Page 26

Twenty-Five. Drop-dead beautiful

Elias

A fter meeting Vera’s family and being welcomed so warmly, I’m excited for her to meet my siblings. Especially since our dynamic is similar to what she has with her brothers. I imagine that’s now Nina feels when we’re lovingly overprotective of her. She might not say it so positively, but whatever. The success of the afternoon is also why I insisted Tamara join us in Mahabalipuram? 1 . Didn’t take much convincing—“a beach house with access to a private beach and no work for three days? Sign me the fuck up” were her exact words.

And I agree, it’s the best way to unwind.

With our busy schedules, and Patrick and Nina going off to Paris this year, finding four days when we’d get to be together was almost impossible. Since I was benched for the first two months of the ICL season, I figured picking a random week would work. Thankfully it doesn’t go against my schedule now that I’m back on the team. Having won our last few matches and our run rate being exceptional, we’re already set to play the first Qualifier this weekend. That means we have this whole week off. Coach Kumaran wasn’t overly pleased by the request to skip practice, but I wasn’t above using my shoulder injury as a need for rest.

Coming along on the trip are Bash and Samar—I have no clue what excuse they made—and a couple of Patrick’s and my friends from growing up in Cochin. They’re only staying for a day but everyone else will be there until the end of the weekend. I had to promise Coach I’d join the team for our flight to Ahmedabad on Saturday morning, so I will unfortunately miss out on the last two days of the getaway.

When we pull up to the beach house, two cars are already parked in the front. The women make their way inside while I grab our bags. Even though this is the first time my friends are meeting Vera and Tamara, I don’t need to get involved in introductions. Instead, I go to meet with the cook and discuss the plans for our stay. Since I book out this same house every year, the staff know me and I’m familiar with them. They like trolling me about the Renegades when we’re on a losing streak, much like everyone else in my life.

Walking through the main room, I step outside to find my friends floating in the pool, hands filled with beers. Tamara’s nowhere to be seen, so after ensuring they’re okay, I guide Vera to the biggest bedroom on the top floor. She falls backwards onto the bed and I lean against the doorway as I smile. Never in my years of doing this getaway with my siblings have I brought a woman, but she belongs here. With me. In my life. For as long as I can keep her. My phone buzzes and she props herself up on her elbows with a scowl.

“I thought the rule was no phones ? Because James had a conniption when I told him I’d be unreachable.”

I imagine her assistant in hysterics and chuckle. But the sound fades when I see the texts from Dhruv. “Ah, fuck.”

“What’s wrong?”

My agent is good at his job and he’s gotten me this far, so I know he’s usually being helpful. This is anything but. Links to gossip columns and tabloid photographs is not how I wanted to start this holiday. He prefaces everything by saying ‘I told you it wasn’t a good idea to get involved with her’ and my rage bubbles. I join her in bed and drag my hands through my hair as I look through what he’s sent me.

“Oh.”

“That’s it?” I ask, noticing her expression hasn’t changed.

“It was inevitable, right? You, the Renegades superstar. Me, the hot woman you can’t take your eyes off.”

Shaking my head, I look at the picture open on my phone. She’s right, I can’t take my eyes off her. The first slide is of us at the secret gig, the second one is from the night out with her friends and the third is us in my car. It hasn’t taken the ‘journalists’ too long to connect Vera to the brunette from a month ago, but they still don’t know who she is. Which is a blessing. I haven’t given much thought to what the Renegades management will say when they know I’m in love with the woman who owns the company they hired to do our marketing.

Dhruv

You should be focusing on the next few games, not partying and drinking your weight in alcohol.

This is what you pay me for, E. Trust me when I say she’s bad news.

Especially if Jaishankar finds out you’re fucking her.

Vera scoffs as the notifications appear at the top of my screen and presses the button to lock my phone. I’m hovering between rage and disgust, because I don’t know how to react to Dhruv’s words. This isn’t only about me being in a relationship, but I can’t figure out what his deal is.

“Ignore him,” she says, arms sliding around my waist as her chin lands on my shoulder.

“What happens if Jaishankar does find out about us?”

“Nothing. I…I don’t know, actually. There was no clause or rule mentioned in the contract. I read it thoroughly before signing and again after we got together. But I’ll have my lawyer look again, to cover all bases.”

