It was nine thirty, and the rain had let up some. It seemed now or never to set out again. I asked Sushmita how she knew the way, given the lack of road signs. She said there weren’t many turns to go wrong along the route. Plus, she’d driven it many times before, albeit in better conditions.

“But never after dark,” she added.

We pushed on in silence for a couple of miles, and I only needed to avert my eyes from oncoming traffic a few times. At length, Sushmita said she needed to pull over before she fell asleep at the wheel. She found a turnoff and parked the car. Then she popped open the door and stepped out.

She leaned back and spread her arms, as if to welcome the rain. It drenched her face and her top, and she began laughing hysterically. She shook her black hair from side to side, then rubbed her face vigorously with both hands. Splashing through the puddles, she called for me to join her. I didn’t need a second invitation.

Atop the ghats, the temperature had dropped considerably, and the rain only served to cool things down even more. Soaked to the skin, we chased each other through the muddy gravel, laughing till we were out of breath. I caught Sushmita around the waist near the edge of the turnoff, and we almost fell as one into the wet grass, but she resisted.

“Not in the grass!” she yelled through her laughter. “Do you know what drivers stop here for?”

Point taken. Instead, I steered her to the hood of the car, what they call the bonnet in India. I rolled on top of her, trapping her beneath my body. Her face, shimmering wet, was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. My mouth was mere inches from hers, and I was resolute. There was no turning back now. I was going to kiss those full, warm lips. But as I turned my head and closed my eyes, preparing to grab the brass ring, she poked my sides with her hands, producing an intensely ticklish reaction in me. I slid off her, and she wriggled away, laughing so hard she was crying. She was a slippery one, figuratively and now literally.

A half hour later, we were shivering in the rain. Our breath puffed light billows of mist into the air. It was past ten thirty, and I knew there was no chance we’d make Poona that night.

“Okay, I think we can go now,” she said. “But we have to change into something dry.”

She didn’t want to soil the inside of the car, so she instructed me to turn my back and block the view of any cars passing at that late hour. Then she stripped out of her jeans and kurta.

“Keep your eyes on the road, Danny, I’m warning you,” she said with a tinkly laugh.