He wiped his fingers, twisting the napkin between them as he spoke. “I dated on and off in college and grad school. When I worked at Bharat, too. But since Hem left Bharat and I’ve assumed more responsibility, my relationships have been more like brief connections instead.”

Raj kicked him lightly under the table. “You’re giving me the summary when I want the whole memo.”

“It’s not that exciting, Raj,” he said. He dropped his napkin and reached for her hand. “Truthfully, I expected to have an arranged marriage, so getting serious with someone was just never in the cards for me. I love the relationship my parents have. There was so much love in our house growing up. I wanted that, too.”

“That’s admirable,” she said, and took another sip of chai. She thought of the pictures sitting on his mantel at the bungalow in New Jersey. She couldn’t imagine wedding photos of Ajay and some other woman squeezed between his brothers and his parents.

Nope, that wasn’t going to happen. Not if she had anything to say about it.

She knew that she was being possessive, just like she’d experienced right after Ajay had committed to buying her out. This time she was serious, though.

Her poor, poor man had no idea what was coming.

“My parents wanted an arranged marriage for me when I returned from school, too. I had other plans for myself.”

“I can see that.”

“All I’m saying is that sometimes things happen for a reason.”

“What’s the reason for us happening?” Ajay asked.

Raj leaned over and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “Maybe we’ll have to keep going until we find out.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” he murmured against her mouth.

Raj leaned into the kiss and was enjoying the smooth feel of his lips and the way they tasted her when they were interrupted by a vibrating phone.

Ajay pulled away and looked at his cell. “It’s Hem. And since it’s not even seven a.m. yet, he must need something. Okay to get it?”

“Sure,” she said.

“Bhai,” Ajay said as he picked up. “What’s up?”

Raj watched as Ajay’s face morphed into shock, then fury. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m sitting with her right now. Let me put you on speakerphone.”

Hem’s voice came through the speaker a moment later. “Okay. Hey, Raj.”

“Hem. What’s going on?” Her senses were on high alert because of the stress in his voice. “What happened?”

“I’m so sorry to be the one to break this to you, but it looks like an exposé was just published about your life and RKH Collective.”

“An exposé?”

“First thing this morning. It appeared in the Financial Times, and it’s already gotten a ton of views. Ajay, you may want to see what you can do to stop this train.”