"My man! How's it going?"
Armaan's eyes flew open upon hearing his best friend's voice. "Fuck off, Alex."
The other guy simply grinned and lowered himself into the seat opposite Armaan's. "Hey, look, I know you hate waiting and stuff but I have a really good explanation." Alex waited for the other guy to ask what it was but when Armaan did not, Alex continued anyway. "Traffic was hell, okay, and my battery was low so I didn't call." He held up his phone and grimaced.
Shrugging, Armaan poured Alex a drink and a relaxing of the tautness around his handsome mouth was the only indication that he was not as angry as he had been.
"Oh and wait till you hear about my latest client. She's hot and talented and she is going to make me very rich." Alex stopped when the other guy held up a hand.
"Alex, I'm not interested in hearing about your clients, alright? You know I have a flight to catch at two so let's talk about when you will be joining me in Amira. Ammi is eager to see you again."
Alex sighed and downed the bourbon. "Bro, this new deal is going to take up a lot of my time. I have so much to do-"
"Si, I get it." Alex's career sounded boring to Armaan. He did not have anything against books. In fact, he was a voracious reader in private but he was just not interested in knowing how the books happened to make it to the stores.
Picking up a package with blue and silver wrapping, he handed it to Alex. "This is what I wanted to give you. A birthday present from Ammi." He made a face. "She made me promise to hand it to you personally and now, it's almost midnight. I still need to pack and get to the goddamned airport. One more drink and I'm off."
Alex had been smiling at the present and then his expression grew serious. He placed the package carefully on the small chrome table in front of him and helped himself to some more bourbon from the bottle that had been provided. "Before you leave, I need to talk to you about Jasmine."
His tone was urgent and Armaan paused in the act of tossing back another shot of tequila to frown at him. "Who?"
"Jasmine Khan. She's the new writer my company signed up. I think I'm in love with her," Alex confessed in a rush.
Armaan snorted and downed the tequila. "You just met her this morning, dumb ass." This time, he sucked on a piece of lemon.
"She's something else. Sexy but innocent."
Laughter escaped from his best friend's mouth. "Really?" His tone was cynical and he nodded his head in time to the music, looking over at Olivia who was busy showing off her moves on the dance floor. Maybe she would still want to mess around a little before he boarded that plane.
An exasperated sigh left Alex and he turned on his phone, scrolled for a few seconds and shoved the screen in Armaan's face. "Really."
Whoa. Armaan stared at the dark-haired beauty on the screen. She was not smiling but he found the intense look in her eyes incredibly hot. It felt as if she was warning him off and yet, inviting him to unravel her secrets at the same time.
He swallowed. No. Not him. Alex was on the other side of the camera. She was probably giving that impression to Alex. He observed the stubborn set of her rosy mouth and the tip of his tongue came out to touch his upper lip. Sexy but innocent.
He frowned, thrown off balance because of his body's lightning-fast reaction and then he shoved Alex's phone back. "Thought you said your battery was dead." He raised his eyebrows in question.
"Low. I said my battery was low." Alex grinned. "Hot, isn't she? I'm going to marry her one day."
The third shot of tequila went down the wrong way for Armaan and he spluttered. Alex leaned forward to thump him on the back. It took a while for Armaan to recover from his shock. He wiped his watery eyes, sniffed and cleared his throat.
"You're going to need circumcision," was the first thing he said when he could speak.
"Hell, I'd do anything. Which is why you have to fill me in on all things Islamic. I think it'll be the way to her heart."
Armaan gazed at him steadily. "She must be one hell of a girl."
"She is," Alex insisted. "What have I been saying all this time? It was love at first sight. As soon as I left her, I felt like going back again." He sighed and his drink was forgotten. "But I'll go back after I've finalized everything here with the publishers."
Armaan was quiet for a while. He picked up another shot of tequila and then decided against it. "You'll have to ask Ammi for the all things Islamic part," he mumbled and picked up his jacket. "And I'll see you in Amira when?"
Alex thought about it and replied, "Not anytime soon, I'm afraid. I'll be really busy with work for a while. But you'll be back in Milan in a month or so, right? Then you can meet my future wife."
A grin slashed across Armaan's face. "You sure, bro? You remember what happens every time I meet one of your girlfriends?"
Alex remembered. Every single one of them ended up sleeping with Armaan. He grimaced. "I wasn't serious about any of them and that was the only reason that I didn't break your neck. But I am serious about this one. Armaan, she is going to be like a sister-in-law
