Incense and Sensibility (The Rajes #3) - Sonali Dev Page 0,74

“How long has it been?”

“Five years. I was nine.”

Brandy threw a bunch of keys at Ellie. “All right, sport, go start the car. Time to leave.”

Ellie caught them and threw a look from the keys to Song, clearly not excited about leaving her favorite star.

“Why don’t you two join us for dinner?” Ashna said.

“Yes, please join us, Ashna’s butter chicken is the best in the world,” Rico said, making Ashna blush. Which was funny because everything he said about her sounded smitten. How was she not used to it?

Amid all the chaotic bonhomie, Yash found his eyes straying to the windows that looked out on the thicket of trees that cut off India’s studio from view. A wave of restlessness swept through him.

China and Song exchanged secret glances. They were making an effort to keep their hands off each other with Ellie and Brandy here, but between them and Rico and Ashna, the pheromones in the air were thicker than Yash had the stomach for right now. He hated this strange and new bitterness all this eye-fucking was causing.

“Please stay,” Yash said, because Ellie looked ready to explode with excitement at the prospect of dinner with Song.

If Brandy could resist the look Ellie threw her, Yash was going to believe she had superpowers. “Please, Mom, can we stay?”

Nope, no superpowers, the woman crumbled like so much dust. “Are you sure it’s okay?” she asked Ashna.

“Come on, ninja warrior,” China said to her. “The child deserves to taste Ashna’s cooking. With you for a Mom she needs a break.”

Ellie looked at her mother’s face and burst into giggles.

Chicken makhani was Yash’s favorite food and Ashna’s was unarguably some of the best in the world. When everyone was done, Rico and Yash broke off pieces of roti and used them to wipe clean whatever was left in the serving dish.

After dinner, the women moved to the living room with their wine and Rico and Yash cleaned up. It gave them a chance to finish reviewing their media strategy for the upcoming weeks.

“Naina’s doing the press conference with me tomorrow,” Rico said loading the last of the glasses into the dishwasher.

“And you think I should be the one doing it. I mean, I’m fine. I’m here with you all, so, as someone who the public is trusting with their futures, I should be able to be with them too, right?”

Rico turned on the dishwasher. “They love Naina, they can’t get enough of her. Right now it’s more important for you to focus on what you need to do to get back to normal. Fast.”

If he’d meant to comfort Yash, he failed.

“Do we have to involve Naina in the campaign?” Yash asked.

Rico studied him with that blank face people put on when they were trying to figure out how to handle you. It was Yash’s least favorite face. “Are you trying to tell me something, mate?”

“Just that Naina was never supposed to be such a large part of the campaign. We were never supposed to get involved in each other’s professional lives.”

The only good saying that accomplished was to make Rico drop his kid gloves. “The public is literally obsessed with your relationship right now.”

Why? How was Naina and his relationship anyone’s business? Also, why was calling it a relationship feeling like such a grotesque lie?

Because that’s exactly what it is.

Rico folded his arms across his chest and pinned Yash with a look. “Please, dear God, please tell me you’re not naive enough to think your relationship should be kept private during the campaign. You are fifteen points—by some polls, twenty points—ahead of that asshat. That’s not an advantage we could have dreamed of when we started this. And it’s because Naina’s pain over your shooting was one of those real things that get captured by a camera once in a very rare while. Your relationship with Naina is why we have an almost sure shot at this.”

Yash had no doubt of Rico’s role in making sure that photograph had taken over the consciousness of the world.

“That’s bullshit, Rico. Abdul taking that bullet and that fucking shooter’s bigoted anger. That’s why I have an almost sure shot at this. My relationship with those two, that’s what you should be pushing at the public.”

“Raje.” Rico held his gaze. “I took this gig on because I believe in you. Because I hadn’t believed in politics or politicians until I heard you speak and met you. I—every single person on your team—we all believe you should win