Twelve Hours of Temptation

by Shoma Narayanan

  ‘The family has problems with me,’ she said. ‘So, yes, I suppose you could call it family problems.’

  He waited till she was sitting down with a glass of juice in her hand before he said, ‘Want to talk about it?’

  ‘I wouldn’t want to bore you,’ she said. ‘It’s not such a big deal.’

  But clearly it was—her voice was wobbly and her eyes looked suspiciously damp.

  Samir put a hand lightly over hers. ‘I don’t get bored easily,’ he said.

  ‘My dad disowned me a couple of years ago,’ she said tightly. ‘Struck my name out of the family Bible and all that. Michael was pretty upset with me as well, but he’s come around. Cheryl’s level-headed—she must have talked some sense into him.’

  ‘What happened—a guy?’

  Melissa grimaced. ‘Predictable, isn’t it? My dad flipped out. It wasn’t even anything terribly serious—just a teenage crush—I’d have lost interest if he hadn’t made such a fuss.’

  Samir frowned. Something didn’t sound quite right. ‘He threw you out of the house because you had a crush on a guy?’

  ‘No...not exactly. I was going through a rebellious phase, and... Well, I overstepped the mark quite a bit. Anyway, let’s talk about something else; my love life isn’t exactly the most thrilling topic.’

  ‘Neither is mine,’ Samir said, his voice deadpan. ‘So that leaves politics and the economy. At this rate we’ll soon be reduced to talking about the weather.’

  In spite of herself, Melissa laughed. ‘Storms are brewing in North Goa,’ she said. ‘That’s where my folks live.’

  ‘What was he like?’ Samir asked abruptly.

  There was something vaguely unsettling in the thought of Melissa having had a relationship serious enough for her to have broken ties with her family. Evidently the man was no longer in the picture—maybe they’d broken up afterwards.

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ Melissa said, shaking her head firmly. ‘I need to take my mind off him, and my brother, and... Oh, what the heck? I think I’ll have a drink after all.’ She beckoned to a waiter and ordered a vodka with orange juice.

  ‘Are you sure you can handle that?’ Samir asked, eyeing the way she glugged it back with misgiving.

  Melissa laughed. ‘I come from a family of hard drinkers,’ she said. ‘My grandmother could probably drink you under the table. Turning teetotal was my way of rebelling.’

  Many rounds later, Samir had to acknowledge that Melissa had inherited her grandmother’s capacity for strong liquor. Not a heavy drinker himself, he was beginning to feel the effect of the vodkas. Melissa, on the other hand, was looking just the same—maybe just a tad more bight-eyed and chatty than she had been at the start of the evening.

  ‘One more?’ she asked, tapping Samir’s empty glass with her finger.

  He shook his head ruefully. ‘I’m done,’ he said. ‘Any more and they’ll have to carry me out of here.’

  ‘Bo-ring,’ she said. ‘Come on, Samir, don’t be a wuss. I was hoping you’d take me dancing after this.’

  ‘Sorry—too old,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you go with that Akash guy who was trying to chat you up so desperately?’

  ‘Ah, so you noticed?’ Melissa said. ‘He’s cute, but he’s not really my type. Too chirpy. I like cynical brooding types.’

  She was giving him a frankly assessing look, and Samir wondered if he’d got his initial reading wrong. Maybe she was drunk after all. Whatever the reason, the way she was looking at him was enough to make any red-blooded male lose his head.

  Hurriedly, he got to his feet, reminding himself why he couldn’t touch her. She was young, probably drunk, and she was an employee—there was no way he could pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless the way he wanted to. Better to leave before things got out of hand.

  ‘I’m going to bed,’ he said when she gave him an inquiring look.

  ‘Ooh, good idea,’ she said, sliding off the bar stool. ‘I’ll come with you.’

  All right, so she was definitely drunk. For a few seconds he thought he’d heard her wrong. Then he thought he’d misunderstood—but clearly he hadn’t.

  ‘Melissa,’ he said as she followed him down the winding path that led to his cottage. ‘Your room’s the other way; it’s in the main part of the hotel.’

