Their Accidental Honeymoon
Автор
Mona Shroff
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Prologue
The trouble with fancy resorts that specialized in honeymoons was that everything was geared toward happy couples. Games and drinks and activities all geared toward couples who were in love.
Rani looked up from her pink umbrella drink as the resort director, Joyce, approached them once again. Rani could have pretended to be sleeping—her sunglasses and hat provided her the ultimate hideaway—but she was here for her best friend, Param. It was her job to run interference—and pretend to be his wife.
Ugh. She really was a good friend.
She removed her sunglasses and swung her legs off the lounge chair and stood to meet Joyce before she reached Param.
Param was currently lying in the lounge chair next to her, sunglasses on, in swimming trunks and a loose T-shirt. He took up the whole chair, his feet nearly dangling over the edge. He was pretending to sleep by the beach.
“Hey, Joyce.” Rani kept her voice low as if she didn’t want to wake Param.
“Hi, Rani! Just stopping by to see if you and Param were ready to join us for a Romantic Relay Race.” Joyce was bubbly and sweet, but there was no way they were doing any of those couple games.
“You know, Joyce, that does sound fun, but my—Param—” she just could not say “husband” “—probably won’t—”
“Actually,” his deep voice came from behind her and she turned to face him, “that does sound fun.”
She lowered her sunglasses and eyed him as he stood, towering over them both.
“If that’s what Rani wants.” He grinned at her.
Damn. She wanted whatever was going to get him out of this funk. She hadn’t really expected much from him after his intended bride, Sangeeta, ran from their wedding, but the past six days of this trip had been spent with Param not really speaking as he processed. Rani gave him space, knowing he’d talk when he was ready.
Now, it seemed that with today being the last day, it seemed he was ready.
“Yes! That sounds great!” Rani gushed. “Let’s do it!”
Joyce looked like Christmas had come early. “Oh yay!” she said. “Meet on the south side of the beach in five minutes!” She walked away to hunt down her next couple.
“Look at you,” Rani said. “Standing up and talking and everything.”
Param shook his head. “Yeah, yeah.” He fell into step as they walked over to the games. “I’d say let’s see how you handle it, but no one would be stupid enough to leave you in the mandap.”
“Aw, you’re making me blush.” Rani rolled her eyes. “I’d never get to the mandap anyway. You know that.” She bumped his shoulder. “But seriously,” she stopped and he turned to face her, “Sangeeta’s loss. One hundred percent.”
He gave her the first smile she’d seen since his interrupted nuptials. “Come on. Let’s go beat all these other couples in relay races.”
“Heck yeah!” She high-fived him and they jogged over to the games.
It felt good to be moving. It felt good to laugh. And not going to lie, it felt good to win. Until Param allowed the bubbly Joyce to convince them to play The Newlywed Game, testing how well they knew each other. He and Rani had been best friends for over twenty years, so they pretty much knew everything about each other.
Except they were losing right now because they weren’t a real couple. They’d never lived together. And all the questions were about daily habits. Like, sleeping habits.
“Okay.” Joyce paused. “Our last question. Should be an easy one. We asked the women while the guys were gone—what side of the bed do you sleep on?”
Param froze. Never having slept in the same bed, he had no idea what side Rani slept on. Though for a split second he considered why he had never shared a bed with Rani.
He shoved the thought aside before it could take root. He’d been ready to marry another woman hardly a week ago.
He glanced at Rani and her eyes were wide. She’d had no idea how to answer this either. He shook his head. “The left?”
Joyce shook her head. “Oh no. Sorry. Rani said the right. Can’t believe you missed the easiest one.”
The game ended, and while they did not win, Param felt better getting away from the intimate queries. He now had a visual of Rani on the right side of the bed, with him lying next to her. He shook his head free of the image. Being left at the mandap really messed a guy up.
“Want to walk on the beach until dinner?” Param asked Rani.
“It’s your show,” she said. She threaded her arm through his, and they walked along the beach as the sun set.
“Thanks,” he said.
“For what?”
“For coming here. For putting up with me while I pout.” He shrugged.
“You know, going on prepaid island vacations is a tough thing, but I’m happy to make that sacrifice for you.”
He sighed. “You know, there are a million ways to break up with someone. I have to say running from the wedding is up there as one of the worst.”
“Sangeeta could have done better,” Rani agreed. “But maybe it wasn’t all for the worst.”
“What do you mean?”
“Clearly she wasn’t ready for the commitment, and maybe, she realized that you two weren’t right for each other. Better before the wedding than after, don’t you think?”
