening at the realisation that his hands were caressing her naked back and his arousal was stiff against her stomach.

His head had lowered just an inch, until the sound of Nanamma cluttering about had broken the moment. Fearing discovery, they’d rushed to their respective rooms and Aditi had been left with a lingering fear that despite her denial, Rian had gotten too close for comfort.

Aditi had always been fiercely protective of the people she was close to, and overnight, she found that she felt that way about him as well. But that was all it could be, she told herself. Lust was okay. Friendship was fine. Protective instincts were natural, especially when she remembered that he was a young child when he’d suffered abuse at the hands of someone who should have protected him.

Beyond that, she needed to remember her goals .

The medical camp she had proposed leading looked like it would come to fruition in the near future. Her supervisor and mentor had made enough indications to that effect, asking if she would consider shifting base to Mumbai if required.

Working with her mentor long term would mean that Aditi could assist on the toughest and most rare gynaecological cases in Asia while learning from the best. She would be given a team to command, and enough budget to make multiple medical camps available for pregnant women in remote villages across India. She’d meticulously planned for this. She simply had to find the right person to fit into said plans– someone to marry so she could stay in India, progress in her chosen career, have a family, and keep her parents happy at the same time.

At the end of the day, Rian did not want to be that person and she wouldn’t force him to be.

So, despite Nina’s disapproval, she’d given Tarun another chance.

Their conversation had been easy, both making the other laugh and showing an interest in taking it further. He’d been jovial and chivalrous, and while Aditi had had to work hard to keep thoughts of stormy grey eyes from hogging her attention, she’d been mostly enjoying herself.

Until Rian had unceremoniously interrupted them.

“So? Are you done?”

Aditi was sure her confusion wasn’t hidden anymore.

“What? I don’t think—”

“I can escort her,” Tarun offered, staking his claim. “Hold on, let me finish paying for the meal.”

“That’s not needed. It’s on the house,” Rian said smoothly, his tone not the least bit friendly.

“It is?” Aditi asked, her voice sharper than Tarun’s.

To her horror and surprise, Rian loomed over her, gracing her with a look that was borderline intimate. He lifted a hand to her face, drawing a finger down from her temple to her cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

She couldn’t move, goosebumps erupting everywhere at his touch. What the hell was he doing?

“I’ve told you before,” he murmured, his eyes boring into her. “When you’re with me, I pay for your food. No arguments.”

Her mouth dropped open.

“What’s going on?” Tarun demanded, clearly irritated.

She would have answered, but that would mean having to look away from Rian, something she seemed incapable of doing.

“You ready to leave, Doc?”

“But I can drop her off.” Tarun’s continued protest seemed to annoy Rian.

“That’d be out of the way for you,” he informed her date, his smile looking like a snarl.

Either Tarun was clueless or he really liked Aditi because he dared to question Rian anyway.

“Wouldn’t it be out of the way for you?”

“Of course not,” Rian replied, a supercilious glint in his eyes. “We live together.”

Aditi gasped, knowing that this truth sounded worse out of context. “Wait, I can explain,” she said, hoping to salvage the train wreck that Rian was causing.

“Later. Remember Nanamma’s waiting?” Before she could clarify Tarun’s doubts, Rian took her hand and led her out.

Given that he’d driven his bike to the restaurant, she was forced to stew in silence during the ride home. The minute they stepped foot into his apartment, Aditi stormed towards Nanamma’s bedroom to talk to her about what a massive idiot her grandson was being.

“Nanamma?” she called, confused when she was nowhere to be found .

She stomped into the living room to find Rian lounging like a massive panther on the sofa, scrolling through the watch list he’d made with her.

“Where’s Nanamma?”

“At some group prayer meet. She’ll be back later.”

Aditi blinked. “You said she was sick.”

“Yes,” he answered, without looking away from the screen. “She coughed on the phone. You should call and check on her.”

“You made it seem like she’s at home and needed us immediately.”

“Whoops. Sorry.” He could feel her glare from across the room, one which he pointedly ignored.

“You’re kidding me, right?” The words barely made it through her clenched teeth.

“What?” he asked, adopting his most innocent look. “You don’t want to watch this? It was next on our list,” Rian said, pointing to the movie he’d picked.

