Page 111 of Lawfully Yours

What would she even say?

Should she bring it up at all? Or pretend nothing happened? Lie? Say she didn’t remember a thing?

Would he believe that?Of course not.

This was Kushal Nair.

If anyone could read people like an open book, it was him. He’d see right through any act. He always had.

She let out a heavy exhale and turned on the shower, the sound of rushing water grounding her just enough to think. Maybe by the time she stepped out, she’d have come up with something. A way to explain why she’d surrendered completely to the one man she was still trying to walk away from. Yet even as her own thoughts swirled around her, another question tugged at her relentlessly.

What hadhefelt last night, after she’d slipped into sleep? What had been running throughhismind in those unfinished moments?

And more pressingly… where was he now?

****************

Hotel Restaurant

Kushal sat at the far end of the restaurant, nursing a cup of tea as he listened to Vivek, his source, who had just returned from a two-day “sightseeing” trip. The same trip where Vivek had been shadowing Noyonika the entire time. Now, back in Dalhousie, he sat across from Kushal with updates—details about how Noyonika had been indulging herself, buying luxury items, entertaining herself with local hospitality, and evenscouting property on the outskirts, negotiating to purchase a boutique hotel.

But Kushal wasn’t fully present.

His eyes were on Vivek, but his mind… it was still somewhere else. Somewhere tangled in the dark heat of last night.

He couldn’t stop thinking about it. About her.His Aru!

About the way he had devoured his wife last night, the way she had come undone beneath his hands and mouth, about the way their bodies had found a rhythm that didn’t need words or logic or names like “husband” or “wife.” In those moments, their egos had faded. Their silence had broken. And what remained was raw, unfiltered need.For each other.

Last night hadn’t been just passion…it had been all-consuming. It was driven by the sizzling chemistry they had, that Arundhati still refused to acknowledge pulsed between them. They’d crossed that invisible line between desire and surrender, and yet, it ended in the most jarring way.

Though unplanned, what made it more maddening was how it ended—after taking her to that edge, giving her the pleasure she didn’t even realise she’d been craving, she had simply... fallen asleep. As if the drinks and exhaustion had stolen her from him at the very moment, while he was still burning for her.

He remembered how he had paused, pulling away from her soft and warm body, completely shocked, yet tucking the duvet gently around her. She hadn’t stirred.

He could’ve stayed on her bed. Slept next to her, taking her in his arms. He wanted to.

But he knew if he did, he wouldn’t have been able to keep his hands and mouth off her again. The feel of her, the taste, the way she had let go…all of it had driven him to the brink. So he’d done the only thing he could. He left. Slipped back into his own room with a body still aching for her and a mind that hadn’t shut down since.

“Sir?” Vivek’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Are you even listening to me?”

Kushal blinked and refocused. “Sorry. Just tired. But I’m listening.”

Vivek gave him a quick summary. “We’ve got enough on Noyonika now to press her. My men are still on her. But heads-up, she’s not staying in Dalhousie much longer. She’s flying back to the Middle East this weekend. If we’re going to confront her, it has to be soon.”

Kushal nodded absently, then paused as a thought struck him. Instinctively, he pulled out his phone and opened WhatsApp, his fingers typing out:Hey baby… Awake?

He stared at the message for a second, then rolled his eyes at himself.Baby?What was he thinking? She’d probably block him the moment she read that. No way Arundhati would let him get away with calling her that.

He sighed, deleted the message, and replaced it with something safer, more neutral:“Breakfast? I’m already down with my source. Needed to talk to him before we head to meet Noyonika today.”

He sent it, then leaned back, guessing she was probably up by now…probably already caught in her own spiral of thoughts about last night.About them.

A few moments later, her reply came through. It was exactly what he expected.

“I’m ordering breakfast in the room. You can continue. I’ll meet you in the lobby in an hour before we leave.”

Kushal smirked.