“Is that what happened with you and Deepak?”
Rani was silent for a moment. Then she stopped walking. They stood side by side, watching the colors of the sun as it set. She sighed deeply. “Yeah, I think so. I could not see myself spending my whole life with him, so when he proposed, I said no.” She shrugged.
But Param wasn’t backing off. “What was it? Like what was it that made you feel like you could not spend your life with him? Presumably, you loved him, right?”
Rani turned to him, the fading pinks and oranges of the sun radiating off her brown skin.
“Param. Sangeeta did love you. That was not a lie. But maybe you weren’t The One. And I think you need to consider the possibility that maybe she wasn’t The One for you either.” Rani took his hand and he threaded his fingers through hers.
“Deep most definitely wasn’t the one for you.” Param smirked at her.
“Duh. But truthfully, I’m not looking for The One.”
“Seriously?” Param raised an eyebrow. She had never wanted to talk about Deep or her other relationships before.
“Seriously. Marriage is a lot of work. There’s no guarantee. Look at my sister. My dad. It can lead to devastating heartbreak.” She looked out at the horizon.
“Not worth the risk.” Rani said, and there was a sadness, almost wistful in nature in her voice that Param had not ever heard in the twenty plus years this woman had been his best friend.
Not true, he remembered suddenly. He had heard that in her voice when her mother had died.
“Come on.” He squeezed her fingers gently. “Let’s get back. We’ve got one dinner left and I think we need to live it up,” Param said. “We’ll order upstairs and watch rom-coms and thrillers all night.”
“Sounds perfect!”
Room service was the best part of this place. If Rani had known that, she wouldn’t have bothered dragging Param down to dinner each night.
The suite was small but luxurious. There was one bedroom and a living area, even a dining room. Param had insisted Rani take the bed, and he had taken the sofa.
When Rani emerged from the shower in shorts and a tank top, she stopped in her tracks. Param had set the food and the wine in the living area on the table in front of sofa. An old ’80s rom-com—one of her favorites—was playing on the TV. As soon as he saw her, he handed her a glass of wine.
“I got you your favorite—oysters.”
“What?” There was a reason he was her best friend. He always fed her well.
Param poured himself a glass and raised it to her. “To the best friend anyone ever had.” He paused, trying to find the words to express himself. He had spent the week trying to make sense of what had happened, not even noticing the sun, sand or ocean. Rani had simply been there, silently supporting him. He wanted to enjoy this last night with someone who had been by his side almost his whole life. “Thank you for being here with me. Thank you for giving me space to wallow, and for helping me through all this.”
“You’re actually thanking me?” She smirked as she drank from her glass, motioning that he down his. “Can you afford more oysters? Because I am going to finish these.”
He waved her off. “I have thanked you before.”
“Ha!” she said as she sat down cross-legged on the sofa and started eating more oysters as he poured more wine for them both. She smiled, showing both her dimples. “As if.”
“Fine. If I haven’t, then I am right now.” He handed her another glass of her favorite white wine. “Thank you.”
Rani swallowed the oyster and looked him in the eye before bursting into laughter.
“What?”
“I’m your best friend. This is what we do.” She sipped her wine and groaned with pleasure.
A sound Param could not recall ever hearing. He certainly would have remembered. Ugh. What was the matter with him?
“Remember when Joey Flavia dumped me in eleventh grade?”
Param sipped his wine and sat down next to her. She smelled fresh, like the fancy soap in the shower but also like sand and the ocean. Her long hair was still damp but drying in messy waves that framed her face.
“You were a mess. I must have bought twenty gallons of ice cream and a hundred boxes of tissues. And we watched rom-coms for weeks.”
Rani nodded. “See?”
They finished the bottle of wine and ordered more. “I will say there is one additional thing that is regrettable about you not getting married,” Rani said, clearly tipsy. “Other than not actually being married, that is.”
“What’s that?” He was most definitely buzzed.
She shook her head. “No. It’s too mean. I won’t say it.”
“I’ll say it.” Param had been thinking it anyway. “My brothers and I all have to be married to unlock the trust that Dadaji put aside for us. And because I got stood up by my bride, we lost the money,” Param said. “Why do we have to be married to get this money? Whatever. We all have jobs. We do fine. We don’t need it right now anyway.”
“Oh!” Rani sat straight up, or as straight up as she could considering the amount of wine she had consumed. “Listen, Milan is marrying Aisha in two months.” She paused. “You’ll get past this and you’ll meet someone else and get married when the time is right. Then, boom, Dadaji’s trust will be unlocked.”
