‘This kiss…’ she trailed off, trying to catch her breath. ‘This counts as temporary insanity.’
He let out a soft, humourless laugh. Abhay nuzzled her neck, his fingers tangling in her open hair as he breathed her in. ‘Always the lawyer. But if you’re going to lie to yourself,’ he murmured, his lips grazing her jaw, ‘you’ll have to do a better job than that.’
She was trembling from the way his lips moved over her skin with such urgency that it shattered the version of their past she had rehearsed in her mind. Every lie she had rehearsed, every rationalisation she had fed herself, broke into pieces.
Because her lips still tingled from the kiss—every inch of her skin hypersensitive where he’d touched her. Because her thoughts were scrambled, and her heart raced toward him like it had never learned its lesson. And especially because this kiss was exactly as devastatingly perfect as the first one.
If she wasn’t fooling him, and she certainly wasn’t fooling herself, then she may as well give in to the delicious temptation now and learn to be a better liar tomorrow.
She grabbed the edge of his collar, curled her palm behind his nape and pulled him back in. The explosive pleasure bombarded her senses until all she felt was him. The scratch of his stubble against her cheek, the burning glide of his rough palm along her waist, and the deep groan at the back of his throat as he tilted her chin to claim her lips even more made her shiver with need.
His touch burned into her skin in the most painful, precious way and a tiny voice inside her screamed at him to never stop. And maybe, if she were being honest with herself, that is exactly what she yearned for.
‘Damn,jaan, you drive me fucking wild,’ Abhay said in a strangled voice, and those words curled inside her heart like awhisper of home. The way he said it, possessive and delirious with need, like he’d die without this, undid her.
Siya barely registered the sound at first, but then the cough came louder, and Abhay went rigid against her. It jolted her like icy water and her cheeks burned hot.
He pulled back, just enough that if she moved forward an inch, they’d be back where they started. She tried to step away but he didn’t let her go immediately, and his gaze flickering over her face like he was memorising the moment.
She looked over his shoulder and found Luv leaning against the open balcony door, his arms crossed. When he caught her gaze, his mouth curved into a grin.
‘I’m sorry for interrupting the… romantic ambiance,’ he offered, sounding the least bit bothered. ‘The event photographer is asking for you, Siya. He wants to snap a few solo shots before the sun disappears behind the buildings.’
She gave a quick nod because she didn’t trust her voice. All those years, she’d told herself that their one night together couldn’t have possibly been as good as her heart remembered, that her memory had romanticised something that was really just a fleeting mistake. And this kiss had dragged the worst kind of truth out from its grave.
This is real, she had to reluctantly admit that to herself, and that scared the life out of her.
She moved away but he stopped her with a grip on her elbow. ‘We’re not done, Siya.’
It was a threat. It was a plea. It was a promise.
She took in a shallow breath and forced herself to meet his eyes. She was proud of how composed she sounded, becauseinside, she was a wreck. ‘I told you. It was only temporary insanity. It won’t happen again.’
But it was a poor lie, and even she could hear it. The way his lips curved up into an amused and maddening smirk, told her he did too.
‘You really do need to become a better liar, sweetheart.’
She turned without another word, and walked off the balcony, each step away from him harder than the last.
***
Abhay watched her go without calling her back, because he knew she wouldn’t have looked back. He’d broken through one of her defences tonight, and she’d spent all her energy on rebuilding it.
Still he watched her, hoping that if he replayed the kiss in his mind long enough, he could live in that moment forever. Because shehadkissed him back, with the kind of need he hadn’t dared hoped still lived in her.
Luv let out a low whistle, reminding Abhay he had company, and stepped onto the balcony. He pushed his hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone, dialling a number.
‘Hello, Meera?’ Luv echoed. ‘Just to let you know, Siya needs to touch up her lipstick. Urgently!’
Abhay stepped forward and punched him in the stomach, just hard enough to make his point. Luv stumbled back with anoomphand laughed. ‘Okay, okay chill. I’m just saying that you looked seconds away from dragging her back inside.’
He wasn’t wrong.
His fingers twitched at his side, wanting to reach for her again. He could still feel the way she had trembled, tucked into his arms, and every single second of that kiss hummed through his blood.
Abhay glanced away to look out over the city, a pinkish hue tinting the sky. He tried and failed to clear his head.
‘She said it was temporary insanity,’ Abhay sighed, finally.
