In that brief moment, his irritation rose swiftly. She was dismissing him like he was of no consequence to her. She was refusing to acknowledge him in any way.
His normally dormant temper simmered. Even though he had deliberately stayed away from her for months, seeing her once again brought a startling clarity to his mind - time had done nothing to diminish the effect she had on him. He hated that she made him yearn, when he had buried all that he felt for her in the deepest part of him. And now she was ignoring him and he didn’t like it one bit. She hadn’t even spoken a word to him when he had apologized for Natasha’s behavior. He had no way of knowing if she still felt the same attraction that she had felt for him all those months back, the same attraction he felt rising within him once again. Would she still melt if he whispered into her ear or if he touched her? The urge to get a reaction out of her thrummed through his body.
He saw the waiter come forward to help with the second serving. He put a hand out and stopped him.
“Not you, I want her to do it,” he said, pointing at Raashi.
Raashi stared at him aghast, her eyes burning with fury. What did he think he was doing?
“But, Sir...” the waiter said.
“I said, not you. Her,” Sameer repeated firmly. The waiter looked from him to Raashi, the bowl of pasta in his hands.
Quietly Raashi walked towards him and took the bowl out of the stunned waiter’s hands.
Sameer saw her expertly scoop the steaming pasta out of the bowl and into his plate, once and then twice. The third time she went to do it, he held her wrist to stop her.
Raashi felt like she had been jolted with a high voltage electric current. Her eyes moved to Sameer’s and saw the same startled reaction mirrored there. His thumb delicately caressed the inside of her wrist, making her hand tremble. He stared into her stormy eyes and his lips curved in an arrogant smile.
Sameer was thrilled to know he could get this reaction from her, after all this time. So, no matter how calm and collected she appeared, he knew exactly how she felt in his presence.
Reeling in anger at his audacity and his arrogance, Raashi tipped the pasta bowl slightly and the remaining contents of the bowl went down on Sameer’s lap, all over the napkin and on his trousers. The smug smile vanished from his face and he gave a pained expression, releasing her hand as the impact of the steaming hot food seeped through his clothes and burnt his skin.
Natasha stood up, appalled.
“I can’t believe she did that. It was deliberate. I saw it. I need to talk to someone in charge,” she yelled.
Raashi saw Sameer glowering at her while trying to clear the mess of his clothes.
Turning to Natasha, she said, “You can talk to me, I’m in charge.”
“Well, of all the... I am so going to get you fired. You incompetent idiot! I’m going to get this place shut down, you just wait and watch.”
Raashi held her hand up, stopping Natasha with a glacial look.
“Enough!” Raashi said. “You have caused a hell lot of trouble already tonight. So why don’t you two just do us all a favor and leave.”
“You can’t throw us out. This was your fault. You don’t know who I am and what I can do. You won’t get a job anywhere in this city, once I’m done with you,” Natasha spat out, her lips twisted in disdain.
Raashi’s eyes flared. She had had enough of this woman.
“To begin with, you have created enough nuisance. Secondly, you are welcome to try your hand at all the threats that you’ve heaped my way, but I assure you that you won’t be able to touch me with a pole, let alone get me fired or get my restaurant shut. So save your empty threats for someone else.”
She threw Sameer a disgusted look and told him, “I’m sure you’ll pay your bill when you leave, Mr. Sehgal.” She signaled for the waiter to get them their bill and walked away, her head held high.
The evening was a total loss, Sameer thought as he drove Natasha back home. She had insisted on going to some other place to eat, but he hadn’t been interested in the least. The entire evening had been a disaster and he couldn’t go somewhere else with his clothes horribly messed up. He was still riling over how Raashi had treated him. She had thoroughly embarrassed him. But he had to accept he had deserved it. He had goaded her to serve him the food to provoke her into reacting and then he just didn’t know what had come over him. He remembered how he had held her wrist and caressed it. Oh hell! He still wanted her. This was not a good sign. He had avoided her like the plague forso long. And if she was angry with him earlier, then after tonight she’d probably never look at him again.
Natasha broke into his thoughts.
“Why in the world did you not say something? You let that girl throw us out of the restaurant. How dare she?”
“Well, I guess we gave her ample opportunity to do that. You were creating an uproar back there,” Sameer replied.
“Me? She dropped the pasta on your lap? Why did you ask her to serve you in the first place?”
Thankfully, without waiting for his reply, she continued, “I’m not going to let her get away with insulting us like this. I will find out who she is and get her fired.”
“Raashi Deewan,” Sameer said, “and she’s right, you can’t do a damn thing to her.”