Aditi exploded, her voice thinning out into a shriek. “No! I don't want to watch a goddamn movie! I was finally on a date with a good guy and you wrecked it!”

To her utter frustration, all he did was place one arm along the back of the sofa, and raise an insolent brow at her. “I didn’t realise you were on a date.”

“What the hell else could it have looked like?” she snarked, her fists balling.

“I don’t know. I didn’t bother looking at him.”

Her lips wobbled when her anger peaked. “How could you?”

The change in tone did not go unnoticed. Rian watched Aditi’s shoulder droop and he finally sat straight, no longer wanting to antagonise her with glib comments. Despite feeling bad for hurting her, Rian couldn’t bring himself to feel guilty about the failed date.

The moment Aditi had stepped into The Mumbai Map, his senses had gone on high alert. He’d been beyond pleased to see her from his office and had immediately stepped out to go receive her. He’d long since given his staff instructions to always make space available for Aditi, and he’d been happy to see her drop by for meals every so often. Today was no different.

He’d sauntered down the hall towards the main reception, taking his time to appreciate the way her dress had clung to her body, outlining every beautiful curve.

She’d glanced behind and he’d been mesmerised by the long column of her throat, tracing her profile all the way down to the lush swell of her breasts. Her neckline had been low enough to provide an enticing view of the top curve of her chest, leaving him feeling hot under his collar. Her hair had been left open in waves, her lips glossy and pink. Her satin brown skin had glowed under the bistro lights, and her white dress had made her seem like an angel who’d lead a man to sin.

She’d always been beautiful, but tonight, she’d looked ethereal.

And then she’d smiled. Not at him, but at the man who’d followed her in. She’d let him place a hand on her back when they’d walked to their table, the thigh-high slit of her dress revealing teasing glimpses of a smooth leg ending in strappy heels. The fact that she had dressed so alluringly for another man had left his hands shaking with an unfamiliar rage. It was nothing like the anger his mother had ever induced. This felt personal on a whole new level.

He’d tried to let her be. Throughout her dinner, he’d tried his damndest to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach. Eventually, his rational mind had been left exhausted battling indecipherable emotions.

“Why are you going on these dates?” he asked, instead of answering her question. “I thought you were going to take a break.”

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Did you ruin my date on purpose?”

He should have known she’d be direct. There was no point in lying.

“Yes. ”

“Why? Do you want to date me?”

“N-no,” he replied uneasily.

“Then you had no right,” she scolded him, her disappointment no longer hidden.

“I don’t want you to force yourself into a relationship. I can’t watch you make that mistake.”

“How fucking arrogant of you!”

That took him aback.

“What qualifies you to determine if I am making a mistake or not? I don’t recall asking you for your input!” She stormed off towards the kitchen and Rian leapt up to follow her.

“You keep saying we are friends,” he argued. “This is how I protect my friends.”

She ignored him, swiping through her contact list. “I’m going to call Tarun and hope to god he lets me explain myself.”

Rian lost the last bits of his patience.

“No, you are not!” he barked, snatching the phone from her hand before she could resist. He was aware that he was behaving like an overbearing oaf, but logic and him were not occupying the same room today.

“I need my phone back,” Aditi ordered, a deathly chill in her voice. Her palm open, she extended her hand out. “Now, Rian.”

Given the disparity in their sizes, her attempt to intimidate him should have been amusing. It wasn't.

An angry Aditi terrified him as equally as she aroused him. It was the darndest feeling, not knowing if he wanted to apologise to her or lay her flat on the ground and fuck her thoroughly, until they both forgot what they were fighting about.

He slid the phone in his back pocket, a single brow rising in defiance, hoping that his size was a deterrent to her attacking him.

The murderous gaze she shot him had him changing his mind immediately. With a grunt of frustration, he dropped the phone on the counter nearby .

“I don’t like being at odds with you, Doc. I still don’t understand this whole arranged marriage business but if you feel so strongly about it, I'll apologise to your date.”

His offer bowled her clean, unexpectedly diffusing her ire. She poured herself a glass of water and gulped it, perturbed by the sudden highs and lows of her emotions. Rian’s interruption of her date had annoyed her. His offer to smooth things over with Tarun, to her consternation, annoyed her more. She could have avoided him altogether by going to a different restaurant tonight. She knew that. Mumbai only had several thousand options to choose from. Still, she’d insisted on meeting Tarun at The Mumbai Map. Was it even Rian’s fault when she’d all but dared him to react?

