Twelve Hours of Temptation by Shoma Narayanan

sorry,’ she said, suddenly contrite. ‘I don’t know what happened to you, and I’ve no right to make fun of it. God knows I’ve got a messed up past myself.’
    He pushed a hand through his hair, the gesture so unconsciously sexy that Melissa’s breath caught in her throat. It would be very easy to fall in love with Samir—she’d spent the past few weeks consciously guarding against it. Telling herself repeatedly that this was a short-lived thing had helped. So had determinedly seeing the funny side of things that could otherwise be upsetting or hurtful.
    ‘It wasn’t anywhere as exciting as what happened to you,’ Samir said. ‘In retrospect, I’m rather embarrassed about it—but I was very young then. I fell madly in love with a woman everyone except me knew was interested in me only because of my money.’
    Some of her puzzlement must have shown in her face because he said, ‘I inherited a fair bit from my grandparents. And I had a bright career ahead of me.’
    ‘How did you find out?’
    He smiled briefly. ‘I was going through a self-discovery phase pretty soon after we got engaged. I thought I’d switch careers, do something I enjoyed. Trouble was, the stuff I enjoyed wasn’t high-paying. And I wanted to use most of the money I’d inherited to go and live in Europe for a few years—she was out of the door the minute she realised I was actually serious.’
    ‘What was it that you wanted to do?’ Melissa asked curiously. So far he hadn’t given the impression of being particularly passionate about anything— definitely not to the extent of giving up his expensive lifestyle. He worked very hard, but it didn’t look as if he enjoyed that much either—it was difficult to think of him wanting to go off and follow a dream at any age.
    ‘Ah, that’s another story,’ he said, taking her hand and switching off the kitchen light as he led her out of the door. ‘Anyway, as it turned out I changed my mind and took up a corporate career instead.’
    ‘So if your girlfriend had stuck with you she’d have got all your lovely money after all,’ Melissa said. ‘Sounds like there’s a moral in there somewhere.’
    ‘She married a richer guy,’ he said. ‘So all in all I think it worked out well for her. And, Melissa...?’
    They were inside the bedroom now, and she turned towards him at the suddenly serious note in his voice.
    He touched her face gently—a fleeting caress that somehow had more feeling in it than all that they had shared earlier. ‘If I’ve been shutting you out at times, it’s because I’ve got used to being alone. Not because I don’t trust you, or because I think you’re like Shalini in any way.’
    Melissa nodded. ‘And, for the record, I’m not trying to push you into anything either. I know you’re not in the market for a serious relationship right now and neither am I. Whenever we decide to call it quits we’ll be able to do it without a fuss.’
    The conversation had become a lot more serious than she’d intended it to. Served her right for nagging at him just because he hadn’t been enthusiastic about his home-cooked spaghetti dinner. The next time he worked late she’d just hand him a takeaway menu.
    Trying to lighten things up a bit, she added, ‘But while I’m living here you’ll have to get used to me invading every part of the house. Kitchen and CD rack included.’
    Samir turned and caught her into his arms. ‘You can invade what you damn well please,’ he said, the words warm against her mouth. ‘Just as long as you come back to my bed every night.’

SIX
    ‘Don’t forget about the dinner tonight,’ Samir warned Melissa as she got out of the car in front of the agency. ‘I’ve got meetings at Maximus the whole day—I’ll send the car for you and meet you directly at the party.’
    The last time they’d planned to go out for dinner Samir had come home to find Melissa sitting at her laptop in a tattered pair of pyjamas, happily humming