“Yep.”
His eyes narrowed, determination on his features. “I’m going to find it.”
She ended up naked and sated and delighted as a result of his hunt. It was after midnight when he finally said, “There” and pressed a kiss to the crook of her elbow.
Nayna sighed, tugged him up so she could cuddle in his arms… and fell fast asleep in the embrace of the husband who’d always been meant to be hers.
51
Seven Years Later
Aarav glanced over from his position in the pack on Raj’s back. “Ma! Look!”
Nayna followed his small finger to see a colorful tropical parrot. “Good spotting!” She took a photograph, then plucked at her T-shirt. “I never realized marinating in my own sweat was a thing,” she said to her husband.
The heavens opened up as if on cue, the warm rain washing away the sweat before disappearing as quickly as it had come. Her hand locked with Raj’s by now, Nayna laughed along with him and their son. Three-year-old Aarav was as used to going with the flow as he was to trying strange new foods.
“It’ll dry soon enough,” said the man who was her everything. “I think you’re steaming already.”
“It’s funny because it’s not even a joke.” She reached up to ruffle their baby’s wet hair. “Hungry?”
When Aarav nodded, she dug out a kid-friendly fruit bar from her pack, unwrapped it, and passed it over. The three of them continued on along the path in one of Indonesia’s dense forests. It was far from their first adventure. They’d begun small only a year into their marriage, a couple of days here and there exploring their own backyard. New Zealand was a land full of chances for wonder and excitement.
It had helped that Navin and Komal, ensconced in their own home and weirdly happy considering their past, had slowly become reliable members of the family. Aditi, of course, could run rings around them even back then.
Then Raj’s deputy had “graduated” his training and they’d been able to take off for a week at a time. Not more because Sailor’s company was growing like crazy, and Nayna, as its chief financial officer, was working insane hours. But she met Raj in the middle as they’d promised one another, and they came out of that manic period whole and happy and rooted in one another.
A breather, her longed-for trip to the Amazon, before Aarav settled in her womb.
Their families had been horrified when they started traveling with a one-year-old, but Aarav was an adventurer at heart. He knew Maddie mausi and Sunny mausa lived in London with his twin girl cousins, while his aunt Adi was working on an engineering project in Australia, and he also knew that he liked guavas but not pawpaw. Lychees continued to be up for debate.
All their travels, every work challenge or opportunity, each family decision, Nayna and Raj had talked over and handled as a team. Nayna had begun this trip as CFO of a brilliant ethical-cosmetics company, but after talking it over with Raj the previous night, she’d decided to hand in her notice on her return.
It was time for her to jump into another start-up, help create their financial foundation. She’d spent four years as Sailor’s right hand, left only when his company was rock steady and thriving. After three years with the cosmetics company, she felt it was in the same strong position. Her skills would be better utilized elsewhere.
Raj, meanwhile, continued to grow his family’s business with slow, steady patience. It was a legacy he’d leave not only to Aarav but to Navin and Komal’s son and daughter and to any children Aditi might one day have.
He was, and always would be, her anchor, her love, her heart.
“What’re you thinking, Nayna with the sundar nayna?” asked her gorgeous husband who sent her half-naked selfies when she was least expecting them.
“That Mr. Darcy has nothing on Raj Sen.” Rising on tiptoe, she kissed him to the sound of their son’s laughter. “I love our happily-ever-after, and I love you.”
“And me!” Aarav cried.
“And you,” Nayna confirmed for their smiling baby.
Her man with the dark eyes full of intensity smiled, and his gaze held no shadows, no hollows, no whispers of pain. All she saw was love so deep and true that Nayna knew it would be there for her. Always.