This one is for my very dear friend I call Miss Gupta. So my lady in red if you are reading this you know this whole story goes out to you. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1

Niyati Gupta breathed a sigh of relief as she closed and locked her apartment door. She felt weary after putting in eighteen-hour days for the past week. Finally the deal closed today and she was free as of five O' clock this evening.

Five years!

She took a moment and leaned against the door wearily. She had moved to New York five years ago to take over a rundown hotel owned by her family. For the first three years she had put in lot of her blood and sweat into the place to bring it up to a standards of a five star hotel and she has succeeded to the surprise of her family.

For the past two years her place had been the highest grossing hotel owned by G&S (Gupta and Sharma) corporations that was started by her two grandfathers and they would have been proud of what all she had accomplished in the past few years.

Dropping her keys on the front table she headed for her bedroom. She took in inventory of her apartment as she walked thru the long hall towards her bedroom. Soon she will start packing everything so the moving company she hired can collect everything and deliver it to her townhouse in Baltimore.

When she moved to New York she had been lost and hear broken, the hotel had given her sense of direction and kept her too busy to think about all that she had left behind in Baltimore. Her grandmothers once again had come to her rescue.

Both sets of her grandparents have always been her saviors. They took over her educational needs and her training in her teen years and continued to guide her, as she grew older.

She will always be grateful to them for taking a troubled teenager under their wings and making her a smart and sensible young businesswoman. She had finally learned to think with her head and not with her heart, if only she had learned that lesson early on.

But now is not the time to reminisce about the past. It is time to look into the future and think about how to bring their company into the modern world. It is time to take their corporation to the next level.

It is time to go back to Baltimore and take over as the managing director of G&S Corporation.

She stepped out of her shoes and stripped as she walked to the bathroom and stepped into the shower.

She quickly lathered her long dark hair with her favorite jasmine scented shampoo and massaged her scalp until she felt herself relax. She scrubbed her body with her favorite soap then stayed under the shower for another few minutes.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she turned off the water then towel dried her hair and body in rapid motions. She felt a twig of sadness at selling the first hotel she managed but it had to be done in order to move back home.

Putting on her most comfortable pair of pajamas she headed to her large kitchen. Noticing the light flashing on her answering machine she pressed the play button to listen to her voice mail as she prepared something to eat.

The first two messages were inconsequential so she ignored them but the third message put a smile on her face as soon as she heard the voice on the on the answering machine.

"Hey beautiful, you know who this is. Call me."

And the fourth message wiped the smile off of her face.

"Hey Niyati, I need to speak to you about the wedding arrangements, call me back as soon as you get this message.

Niyati rolled her eyes at the demanding tone of her younger half-sister from her mother's side. She grimaced at thought of all that she had to tackle once she went back to Baltimore, including arrangements for her sister's wedding.

She shook her head, grabbed her food and cell phone from the counter then headed for the living room. Putting everything out of her mind she speed dialed her best friend and started eating as she waited for him to answer.

"Shane Jackson."

She was about to give up at the fourth ring when she heard a familiar, pleasant voice. She smiled as she pictured her six foot one inch, blue eyed, blond hair, handsome friend leaning back in the chair with his feet propped on the table, appearing relaxed and oblivious to things around him.

"Hey handsome, you called?"

Shane immediately dropped his feet on the floor and straightened up when he heard the familiar soft voice at the other end of his phone.

"Hey beautiful, how are you?"

From the corner of his eyes he saw his partners Alisha and Varun, give him a sharp look and raise an eyebrow at the combination of alertness and playfulness in Shane's tone. He shook his head and swirled his chair away from them.

Niyati sighed as she felt her tired mind and body relax as she prepared to catch up with the only person she could truly call a friend, "I am tired but okay," She said. "How are you? It's been a while since I talked to you."

Shane frowned when he heard the exhausted tone of Niyati's voice. He hoped she was well, "I am good, but why do you sound so worn out?"

She sighed yet again. She knew she wouldn't be able to fool Shane, even through the great distance between them. He had always been able to read her easily, "I am wondering if coming back to Baltimore is a good idea."