  ‘Of course it is,’ she said, laughing at him. ‘But I’m not going there. I’m coming with you.’

  She was feeling reckless—a combination of alcohol and the euphoria of being back in Goa. It had also been a long while since her last relationship had broken up. In the dim light of the bar Samir looked every inch a sex god, and resisting temptation seemed downright stupid.

  ‘Look, I don’t think this is a good idea,’ he said. ‘We’ve both had too much to drink, and...’

  ‘And we shouldn’t do something we’ll regret tomorrow?’ Melissa wrinkled her nose. ‘Samir, if you wrote your own ads they’d be so full of clichés you’d have to pay copyright to the greetings cards company.’

  ‘Melissa...’

  ‘Shh,’ she said and, leaning up, she kissed him full on the mouth.

  Her lips were inviting, warm and lush against his, and then there was her pliant body, pressed provocatively against his. Involuntarily, Samir found himself returning the kiss, his arms coming up to pull her closer.

  They were almost at the cottage, and later he couldn’t remember opening the door or switching on the lights. But he did remember carrying her to bed and undressing her. And drinking in the sight of her near perfect body spread out on the bed before making wild, passionate love to her all night long.

  FOUR

  ‘And the award for the best copy goes to...’

  There was a long pause, and Melissa thought she’d keel over and die if they gave it to someone else.

  ‘Mendonca Advertising for their ground-breaking, story format ad for India’s most popular brand of baby soap. Come on, let’s hear it for them!’

  The hall burst into applause as Samir went on stage to accept the award. ‘I know this isn’t the Oscars, so I’ll keep it short,’ he said, smiling around at the audience.

  Melissa noticed that several of the women immediately sat up and began preening.

  ‘I’ve taken over at Mendonca Advertising only very recently. The people who really deserve the award are Brian Mendonca, the man who set up the firm, Devdeep Dutta, for a superb pitch that got us the account, but most of all Melissa D’Cruz, the talented young copywriter who wrote the ad for us.’

  The applause wasn’t overwhelming, exactly, but it was loud, and it went on till Melissa and Devdeep had accepted the award and returned to their seats.

  ‘Nice of him to mention Brian,’ Devdeep said in an undertone.

  ‘He could hardly not mention Brian,’ Melissa said tartly. ‘The agency still carries his name. Anyway, the ad was done long before Samir arrived on the scene.’

  ‘Congrats, guys,’ Samir said, coming to stand next to them. ‘Very well deserved.’

  Melissa gave a polite smile, pretending not to be affected by his nearness. She’d sneaked out of his room early in the morning before he woke up, and had spent the rest of the day avoiding him. There was the awkwardness, of course, of having practically thrown herself at him—her seduction skills were pathetic, and she hadn’t even had the excuse of being properly drunk...not that it had seemed to matter to Samir...he’d responded pretty enthusiastically—but it wasn’t just awkwardness. It was also that he was her boss, and one-night stands were sensible only if you were never going to see the person again.

  He was looking at her now, and Melissa flushed automatically. The previous night had been...memorable. Samir was phenomenal in bed, and she’d been pretty vocal with her appreciation. So vocal that the memory of some of the things she’d said was m
aking her cringe in embarrassment now. He probably thought she was a complete slut.

  ‘You left,’ he said in a low voice, once Devdeep had moved off. ‘Why? I tried calling you, but your phone was switched off and you weren’t in your room.’

  ‘I went parasailing,’ she said. ‘My phone was in my room.’

  ‘Parasailing?’ he said thoughtfully. ‘That’s a new one. I don’t think anyone’s used that as an excuse to walk out on me before. Was I that bad?’

  He seemed more amused than angry, and Melissa felt a rush of relief. ‘You were spectacular, and you know it,’ she said frankly. ‘It’s just that I thought I’d save us both an awkward morning-after.’

  Samir reached out and touched her face lightly, and she felt her body automatically quiver with longing.

  ‘I’d have preferred it if you’d stayed,’ he said.

  The simple statement went a long way towards calming her down.

