Harlequin Desire January 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 Maisey Yates (sad books to read .txt) 📖

his head. “Please, don’t say you’ll pay me back. We’ve discussed this, haven’t we?”

She sighed. “I know you have lots of money, but I still feel like I’m taking advantage of you. We just met today. Let me at least help you figure out your love life.”

He raised his brows. “You think there’s something to fix?”

You don’t? She stopped herself from saying that out loud. “I’m a great matchmaker. I set up Rajiv and his wife and they’ve been happily married for three years now.”

“He has a wife?”

She tried not a smile at the relief in his voice. Had he been jealous of Rajiv?

“I’ve set up nearly all of my friends and most of the men my parents chose for me.”

His lips twitched. “Was Rajiv one of those men?”

She nodded sheepishly. “He was, until I introduced him to Gauri and he fell madly in love with her.”

“If you’re that good, why didn’t you set up your fiancé?”

She laughed. “I don’t have a lot of friends in the US. Had he been based in India, I would’ve found him a woman who’d make him stop thinking about me.”

“I doubt a man could stop thinking about you.” Ethan’s voice was so low and throaty that her heart stopped. She looked away from his sparkling blue eyes before she lost her mind entirely and decided to add Ethan to her bucket list. “Let’s get dressed and get to Café Underground.”

They each chose a bedroom. Hers had a dark wood platform bed made up in white linens with low-standing side tables and a dresser. Her bathroom was bigger than the bedroom and included white-and-gray marble tile, a tall oval Japanese soaking tub and a glass-enclosed shower. She set the bag Ethan had given her on a luggage rack and surveyed the clothes. There was a deep maroon cocktail dress with a cowl neck that would do for tonight.

The assistant had even included makeup. Unfortunately, the colors were too light for her skin tone, so she just went with mascara and lip gloss. Her hands shook as she applied the mascara, and she had to wash her face and do it twice. She had dreamed of singing in a real club but hadn’t really thought she’d get the chance to make her dream come true. What if she tried to sing and nothing came out? Was her voice hoarse? She practiced a few notes. Was the sound strange or was it the acoustics in the bathroom? She took a deep breath and focused on getting herself ready. Tonight might be the only chance she had. She wasn’t going to waste time.

The shoes included with the dress were too large, but she stuffed some toilet paper in the toe caps. She didn’t want to be late to Café Underground.

When she stepped into the shared common room, Ethan was by the bar. He looked casual but stunning in dark jeans and a fashionably untucked black shirt.

He whistled appreciatively when he saw her. “You look amazing. You’re going to knock it out of the park.”

“I know the expression, but I doubt it applies to me. I’ll be happy if I don’t get booed off the stage. This place is for hard-core artists and music lovers. The audience is serious.”

He walked over to her and gently grasped her shoulders. “You’ll be great, Divya. Just live for yourself tonight.”

She took a breath and mentally repeated his words to herself. Tonight is mine alone.

The club wasn’t far from their hotel, so they took a pedicab. The seat was cozy and she tried not to focus on the feel of Ethan’s thigh against hers or the warmth of his body next to hers. She had a song in mind that she wanted to sing, so she went over the words in her head. It was a favorite of hers and she’d been singing it since she was a girl.

The pedicab driver skirted traffic, and got them to Café Underground in just a few minutes.

“This is where you want to make your debut?”

They were looking at a dark door with the words Café Underground flickering in neon lights above. She nodded reverently. It was exactly as she’d imagined it.

He opened the door and she took a breath as she stepped inside. The club was packed. A stage at one end of the room was empty but held a complement of musical equipment and was lit up with a spotlight. A bar on the other end was standing room only. The center of the room was dark and held high-top tables with barstools. All of the tables were full, and people crowded in between seats. The smell of stale beer hung in the air.

Divya’s pulse quickened. I can’t do this. Her parents never let her go out without a chaperone, and she wasn’t used to such crowds. She suddenly felt unsure of herself. How was she supposed to handle this?

Ethan elbowed his way to the bartender to ask how to sign up for open mic. Divya stood back. Ethan was taller and more easily able to lean over the bar to hear what the guy was saying. The bartender pointed to another man seated next to the stage. He was short and wiry, with thick black-rimmed glasses, a mesh shirt and leather pants that couldn’t be tighter if they were painted on.

Ethan made his way to the leather-pants guy, with Divya trailing behind. The crowd crushed around her and she found it hard to breathe. Ethan found her hand and squeezed it. They made their way to the stage and the man with the leather pants looked up. “Hey, you my Bollywood girl?”

She smiled. “Rick?”

“That’s me, baby.” He stood, leaned over and touched his cheek to hers. “Damn. You’re even better-looking in person than on video.”

“You are an even bigger flirt in person than on Zoom.”

He smiled widely. “I’m gonna try and get you on when I can. It’s a busy night, but chill. I got you.”

Ethan navigated them back to the bar. A