Page 79 of She will Always be Mine

“You’re here,” I whisper with a cry of relief, tears silently falling down my face.

He turns his head slightly to lay a kiss on my open palm without taking his eyes off me. “I’m right here, baby. You’re safe.”No, I’m broken.

My sweat-dampened hair sticks to my forehead and he pushes the strands away from my face. It takes me a while to realize I’m not in my old bedroom at home but in Pune.

I must have confused Riaan’s touch with my monster. No wonder it felt real.

Last night, sleep came to me peacefully and it was because of being in the safe arms of Riaan. My subconscious must have trusted him to keep the nightmares away.

Morning light pours into the room and I take stock of my surroundings as the events of yesterday flash behind my eyes. I’m still shocked that Riaan is my landlord.

His calculative streak never ceases to amaze me. He must have been planning it all along. It makes me wonder what else he has up his sleeves.

I also should’ve known he wouldn’t stay away from me. His determination to make me his again is much stronger than my determination to keep him at bay.

We’re caught in a battle of strong wills, and neither of us is willing to admit defeat. It can only bring the worst kind of chaos. Sometimes, it feels like we thrive on it.

I haven’t even wrapped my mind around the fact that he told his mom about us or the fact that she’s on our side. It should give me hope, but it only fills me with more dread.

And no matter how my heart soars at being with him, I can’t lower my defenses.

I can’t let him back into my life, only to destroy us again.

I have a feeling it’d be the last straw and he won’t ever forgive me. I’m not sure I’ll survive that.

“I’m sorry. I was just having a bad dream,” I explain, praying he doesn’t press any further. I hope I didn’t say anything to raise suspicions. He’ll become a hound and won’t rest until I spill everything. I don’t want to give him more ammunition than he already has.

When he still hovers over me, I try not to get lost in him, at how sexy he looks with his bed-ridden hair falling over his intense eyes. The light morning scruff on his sharp jaw, is just as tempting as full his lips that I want pressed against mine. Lowering my hands to his muscled chest, I try to push him away so I can sit up, but he doesn’t budge. He’s too strong and hard as a rock.

How can he be so hard everywhere I touch?

His body was always to die for, sexy and muscled. But now… he’s freaking ripped. There’s no other word to describe him. His abs are like steel, making me want to lick between the valleys and the ridges. One would expect my body to not heat up right after a scary nightmare, but it obviously doesn’t get the memo.

All I feel is hot and bothered, and I need to get away before I do something I regret. Like beg him to fuck me.

But he beats me to it, his question dousing water all over my arousal from a second ago.

“When did you start having nightmares, Nyra?” His voice sounds so serious and caring.

“I told you it was nothing,” I answer casually.

“It looks far from nothing,” he snaps, though I sense underlying worry in his tone. “One minute you were pushing your hips against mine and the next, you were attacking me and crying. You’ve never had them before. Who was trying to hurt you?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Does it have anything to do with why you called me that night?” he asks instead. “It is, isn’t?”

When I go still and he sees the fear flash in my eyes, it gives me him his answer. Still, I refuse to admit it. Before he can demand any more questions, I mask my features and push him away.

This time, he allows me some space and I sit up, pushing the covers off me while trying not to become distracted by his body again.

“Just let it go, Riaan.”

Our eyes remain locked in another heated battle before he narrows his and warns, “I’ll figure out your secrets one way or another, my little liar. Run all you want, I’ll be right behind you.”

“You’ll fail.”

The last thing I should do is challenge him, but I can’t stop myself. I don’t understand where my sassiness is coming from because I was never this daring before.

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