Falling For Her Bad Boy Boss (Island Girls: 3 Sisters In Mauritius)

by Zee Monodee

  “Neha—”

  “Don’t Neha me, Rahul!”

  Blast it, had she sounded like a surly Suzanne there? The thought sobered her, and she looked down.

  “The children are okay?”

  “Yes.” She mumbled the word.

  “Good.”

  Silence settled, killing her with its icy rips.

  “Will we continue exchanging niceties here? Whatever the hell happened?”

  “Man, you sound like Lara.”

  “Stop evading the issue!”

  “Now, it’s like Diya.” He chuckled.

  “Just ...” She clamped her mouth shut, at a loss for words and only wanting to yell her frustration out. Didn’t he know what an incongruous position he’d put her in?

  “Neha, I really am sorry.”

  “So you said.”

  “Things just … happened.”

  And that was too easy a line. He really thought she’d fall for that?

  “No way. Things don’t just happen. We make them happen.”

  “They did for me,” he said. “I have no idea what took place right after we got caught in the flood. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a squalid part of the city. I stumbled down the streets, looking for someone, anyone, who’d be able to help me.”

  He paused, Neha now hanging on to his every word.

  Finally, some answers.

  “When I finally saw people, it happened to be a group of thugs bothering a young woman. She was screaming for help, and I didn’t think twice and rushed to her aid. I don’t remember much more than getting struck with a knife in the side.”

  So that’s what had happened. Yet, it didn’t explain away two whole years.

  “The girl I’d helped. She saved my life. Took me to her father, who had me treated. I nearly didn’t make it, apparently, and the next thing I knew when I became fully lucid, weeks had passed since the flood. I knew by then you would’ve been told I had gone missing.”

  “And you stayed with her,” Neha said softly as the pieces clicked in her mind.

  He lowered his head and nodded.

  “You fell in love with her.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She waited for the blow to hit home, but it didn’t. Why, she wondered? This should hurt. This should throw her whole life upon its axis.

  Nothing came but a feeling of deep understanding.

  “We don’t choose who to love,” she said softly. “Love chooses us.”

  And pairs us up with someone.

  “You know this feeling, too, don’t you?” he asked as he looked up into her face.

  She nodded.

  “Who is he?” Rahul asked.

  “His name is Logan.”

  “Your news co-anchor.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “How do you know that?”

  He laughed. “Just like I know Suzanne became a stunning young woman and made it into modelling. Kunal has grown up, too, and channelled his restless edge into kickboxing. Rishi, on his part, isn’t doing too badly as resident genius in his school, either.”

  “You’re watching us?”

  “I prefer to think of it as watching over you.” He wrung his hands. “Listen, this man, Logan. He’s good to the kids?”

  She gulped. “The best.”

  “I wasn’t much of a father to them.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “Neither was I much of a husband. You and I have to face it, Neha. We both did what everyone expected of us. Not what we wanted to do. Marrying, having kids. Was our heart really into it all?”

  She had to admit that no, it hadn’t been. She loved her children to bits and had wanted them, but it had been more a case of them coming along and her making do with the flow.

  “And now, we both get a new start, is that it?” she asked.

  “I tried to make sure you’d be free.”

  Some light started to shine on the happenings of the past. “It’s why that body was found and declared to be you.”

  He nodded.

  “And the insurance premium turned out to be so hefty.”

  Again, he confirmed her suspicions.

  “How’d you do this?”

  A lot of people said Sandeep Jain had married the daughter of a mafia don.

  “Let’s just say I have some connections.”

  She acquiesced with a nod. Then, she stood. When he got up, too, she allowed her gaze to run over him. He still looked so much the same, yet, he seemed different.

  A stranger.

  The sting of tears burned her eyes, and she reached out and closed her arms around him. A whole part of her life got shelved in the gesture, and her heart sank at the same time it sang.

  With loss came sorrow, yet when sorrow cleared, it left the place vacant for happiness to settle in.

  “Goodbye, Sandeep,” she said as she broke away.

  He touched her cheek, like he’d done so often in the past, and let his hand drop. “Goodbye, Neha.”

  ***

  Saturday morning came, and though winter beat down hard with a biting cold on the upper plateaus, on the Mauritian coast, the sun blazed and poked through clothing to burn the skin.

  Neha squirmed. Why had she worn this heavy wool sweater? She hadn’t paused to think about it, that’s why. Her mind had been preoccupied with nothing but the thought of seeing him, of being by his side as soon as possible.

  Their plane had made it onto the island in the wee hours of morning. Neha had hardly slept since then. She couldn’t have if she’d wanted to. Just like sleep had eluded her ever since the day she had left a man’s office back in Mumbai and had started down a new road for her.

  A road leading her here.

  Stepping away from the car, she glanced at the big black X6 next to her. He was here, thank goodness.

  In the distance, the slightly rough waters of the lagoon moved in choppy motions. Waves lifted and crashed, blurring the view. How would she see him?

  She took another few steps across the beach, to finally catch sight of him. Strong arms cut through the surf with swift precision. His big body seemed to glide through the current with almost impertinent ease.

