Book 3: Misguided Masala Matchmaker
Asha Kapoor has always done what’s expected. As the oldest of her siblings and cousins, she’s been the responsible role model and caretaker. Now thirty-six and a high risk OBGYN with a thriving urban practice, she realizes her own window for having the family she always wanted is closing. She bows to parental pressure and accepts a “suitable boy,” found by an in- demand matchmaker. But her safe choice bails on her days before the lavish, very public ceremony. Humiliated, hurt and angry, Asha refuses to hide away. She’s no longer going to live her life for others. And when a kitchen fire reintroduces her to former Indian bad boy, Dhruv Narula, now a lieutenant in the metro fire department, who smolders hotter than the fire, Asha decides to embrace a little danger along with a soul-affirming heat that has nothing to do with her cooking.
Dhruv Narula has spent a lifetime dodging family obligations and shrugging off the tight-knit Indian community’s expectations. He skipped college to join the Army in Special Forces and now continues to serve his community as a fire fighter. But he still can’t outrun his teenage reputation and long ago stopped trying. Then he pulls Asha Kapoor from a fire. She’s everything he’s not, and everything he’s always wanted. When they were kids, she’d been kind to him, and he’d built her memory up over the years until she was impossibly perfect, an angel. He knows he doesn’t stand a chance with Asha, but he can’t resist a very public flirt to tweak her family. Dhruv’s always made his own rules, but even he’s shocked when Asha kisses him back, breaking down his every rule and barriers. Soon Dhruv and Asha burn hotter than any fire he’s ever fought, and he wonders if he dare reach for even more.