Chapter 19 #2
“I’m not a coward,” she looked up at him. “It was simply better that way.”
“For you,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “It was better for you that way. You knew I wanted to talk to you, and yet you ran away.”
She swallowed hard, her pulse hammering under the weight of his stare. “Don’t do this, Aditya. We’d decided that we were temporary. We are done. Over.”
“I’m not done with you. This, us… We are not over. Not by a long shot.”
He leaned over her. His body barely touched hers, but she could feel the heat radiating off of him, lighting her up.
Every muscle in her body tensed, caught between the instinct to move back and the need to stay exactly where she was.
Her pulse roared in her ears. God help her, she couldn’t move even if she wanted to.
Her fingers tightened on the edge of the desk. “Aditya, please—”
“Please what?” he cut in softly, tracing a hand down her jaw. “Please stop? Please give you space and leave you alone so you can pretend none of it ever happened between us? Not gonna do that, beautiful.”
She drew in a slow breath, turning her face from his touch. “This isn’t going to work. You know I can’t do this with you here in Mumbai.”
His mouth curved. “No. What I know is that you’re scared. That you’ve convinced yourself that you and I cannot work. That we cannot be together here, where we’ll be judged by our family and friends. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Her heart thudded so hard, but she kept quiet. His molten gaze swept over her face, lingering at her mouth before zeroing in on her eyes.
“Tell me,” he said quietly, “tell me you haven’t missed me.”
“I haven’t…” She gulped.
A faint smile crossed his lips. “So, you haven’t missed me at all? You haven’t thought of me every damn second of every damn day that we’ve been apart?”
“I haven’t,” she said, her tone not sounding convincing even to her own ears.
He moved closer, his lips hovering over hers. Her mouth tingled; goose bumps erupted on her flesh. She ignored all of it to repeat louder, “I haven’t.”
His breath skimmed over her mouth. She trembled. He chuckled. “Such a beautiful liar.”
His hand moved to her nape, unclasping the clip.
Her hair spilled out of its tight confines to flow in thick waves down her back.
He tugged a strand of hair. “There you are, beautiful. Now, I see you again. The real you. Not the one who’s back to hiding behind all this severe get-up. That is not you, beautiful.”
Her throat tightened. Words formed, but they refused to leave her lips. He was right. She was back to being plain, boring Sabrina here. She was back to being scared, worried, and concerned about everything and everyone.
“I miss you.” He closed in on her, placing both his hands on either side of her hips, caging her.
His body was pressed against hers fully now.
His lips fluttered over hers. The urge to close the distance between them stormed through her.
Her heart ached for him; her body craved him.
With sheer force of will, she held herself back.
“What do you want from me?” she asked.
He studied her for a long moment. “I want more.”
“I can’t give you more.”
He tilted his head. “You can’t or you don’t want to?”
She wanted to. God, she wanted him. But she couldn’t give him what he wanted from her.
When she kept quiet, he said, “I’ve thought about it, and I want to get to know Ahaan.”
She gasped, shaking her head. “Absolutely not.”
His eyes fired with anger. “You haven’t even given me a chance. I may just be good for him, and you.”
“Aditya, don’t say such things,” she pleaded softly.
“What are you so afraid of?”
“This, us, will never work,” she said firmly. “You don’t know me. All of me.”
“And whose fault is that?” he shot back. “You think I haven’t noticed how you kept the important parts of yourself from me. You never spoke to me even once about your childhood, your family, or your marriage. Which means you’re hiding something.”
She stared at him. Aditya was too sharp. Of course, he’d notice her silence on the key aspects of her life. She’d always anticipated that he would ask questions… questions she could never answer. That was one of the main reasons she’d ended things between them.
Without warning, Aditya tugged her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close, scattering all her thoughts.
“I feel like I can finally breathe again,” he whispered in her ear. “I haven’t been the same since you left me, beautiful. It hurt. Your absence hurt so damn hard.”
Walking away from him that night had been the hardest thing she’d ever done.
But this right now was harder. Every nerve in her body screamed to hold him, to bury herself so tightly within him that she forgot where he began and where she ended.
She had promised herself she wouldn’t let this happen. She couldn’t afford to.
But resisting Aditya was like trying to resist breathing.
It was futile, impossible. His nearness, the heat of his body, his scent—all of it was a potent combination, forcing her to give in to him and this attraction, this need that flared up between them when they were together.
Aditya buried his nose in the side of her neck, inhaling deeply, and all her defenses crumbled.
With a choked breath, she gave in, wrapping her arms around him. Her heart reminded her that it was where it belonged. Where it wanted to remain. A tear slipped free and trailed down her cheek. She sniffed. God, she was so doomed.
Aditya stilled, then cupped her face, his thumb brushing away the wetness.
His eyes burned into hers. “Why are you denying yourself… and me? I want you. You want me too. We owe it to ourselves to see where this goes.”
Her lips parted, ready to form an objection.
But he shook his head, cutting her off. “No. I’m not taking an answer right now. And I won’t allow you to run behind whatever it is you’re hiding, using it as an excuse to push me away.”
Her heart pounded; her throat tightened. God, he was astute and so damn clever.
“I’m going to break every single wall you put in front of me,” he said, his voice firm and unyielding. “I’ll make you see how good we can be together. You are mine, Sabrina. Mine.”
Before she could find the strength to argue, he released her and turned, striding to the door. He gave her a quick glance. “I’ll see you real soon, beautiful. Think of me till then.”
Sabrina stood frozen, her pulse thrumming in her ears, long after Aditya had left.
His words replayed over and over, each one more dangerous than the last. If he was truly going to pursue her with that relentless determination of his, how in the world was she ever going to resist him?
How would her fragile heart ever survive him?
How could she not want to belong to someone like him?