“Fuck, I’m sorry, peaches.”

“Don’t apologise for this. We’re adults and we can do whatever and whoever we want.”

I gesture to my phone with a grunt. “But everyone else has opinions about it now.”

“That’s their problem. The only opinions that matter are ours.” Turning my head, I meet her eyes and she smiles. “Dhruv should be thinking of ways to protect you, not criticise you.”

“He’s been with me since the beginning.”

“I know, but maybe you should talk to him. I don’t care what he says, because he’s not important to me . But it’s not the same for you.”

Glaring at my phone, I nod. “I’d end that relationship before I end ours.”

“Good boy,” she whispers and turns my head, her mouth colliding with mine. The air is charged, my body on fire as she climbs into my lap, knees pressing against my sides. A guttural moan escapes me as her tongue sweeps over my bottom lip and I squeeze her ass, pressing her roughly against me. Knowing she wants me and doesn’t care what the world has to say is what I need to focus on. And I pour every ounce of my appreciation into the kiss.

Until a throat clears.

I lean around her and find Tamara standing in the doorway with a smug grin. Vera flips her off, but doesn’t leave my lap.

“First of all, that was really hot. Secondly, this house is insane. Third, the chef put tea and ethakka appam? 2 out on the veranda, in case either of you are into that sort of thing,” Tamara says. “Also, the guys are gathering things for beach cricket.”

“I love you, but please leave,” Vera tells her cousin, who cackles and closes the door when she leaves.

“So glad we invited her.”

She whines and climbs off my lap. “I wanted to have beach house sex.”

Laughing, I stand and hold my hands out. “If I can find the appropriate gag, I’ll make it happen.”

Snarling, she lunges and I’m still laughing as Vera wraps herself around me, hands sliding over my ass. I kiss her forehead and smooth down her hair. Dhruv wants me to give this up? Give her up? How did the assholes in her past not know exactly how good they had it?

An hour later—tea and ethakka appam have been consumed—we’re setting up on the beach when the women join us. My heart stalls when I see Vera. She’s wearing high-waisted flared maroon shorts and what looks like the top half of a bikini hugs her breasts. A thick band of gorgeous golden brown skin between the top and waistband draws my attention. Her thick wavy hair is fluttering in the wind and not a single speck of makeup can be seen.

She’s drop-dead beautiful.

“For the record,” Tamara adjusts her sunhat with a flirty smirk, “I’m only here to ogle the hot professional athletes.”

Vera snorts and walks over, sand kicking up around her bare feet and runs her hands up my chest to hook around my neck. Shirtless in board shorts, I feel the heat of her touch against every inch of my skin.

“If you wanna avoid this chaos, I’m up for it.”

“Do you want to escape, superstar?”

My hands ghost over her hips and around to her ass. “We’d have the house all to ourselves,” I whisper.

“Maybe after I destroy everyone in cricket.”

I don’t have time to change her mind, because she walks away with a swing in her step. My eyes drink in the criss-cross straps over her back and down to her thick thighs and legs as she ties her hair up. Hate to watch her leave, but love to watch her walk away was said for a moment exactly like this.

“Good thing we’re on the beach, because all that drool is making a mess.” I snap my mouth shut to glance over at a grinning Tamara. “You should tell her you’re in love with her.”

I shake my head and do the same with my shoulders and head to the pitch. Which is a loose term for what we’ve created with thick ropes. There isn’t a lot of space, so we’re working with what we have. We’ve been playing beach cricket long enough that after using driftwood, we got proper bats made with lighter material and invested in a large number of fluorescent yellow tennis balls. The pitch is barely half the size of a standard one with a single set of wickets. We use red and blue flags as markers for runs and boundary shots, but nobody gets anything more than a four anyway.

“The rules are simple,” Bash says. “No high boundary shots, if the ball goes beyond the red marker you get four runs. Since running on the beach is difficult, we won’t hold it against you if you don’t. However, if the ball crosses the blue marker, it’s one run. Don’t try to get crafty with your batting. This is for fun. And yes, the winning team gets a prize.”

