Page 9 of Pillow Talk (Rally Romance #1)

‘Knock it off, Shona. If you keep talking about your bridal shop and wedding dresses, I’m leaving,’ he’d said.

Years later he was sleeping next to the same girl.

Sen smiled when he remembered that she used to call him Senthil.

When did she stop calling me Senthil? He tried to remember…

He was ??. It was the summer he’d desperately wanted to travel with his friends but his mother had ordered him home.

Shona and Anni were 16 and had already caught the attention of many guys in their town.

But they stayed clear of the attention. Anni was too shy and Shona was too busy and really wasn’t confident.

His grandfather had bought him a Jeep to sweeten the deal – to get him to stay for the summer. He’d picked up the girls and headed to a bonfire at the beach. Everyone was invited so they weren’t really crashing anyone’s party. Anni was staying over at Shona’s and their curfew was 10pm.

When they arrived at the beach, Avi sniggered. But Sen was different. He was becoming a man and no longer afraid. He looked Avi in the eye: ‘What’s your problem?’

‘Why are you hanging out with those two losers, pretty boy?’

Hunter whispered to Avi to leave it alone, but Avi continued passing remarks.

Sen attended one of the country’s strictest boarding schools. His life was planned out. He followed rules and he had self-discipline. So he walked away. The girls followed but they didn’t seem enthusiastic about being there.

He was just about to ask if they wanted to leave when Andrea, a 17-year-old local girl, who’d set her sights on him the previous summer, appeared.

‘Oh, Sen. I hope you’re not leaving. I was hoping we could catch up.’

Sen was a teenage boy with raging hormones; Andrea was annoying but she still appealed to his idiotic teen self.

Naturally Sen looked at her with adoring eyes. He’d completely forgotten about Anni and Shona and about leaving the bonfire.

‘Say you’ll stay, Sen ,’ Andrea cooed.

‘Yes, why don’t you stay, SEN,’ Shona pressed, eyes narrowing at him.

That was the first time she’d called him Sen and it stuck. The girls went home and he hung out with Andrea.

He left for boarding school the following day. He’d never got to say goodbye to Anni and Shona and, when he came back to Rally for Christmas, they avoided him.

Now he turned to look at Shona. She always seemed tough as nails to him.

She would go on and on about how she would have a popular bridal store and design dresses for the stars.

She seemed to have it all planned out. But now he wondered if he’d simply overlooked her vulnerability.

He hadn’t looked closely enough back then.

Now he could see that although Shona was surrounded by people, somehow she felt alone.

And that was his last thought before he drifted to sleep.

‘We look ridiculous. There are only kids here!’

Sen looked around, pretending that this was news to him.

‘Sen, what are you not telling me?’

He looked down at Shona and hid a smile.

She wore short, pink tights, a sporty tank top, running shoes and a visor to shield her eyes from the sun – clearly dressed for a marathon.

He also looked like he was going to take on a race in blue running shorts, a T-shirt, grey trainers and trendy sunglasses.

The other participants were in their school sports kit.

‘SEN!’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘So remember that fun walk we did when we were kids? Turns out it’s only for kids,’ he said stepping back in case she decided to punch him in the face.

‘Listen Buster, I know I’m shorter than you but I don’t think I would qualify as a kid, so why are we standing in this registration line?’

She looked at the excited children around them and swore under her breath.

Sen pulled her out of the line.

‘You can’t curse in front of kids,’ he scolded playfully as he ushered her towards the refreshment stands. The overhead sign said it was sponsored by Shah its endless aisles packed tightly with rolls of fabric.

He should have known that when Shona spoke about her ‘wants’ it would have to do with sewing.

After they swapped their sports gear for a floral swing dress for her and dark denim jeans and a plain blue T-shirt for him, they got into Sen’s car and he followed Shona’s directions.

He never expected her to lead him to a fabric warehouse in the middle of nowhere.

Shona was talking to a sales assistant while he looked at buttons that he didn’t need.

Before his intimate relationship with Shona, he knew nothing about the production of clothing. But now he knew more than he should. It was interesting and a lot of work. In fact, he suspected that Shona worked harder than he did.

‘Found anything you like?’ she asked, coming up behind him.

He turned around to make a joke but stopped when he saw her.

Shona was beautiful. She was juggling a pile of folded fabric and her handbag.

Her hair, which she painstakingly tried to control, was all over the place and her face was fresh and…

happy. Yes, that was it. Shona was happy.

He’d taken dates to expensive restaurants and even exclusive shows, but none had been as happy as Shona in a fabric warehouse.

But then he sobered when he remembered this was not a date.

It was two friends on what they called an ‘adventure.’ Obviously they were both fools, but what did it matter if they were having this much fun?

‘Sen?’

He snapped out of whatever enchantment she had over him.

‘You’ve found everything you need?’

She nodded and then peeped over his shoulder at the buttons display.

She pointed to a row of gold buttons.

‘You grandfather always chooses those buttons,’ she said.

He didn’t hear what she said because he couldn’t focus.

‘Are you going to be much longer?’

Shona’s smile fell. ‘I’m all done. I’ve already paid. The guy at the door is fetching a box for these. I can meet you at the car.’

Sen didn’t know what had come over him but he nodded and walked out, knowing full well that he’d been rude to her.

About five minutes later, while he leaned against the car, she came out of the warehouse to the deserted parking lot. No one except the two of them would be out fabric shopping at 8.30 on a Saturday morning.

She approached him nervously.

In two strides he was in front of her. He took her box from her and held it under one arm.

He used his other arm to pull her to him.

He bent down and covered her mouth. He kissed her hard and she responded.

Their tongues were saying unspoken things in just a kiss.

She grabbed onto his T-shirt and pulled him closer.

It was only when the box nearly slipped out of his grasp that the explosive kiss ended.

‘I’ve been wanting to do that all morning,’ he said in a husky voice.

‘I’m glad you did,’ she replied.

They stood there for a few seconds just looking at each other until they heard another car approaching.

Sen opened her door and she got in. He put the box of fabric on the back seat and got behind the steering wheel.

‘Where do we go next?’

Sen asked the question because he wanted to know what was next on the itinerary, but in the back of his mind, he was questioning what was next for them because Shona was becoming more than a ‘no strings attached’…and it scared and excited him at the same time.