Param laughed. “You make it sound so simple.”
“It is. It just doesn’t feel that way right now.” Rani reached out and squeezed his arm, which drove home for him how much she believed her words and wanted him to believe them, too. Rani was not touchy-feely. She removed her hand. “But his time, whoever she is will have to pass my test before you put a ring on it,” Rani laughed and clinked glasses with him.
“Put on that thriller you like,” she said.
“The one that keeps you up all night?” Param asked.
“It’s fine,” she insisted. “This is your show.” He started to protest, but she stared him down. “Seriously.”
Param put on the movie and sat back down on the sofa. Rani refilled his glass and scooted closer to him as the opening credits came on. The skin of her thighs touched his. It wasn’t the first time that had happened; they’d watched countless movies together like this, but tonight, she felt like comfort. She was stability and love and that was everything he needed right now. His heart swelled with gratitude for their friendship.
“So tell me more about what happened with Deep,” he prompted.
“Nothing to tell.” She shrugged. “He wanted to get married. I did not. Probably wasted his time.”
There was a vulnerability in her, in her words that she’d never shown him before.
Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was being dumped, he had no idea. He kissed the top of her head. “Time is never wasted with you,” he whispered.
She looked up at him, as if she were about to reprimand him for that kiss, but instead, her lips fell open and he leaned toward her and brushed his lips against hers.
She didn’t move away.
Then he pressed his mouth against hers and he was kissing her. She melted into him and kissed him back, and he lost the ability to think.
He pulled her close, murmured her name and rested his hands on her waist, slipping his fingers beneath her shirt to gently touch her cool skin. She deepened their kiss and the next thing he knew, he had lifted her up and she was kissing him while straddling him on the sofa...
Param’s hands were warm and strong on her waist. His lips were full on her mouth, her body on top of his—what?
It was right there that sense somehow hit them both. Every muscle, every nerve in her body tensed in the same instant that he pulled his mouth away from hers.
She hastily climbed off of him and he stood.
“What the hell was that?” she asked, her brain was foggy and she was strangely cold being away from his body.
Param stared at her, wide-eyed, her confusion mirrored on his face.
“I... I don’t... I’m sorry.” He stepped back from her.
“We’re drunk.” She wrapped her arms around herself as she stood.
She could still taste him. Sweet wine and ocean.
“Yes. Yes,” he gasped. “Too much wine.”
“Right.” She pointed a finger at him and nodded vigorous agreement. “Of course...the wine...”
“Yes. We’re close...best friends, right?” He took more steps away from her. “I mean, I was about to get married—”
“Right! You’re still upset. And not thinking clearly. That’s what it is.” She stood and walked toward the bathroom.
“Yes. That makes sense. Too much alcohol, broken heart...”
“This...” She waved a hand and frowned at the sofa and they both stared at it as if the sofa itself were to blame. “This was...nothing...just circumstances.”
They locked eyes for a split second.
“We...have an early flight,” Rani said.
Param nodded and retreated back toward the balcony, putting as much distance between them as possible. Like he couldn’t get far enough away from her. “Yep. Early.”
“I’m going to bed,” she said.
“Perfect. Me too,” Param agreed.
They left the food and alcohol and retreated to their respective corners.
Rani shut the door behind her. Her heart pounded in her chest. She got in bed and turned out the light. Param was her best friend, her rock. He couldn’t get away from her fast enough. Made sense—he’d just been dumped. She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly to steady her heart rate. It was fine. They would go home and never talk about this. It would be like it never happened.
But forgetting his kiss would be the hardest thing she’d ever done.
Param didn’t sleep a wink. He hadn’t been able to get that kiss out of his head. So he took a chance and broached the subject when their flight was delayed. “About last night...”
“Nothing happened last night, Param.” Rani spoke in her most clinical tone, the one she used for her patients. “There was a lot of alcohol. You’re not in a great place. I got caught up...” She made eye contact. Bags under her red-rimmed eyes told him she hadn’t slept well either. “You are my best friend. I treasure this relationship. Not everyone gets a friend who understands them and accepts them with all their weird faults and idiosyncrasies. It’s a rare thing.”
“Agreed. Too much alcohol. A lot of sharing. No need to mention it. Ever.”
“Absolutely,” she agreed.
“Glad we’re on the same page.” Chalk it up to an off night and forget about it, to save their friendship. He nodded agreement.
He heard her sigh of relief, and then promptly ignored the pang that shot through his body. The kiss had been nothing more than a drunken moment to Rani.
Never mind that kissing his best friend had felt more right than anything else ever had.