  ‘I wasn’t sure,’ she said. ‘This isn’t the kind of thing I do normally. I was in a bit of a reckless mood after meeting Michael, and I thought a one-night stand would be a good way to take my mind off things. Well, it worked!’ she added defensively at the incredulous look in his face.

  ‘Happy to help,’ he said drily. ‘Why did you do a runner, then?’

  ‘You’re my boss. Sleeping with the boss is never a good idea. I kind of forgot that bit in the heat of the moment last night.’

  Samir stayed silent. He’d expected her to be shaken up, even embarrassed. Being told that he’d been a temporary diversion to take her mind off her more serious problems was a bit of a facer.

  As if she’d read his mind, Melissa said, ‘I don’t make a habit of this. Yesterday was a bit of an aberration.’

  ‘An aberration you don’t want to repeat?’

  ‘Um, yes. I mean, no, I don’t want to repeat it. It was great, but it’ll only become awkward with me working for you. People would figure it out and think I was sleeping with you to boost my career.’

  OK, this was coming out all wrong, and Samir was looking clearly irritated, his perfectly sculpted mouth tightening with annoyance. And staring at his mouth was making her think of all the things that very same mouth had done last night, and she was going all hot and cold at the memory.

  ‘You have a point,’ he was saying now. ‘Your career could do with a bit of a boost—being a copywriter with a tiny ad agency can’t be where your ambitions end, can it?’

  Melissa’s eyes widened. Granted, his ego must have taken a bit of a beating when she’d told him that she didn’t want to sleep with him again, but he was being insulting now.

  ‘Look, there’s no need to turn nasty,’ she said, getting to her feet. ‘I’m flattered that you think I’m ambitious enough to sleep with you because you’re a big dude in the advertising world, but it isn’t true. I slept with you because you’ve got a good body and sexy eyes, and ever since I met you I’ve been wondering what you’d be like in bed. Best way to get you out of my system.’

  She put her rather cute little nose in the air and walked off before Samir could think of a suitable response.

  Staring after her, he was surprised to find himself laughing. He’d never been put so firmly in his place before, and he found his respect for Melissa going up several notches. He’d reacted stupidly when she’d come out with that line about boosting her career, but it had triggered off a set of memories that he’d spent the last ten years trying to bury. Definitely not her fault, and he’d apologise as soon as he possibly could.

  The one thing he knew was that he’d make sure he was more than a simple one-night stand for Melissa—she was worth fighting for.

  Melissa’s heart was pounding rather hard as she walked to the other end of the poolside garden where the award ceremony was being held. Her little outburst at Samir might mean that she’d shortly be out of a job, but she found she didn’t care about that as much as she did about the thought of not seeing him again. She’d been lying about having got Samir out of her system—if anything, that one night with him had left her wanting far, far more.

  A vaguely familiar-looking group of people near the bar smiled at her—with some effort she recognised her cricket teammates from the previous day’s game on the beach.

  Akash was waving to her. ‘Congratulations,’ he said, coming up to her and giving her an extravagant hug. ‘I was trying to get your attention earlier, but you were completely engrossed in whatever Mr Razdan was saying to you. I do hope you managed to swing a better salary—you deserve it.’

  For one horrified moment Melissa thought he meant that she deserved a higher salary for having slept with her boss. Then she realised he meant the award, and said, ‘It didn’t occur to me to ask for more money.’

  ‘You should ask him now. There are a dozen other agencies here who’d hire you on the spot at double the pay. Actually, my boss has already been asking about you.’ He gave her an engaging grin. ‘She comes to these award dos to sniff out the talent. Saves her having to pay a headhunter. Interested?’

  ‘What’s she like to work for?’

  Akash shrugged. ‘A bit hormonal. Fundamentally OK, though. And you’d have brilliant colleagues like me to work with if you joined.’

  Oh, dear—she’d really have to figure out a way of telling Akash she wasn’t interested. The cricket game on the beach seemed to have given him all kinds of ideas.

  She was trying to think of a polite way of giving him the brush-off when she saw his gaze shift to over her shoulder.

