Chapter 35
Marianna knew that she was acting odd. But she couldn’t sit so close to Amit right now. Yes, her animosity towards the man was gone. Completely. Her anger and hostility towards the man had been replaced with the most intense need to…make love with him. She didn’t just want him, she craved him! When he’d left her this morning to attend his meetings, Marianna had felt…bereft. She’d felt as if he’d left with her heart in his pocket.
Yeah, the sex had been…earth shattering. Phenomenal. Perhaps that was why she’d wanted to jump the man as soon as he’d returned. The minute she’d seen him, Marianna had wanted to start taking her clothes off.
But she was also starting to realize that she needed more from Amit than just his physical touch and his presence. She was starting to have feelings for the man, but were those feelings based only on sex? She’d read so many articles that talked about how a healthy relationship couldn’t be based on sex alone. Two people needed to be compatible outside of the bedroom as well.
Since her feelings for the man were so strong already, Marianna knew that she needed to test this…whatever this…was. She needed to know if they could be friends as well as lovers. How would he react if she beat him at something? Many men would be annoyed, maybe even feel emasculated. She’d read about how some men lashed out at women who were better at something than they were.
Since their time together was limited, Marianna knew that she needed to work fast. She needed to know if her feelings were reciprocated, or if their time together was based only on sexual chemistry.
Because if she left here, Marianna needed to know that she would survive it. After watching him leave the suite this morning, she wasn’t sure if she could leave him. Not for a longer period of time. Not without shattering into dust.
“Mari?”
With a sigh, she strengthened her resolve, determined to find out if this was just an intense fling that would fizzle out, or if there was something more to what was happening between them.
She hoped, prayed, that there was more. Because Marianna was terrified that she was in love with the man. Maybe she had been for a long time and had used anger to protect herself from disappointment.
“Yes,” she replied, blinking and looking down at her hands. She was holding two decks of cards, apparently staring blankly at Amit, lost in her own thoughts.
“Cards?” he prompted. “Will you teach me how to play?”
Marianna’s relief was intense and she smiled gratefully up at him. Plus, beating him at cards seemed like an excellent way to determine how the man handled defeat from a woman.
“Right. Do you know how to play solitaire?” she asked, then sat down across from him to teach him how to play.
The game started slowly, and she suggested that they do a practice round. By the time they were playing for real, she couldn’t stop laughing. The man might be new to the game, but Amit picked up the rules as well as the strategy very quickly. It was hilarious trying to get her cards in place before his. She loved hearing him laugh when she beat him, and giggled when he beat her to the snap.
Sandwiches were delivered by silent servants and they ate while she taught him how to play Uno. She beat him several times, but he wasn’t a slouch in that game either.
“How about a game of chess?” he suggested.
Marianna smiled. “I like chess,” she admitted.
He took her hand and led her over to the chess table set in the corner. “I propose that, with every chess piece a person claims, the loser must take off a piece of clothing.” He kissed her fingertips and poured her more wine. “This will make it more interesting.”
Marianna laughed, shaking her head. “I doubt that I’d be able to concentrate if I were naked.”
“Exactly. So, the idea will force you to concentrate more completely.”
She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t deny that she was intrigued. And more turned on than she’d been the previous night. After watching how competitive Amit was, which she should have already known, as well as how gracious he was at losing, Marianna knew that she was falling hard for the man.
But could he ever love her? He desired her. But was that enough? Enough to sustain a relationship?
And an even better question, did Amit even want a relationship with her? She kept circling back to the previous question; was this a fling? Or something more?