“What’s the prize?” Vera asks, swinging the bat as she stands beside Samar. During tea, they formed an alliance to take us down and I’m only a little worried.

Bash frowns and says, “Bragging rights.”

“Fuck no, I want a prize .”

Bash looks at me and I shrug. “Tickets to our next game?”

“That’s not a prize,” she counters with an eye roll and gestures at me. “Perks of dating one of you, I always have access to tickets. I want bragging rights, obviously. Like I will talk about this on social media for the rest of my life. But something more because I’m totally kicking your ass.”

Bash’s eyes widen as he stares at her and glances at me in surprise. I chuckle and walk over to where she’s getting into position at the crease. Since there’s only room for one batter, Samar is standing to the side, waiting for his turn.

“Really digging for a prize, huh?”

She grins. “Thought it’d be fun to make Bash sweat a little.”

“A little turned on watching you wield that bat and threaten me with a good time.”

“I might wield your bat the way you like it too,” she teases and I groan.

“Looks like I’m the one winning tonight either way.”

Vera laughs and shoves me. “Stop distracting me, I have a match to win.”

I back away and stand near one of the blue flags as Bash hands out more instructions. Vera’s very focused as the first ball is thrown and I’m not even a little surprised she gets four runs right away. She gets another four with the second ball and a single run after that. Samar hoots and cheers every time she hits the ball, and even though I’m on the ‘opposing’ team, I’m having the best time watching her. When the batting changes and Samar takes over, Vera comes over to kiss me loudly. This only makes my friends whistle before she goes off to sit beside Tamara, all her delicious skin on display.

Fucking hell, she really is mine .

And she did kick our butts.

I can’t tell you how or what she did differently, but one minute the ball was crossing the red flags and the next she was catching them all. Between her and Samar, there was absolutely no chance at winning. You’d think being professional cricketers, Bash and I could win. My sexy girlfriend made sure to not let that happen.

Vera also figured out what she wanted as a prize: Bash and me waiting on her and Tamara all evening.

After cricket, we came back to the house to wash up for the evening. Patrick and Nina should be arriving soon—Kuriakose texted me when he was at the airport to pick them up—so until they get there, I’m refilling drinks and admiring Vera. She’s sitting at the long wooden dining table with her feet kicked up on the bench beside her.

“Hey superstar, come sit with me!” she calls out. I grab my beer and join her, smiling as she leans in and presses her mouth to mine. “Hi.”

I chuckle and kiss her again. “You having a good time, peaches?”

“I haven’t been on holiday in a long time, so yes.”

“I’m glad you could be here.”

She nuzzles into my neck. “Right where I’m meant to be. She might not say it, but thank you for inviting Tam.”

“Happy to have her.” I run my hand over Vera’s ponytail and twist it around my wrist, gently tugging her head back so I can look into her eyes. “You were so fucking hot out there,” I whisper.

“Watching me play cricket got you all hot and bothered?”

“Watching you exist always does, but you and cricket? Hazardous.”

She grins, closing the space between us again as I cup the back of her head. The words linger at the tip of my tongue; I want to tell her I am madly in love with her, like Tamara said I should, but I’m nervous. Talking about her past is important and I haven’t brought it up again because she needs to be ready to go down that road.

The sound of car doors slamming shut breaks the kiss and I smile. “They’re here.”

She scrunches up her nose. “They’ll like me, right?”

This is a version of Vera I haven’t seen—nervous and shy, tension settling in her shoulders—but I’m absolutely certain my siblings are going to love her. I release her hair and cup her face instead, thumb brushing over her cheeks.

“They’re going to love you,” I say. Just like I love you . She nods, nibbling on her bottom lip, so I add, “You have nothing to worry about. I promise. They’re a little psychotic, but harmless.”

“That sounds like Tam.”

I chuckle and get up, helping her to her feet. With our hands linked, we walk into the house as a loud voice echoes in the space.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Oh no ,” Vera mumbles and hurries ahead of me, both of us coming to a stop when we see Tamara glaring at Patrick. Nina’s looking between them as she slowly backs away. I can feel the tension ripple between my brother and Tamara, but I don’t know how to diffuse it.

Patrick flashes his famous smile, the one that wins over people and also gets us into trouble. “Hey, Lotus.”