  He did another few lengths across the water. He must not know she stood here, or else, he’d have come out.

  Would he …?

  A shiver ran through her. What if he had decided to revert back to being stone with her?

  Tyler’s words echoed in her mind. Did Logan really care for her? Could it be true that all the emotional angst and intensity were a sure sign that he was totally into her?

  She’d have her answer soon, as he was now swimming towards the shore.

  As he stood when his feet touched the sand, she couldn’t help but lick her lips. The sparkling beads of water rolled down his beautiful body, the tattoo on his arm clearly visible, the dark ink a stark contrast to his tanned skin. The itch to feel him, to caress every inch of his delectable self, tingled in her fingertips. She yearned for his touch on her, for him to take her and make her his like only he knew how.

  Could she hope to have it all again?

  His gaze narrowed as he came towards her. Neha inhaled sharply.

  Now’s your chance.

  He stopped a few feet from her, silent and waiting. Like a panther about to pounce, and this made her gulp.

  “Hi,” she said in a croak.

  He nodded.

  “I ...”

  She couldn’t finish. The fire in his eyes burned through her, making the words evaporate on the tip of her tongue.

  He would wait her out. The ball lay in her side of the court, and she needed to pick it up and hit it.

  Bare your heart to him. For once in your life, do it when it really matters.

  “You were right,” she said.

  He cocked an eyebrow.

  “Rahul Kiran didn’t die like we thought he had. He just changed his identity and is living a new life back in Mumbai.”

  His jaw tensed.

  “But you know what?
” She breathed in deep. “For me, Rahul Kiran is dead and buried. That man doesn’t exist anymore.”

  He clenched his hands at his sides.

  “If Rahul hadn’t taken that fateful trip, he would’ve been by my side today. Our lives would’ve been different. We might not have met, you and I. But it’s not the case.”

  “So what are you saying?” he finally asked.

  Neha looked up into his face, and her heart bled for this man. She yearned for nothing more than to be with him, to make his world right, because she and she alone could do it for him.

  “I’m saying …” she paused. “Today, I am free. Rahul is living his life, and I need to live mine. Even if he, and not Sandeep Jain, came along tomorrow, he chose his path when he left us, and his decision changes everything.”

  “You’re a widow,” he said softly.

  “And I’m not perfect. Nobody is, and nobody should be. It’s what you showed me, Logan.” Neha took a step closer. “I’m only a woman, making her own choices as from today. A woman who loves you, and who wants to take a chance on a relationship. It’s all I care to see right from now.”

  “It’s your final stand?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’ll take me, and face the world when we come out in the open?”

  His voice came out soft, and she thought she’d heard an unconcealed note of vulnerability in it.

  Neha bridged the distance between them. Her heavy wool jumper touched his wet body, but she didn’t care if it would be soiled by the salty water. Nothing mattered but her and Logan.

  She brought her hands up and settled her palms on his cheeks.

  “I’ll have all of you,” she said. “In public, in the spotlight, in private, for the rest of my life if you’ll allow me.”

  He smiled and then pulled her to him, arms around her, until she landed smack against his glorious, naked chest.

  The answer she had been waiting for.

  As she went on tiptoe and kissed him, Neha knew she had done the truly right thing, finally.

  Epilogue

  Curepipe, Mauritius.

  Three months later

  The storm has come and gone.

  In the first hour of dawn, Neha stood on the terrace of her house and let her eyes drift into the distance. A low mist hung on the pruned tea bushes a hundred yards away. In a few moments, the haze would clear as if by magic, and none would be the wiser that such dense fog had clouded the area so recently.

  Her thoughts went back to the past few months, and she sighed. So much had happened. Like the fog, many things had blurred and brought confusion into her life. And then, as if by magic, too, the mist had lifted, and she’d seen her path as brightly as one could see the scenery before her eyes.

  No, not magic. A man had happened, and a woman, too, had come into her own.

  She was that woman.

  She perceived a shift in the air, and a small smile tugged at her lips. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the bed, visible from a panel of the tall French window opening on the terrace. The mattress lay empty, and she chuckled.

  Looking back in front of her, Neha bided her time. She closed her eyes when strong hands touched her shoulders, peeling the cashmere shawl from her back. A few seconds later, soft warmth radiated across her exposed skin and through the thin silk of her nightgown.

  With a sigh, she let go, leaning back into the body of the man who now shared every part of her life.

  “Good morning,” she said softly, reverent of the moment and afraid to speak louder for fear this proved a dream and she’d wake up.

  “G’day, wife,” he whispered in her ear, then he kissed the lobe and trailed his mouth along her neck.

  She almost purred. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned forward until his cheek pressed against hers. She laughed at the feel of his scratchy stubble against her skin.

  “It looks like the start of a very nice day,” she said as she opened her eyes to watch the brightening sky.

  “Hmm.”

  “You’re still not fully awake, innit?”

  It had amazed her how much of a grumpy bear he could be in the mornings. She’d definitely thought him to be an early bird. But Logan was a night owl, she’d found out. A hot blush stole up her body when she recalled how little she really slept at night now.

  “Come back to bed,” he said as he nuzzled her neck.

