Free Twelve Hours of Temptation by Shoma Narayanan Page A

recognise me,’ she said. ‘My own nephew. And Michael didn’t tell him who I was because he was worried he’d go home and tell Dad. They sneaked out to meet me like I’m some kind of fallen woman or something. Michael kept saying that I should go and meet our parish priest—apparently he’s the only person Dad discusses me with.’
    She was practically shaking with rage, and once they were out of the tiny city Samir pulled up to the side and held out his arms. Melissa glared at him for a few seconds, as if he was personally responsible for the mess her life was in. Then, with a half suppressed sob, she crept into his arms.
    Her body was soft and yielding against his, and because she wasn’t crying any longer, just holding on to him for comfort, he felt no guilt in tipping up her face after a few minutes and kissing her. He’d meant the kiss to be gentle, but she seemed to go up in flames as soon as his lips touched hers.
    ‘Hey...’ he said softly as her fingers fumbled eagerly at his shirt buttons. ‘Maybe we should get back to the hotel.’
    For a few seconds she didn’t seem to have heard him, and then she gave a shaky little laugh and drew away from him. ‘You’re right,’ she agreed. ‘Before the morality police catch up with us.’
    She didn’t say anything about having got him out of her system, he noted with satisfaction as he started the car.
    ‘You’re the first man I’ve been with after Josh,’ Melissa said abruptly after a few minutes.
    Samir glanced across at her. He’d thought as much after the previous night—she wasn’t inexperienced, exactly, but it was evident that she didn’t sleep around. Why she would want to give the impression that she did was something else altogether.
    ‘So the one-night stand thing...?’
    ‘Was just me trying to prove to myself that I could do casual sex if I wanted to.’ She made a funny little grimace. ‘Didn’t work.’
    Samir couldn’t help laughing at her expression. ‘You know what? I’m glad it didn’t,’ he said. ‘At the risk of sounding impossibly old-fashioned, I must admit that I don’t really approve of casual sex. And I’d like us to be more than a one-night stand.’
    Melissa wrinkled her nose. ‘What? Like a proper relationship?’
    ‘Something like that.’ They had stopped at a traffic light, and he leaned across and kissed her bare shoulder, making her shiver in reaction. ‘Don’t think about it right now, though.’
    The light changed, and they were moving again, so Melissa didn’t ask why not. Instead, she asked, ‘Were you in a relationship before this?’
    The way she said ‘relationship’ was incredibly cute—rather like a precocious child trying out a new word—and Samir smiled involuntarily. It was one of the most attractive things about Melissa: the little flashes of naiveté that showed between the chinks of her self-assured, woman-in-charge-of-her-own-sexuality persona.
    ‘Not a serious one,’ he said. ‘But I was dating someone for almost year.’
    Her eyebrows flew up. ‘You spent a year with someone you weren’t serious about?’
    He shrugged. ‘We thought it would work out initially. And it was convenient to have someone to bring along to social dos.’
    ‘It sounds awful,’ Melissa said frankly. ‘And before that?’
    ‘Before that I had a very intense fling with a journalist. That time we were both clear it wasn’t going to last.’
    ‘You’re an even bigger disaster than I am,’ Melissa said. ‘The L word didn’t happen ever? Even when you were in college?’
    He was silent for a few seconds, and then he said, ‘It did happen. Not when I was in college, but very soon after I graduated. Turns out I picked the wrong person.’
    ‘She met someone else?’
    He shook his head. ‘No, just changed her mind about me. But it was a long while ago. Tell me about the guy you were with—why was your father so against him?’
    As soon as the words were out of his mouth he wished he hadn’t