“It’s okay, princess.” He pulled her into a tighter embrace until the chills subsided completely.
They lay like that silently.
Her heart continued to race due to the remnants of her dream. She hated that even though she had serious doubts about her mother’s death, she hadn’t told anyone. She hadn’t trusted anyone.
Until now.
She didn’t know much about Arjun, but she began to trust him. Her gut instincts told her that he did care for her the way she had begun caring for him. It wasn’t just lust and attraction. She was now seeing the man behind the cocky attitude and began to fall for that man too.
“I-I dreamed about my mother,” she whispered.
“You often dream of her. You had the same dream during the night of the storm too.”
She nodded. “Yes. I had the same dream.” She then took a deep breath. “B-but this time, I also recalled the conversation between my mother and father before she... fell down the stairs.”
She felt Arjun’s body tense. “Your father was there on the night of your mother’s death?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “They were arguing. I-I don’t know if her fall was accidental, or if he deliberately pushed her down the stairs. But I know he wanted her to keep quiet about something.”
Tanvi knew she shouldn’t involve Arjun with what had happened in the past. Her father was powerful and dangerous. Arjun would not be able to challenge or do anything to a man like her father.
But she felt protected in Arjun’s embrace.
“I’m sorry, princess. I’m sorry you had to go through your grief alone and hide the truth for so long.”
Tanvi closed her eyes, and tears of relief leaked down her cheeks. Her chest felt slightly less burdened that someone other than her knew the truth of what happened on the night of her mother’s death and believed her.
She took a deep breath. For the first time, she didn’t feel utterly alone. Although she knew whatever she had with Arjun wouldn’t last long, she felt cherished and protected by his presence.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what, princess?”
“For listening to me. And for being here. I loved every moment we spent together.”
Suddenly, he turned her. He watched her with an intense look before his mouth twisted into a smile. “Don’t thank me so soon, princess. Our deal won’t end anytime soon. I’m going to stick around you for quite a long while.”
Her cheeks heated in pleasure while warmth radiated inside her heart.
“I guess that makes you my boyfriend then,” she said.
He smirked, flashing his dimples. “Yes, princess. You are my girlfriend.”
She laughed, and held his face before she kissed him. He held the back of her head and returned the kiss. Although it started as a sweet, tender moment, soon passion ignited and spread like fire.
Lips clung. Hands reached out and touched each other everywhere. Their joining was raw and intense as always. But with their hearts thumping together and the way he looked at her while moving deep inside her, it made her feel it was more than lust-fueled desire.
It felt like lovemaking.
CHAPTER 30
“Did you get abducted by the aliens and get dropped back with a different brain?”
Tanvi blinked at her friend’s statement. Slowly, she focused and realized Rashmi was watching her with an amused look.
“Sorry, what?”
Rashmi laughed. “What’s going on? For the past two hours, Kavita and I have been talking our heads off, and you barely said a word. You keep gazing in the distance with a dreamy smile. Who are you, and what have you done with our spitfire friend Tanvi?”