“Everything else is the same. Separate cities, work, keeping it discreet, and—” Sunny’s last word ended abruptly as he came to the slightly open bathroom door, his eyes first landing on Diya, then on me. Then on my cleavage. Then down my legs. Everywhere his gaze swept left a rising fire. Probably sunburn, though. I needed to make sure I kept up with my sunscreen here.

“Oh. Sorry. I thought you were alone.”

“No,” I said flatly. “My sister, Diya. Diya, this is Sunny.”

A flicker of recognition hit his features. “Ah. I think I saw you at the front desk earlier?”

“Yes,” she said sweetly as she quickly finished my hair. “I’m the GM and was helping with our reservation glitch. So glad you could join us! I’ve heard nothing about you, but need to know everything.” She hooked arms with his and led him away as he glanced back at me with so many unspoken questions.

“So you’re the boyfriend, you said?” Diya was asking as I finished up and hurried after her.

Kimo was nowhere to be found; he’d probably headed out. Diya was practically fawning over Sunny as they sat on the couch.

“Boyfriend?” He curiously looked to me and all I could do was blankly blink.

“You just said you two were dating.”

“Oh.” He was still looking at me, silently asking if our ruse had spilled over to my family.

Of course not! I intervened with, “Diya. Don’t get all excited for nothing. We’re not—”

“Oh, look!” Diya squealed with her buzzing phone in hand. Before anyone could blink, she had our mother’s face on the screen waving at me before turning the screen back to herself. “Mummie! What a surprise.”

I nearly lunged for the phone, but not before Diya slipped away, telling our mother, “Did you know Motiben has a boyfriend?”

Mummie’s shrieks of joy catapulted out of the phone. Diya had to lower the volume and hold the phone away from her.

Mortification enhanced by deep regret crashed into me like pounding waves. This must’ve been what Sunny felt when I opened my big mouth to his ex, who then told his friends, who now believed the same thing my sister and mother believed. Turned out, karma was real because what went around came around. By my own execution.

If I could go back in time, I’d tell that ex of his to watch her tone and be kind to my lead dev instead of: Shut your face, he has a girlfriend, now everyone be quiet.

“I just met him!” Diya was talking this entire time while I stood stunned into place.

“Let me see, let me see,” Mummie insisted with unbridled joy.

There was no humanly possible speed at which I could block or snatch the phone before Diya flipped the screen toward Sunny so he could see my mother grinning like she was meeting her future son-in-law for the first time. The way she lit up, you’d think Sunny had just succeeded in giving her the first grandchild.

Crap.

“Oh. So handsome,” she said.

I was speechless, even when Sunny glanced at me for some sort of indication to the direction of this entire thing.

His shock had worn off by now, and his face had returned to its usual stoic expression, which had somehow, at some point, slowly evolved into a charming look. He smiled, showing teeth…how had I never noticed those perfect teeth before? Oh, yes, because he didn’t smile at me like that. Well, he had amazing teeth and an amazing smile that had Diya and Mummie silent. Silent! Did he know what sort of power he wielded? What great responsibility came with great charm?

Charm and Sunny weren’t two things I’d ever associated before, but they paired seamlessly when he not only generously conversed with Mummie, answering the beginning of what was sure to be a long line of biodata inquiries to be followed by his family, religious and cultural background, how often he prayed, if he had a house and where, the number of children he planned on siring, and his blood type. And he did so…in Gujarati…in that Denzel voice.

Every ovary in my body was popping, every excited hope in my sister went off, and every prayer my mother had ever uttered was being answered.

Damnit.

Diya gave me a look that pretty much said, “You better lock him down with a ring. Don’t wait for him to propose!” Plus a hefty dose of, “Damn, sis. Get. It.”

Sunny’s Gujarati was fluid and far better than my, what we called, village Gujarati. I sounded uneducated and from the poorest villages when I tried to speak my parents’ language because, well, our family was from a poor village. He leaned in on his elbows, hands clasped, giving in to the auntie whims my mother was throwing at him, and laughed.

Something warm spread through me, seeping into my gut and deeper into my bones. I had to shut that down quickly because this wasn’t real and I would have to deal with the aftermath later.

Finally stumbling out of my stupor, I grabbed Sunny’s hand and yanked him away. I pushed against his back as Diya and her phone followed me, Mummie scowling and crying, “Ay! Where are you going?”

“We have time-sensitive plans!”

“Prevent the mossing!”

“Talk to you later! Bye!”

I didn’t release Sunny until we were speed-walking halfway down the street. I was still tugging him behind me. He was actually chuckling.

“This isn’t funny!” I belted.

He laughed so hard that his eyes squinted up and the sun glinted off his canines. “What goes around!”

Sexy canines? What was happening?

I had to stop staring at his mouth, but there was so much goodness to behold. He could absolutely destroy entire worlds with that smile.

“What does she mean by ‘mossing’?” he managed to ask in between all that amused chortling.

“She thinks I need to move forward in life at a faster pace or my stagnation will lead into me devolving into moss.”

When Sunny found his composure, he nudged my shoulder with his and said, “I guess we’re both in it now?”

“I had no idea what to say,” I confessed, my face too warm to be considered healthy.

“You froze. With a deer-in-the-headlights look. I’ve never seen you like that.”

I groaned as I texted Diya to calm down. I’d typed out that we weren’t dating, and this was all a misunderstanding, but then she replied with a: Guess I won’t have to bug you to get out during your stay and Mummie will leave you alone. At least until you get home.

Hmm. Maybe this wasn’t a total disaster? I’d explain to them later and add that their current and previous prodding and pushing me into being more extroverted and finding a man had led me to this falsehood. Yes. Sounded like a great plan, which started with no one breathing down my neck for once.

Fine. Ruse extended.

Twelve Sunny

While we walked toward the meeting point, I checked my phone for any sort of update from my sisters, just in case something had happened between now and the last time I’d checked in. Their updates were enough to ease my worries and be in the moment. A moment that involved Bane standing beside me at the front courtyard water fountain waiting for the others to come down.

“Your sister and mother seem nice,” I commented, meaning to be sincere, but somehow, the words came out as a filler to cut through the silence.

“Thanks. They are.”