  ‘The guy doesn’t leave you alone for a minute, does he?’ Akash muttered. He scribbled something on the back of a napkin and thrust it at her. ‘Here—call me once Svengali’s gone. I’ll set up something with Maya.’

  ‘New conquest?’ Samir asked, once Akash was gone. ‘Or is he launching a takeaway service?’

  ‘Funny joke,’ Melissa said, wrinkling up her nose. ‘Not. He was offering me a job.’

  Samir didn’t seem to have heard what she’d said, and Melissa began to feel a little annoyed. Okay, maybe she wasn’t in the big league, exactly, but it was pretty flattering being head-hunted by someone as well known as Maya Kumar.

  She’d recognised the name the second Akash had mentioned it. Maya was a legend in Indian advertising circles, having quit as the creative director of a multinational advertising firm to set up her own company. Ten years later she was running one of India’s most successful agencies, and Melissa found the thought of working for her rather exciting.

  ‘I came to check if you’d like to go out for dinner,’ Samir was saying. ‘Unless, of course, you’ve already made other plans?’

  ‘I have,’ she said shortly, and added, as his eyes automatically shifted to where Akash was standing with a group of friends, ‘I’m meeting Michael and Cheryl. Thought it was time to try and do some patching up.’ There had been no real need to tell him that, but she’d hate him to think that she’d jump straight out of his bed into a flirtation with another man.

  He looked surprised. ‘You sure about this? I thought you wanted to avoid your brother.’

  ‘I can’t avoid him for the rest of my life. And I really want to see my nephew.’

  ‘I can drop you,’ Samir offered. ‘Wherever you’re meeting them. And hang around if you need moral support.’

  He really seemed to have missed the point of a one-night stand, Melissa thought in exasperation. Moral support was so not part of the deal. It didn’t help that he was looking especially hot today, in a tailored jacket worn over an open-necked shirt and jeans that fitted his long legs and lean thighs like a second skin. Nor that the hotel had quoted her a perfectly outrageous rate for a cab to Panaji, where she was meeting Michael. A week’s salary for a ride in a smelly old cab versus a gratis trip to Panaji and back in Samir’s top-of-the-range roadster—she could be forgiven for giving in
. Still, it was better to make some things clear.

  ‘What I said earlier, about getting you out of my system...’

  ‘You meant it. I know. And I’m sorry I said what I did—put it down to my ego not being used to a bruising.’ He gave her a quick smile. ‘We’ll stick to being just good friends, OK?’

  Impossible to tell whether he was serious or not, but Melissa decided she didn’t care. It was only by exercising super-human self-control that she was sticking to her self-imposed no touching policy with Samir. There was no point inflicting further torture on herself by refusing a simple lift.

  ‘Let’s go, then,’ she said, giving him a sunny smile in return.

  They were halfway to Panaji, and Melissa was just beginning to relax, when Samir spoke.

  ‘Are you meeting your father as well? Or just your brother’s family?’

  ‘Just my brother,’ Melissa said and sighed. ‘I don’t think I’m up to the strain of meeting my dad just yet.’

  ‘He seems quite a tyrant. What does he do?’

  ‘He owns a restaurant in North Goa,’ she said. ‘We all used to chip in: my mom, me, Michael and Cheryl—even my nephew used to hang around there the whole day. And when I finished college I started working there full-time. My dad was getting older, and we’d expanded a bit—he needed all the help he could get.’

  Samir shot her a quick look. She sounded wistful, and a little sad, as if she wasn’t quite as blasé about being cut off from her family as she pretended to be.

  ‘Your mother?’

  ‘She died six years ago,’ Melissa said.

  The words were matter-of-fact, but he could tell she was not over it yet.

  ‘A road accident.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Samir said.

  Melissa shrugged. ‘It was quick—that was a mercy. She didn’t suffer much.’

  Unlike her family, Samir thought, trying to imagine how tough it would have been for Melissa, losing her mother while still in her teens. She was staring out of the window unseeingly now, and he swiftly steered the conversation so that she started talking about her nephew. That cheered her up almost instantly, and by the time he dropped her off at Panaji, she was smiling again.