Chapter 6 #4
"You'll be fully healed." His hand traced down her side, possessive, claiming. "Strong enough to handle me. And you'll be begging."
The promise in his words made her body flush with heat.
"That's—" She couldn't form a coherent sentence.
"Fair warning." He pressed one more kiss to her lips, this one gentler but no less possessive. "Because once I start, I won't stop. Once I claim you properly, you're mine. Completely. No more walls. No more doubts. Mine."
The possessiveness should have alarmed her. Instead, it made something primal in her respond with a resounding yes.
She was playing with fire. She knew it. He was dangerous—dark and intense and utterly consuming.
But God, she wanted to burn.
*
The rest of the day was torture. Every time Akriti looked at him, she remembered the kiss. The taste of him. The feel of his hands on her body. The promise in his words.
You'll be begging.
She caught herself staring at his mouth. At his hands. Wondering what else they could do. Where else they could touch.
This was insane. Dangerous. Self-destructive.
She'd spent three years building walls against him, and he was demolishing them with devastating efficiency.
That evening, as he helped her with her exercises, his hands on her leg, guiding her movements, she couldn't help but imagine those hands elsewhere. On her waist. In her hair. Between her thighs.
"Akriti." His voice was strained. "You need to stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you want me to forget you're healing and finish what we started this morning."
Heat flooded her cheeks. "I don't—"
"You do." His eyes were dark, intense. "And it's taking every ounce of control I have not to give you what you want."
"Maybe I don't want you to have control."
His hands tightened on her leg. "Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Don't tempt me. I'm trying to be noble here. Let me."
"Three years you ignored me," she heard herself say, echoing his words from earlier. "Now you're being noble?"
He let out a dark laugh, the sound sending shivers through her. "If you knew what I wanted to do to you right now—"
"Tell me."
"Akriti—"
"Tell me." She met his eyes, daring him.
His jaw clenched. "I want to strip that nightgown off you.
Slowly. Exploring every inch of skin as I reveal it.
I want to kiss every scar, every bruise, every mark the explosion left on you.
" His voice dropped lower, darker. "I want to make you forget the pain.
Replace it with pleasure. I want to hear you scream my name until the entire house knows exactly who you belong to. "
The words sent heat flooding through her body. Her breathing quickened.
"I want—" He stopped himself, visibly struggling for control. "But you're not ready. Your body needs to heal. And when I take you—when I finally make you mine—you're going to be strong enough to handle everything I want to do to you."
"And what if I want it now?"
"Then you'll wait." His smile was predatory. "Like I've been waiting. Like I'll continue to wait until you're healed. Because when I finally have you, Akriti, there will be no stopping. No holding back. No gentleness."
"I'm not fragile—"
"No." He brushed his lips against her forehead. "You're strong. Stronger than I ever gave you credit for. But right now, you're healing. And I can wait."
He pulled back, putting distance between them, and she wanted to scream with frustration.
"This is cruel," she muttered.
"This is torture," he agreed. "For both of us. But it'll be worth it."
"You're very sure of yourself."
"I'm sure of you." His eyes burned into hers. "I'm sure that once you're healed, once I prove this is real, you'll let me in. Completely. And when you do—" His smile was dark promise. "—I'll make sure you never regret it."
The tension between them was unbearable. Electric. Consuming.
Akriti lay back against the pillows, her body thrumming with frustrated desire, her mind reeling with possibilities.
He wanted her. Really wanted her. Not out of duty or obligation, but with raw, undisguised hunger.
And God help her, she wanted him back.
The walls were crumbling. Her resistance was fading. And soon—very soon—there would be nothing left between them but honesty and desire and the desperate need to finally, finally, be together.
She just had to heal first.
And based on the dark promise in Raghav's eyes as he watched her from across the room, the wait was going to drive them both insane.
But maybe that was the point.
Maybe they needed to burn before they could build something real from the ashes.
Maybe this tension, this anticipation, this slow torture was exactly what they needed to ensure that when they finally came together, it would be explosive.
Inevitable.
Forever.
Akriti closed her eyes and tried to sleep, acutely aware of Raghav settling into his chair for another night of watching over her.
Protecting her.
Wanting her.
Waiting.
Just like she was.
And when the time came—when she was healed and strong and ready—there would be no more waiting.
Only claiming.
Only surrender.
Only them.
Finally.