She’d lost her mind, she decided, gulping a second glass just to have something to do.

“Why are you so hell bent on meeting someone this quickly?” Rian asked. “It’s like you’re working on a find-a-groom deadline.”

“I may as well be. When I go back for my parent’s anniversary party next month, I’ll inevitably be asked about my future. If I don’t have a good answer, I’ll have to meet their choice of men again.”

“Just say no.”

“That’s not an option.”

“You are a strong, independent woman! Why are you letting others decide the course of your life?”

“I’m not!” she insisted. He scoffed and Aditi wanted to tear her hair out, or better—his.

“Of course you are,” he condescended to her. “You don’t need to marry to have a satisfying life. Focus on your career.”

Her forehead creased and she frowned, as if he had missed a very crucial point. “I love being a doctor. But what makes you think that I don't want a family, too?”

Her simple question instantly extinguished even the most minimal feeling of righteousness he’d retained to justify his actions .

“I want a family, Bugs. I want a husband, kids, the works. Call me traditional and maybe I am, but I want it all. Career, love, a house with people who want to be with each other, chatter around the dining table, festivals with friends and family crowding into my home. . .and a life partner to hold me at night. I want that.”

Her voice grew emotional and with each word, her longing spun a silver web around him, invisible to the naked eye but there nonetheless. In the centre, hidden away until now, were dreams he’d never known existed.

A slowly ageing Aditi whose laugh lines only made her more beautiful, playing the perfect hostess to a crowd of guests. Children who cuddled into her motherly embrace for her warmth. And a partner who hugged her possessively, playfully demanding her time and attention when those children ran to join their friends. A partner. Her partner. Him?

His vision superimposed with reality. The little children faded away, the crowds disappeared, the lively chatter dulled to a hum, until it was just him and her.

It could be their world.

It could be their future.

It could be real.

The thought was powerful enough to knock the wind out of him. Without a warning, she’d opened chambers of his heart where the echoes of lost companionship and family had tormented him, until he’d decided one day that he did not need them to survive. Vehemently, he shook his head, willing those echoes to remain silent.

“I understand that you don’t feel the same way,” Aditi said, mistaking his action to be a response to her. “You don’t need marriage. But I do.”

“Have you considered that this is the story you’ve been fed by your family, just so they can get you hitched to the NRI asshole?” he swore, desperate to keep from unravelling in front of her .

“Do not bring my family into this!” She smacked her hand against the counter, irritatedly blowing a strand of hair out of her face. “I love them. And they love me.”

“Using love as an excuse to justify their emotional manipulation is pathetic.”

She paused, pinning him with a look that made him squirm.

“Did you steal that line from one of your Korean dramas you pretend you're not watching?” she spat coolly.

“No, from one of your smut-filled romance books that you leave littered everywhere,” he sneered, no more holding back his shots than her.

A low growl emanated from her, his comment enraging her more than it should. “Do not judge me for finding fictional men more satisfying than real ones,” she hissed, chest heaving, struggling to hold back her anger. “Present company included!”

Jealousy roiled in his stomach, even the thought of fictional men in her life suddenly abhorrent. “Doc, you haven’t been satisfied by me, so keep that mouth shut before I do it for you.”

Unafraid, she walked right up to him, her head tilting back to glare into his face. “Big talk, Bugs. I dare you to try.”

His jaw tightened, brows drawing low in warning.

“Go on,” she goaded, hands on her hips, one foot tapping the ground.

His eyes flashed dangerously. The air hummed with tension from their argument, their skin prickling in awareness. Their agitation had no other outlet besides each other. The pull between them grew stronger with each passing second, overtaking any and all sensibilities.

“Can’t do it, can you?” she taunted, unable to see that Rian’s control was fraying. “See, that’s what I thought. You’re full of sh. . .”

His lips came crashing down on hers, muffling whatever colourful insult she was about to spit at him. Her back hit the wall near the switchboard, the accidental brushing of her hand dowsing the apartment in darkness. Crowded against his sturdy frame with his mouth hot on hers, Aditi had one final realisation before everything was lost to the fog of desire.

This was precisely the outcome she had wanted today.