Page 22 of Married in Vengeance

“Missed me, darling?”

Her head whipped to his, her hot gaze taking in the smirk on his face, the bare chest and the boxers.

“What are you doing?” she asked, the words a hoarse rasp.

“Taking a nap in my bed, next to my wife.”

He stretched a little, making it a point to flex, watching her gaze go to his abs.

“Get out,” she ordered. “Go sleep somewhere else.”

“No.” He sat up, bringing him to eye level with her. “If you have a problem with me being here, you leave.”

Her gaze dropped to his lips and then shot back to him. “Don’t,” she whispered.

“Don’t what?” He cupped the back of her head, fingers palming her skull. “Don’t want you?”

Aadhya’s hand came to his chest, tangling with the dusting of hair on it, tightening and pulling. “Don’t,” she whispered again.

“I can’t stop Aadhya. I want you more than I want to draw breath. I want you more than I want to feel my heart beat once more. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted for anything or anyone in my life. I want you even when I don’t want to want you.”

His lips crashed down on hers, the kiss exploding into a frantic, desperate need in both to get closer, impossibly closer.

Aadhya moaned, her head falling back as he deepened the kiss, their tongues tangling and dueling for supremacy. He pressed himself against her, one hand going to cup her breast, framing and kneading, a familiar, beloved weight in his palm.

All his anger, his pain, his confusion swirled together in a melting pot of the desperate need he always felt for this woman.

Always her. Even when he knew it shouldn’t be. It wasalways her.

With a hoarse cry, Aadhya shoved at his chest, pushing him away. She tore herself from his arms and scrambled out of the bed, stopping with her back to the wall, her clothes rumpled and her hair a tangled skein over one shoulder.

Ram swore under his breath, shutting his eyes and fighting for control. He rolled on to his back, eyes still firmly closed, hands clenched into fists at his side. If he didn’t look at her, maybe he wouldn’t want to throw himself at her like an out-of-control animal.

He heard her settling her clothes, rustles and whispers of movement sounding unnaturally loud to his sensitive ears.

“The thing with trying to ruin someone, Gadde,” she said finally, her voice low and in control. “Is that it leaves you in ruins too.”

He said nothing as he heard her walk away from him, quiet footsteps, quieter breaths, the door opening and shutting with an infinitesimal click.

And then, she was gone.

Twelve

AADHYA

She staredat the lit projection screen in the conference room, the BOQ or Bill of Quantities for a fifty thousand square foot gated community displayed on it. The endless lines on the excel sheet filled with numbers didn’t register, her mind on a far more puzzling problem.

Why had Ram Gadde married her? Clearly, he believed she’d wronged him somehow. She had no idea how but shelving that for the moment, how did marrying her right this supposed wrong?

“When can we expect the recalibrated figures?” Aarush’s voice cut through her hamster-on-a-wheel thoughts and Aadhya shook the invasive thoughts off, coming back to the moment.

“The consultants will have it for us by Thursday.”

“The project is already behind schedule by three months.” Aarush’s voice was hard. “We’re bleeding money here. Let’s see what we can do to expedite it.”

Aadhya nodded. As Chief Architect, both credit and blame for projects sat squarely on her shoulders, and she wasn’t going to shy away from it.

“We’ll work on it,” she promised. She saw Mr. Vara Prasad smile approvingly at her and smiled back.

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