Incense and Sensibility (The Rajes #3) - Sonali Dev Page 0,111

her head, but before she could speak the alarm on his phone went off.

He reached for his phone. “Shit. I have to be at the airport in an hour. Rico and I are flying to L.A. for an appearance on Good Morning America. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon. It’s going to be okay. I’ll talk to Naina and figure out how we make the announcement. We can discuss the rest later. All of it.”

Her heart was beating too fast. It was that sense again, the one she’d had when she walked around her home making sure that her family was safe, that they were still there.

“Hey,” he said. “I’ll cancel. I can do GMA later.” He started to call someone, and she stilled his hand.

“No, you’re not canceling. Go, knock their socks off. We’ll talk when you get back.” We have time, she wanted to say, but she couldn’t.

“We have a lifetime,” he said, and she went up on her toes and kissed his cheek. A quick peck, because she couldn’t stop herself, because what gripped her was hot and ravenous and chased by the kind of fear she’d never known.

He wrapped his hands around her face, his touch tender, his gaze worshipful. Then, with all the conviction of someone who had made a decision and never went back once he had, he dropped a kiss on her forehead. Then her eyelids, one at a time. Then the edges of her mouth. Their breaths mingled. The breath he gave her was all hope, the breath he took from her all trust. Finally their lips met, quick and gentle. A promise for more soon. A promise that threaded through her body and awoke every cell to possibility.

“I will see you soon,” he said, or she did. In that moment there was nothing that separated them. No her, no him, just them, and that promise they had uttered as one.

Chapter Twenty-Three

If hope were a drug, Yash wanted everyone addicted. Because the way it beat in his heart and ran through his blood, every dream felt within reach, every moment brimmed with possibilities. He’d spent the morning on the set of Good Morning America, and for the first time in a very long time he didn’t feel like an imposter, he didn’t feel like he was taking up space from others.

He felt like he was here to fight for everyone, but for himself most of all, because he needed to live in a world that was more equitable. A world that took care of the sick and protected the weak while it also gave free rein to those who innovated and made the world richer, more connected, more plentiful for everyone. Those things were not separate, not mutually exclusive, and they needed to be tied back together in the consciousness of our nation, and the world, not just California. But like in everything else, California was as good a place as any to start something.

The clip of him saying all that on GMA had gone instantly viral. Rico had whooped so loud and been so ecstatically smug, all Yash could do was laugh.

“I know I sound like a stuck record, but only an act of God can drop your poll numbers now, mate,” Rico said, leaning back in the chair across from Yash in his office. Outside, his Fabulous Five were arguing about what the best part of his appearance on GMA was.

An empty box of Bob’s Donuts sat between them. Another, smaller box sat in his bag. He’d ordered extra to take to India after. Yes, he was going to sugar and grease her up, or die trying. Knowing her, it would be the latter.

As for the poll numbers, well, an act of love was an act of God, wasn’t it? The fact that breaking up with Naina was going to take over the news cycle and tank his numbers felt oddly insignificant. He had never wanted it to be part of the campaign in the first place.

All he felt was relief. Finally he’d get to win or lose on his own, not on the basis of a lie. From everything he knew about politics, lose was the likely outcome. He didn’t care. He would do this the right way or not at all.

“Anything else?” Rico asked.

They’d driven straight to the office after flying back from L.A. and had spent all afternoon working on speeches for a spate of upcoming fundraising dinners. The Cruz campaign had become frustrated with Yash’s sensible gun-reform