There's Something About Sweetie(67)

But something inside of him protested. It’s not fair to Sweetie to have that conversation right now, it said. Rishi had told him to let Celia go. But first he needed to figure out why Celia was still on his mind, what that was all about. And until he did, he couldn’t burden Sweetie with this. Maybe falling for Sweetie reminded him of falling for Celia, of getting his heart stomped on under her glittering heels. Maybe it was because everything with Celia felt unfinished, like he’d never gotten the chance to say his piece.

So Ashish wanted to tell Sweetie a lot of things. But in the end all he managed was her name.




“So. That was just a little preview.” Sweetie grinned, and after the slightest pause Ashish grinned back. It didn’t seem fully lit up, but she didn’t let that bother her. He was probably just not used to feeling like this—finally leaving Celia and whatever hang-ups came with a breakup behind. Who could say? “Ready to play?”

“Let’s do this.” He swatted the ball out from under the crook of her arm.

“Hey!”

“Oh, what?” he said, spinning it on one finger. “You thought I was going to take it easy on you because you’re so ravishing?”

Sweetie put her hands on her hips and pretended to look mad even though her mind just kept repeating, Ravishing. You just heard the word “ravishing.” In relation to you. From his lips. “I expect nothing of the kind. Prepare to get your butt whupped.”

Sweetie wasn’t a basketball player, but she wasn’t bad. It took Ashish almost ten minutes to get a basket that she missed.

“Whew, that’s H for you,” he said, shaking his head. “That could’ve been embarrassing if I got the first H.”

Sweetie narrowed her eyes. “Why? Because I’m a girl?”

He looked genuinely perplexed. “No, because I’m the star here?”

She laughed. “Oh my God, the ego! Save me!”

He grinned. “Okay. So now I believe I’ve earned a kiss?”

She grew still, feeling suddenly trembly again. Her earlier hubris had disappeared. “Right,” she said softly.

“You know what? Can I put it in an account and collect on the interest instead?”

Sweetie waited. “Um. What?”

Ashish grinned that cocky smile she loved, and her heart flopped around helplessly. “You know. I think it might work in my favor to collect on it in the end. One big kiss instead of a series of little ones.”

Sweetie felt the heat flood her cheeks. She felt her knees wobble. All she could think about was him, wrapped around her. God, when had she gotten so kiss obsessed? The answer to that, of course, was when she’d begun dating Ashish. “Um.” She cleared her throat when her voice came out a squeak. “Yeah. O-okay.”

Ashish’s grin got brighter. “Excellent. So. Warm-up’s over.”

“Right.” Sweetie laughed, a tad hysterically. “That was the warm-up. I knew that.”

Ashish’s knowing smirk told her he wasn’t falling for it. “Mm-hmm. It’s my turn to pick the position. I say you go over there”—he pointed to some bushes—“and try to make the basket while crouching behind them. Oh, and don’t forget the national anthem. Actually, you know what? I want you to sing me a song you’ll be singing at Band Night.”

“Seriously? Crouching and making me sing a pop song? That doesn’t seem so fair for a star.”

Grinning, Ashish tugged on the end of her ponytail. When she tilted her head back, he placed a gentle kiss on her neck. Sweetie could manage only a strangled gasp in the back of her throat; every nerve ending was vibrating with pleasure, humming with desire. “Forgive me,” he murmured against her skin.

“Th-that’s quite all right,” she managed. On legs that felt like melting rubber, she walked to the bushes, stealing a backward glance at him. The way he was smiling at her, he looked … delighted. But why?




Ashish was having a hard time not grinning like a damn fool. It felt so good to know that someone as kind, as sweet, as funny, as beautiful as Sweetie seemed to want him just as much as he wanted her.

His phone beeped in his pocket. He fished it out.

Celia: Are you mad at me

He stared at the message for a moment, his grin fading. Then he typed, No just busy sorry

Celia: Call me later?

He hesitated. This wasn’t going to be easy. Yeah




Sweetie heard the beep and saw Ashish texting. “You need to get back home?”

He startled a little (guiltily?) as he looked up at her, but then her favorite smolder-smirk was back. He slipped his phone into his pocket. “No, it’s fine. So you gonna make that basket? And sing?”

“Jeez, give me a minute, bossy,” she mumbled, trying to get comfortable as she fell into a crouch.

She didn’t make that basket or the next one or the next one. And no matter how ridiculous the positions she chose for Ashish—at one point she even had him climb the pole of the opposite basketball net—he managed to make them all. She challenged him to sing Bollywood songs, and he managed, even though his Hindi wasn’t the best. He made her sing every song from the lineup for Band Night. And every time she missed and he made it, he’d say, “Don’t forget. That’s another kiss for later.”