Harlequin Desire January 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 by Maisey Yates (free biff chip and kipper ebooks .txt) 📕

“I’m going shopping, and then I have lunch with Rajiv and Gauri.”

“Am I no longer invited to lunch?”

No, you are not. I plan to ask Rajiv to help me lay low for a few days and then go home. It’s time for us to say goodbye.

“You can come if you want to,” she said indifferently.

“I’ll plan on it. While you’re out shopping, you might want to pick up something for tonight.”

“What’s tonight?” she asked, unable to keep the curious interest out of her voice.

“I’d like to take you out to dinner.”

He wanted to come to lunch with her friends and then take her to dinner? What was he doing?

“There’s one more thing.” He pointed to the couch.

“What?” Her hand flew to her mouth to keep from screaming. On the couch was a Martin guitar case. Her mouth hanging open in shock, she stepped to it and unbuckled the latches. Lying inside was a handmade acoustic guitar with a maple-gloss top and rosewood back and sides. She picked it up reverently.

“This is the top-of-the-line Martin guitar. How did you even know that I play acoustic?”

“Someone showed me this trick where you look up someone on social media and then search their friends’ pictures to find out information that might not be on their own pages.”

“How did you get this here so quickly?”

He shrugged. “This is New York. Not a lot you can’t buy here in short order.”

Especially when money is no object. She ran her hands over the wood. Her guitar at home was a Martin, but she didn’t have the latest model. She picked a few strings, then began tuning it with expert hands. It was only when room service showed up at the door that she realized she’d been lost in the guitar. She hadn’t even thanked Ethan.

After the waiter had taken the old cart and left a new one, she stood and went to Ethan. “I love the guitar, but I can’t accept it. You’ve already done much too much for me, and you don’t even know me.”

He shrugged. “Money…”

“I know, money doesn’t mean much to you but it’s also the time you’ve taken to be with me, to fly me across the country, to search for the perfect guitar for me…” Her voice cracked.

How dare he do the most perfect thing in the world for her?

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked and she felt a tear slide down her cheek.

She shook her head, unable to speak through the big lump that had lodged in her throat.

“What is it?” He reached over and brushed the tear from her cheek, his touch so light and gentle that her chest squeezed even tighter.

“It’s…” She struggled to find the word in English. Aaapnapan was the word in Hindi. Someone who treated you like their own, someone who knew you better than you knew yourself. He seemed to understand what she needed at a level that even her family didn’t.

“Would you like to hear one of my songs?”

He grinned. “I’d like nothing more.”

She strummed a few strings to test out the guitar, then sang one of the love songs she’d written. Her eyes closed, and the words bubbled up from deep in her plexus. It was a song she’d written for her brother Sameer when he was in a bad place. It had helped heal him and her. Ethan wouldn’t know the words in Hindi, but they were what she needed to hear.

My heart doesn’t know what to feel, my lips don’t know what to say, but I’ll be okay. I know I’ll be okay because you’re with me. I don’t know what I want, I haven’t for a while, but as long as I have you, I have hope of better things to come.

When she was done, there were fresh tears on her cheeks. It was as if something had burst open inside her. Promise me, Divya, that if we get through this, we’ll stop living for our parents and start living for ourselves. She had forgotten that hospital-bed promise she and Sameer had made to each other.

“Wow, that was incredible.”

She opened her eyes to see Ethan staring at her. “You’re just being polite, you didn’t even know what the words meant.”

“No, but I could feel the pain in your melody, the hope in your voice.” He paused. “What was the song about?”

She put the guitar in the case. “A couple of years ago my brother Sameer was in a bad accident. His whole body was broken. We weren’t sure if he’d survive. I wrote this song for him. It is about hope and about not letting your fears stop you.” She closed the guitar case and turned to him. “I think I’m going to give that record company guy from Café Underground a call. I’ll ask Rajiv if he can put up with me for a few weeks so I can give this music thing a shot.”

“I already asked Roda to check out that guy, plus I’ve put feelers out among my friends. Somebody will know an industry contact. And my jet is at your disposal. Whatever you need.”

“We hardly know each other. Why are you doing all this for me?”

He shrugged, then he looked out the window like he couldn’t quite meet her eyes. “Maybe it’s because you’re the first person I’ve met for whom I seem to be able to do something right.”

There was so much longing in his voice that she wanted to hug him and tell him all the ways in which he was a great guy. But something held her back. He hadn’t wanted her to kiss him. Maybe friendship was all he wanted to offer, and she didn’t want to mess that up.

She poured him a cup of coffee from the room service cart and handed it to him. “Thank you. For everything. Now, let’s eat this cold breakfast.”

The rest of the morning went by in a blur as she shopped for some basic items. When she returned, she donned