Accidentally Engaged(70)

“I think they only picked nice people.” She squeezed her hands together. “I mean it, though…I know you’re doing all this as a favor for me, but…I’m glad you are. I’m enjoying doing this contest with you.”

“I’m having fun, too.” He kissed her briefly.

There was more she needed to say, but she didn’t know how. She wanted to tell him that hanging out with other people, pretending they had a future, letting others think they were in love, felt right to her. Didn’t feel fake. She wanted to ask him how it felt for him.

But when they walked into their room on the twentieth floor, she was speechless. The curtains on the floor-to-ceiling windows were open, and the CN Tower was illuminated brightly like a beacon in a night sky dotted with glimmering lights. As a lifelong city girl, the nonstop cacophony of cars and movement soothed Reena. This was a magical night. She couldn’t risk popping this bubble with difficult conversations. She walked to the window and looked out.

Nadim came up behind her. “Quite the view,” he murmured. “Toronto is so beautiful at night.”

Reena nodded, leaning back against him.

“I love the hum of cities,” she said.

Nadim wrapped his arms around her waist. “The honking cars, drunk screams, and sirens are oddly comforting.”

She chuckled. “You’ve pretty much always lived in cities, right?”

He shook his head. “No, not really. Yes, in Dar es Salaam, and in London, but my private school was in the English countryside. And, of course, I had holidays and such.”

“Do you think you always would want to live in a city?”

“Not sure. I used to think so.” His arms tightened around her. “I wanted the fast life. Wild parties and free-flowing drinks.”

And hot women. And yachts. Night and day from his life now. Reena wiggled free of his grip and went to open her bag.

“Why did you want that from your life back then?” she asked slowly. She regretted saying it almost immediately. She looked at him, but his facial expression was closed. He didn’t want to talk about the past, not now.

He removed his T-shirt and walked toward her, close enough that she could feel the heat radiating off his bare chest even through her sweater. He grazed a kiss on her neck. He took a step back, and achingly slowly pulled her sweater up and off. “I was looking for home, I think. I wasn’t finding it, though.” He turned her around and nudged her forward, positioning her so her arms were outstretched above her head and resting on the wall. He kissed the back of her neck as his hand trailed down her spine. “My soul knows when I’m home,” he murmured.

His hand trailed lower to unhook her bra strap, guiding her arms down to let her bra fall to the floor.

She shivered as the cool air kissed her naked chest. He finally turned her around and engulfed her body in his, sharing his warmth, and kissing with what felt like every muscle in his body.

The sex felt different that night. Slower. Agonizingly tender. She lost herself in the sensations. The smells, the sounds, the feel of his body around her, under her, in her. Just him. This man, who had been dropped into her life at the wrong time in the wrong way, but who ended up being everything she needed.

It wasn’t until afterward, when they still lay clutched together, still joined and floating back to the world, that she untangled her thoughts and emotions enough to see the truth. This was real. No matter what he said. And she was in love with him.

And it was high time to figure out if he felt the same way.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN



Reena was feeling weirdly optimistic on the drive back to the apartment Sunday morning. It was early—she hadn’t been able to get out of Sunday brunch with her family, but she and Nadim planned to make dinner together later. She was ready to talk to him. To tell him she was in this relationship deep and she didn’t want there to be secrets between them anymore. And she wanted to go fully public with it, even bring him to brunch next weekend. It was time to fight past her instinct to deflect and distract, and live her life.

After dropping him back at the building, she drove straight to her parents’ house, where she was surprised to see an extra car in the driveway. Strange. Before she made it into the house, the door opened and her sister rushed out in her stocking feet, pulling a confused Ashraf behind her.

“Saira, what’s wrong?”

Saira beamed. “Nothing’s wrong. Everything is good. Better than good, in fact. Ashraf proposed! I’m getting married, Reena!”

Saira tackle-hugged her, while Reena stood frozen in shock. Saira, engaged? And hugging her?

After a few seconds Reena smiled and hugged her sister back. “You’re happy?” she asked in Saira’s ear.

“Yes. Very. This is what I want.”

Reena grinned, letting go of her sister and hugging Ashraf. “Welcome to the insanity.”

“I am happy to be here,” he said awkwardly.

Saira beamed and put her arm around his waist. “He asked me last night. Mum was so excited she screamed when we told her.”

Reena took her sister’s hand to look closer at the ring, a standard white-gold solitaire that looked perfect on Saira’s long fingers. After squeezing her hand, she looked into her sister’s eyes, surprised to see them glassy with tears. “I’m happy you’re happy,” Reena assured her.