Raj staggered inside at the words he’d dreamed of hearing her say.
Except it was all wrong. She wasn’t running into his arms with all the passionate fury of her nature, was instead walking to him on a conscious decision fueled by her soft heart.
Would he ever have all of her? Or would she keep a small part hidden away? The secret wildness of her. A woman who wore skintight dresses and dreamed of hiking through the Amazon. A lover who’d kissed him under a subterranean sky. A brilliant accountant who struggled against the ordinary and the mundane.
He wanted to tell her no, that they would not marry until she had no more worries, no more doubts, until she looked at him and saw not the walls of tradition… but dizzying freedom. Except that his life and responsibilities—especially now—would make that a lie.
His fist tightened even further.
None of it mattered. His hunger to be trusted that deeply by Nayna was a selfish need—right now he had far heavier priorities. His mother was losing weight at a precipitous rate, unable to eat with his father so ill, and his sister had become withdrawn and quiet, not even messaging with Harlow.
Navin and Komal were locked in their own emotional meltdown, and—despite both staying close to home—neither was currently of any real help.
As for his father, the doctors assured them he’d make a full recovery, but that’s what they’d said the last time.
Everything was going wrong.
“Raj.” Nayna shifted so she was in front of him, putting one of her hands palm-down over his heart. “This is a new adventure—and we’ll go through it together, like we did the cave.” Her fingers rising to brush his jaw, her touch gentle and her scent in his every breath.
Before his father’s illness, he’d been doing everything in his power to seduce her, convince her that marrying him wouldn’t equal walls and stifling expectations, but in the end, none of it had made a difference. Because Nayna was doing what she always did—surrendering her own dreams to help the people important to her.
And the worst of it, the absolute worst of it, was that he couldn’t say no.
This might be the last thing his father ever asked of him—Raj couldn’t refuse the request and live with himself. He just hoped Nayna could live with the choice she’d made.
Cradling her head in his hands, he said, “I will do everything in my power to make sure you never regret being my wife.”
“I could never regret being with you.” Fierce words.
Raj wished he could believe her, but he’d seen her joy in living life on her terms, heard her excitement as she looked up the distant shores she wanted to travel. Raj wouldn’t be traveling anywhere for a long time, not with his father sick, Adi so young, and Navin suffering a personal breakdown.
There was no one to take over the business if he left, no one to ensure the livelihood of not just his own family, but of all those who worked for him. “We don’t have to live on my parents’ land,” he promised her, because that was one thing he could give her. “After my father is on solid ground again, we’ll buy our own plot and I’ll build you a house all your own.”
Nayna’s smile was lopsided. “We’ll talk about that later,” she said, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “Right now the only thing I’m worried about is having an avocado-green background to our wedding photos.” She shuddered. “What’re our chances of convincing your uncle to let us put on a coat of white paint?”
“Nil to zero,” Raj said, silently vowing that he’d find her a better venue.
If he couldn’t give Nayna freedom, at least he’d give her a wedding day filled with happiness.
Wrapping his arms around her, he held her next to his heart… and tried to forget his dreams of a Nayna who flew to him on her own wings, without manipulation or coercion or guilt. Just because she wanted to be his wife.
* * *
Needless to say, Nayna’s parents were overjoyed when she and Raj became actively involved in the wedding preparations. Raj’s parents were exactly the same. Rather than being in any way annoyed or angered, Jitesh Sen—still in the hospital—brightened like a light bulb when Raj announced that the golf clubhouse would not do.
Arms folded and voice unbending, Raj said, “Nayna deserves as beautiful a wedding location as her sister.”
Falling in love with him all over again for fighting for her, Nayna was about to say something when Sangeeta Sen broke in. “Raj is right.” A scowl between her brows. “I mean, how will it look for the Sharmas if one daughter gets a fancy wedding in a five-star hotel and the other only gets a golf club? No, no, what were we thinking?”
“Also, the place is like a seventies disco palace,” Aditi put in suddenly, having apparently pulled up the location on her phone and found photos. “Look, Ma.”
Sangeeta Sen blanched at what she saw. “Dhiraj said it was all renovated!”
Aditi’s smile peeked out for the first time since her father’s second operation. “That’s the worst part. This article says it just underwent a million-dollar makeover!” Giggling, she walked over to show her father the pictures.
“Nothing wrong with green and orange,” Jitesh said, his breathing uneven but a smile on his face. “Remember, Geeta, when we went dancing before we found our Raj?”
“Hush, Tesh.” Sangeeta Sen brushed her hand over her husband’s balding head, the love in the simple action bringing tears to Nayna’s eyes. “But this isn’t modern. Raj and Nayna are young, should have a modern place.”
“True, true.” Raj’s father smiled. “Anything you want, beta, beti.” After a sip of juice held out by his wife, he said, “It’s even okay if we have to go out of town for a nice place. It can be one of those location weddings!”
Hauling down Raj by a grip on the front of his shirt once they were out of his father’s room, Nayna kissed him all over his face until his lips finally began to curve. The weight on her heart that had refused to budge for two long days, ever since she’d agreed to marriage—and Raj had gone quiet—finally lifted.
“You’re a wonderful man.” She kissed his cheeks, then his jaw. “Hallelujah for no more avocado green!”
A giggle reached them.
Shifting on her heel, Nayna wrapped an arm around Aditi, who’d been taking photos of them, and said, “Give up the contraband.”
Aditi held the phone out of reach.
Taller than both of them, Raj plucked it out of her grasp, then tapped in her unlock code with big-brother knowledge that had Aditi laughingly protesting her privacy. Nayna was looking at Raj when he saw the first photo, and her stomach, it went into free fall. God, his smile.
No, she wouldn’t regret being Raj’s wife.
* * *
In contrast to both sets of parents, Nayna’s best friend frowned when Nayna told her what was going on. The two of them were sitting on Nayna’s couch, sharing a tub of colorful gumdrop ice cream, both of them in their pj’s. ísa had told her fiancé she was having a girls’ night, and Nayna would’ve done the same with Raj if he hadn’t called her earlier to confess he could feel his body reaching the limit after weeks of stress and low sleep.
Nayna had ordered him to go to bed at once. “I’ll cuddle you later.”
His laughter had curled her toes.
Now ísa said, “You sure, Nayna?”
After digging out another spoonful of ice cream chunky with chewy gumdrops, Nayna pointed it at her friend. “I get to go to bed with Raj every single night. And I get to wake up with his smile every morning.” Her insides went all melty at the thought of it. “I’m sure.”
ísa still looked troubled. “Will it be enough? Being a wife and living a steady, everyday life? I’m a homebody, but you always had other dreams.”