Page 119 of Lawfully Yours

Every knock on the door made his head snap up, wishing it were her. He told himself this was pathetic. That a man like him shouldn’t feel like this. But all his logic collapsed the moment his heart dared to ask:What if she never lets you close again?

He hadn’t just missed her last night.

He hadachedfor her.

And the most frustrating part? She hadn’t even texted him after she took the cab from the airport. As if nothing had changed between them, as if that night where she kissed him like he was oxygen, these three days they spent together in Dalhousie had been just a lapse and nothing more.

And here he was, waiting for her to walk into the office…

That’s when the door opened again and Raj Verma walked into his cabin unannounced, hands shoved casually in his coat pockets.

“Kushal? What am I hearing?” he asked.

Kushal looked up, immediately standing straight. “Good morning, Sir.”

Raj stepped inside.

“You reached here at seven?”

Kushal exhaled and gave a slow nod. “Had a backlog. Figured it was time to tackle it.”

Raj narrowed his gaze, amused. “Since when do you tackle anything before coffee?”

Kushal didn’t reply. How was he supposed to tell Raj Verma that it wasn’t court filings that had kept him up, but the memory of his niece that had brought him to the office early?

Raj stepped closer and clapped his hand on Kushal’s shoulder. “Look, son. You don’t have to overcompensate. Your body needs rest. Pushing yourself to exhaustion isn’t how you impress anyone here in this firm.”

Kushal bit the inside of his cheek to keep from blurting,It’s not the firm I’m trying to impress. It’s your niece I want to hold again.

Almost like he heard that unsaid plea, Raj tilted his head and asked, “So, how was Dalhousie?”

Kushal’s brows lifted. “Productive. We got Noyonika’s confession. It’ll help close Anant’s defamation angle. The summons has been served, and we’ve enough to corner her in court now.”

Raj nodded, clearly pleased, then added with a sly smile, “I wasn’t talking about the work trip, Kushal. I meant you and Arundhati. Just the two of you, away from everything... Call me optimistic, but I have a strong feeling it worked in your favour.”

Kushal froze.

And then, damn it, he blushed.

Because how did he even begin to explain what Dalhousie had been? Their connecting rooms. The nights spent in the same bed. Their playful banter, shared meals, the honeymoon games at the resort, that blindfolded game that turned far too intimate… and of course, the night that spiralled into something much deeper, far more physical, though it ended unfinished.

Raj chuckled knowingly. “You don’t have to say a word. Your face gave everything away.”

Kushal shook his head with a faint smirk. “How is it that you read me so easily… and your niece can’t?”

“She does,” Raj said with conviction. “But unlike me, she won’t let you off the hook so easily. Aru’s too guarded. She needs certainty. And more than that, she needs consistency. She’ll test you before she trusts you again. And that’s fair.”

Kushal leaned against his desk, hands in his pockets, lips pressed together. “Then I’ll let her test me. I’ll pass every damn paper she throws my way.”

Raj smiled and turned to leave, patting his shoulder again. “Good. Because you are the only man I know crazy enough to argue with herandlove her at the same time.”

The door closed behind Raj with a soft thud as he left. Silence settled back into the room, but Kushal wasn’t really in it anymore.

Love?

He exhaled sharply and turned to the window, staring out at the skyline, his fingers tightening in his pockets.

Somewhere between courtroom battles and bruised egos, living separately and still yearning for her, he had started falling for the woman he had married.