“Ajay? I see him sometimes, and there is Sunday morning breakfast at his mother’s house . . . Wait. Why do you ask?”

“I met him at the fundraiser. That’s where he fired my company. I deserved it, granted, but he was . . . unexpected.”

“Unexpected? How? Wouldn’t anyone in his position do the same . . . Oh my god.” Mina beamed from across the table. Her whole face was vibrant with surprise and joy. “You like him!”

“What?” Raj blanched at the idea. “Good god, no. He’s an unsharpened business drone and a Punjabi, at that—I’ve spent half my life avoiding Punjabi men.”

“That’s because you’re still thinking about the type of men in your family that you grew up with in Punjab. The kind that thought binary male-dominant gender roles were law. The Singhs are not like that. True, they’re . . . well, protective, but they’re not disrespectful and sexist. Which is surprising considering the kind of money they have, and the industry they work in. And out of all three brothers, Ajay is the most reasonable and level-headed.”

“Mina, he took my employees! Besides, he seems like a pushover. An attractive pushover, but way too soft.”

“That is the biggest load of bullshit you’ve ever tried to serve me. The guys you sleep with at the club, the Ice Palace, are pushovers. They’re controllable. You choose those random hookups because you’ll never have to expend energy in getting to know them and sharing a part of who you are. Ajay Singh would never let you control him like that.”

“You’ve lost every bit of sense in your thick head if you think Ajay Singh is for me.”

“The truth is biting you in your ass, Raj.”

Raj had only had one conversation with Ajay, but he’d done something that very few people could do: surprise her. He was about to be given his father’s business on a silver platter, but he was as passionate about it as if he wanted to earn his job, too. Once her anger had cooled and she could look at their interaction from an objective view, his passion, his intelligence, and of course his barely contained sex appeal in that custom tuxedo was . . . appealing. Regardless, Raj had no time for that nonsense. She didn’t need a man to keep her company when she already had plans to get a dog.

After taking a sip of her wine, she schooled her expression. “Mina, you’re reading into this only because you’re happy now. You want everyone to be happy.”