Page 44 of Not In Love

The study fell silent again, thick with tension, the scent of rain and rage in the air.

Kash looked…emptied.

She hadn’t reacted once. Not to the slur. Not to the blame. As if she’d heard it all before. Of course she had, Diego realized. This had been one more thing she’d shouldered alone.

He hated the idea of her dealing with this man alone so much that his grip tightened.

Josh sneered. “You’re fucking her, aren’t you?” he spat, eyes wild. “That’s what this is. Good luck with that. What happens when you lose interest? Who’ll save her then?”

Diego saw red. Before he knew it, he was slamming Josh into the side of the bookcase with enough force to rattle the photos.

“You want to know why you’re still walking around right now?” Diego snarled. “Because she loved your father. Because she still gives a damn about your sorry ass. She welcomed you into this house like you weren’t a piece of shit even after everything.”

Josh shoved back weakly, but it was all bark now.

“If you ever come near her again,” Diego continued, his voice cold and dangerous, “I’ll have a restraining order with your name on it by the end of the day. My legal team is with Collins & Emsworth—the kind of firm that eats trust fund punks for breakfast.”

Josh froze. That name hit hard.

His mouth opened, then closed. His eyes darted to Kash one last time, then back to Diego. “You think this is over?” he muttered, but even the spite was threadbare now.

“Try me,” Diego said.

Josh yanked himself free of Diego’s hand and stormed out.

Diego turned to find Kash on the floor, trembling with a kind of exhaustion he could feel from across the room. Her face was pale, mouth set.

He crossed the room, locked the door behind him, and dropped to the floor beside her.

“Kash,” he said quietly.

When she didn’t respond, he gently pulled her toward him. She collapsed into his chest.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered into her hair. “You aren’t alone. Not anymore. Never again.”

He held her until her breathing slowed and her shaking eased. And as he did, a slow, soft realization detonated in his chest. Something terrifying for all that it had been swimming in his veins for a long while.

He was in love with her.

CHAPTER14

Kash closed her eyes and clung to Diego, his whispered promise draining the fatigue from her limbs. First with her mother, and now, with Josh, he had not only stayed by her side but fought for her.

It was a dizzyingly liberating feeling, not to have to stand alone. Not to have to choke down everything—every hurt, pinch and resentment—so that she didn’t lose the ability to keep standing, to keep doing what needed to be done. A binding even, as if his words that she’d never be alone again were a vow between them.

She felt safe, protected, for the first time since their dad had abandoned them decades ago. As if her world wouldn’t collapse if she faltered.

Arms around his waist, she buried her face in his neck. Shameless since he probably assumed she was still upset over Josh’s visit, but she didn’t care. She loved the sensation of his breath ghosting along her hair, of his broad palm clasping her shoulder, the rain and spice scent of him sinking into her pores.

Outside the study, she could hear Kaif and her mother’s low murmurs. “Tell them to go away,” she whispered, knowing that she was being selfish. They were probably worried about her. But one wrong word from her mother could ruin this security she knew with Diego. “Please.”

He nodded and said something through the crack of the door. She heard footsteps retreat and the blessed stillness returned.

“I’ll let go in two minutes,” she mumbled into his shirt. His heartbeat was a steady pulse under her ear, reminding her she had no right to hold him like this. That he was a decent man who probably felt sorry for her. That she couldn’t get used to this feeling of leaning on him, all the time.

Slowly, she pulled back, until her chin rested against his shoulder. “Can we not count this moment, this excessive clinging, as a data point in our relationship?”

He scoffed. “Oh, there are no data points in our relationship,” he said. “In fact, there’s no relationship at all, remember? Whatever happens between us—every kiss, every blowjob, even the sex—it’s all happening in a parallel universe. And never the two shall merge.”

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