Page 33 of Obsession

Armaan threw himself into their hug, and soon, the three of them were hugging and laughing, all their earlier angst forgotten. Navya and Reina beckoned them, and his brothers jumped into the pool, splashing the girls with water, all of them looking absolutely delighted.

His eyes searched for her. Anna was no longer seated on the lounger. She wasn’t in the pool either. He glanced around, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. A movement by the pool-house caught his attention. Good, he anyway needed to talk to her. The sooner they closed everything between them, the better it would be for everyone.

Mihir leaned down to talk to Armaan, who was the closest to the ledge, his arms wrapped around Navya. “I’ll just go to the house and be back in a few minutes. I need to take care of something.”

“Yeah, sure!” Armaan wasn’t even looking at him; he was too distracted by Navya.

Mihir headed toward his villa. When he was sufficiently out of sight, he changed directions and went to the pool house. He smiled, taking it in. Vedant had recently ordered this pool house to be built as Reina and he swam daily. Mihir liked this new addition to their estate compound. Done in all glass and black stone, it even had a Jacuzzi on the patio. Bright sunshine greeted him as he ventured further inside. He looked up, enjoying the view of the clear sky from the retractable overhead roof. A cool breeze ruffled his hair. He looked to the side and found Anna, exiting one of the rooms. His mouth dried. Bloody fucking hell. She looked… Anna looked hot.

She paused as she saw him. A perfectly arched brow rose. “What happened? Why are you here?”

“Last I checked, it was my house.” He sounded annoyed to his own ears.

He couldn’t help it. She shouldn’t have unbuttoned her shirt the way she had. He shouldn’t have cared that he had a full view of Anna’s sinful body wrapped in that neon green bikini. His body shouldn’t be hardening in response to all that golden skin on display. He shouldn’t be appreciating how his ring dangled on a chain in the valley between her breasts. He shouldn’t like seeing it there. He shouldn’t be feeling on edge because of her. But he was, and he hated himself for all his reactions to her.

Time had changed her into a beautiful, sexy woman. There was a time when she’d become a shell of her former self. He knew. He had noticed. Because he always knew everything about her. But now… Fuck. She was more beautiful than ever. Her curves were fuller now, her body lithe and supple. Her skin was the same shade of light gold everywhere. God, she was achingly beautiful, and he had to stop gawking at her. Now.

He forced his eyes on her face.

She moved closer. “Is being rude your default setting or is it just me?”

He inhaled, and her scent washed over him. He remembered it from the last few times they were together. Years ago, her scent used to be more floral. Now it was spicy, intense, more alluring. He liked it. Very much.

“One guess,” he snapped, thoroughly annoyed by the direction of his thoughts.

“Did you forget the rule where we decided that you’d behave civil toward me, henceforth?”

“As I recall, I was to behave civil toward you in front of our siblings. I don’t see them here.”

She rolled her eyes. “What do you want, Oshnov? You sought me out, so stop being rude and talk.”

“You shouldn’t have published what you did about me today.”

“Didn’t you say that‘nothing I publish about you affects you in the least?’’ She air quoted the last line.

“Publishing nonsense about me is one thing, but this was serious. It will impact my reputation if word gets out that it is me you’re talking about.”

“So? Do I look like I care?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. It only brought his attention to her heaving breasts. His breath hitched. Fuck, he was behaving hormonal, as if he’d never seen a woman’s body before.

He focused on her face. “Anna, you cannot link me to the mafia, even as gossip.”

“As if you don’t know the mafia,” she scoffed.

“That’s irrelevant,” he said. “Knowing them and being associated with them in public is different. O-Corp’s board is full of conservative old European men. As of now, no one’s guessed it’s me you’re writing about. But if they ever do, there will be hell to pay because of this one post of yours. As it is, Ivan is trying his damnedest to get me ousted from O-Corp, or to kill me. Don’t make it easy for him.”

“Stop over-processing. No one knows the gossip column is talking about you, and no one will know I’m writing about you, unless you piss me off.”

“You mean I haven’t pissed you off enough yet?” he smirked. “I suppose I ought to try harder then.”

Her expression hardened. “Oh, fuck off.”

“You should never have been there that night, Anna. You should never have seen what you did. The least you could have done is be discreet about it.”

“I did ask you about the events of that night when we met at the café. Since you refused to discuss anything about that night, I was free to use that information however I felt like. If you don’t like it…” She shrugged. “Then it’s your problem, not mine.”

“Stop taking this lightly,” he said. “I’m not joking.”

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