Page 55 of Entangled Vows

“Say it. Say, please come inside, Mahika.” She gritted out the words stubbornly.

Vikram jaw flexed, a muscle ticking as he dragged a hand across it. “What are you trying to do?”

“I’m trying to teach you some manners. Say please, Grizzly.” Her voice rose an octave.

He looked upwards for a moment, then met her stormy gaze, holding it for a beat before speaking. “Please, Mahika. Come inside.”

“See? That was easy,” she muttered, a small, defiant smirk tugging at her lips.

Mahika gave him a fake smile and walked in. The room was as magnificent as the rest of the house. Vaulted ceilings, deep-toned furnishings, and tall French doors led to a private terrace overlooking the beautiful valley. Crisp, cream-coloured sheets covered the enormous bed, and a navy comforter was folded neatly at the side. The warm glow from wall sconces bathed the room in an unusual blend of luxury and intimacy.

She exhaled slowly, turning around as she took it all in.

Mahika paused, glancing around before finally meeting his eyes. “I—” she began. “I thought your room would be… boring. Not… this nice.”

He stood there, his arms folded, wearing that infuriating, unreadable expression, as if he had stepped out straight from the pages of her favourite romance novel.

“And why exactly would you think that?” he asked slowly.

“Because it’syourroom.” She shrugged, rubbing her temples, as if trying to sort her thoughts into order.

His brow lifted. “Ah. Of course. Because you think I radiate doom and gloom.”

“You said it, not me.”

“Whatever, Momo. You just complimented my taste seconds ago.”

“That isnotwhat I said. I said your room isnice.” She rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t say it outright, but you implied it.”

“Don’t twist my words.”

“Twisting words is your specialty, Momo,” Vikram retorted.

Her eyes narrowed at him. “You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

He stepped closer, just enough to make the space between them shrink. “It’s part of my charm.”

He was crowding her personal space far too often now, and she could already feel her pulse skyrocket.

“Charm? Is that what we’re calling unbearable arrogance these days?” she said, one brow raised.

Vikram chuckled softly as he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, and Mahika nearly had a heart attack watching him pop them effortlessly with one hand.

With a sly grin, he said, “And here I thought you had a problem with me. Turns out, you’re simply blind to a genuinely charming personality.”

Mahika scoffed, folding her arms in a defensive gesture. “Oh, I see just fine. The problem is that your personality, whatever it may be, is buried under layers of unbearable attitude.”

His voice softened into a slow, feather-like caress. “Good to know I occupy so much space in that pretty little head of yours. Must be exhausting, being this obsessed with me.”

She narrowed her eyes. “If I were obsessed with anything, it’d be figuring out the fastest way to shut you up.”

Vikram murmured huskily, “There are a few tried-and-tested ways to do that, some far more... interesting than the others. Want to test?”

Mahika’s face flushed bright red, and she snapped. “I can survive without that.”

“You’d survive just fine, but you’d be missing out on something real good,” he winked.