Page 82 of The Rules of Playing with Fire

“All good,” he said, tugging at his cuffs the way Mihir did. Who had picked that up from whom, I wondered.

“I need to leave,” Grant announced, and Mike rose too.

“It was wonderful talking to you today,” Mike said to me. “Hope we can continue this discussion over dinner someday with Saavi.”

“I would love that.”

“Let us know the next time you are in town,” Mike said, and my eyes shifted to Mihir.

After they left, Mihir and I proceeded to clear up the dining table and clean the kitchen surfaces.

“Let it be, beta,” Aunty said. “The lady who helps me will be here in the morning. Don’t worry about all that.”

“We’ll just take care of the leftovers, Mom,” Mihir said and meticulously converted the food into glass containers and popped them in the fridge while I cleared up the rest of the stuff.

I decided to take my leave soon after. Aunty gave me a warm hug and kissed my forehead as the same fear began gripping my heart again.

“We should do this often,” Uncle said, patting my arm. “This was a great evening.”

As Mihir drove me back to my hotel, I found myself unable to make any meaningful conversation. Instead, I opted for small talk.

“The chicken curry was so good. Aunty is a gifted cook.”

He merely hummed in response.

“The rice was good too,” I said with a gentle laugh. “In case you thought I didn’t appreciate it.”

Just a nod this time. I sighed.

“I’ll probably leave in a day or two. I haven’t booked my tickets yet, but I’ll fly out whenever it’s the cheapest.”

“Stay.” That was the only word he said—and in a voice that shook me to my core. The need, the urgency, the command in that word made my insides quiver.

When he wordlessly walked me up to my room, per his current mode, he lingered at the doorway. “We need to talk.”

Ah, there it was! No conversation that started with this phrase ever ended well.

I nodded. “Do you want to come in?”

He stepped in and walked across the room to settle on a chair by the French doors. I walked behind him with tentative steps and lowered myself to the edge of the bed.

“You know what I’m going to say,” he began.

I nodded. I had planted my eyes on my hands resting in my lap. They had begun to shiver, and I clutched them tightly.

“We have been tangled up in this ridiculous dance for a while now. I am a man of action, Sona. I prefer certainty. I hate responding in reaction, and I’m not very good at it. You understand?”

Grant’s words rang in my ears. His conviction that Mihir loved me shook me to my core. I cared for him too, deeply, and now I was about to lose him for good. Scarred by my past, I kept distancing myself from him, though Mihir had been nothing but considerate and forgiving. And now, I’d lose all that. I’d lose the peace I felt in his presence. The comfort of being my unapologetic self and being loved for it.

No, I wasn’t giving up on him that easily. I wasn’t giving up on us.

My hands had turned to stone at what I was about to do, but I knew I needed to do it.

I stood and gazed into his powerful face. “I want you, Mihir!” I blurted before my body could tremble under the gravity of the confession.

He sprang up from his seat with a relieved smile, raking a hand through his perfectly styled hair and successfully mussing it up.

Stalking over to where I stood, he yanked me into his arms and took my mouth in a frenzied kiss like I had wanted him to. My lips felt swollen and sore when he finally lifted his mouth from mine, but I wasn’t ready to part from his warmth. I pulled him back down and devoured his mouth like there was no tomorrow.

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