Hita - Anita Claire

The Princess of Silicon Valley

Book 5

Hita

By

Anita Claire

Hita

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Editing by Lisa Cerasoli

Cover design by Robin Ludwig Design Inc., gobookcoverdesign /

Text © Anita Claire 2015, All rights reserved

Table of Contents

Hita

Chapter 1 - Guys

Chapter 2 – Savi

Chapter 3 - Interviews

Chapter 4 - Juliette

Chapter 5 - Princesses

Chapter 6 – Trip with Mom and Dad

Chapter 7 – Pool Party

Chapter 8 – The New Job

Chapter 9 – The Rules

Chapter 10 – The Gamers Life

Chapter 11 – Work

Chapter 12 – Princesses

Chapter 13 – Dating Anil

Chapter 14 – Work Gossip

Chapter 15 – Girl Talk

Chapter 16 - Car

Chapter 17 – Dinner

Chapter 18 - Hanging with Kristi

Chapter 19 – Thanksgiving at Home

Chapter 20 - Work

Chapter 21 - Monte Carlo Night

Chapter 22 – Weddings

Chapter 23 - Princesses

Chapter 24 – Isabelle’s back in town

Chapter 25 – Blow up

Chapter 26 - Juliette

Chapter 28 - Thor

Chapter 29 – Blind Date

Chapter 30 – Online Dating

Chapter 31 – David

Chapter 32 – Underground Gaming

Chapter 33 - Evenings

Chapter 34 – The Tech

Chapter 35 – Relationships

Chapter 36 – The Reign of Terri

Chapter 37 - Revenge

Chapter 38 – The Trap is Set

Chapter 39 – Breaking Up is Hard To Do

Chapter 40 – Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

Chapter 41 – Isabelle’s On Board

Chapter 42 – Open Water Swimming

Chapter 43 –News

Chapter 44 – Ping Pong

Chapter 45 – Underground Gaming V 2.0

Chapter 46 – You Won’t Believe It

Epilogue – Yellow Bikini

Appendix – A - Books in “The Princess of Silicon Valley” series

Character list

Author’s Notes

More from Anita Claire

Chapter 1 – Swimming in the Morning

Chapter 2 – The New Job

Chapter 1 - Guys

My phone rings three times, then an annoying woman with a New York accent says, “Ya motha is calling, pick up da phone.”

It’s a lot funnier when it’s not seven thirty on Sunday morning. Taking a deep breath, I answer with the cheeriest voice I can muster.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Hita, your father and I are looking forward to your graduation. I’ve spoken to a couple of friends. Since we’re traveling through California, they’ve invited us to tea.”

“Mom, really, you had to wake me up to tell me this?”

“Hita, if you spend all day in bed, you won’t do well on your finals.”

“Yeah, Mom, thanks for the advice,” I say, trying to mask my sarcasm.

On some levels I’m close with my mom. But when it comes to men and marriage, we’re light years apart. My parents grew up in India and had an arranged marriage. Mom doesn’t understand why I’m not cool with this for myself. Since I’m almost finished with grad school, Mom thinks it’s time for me to get married. Right now she’s in overdrive with matchmaking, trying to fix me up with Indians from the right sort of family.

This makes me feel conflicted by my ethnicity. I love my heritage, all the stories, the food, the colors, and celebrations; yet I have a big issue with the traditional roles my culture inflicts. I have no desire to be married off to some guy who expects me to do all the work around the house, and then kowtow to his mother. Actually, when I’m ready to settle down I wouldn’t mind marrying an Indian-America, since he would get my family and we’d share a cultural heritage.

At twenty-three, the last thing on my mind is getting married and raising a family. I’m looking forward to getting a job, buying a car, and then having the time and money to do fun things, though I wouldn’t mind finding a fun boyfriend who’d knock my socks off.

I met my last boyfriend at a gaming convention. Brandon’s from Palo Alto, where I go to school. He was going to college up in Washington. Since we lived eight hundred miles apart, during the school year we’d meet up in our favorite games. It was a great way to date, and much more fun than having lame conversations over Skype or Face Time. Each time we’d meet up online, he’d pick me up in a different type of car, van, truck, motorcycle, or tank. We’d then fight bad guys together as we’d attempt to progress through a date. We spent time together in the real world when he came home for the summer and I worked at Google. But after spending almost four years dating long distance, I’ve decided that my next boyfriend will be local. I want more in