Twelve Hours of Temptation by Shoma Narayanan

some calls. I’ll see you later—will you be able to get back to the hotel by yourself?’
    A little startled by the abrupt brush-off, Melissa retorted, ‘I’ll try. I’m sure I can manage to find it.’
    He didn’t reply, still staring at his phone, and, feeling annoyed and just a little hurt, she marched off towards the hotel.
    * * *
    ‘It’s one long jamboree,’ Devdeep said. ‘They’ll announce the actual awards tomorrow.’
    They were at the pre-awards cocktail party, and Melissa had been stuck with Devdeep and another colleague at one end of the room while Samir stood talking to a group from another agency at the other end. Luckily the event was in the same hotel they were booked into—at a pinch she could always develop a killing headache and escape to her room.
    Melissa involuntarily looked across at Samir. He looked bored, as if he found the drinking and the locker room jokes tedious and a little immature.
    Devdeep followed the direction of her eyes. ‘Bit arrogant, isn’t he?’ he said, evidently expecting Melissa to agree with him. ‘Doesn’t make the slightest effort to mingle—probably thinks he’s way too important to hang with small fry like us.’
    ‘He might just be shy,’ she suggested, realising how completely stupid she sounded as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Samir was to shy what Godzilla was to a garden lizard.
    ‘You drove down with him, didn’t you? Did you find out anything—his plans for the agency, that kind of stuff? Now that Brian’s gone we can really catapult this agency into the big league, as long as Samir is willing to invest in it.’ At her blank look, Devdeep’s eyebrows flew up. ‘You didn’t ask him a thing? God, I wish I’d known he was driving you here; I’d have briefed you properly. What did you talk about, then?’
    Bougainvillaea , she felt like saying. And whether Kolhapuri chappals were invented in Kolhapur.
    ‘We...um...didn’t talk much,’ she said instead. ‘He was concentrating on the road.’
    Shivani, the other colleague with them, intervened. ‘Devdeep, you’re such a nerd,’ she said. ‘The guy’s super-hot—I’m sure Melissa had better things to talk to him about than your stupid plans for world domination.’
    At that point Samir looked across and caught Melissa’s eye. Immediately, she felt her face grow warm, though she knew he couldn’t have heard a word of their conversation.
    ‘You’re blushing,’ Shivani said with satisfaction. ‘Which means I’m right.’
    ‘Nonsense,’ Melissa retorted, but by now her ears were burning with embarrassment. ‘Besides, he’s way out of my league.’
    ‘Yes, of course,’ Devdeep said, evidently under the impression that he was rescuing Melissa from an uncomfortable conversation. ‘Look at him—he’s rich and good-looking. He could date anyone he wants!’
    ‘Thanks, Devdeep,’ she said drily.
    He looked a little taken aback. ‘I didn’t mean...’
    ‘No, of course you didn’t.’ She sighed.
    Devdeep was right—no one sane would imagine that Samir was the slightest bit interested in her. And with all the dumb things she’d said about romantic novels he would probably avoid her as if she was the latest variant in bird flu.
    Getting up, she said, ‘I think I’ll take a stroll outside. I need some fresh air—this place stinks of cigarette smoke.’
    Once outside, she hesitated a little before going up to the reception desk. It was too early to go back to her room, but she didn’t fancy hanging around in the lobby all alone—maybe there was a library or somewhere she could hang out until it was time for dinner.
    When Samir came out of the bar a few minutes later she was deep in conversation with the concierge, discussing the relative merits of a game of billiards and a visit to the hotel’s overpriced gift shop.
    Samir stood watching her silently for a few minutes. Utterly unconscious of his presence, she made a charming picture as she politely scanned the