Shane immediately understood Niyati's dilemma. She was close to burning out already and once she arrives here she has to not only face her extensive and demanding family but she will also be facing her past on top of the all the things happening at her company.

"I think it's time for a vacation pretty lady."

Niyati put the plate aside, "Yeah, but right now there is no way I can take a break."

"Why don't you come early and join me at my beach house?" Shane murmured softly as he stood and walked toward the windows at the far corner of the conference room.

Alisha and Varun exchanged a look when Shane stood up suddenly and walked away. They had both ignored him as he talked on the phone quietly, not making anything of his strange behavior or the flirtatious nature of his conversation. They never paid attention to the playful side of his personality because they were both aware that it was all an act to irritate them mostly, but they also couldn't deny that his classic handsome looks gave him his fare share of female attention.

Alisha chewed her lip worriedly as she glanced towards Shane. For reason unknown to her, when she had heard Shane refer to someone at the other end of the phone as beautiful, it had made her feel anxious. In the past it had never bothered her when he flirted with women shamelessly but this time she felt that it was more than harmless flirting. Could he have found someone special?

Varun glanced at Alisha then at Shane then shook his head in exasperation. He wondered when his two friends and partners would give into their feelings and confess what they truly feel for each other. He wondered when they would both stop playing this cat and mouse games and hide behind their daily bickering.

In his opinion both Alisha and Shane were too stubborn for their own good. He hoped that whomever Shane was talking to on the phone doesn't end up bringing more trouble into their already turbulent relationship. He gazed at his friend and partner thoughtfully and wondered about the lady at the other end of the phone who was making his otherwise playful friend appear so serious. Whoever it was, Varun could tell that she was very important to Shane.

He closed the file in front of him after making one last notation then stood up and glanced at Alisha, "You want to come with me to meet our new client?

Alisha glanced at her watch then gave one more irritated glance towards Shane, who was so deep into the conversation on the phone that he had forgotten about Varun and Alisha, and nodded her head slightly. "Might as well. I am going to head home after the meeting."

Varun nodded then walked towards Shane to let him know he and Alisha were leaving for the day. He didn't interrupt Shane's conversation just indicated that they were heading out then turned and walked away to give Shane his privacy.

Shane breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his friends leave the conference room. He loosened his tie and rolled his shirtsleeves up as he continued to convince Niyati to join him at his vacation home.

Niyati considered Shane's offer for about two seconds then sighed in frustration as she remembered her younger sister's message. There is no way she can afford to take few days off.

"Unfortunately, I can't take the few days off Shane, but I do need to see you soon. I may need your security firms services for several of our hotels in Baltimore."

"Problems?"

"Several. I have received loads of emails from several of our managers with one complaint or another in the past few weeks." She relaxed back as she brought Shane up to date on the current situation with her family and the business.

***

Varun waited until he and Alisha were in the elevator before turning to her, "You want to talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about?"

He crossed his arms and leaned against the elevator wall. "Look, I know I am the last person to give advice on love and relationships but if you ever need someone to talk to I am here."

"I could say the same for you."

He gave her a startled look then shrugged his shoulder. "There is not much to tell. I have moved past it."

She wondered at that, "Have you really? You must have loved your ex-wife at one time."

He gave a bitter laugh at that, "Love? I don't even know what that means. What my ex-wife and I shared couldn't be called love."

"Have you ever experienced love?" She asked with a frown. This was the first time she was realizing that there was more to Varun than the rugged good looks. He hides his true self underneath the handsome, brooding face.

A picture of a dark haired, slender beauty flashed into Varun's mind at Alisha's question. "May be," he murmured, "Anyway, what is stopping you from grabbing the opportunity at love?" He asked as the elevator stopped on the ground floor and they both walked towards the parking garage.

"I don't want to take the chance," Alisha said as she followed him to his car. "I have seen too many people in my family so crazy things in the name of thing called love, my parents included."

Varun couldn't argue the point so he changed the subject to their current assignment as he drove towards their new client's office.

Love to hear your feed backs on this first chapter. Please do comment and vote if you liked it. Thank you in advance.