  “Logan ...”

  He roamed his hands upon her body, caressing her sides and setting her on fire.

  “Stop it,” she half-heartedly admonished. “The children will be up soon.”

  “And the door is locked,” he said against her jaw.

  The cheeky sod. “We shouldn’t—”

  She gasped when he closed a hand on a breast.

  “Come on, babe.”

  Don’t call me babe. He could get her to bow to anything when he used that word.

  The sigh hitched in her throat when he brushed her nipple with a thumb.

  “Half an hour.” She sighed with bliss.

  “Ample time,” he said as he whisked her back into the bedroom and tumbled her onto the bed. Her knee bumped into the romance paperback on the bedside table, sending the book flying to land with a muffled thump onto the floor.

  She had no idea at what point her nightdress and his boxer shorts got discarded. She knew nothing but the idyllic feel of his big, hot, and hard body on hers, deliciously heavy as it pressed her into the mattress.

  He kissed her, and she opened her lips to allow his tongue to dance with hers. She then parted her thighs and settled them along his sides almost by instinct and certainly out of practice. Being with such a large man required some bedroom skills she had loved to master since the day he’d started to share her bed as her husband.

  “I love you,” he said as he broke free from the kiss, stared into her eyes, and took her.

  She arched off the bed and against his chest. Her hips moved with his, and as she climaxed, she brought her mouth close to his ear.

  “I love you, too,” she whispered.

  They soared together and, no, there was nothing wrong in the two of them being together.

  In fact, nothing could’ve been more right. Because they loved each other, and because they had both let their defences down to try and share something scary at first glance, but absolutely wonderful when one took a chance on it.

  Neha smiled as she hugged Logan closer to her. She’d never regret choosing him, because he had brought her fulfilment.

  Neither saint nor sinner, with him, she was simply a woman. And that, she reckoned, was the best role ever.

  THE END

  Author’s Note

  Dear Reader,

  Just like Diya’s story before this one, I hadn’t set out to even imagine a tale for Neha. She just ‘happened’ in Lara’s book, being snippy and pretty much intolerant towards her elder sister. Why? The question kept nagging at me, and it got me thinking about what really lurked behind in the life of this seemingly perfect wife and mother. What of the woman at the heart of her?

  Neha is a very serious and staid person—as a character, it wasn’t easy for me to work with her at first. Her story almost always, in the first few drafts I attempted, involved some sort of drama, and not the kind you’d see in an uplifting novel. No, it actually went quite dark, with Rahul coming back and making the lives of Neha and Suzanne actual Hell, him being a vengeful man trying to escape the mistakes of his past.

  I wrote this book twice … and still wasn’t satisfied. I don’t know how and when I realised that the tone wasn’t working. This was a romance novel—it could get dark and dangerous, but it also shouldn’t resemble a Mafia noir tale with no hope and no happiness in it.

  And that’s when it dawned on me that I was overcomplicating things. Neha and Logan already carried enough emotional and life baggage to make this an engaging journey simply through them having to find out how they existed best together. At the same time, they would also need closure reg
arding Neha’s past … and that’s how the story you just read came to be.

  It was actually draining to write this book, not at all the fun fest Diya’s story had been, or even Lara’s, despite the issues in those two books. Both Neha and Logan were so intense, they drained me. Especially Logan who turned out to be the most Alpha male I have ever written.

  But for these same reasons, this is one book I am immensely proud of, because I managed to write it, and I hope, I managed to make you enjoy their bumpy emotional ride towards a happy ending.

  As always, I would love to hear your feedback (email me anytime at zeemonodee@gmail.com), and your ratings & reviews are always welcome and much appreciated (please leave a review on Amazon when you finish. Just 1-2 lines will work! Just say how the book made you feel – no need to go summarize the plot or anything, LOL. Thanks!)

  From Mauritius with love,

  Zee Monodee

  About The Author

  From always choosing the storytelling option in English & French classes to sneaking a Mills&Boon romance under the desk at school, Zee went on to make a career out of writing the kind of emotional romances all young girls junk on.

  Her Mauritius and Indian-based romances have all the classic makings of Bollywood-type drama: overbearing mothers, matchmaking aunties, ‘proper’ eligible suitors who look like frogs, race & class divides.

  Travel to the UK (Surrey & North Yorkshire), and you meet people—young and older—struggling to find ‘The One’ amid the drudgery of day-to-day life, never mind if they’re a simple graphic designer working from home, a world-renowned supermodel battling anorexia, or a reluctant heiress on the run.

  Take to the Corpus Agency mantle, and become lethal spies & assassins who nevertheless feel the call of love in their dark and shady lives…

  Of Indian origin & a 2x breast cancer survivor, Zee lives in paradise (aka Mauritius!) with her long-suffering husband, their smart-mouth teenage son, and their tabby cat who thinks herself a fearsome feline from the nearby African Serengeti plains. When she isn’t in her kitchen rolling out chapattis or baking cakes while singing along to the latest hit from the Top of the Pops chart, she can be found reading or catching up on her numerous TV show addictions. In her day job, she is an editor who helps other authors like her hone their works and craft.