While Diya and Kimo partook of the laughter, Bane was watching me as if she were studying an alien.

She slapped my thigh. “Don’t laugh! You’re only encouraging her!”

I flashed my best impish expression and said, “But, babe, we should be polite.”

She fumed.

“You met my friends with such gusto, I have to return the favor,” I teased.

“How many children do you plan on having? Where do you live?” Auntie was asking.

I opened my mouth to respond when Bane shot to her feet and pulled me up, pushing me ahead of her and shoving my drink into my hand while she grabbed hers.

I played deadweight, unmoving, as she pushed against me. Her breasts suddenly pressed against my back in her momentum, her hand at my waist, her touch searing through the fabric of my T-shirt like a fire. I was fine right where I was until she muttered, “You better move.”

“Can’t miss the sunset! Talk to you later, Mummie, Papa! Love you! Smooches!” she called behind us.

“Goodbye!” I told them with a wave, noting that Diya had turned the phone so that it was still trained on us as Bane dragged me to the rock wall across the lawn to watch the rest of the sunset.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

“Being friendly,” I said, my smile slipping but my wink teeming with amusement.

She poked my side and I flinched. “Not with my parents!”

“You did with my friends.” I grabbed her hand and kept hold.

“Okay, but your friends will get over it once you break the news. My parents might be devastated.”

I frowned. I didn’t want that. “They’re very nice.”

She looked back and groaned. “They’re still watching. Probably making up a big fat Indian wedding checklist for us. I’m going to end you.”

“More like making plans to have me over for dinner when we get back.” I released her hand and took a sip of creamy, tart, semisweet drink, my focus affixed to the sunset. Wow. It was glorious and soothing and breathtaking all in one.

She poked my side again. “So you better be ready for that, because I’m not telling them.”

The thought of being with Bane and her loud but hilarious family eating home-cooked meals didn’t suck. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“What? Breaking my parents’ hearts?”

“Dinner. With them.”

Bane was staring at me as if discovering I was indeed an alien. The last rays from the sunset hit the side of her face in a deep, orange glow as the sun completely dipped beyond the horizon, sinking into the ocean. She blinked up at me with her incredibly long, thick lashes framing chestnut eyes. My gaze skimmed down her nose to full lips bathed in pink from the drink. I’d always noticed when she walked into a room, even when I was ignoring her. I’d never denied how attractive Bane was—no one could, even when she was stomping around my last nerves—but god damn, those lips.

“Too far?”

“Are you joking?” she barked.

“No?”

“Is that a question or an answer?”

“Both?”

“Don’t mess with my parents.”

“I would never. But dinner does sound nice. Maybe?” I asked, hopeful. What was wrong with me? Why in the world would I want to spend more time with her?

She scowled. “Seriously? This isn’t some dumb joke?”

“I would joke about you to you, but I wouldn’t joke about your family.”

“Oh…”

The ocean breeze picked up as she took a sip. Goose bumps skittered over her skin, and she shivered.

I draped an arm around Bane’s shoulder. “Are you cold? It’s like eighty degrees, weirdo.”

She swallowed her drink, but didn’t move away, even when I mindlessly rubbed her arm and subtly pressed her against my side. Bane was still shivering.

“It’s not another episode of heat exhaustion, is it?” I asked, panicked.

“Oh! No,” she assured.

“Is…that okay?”

“Yeah,” she whispered. “Wait. Do you mean touching me or meeting my parents?”

“Both. We could tell them we’re just friends?” I suggested. “This was all a misunderstanding. I think that’s a good way to break it gently to them.”

Bane nodded. It was a good way…although it wouldn’t work on my friends. That was going to be an awkward conversation with no other way around it.

“Would be nice not to argue at work for once,” I added.

“You’re the only stress I have in my life. Would be so much better without the back-and-forth.”

“See, you don’t stress me out at all. But useful to know that I get into your head and stay there all day.”

“You wish you were that important.”

I squeezed her shoulder, inadvertently pressing her against me, feeling every curve on point of contact. “I know I am. It’s okay to admit it. The truth will set you free.”

We broke apart when Diya promised she’d hung up the phone, and we sat with her and Kimo on the lounge chairs around a crackling fire pit encased in a curved, grated metal cover. The evening filled up with more decadent drinks, conversation, laughter, and watching two sisters hilariously poke fun at each other.

For a while, hours longer than I’d anticipated, there was no nagging pinch at the base of my thoughts to constantly check my phone about work or the interview, wonder how Papa was doing, or dread having to be around Sejal again.

For a while, I was content.