Page 125 of Lawfully Yours

“I need to sleep, Aru.” He leaned in closer, forehead brushing hers. “I’m losing my damn mind and focus. Please.”

Her breath shuddered. Every nerve in her body seemed to respond to his nearness.

And then, just like that, he walked back to the bed and lay down, settling into the sheets like he had every right to be there.

“Come,” he said softly, looking at her with that maddening calm.

She glared at him, lips parting with a protest. Everything had changed between them. And yet, not enough. Because he acted like everything was still the same. Like he could still claim her. Anytime!

She stood by the bed, trying to act unaffected while every nerve ending in her body betrayed her. Her satin nightgown clung too closely to her skin. She had worn it expecting no visitors…no bra beneath, no extra layer of defence. Her nipples, pebbled from the room’s slight chill and from the effect of his presence, poked through the thin fabric. And the neckline….God, why was it cut so low? She shifted slightly, folding her arms, trying to shield the exposed curve of her cleavage.

But Kushal still saw it.

His eyes moved over her slowly, unhurried and unashamed, before landing squarely back on her face. That half-smile…cocky, fond, and utterly dangerous…tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Stop hiding,” he said. “I have seen them before, Aru.”

Her cheeks flamed. A flash of heat surged through her belly as her mind involuntarily replayed the memory of his mouth on her soft breasts in Dalhousie and the way he had explored her body with his mouth and fingers, like he knew it better than she did.

She fake-glared at him, trying to cover up the fact that her thighs had pressed just a little closer together. Yet she didn’t move an inch from the spot near the bed.

Kushal exhaled quietly before turning to the light switch and dimming the room to a soft amber glow. The shadows offered her some comfort, some protection from the intensity of his gaze. She liked the gesture, more than she cared to admit, but it wasn’t enough to make her fold.

When she still didn’t join him in bed, Kushal sighed again, this time with a bit of irritation. That man really needed to rest.

“I’m not here to sleep just on yourbed,” he said. “I’m here to sleep next toyou. Don’t make me wait.”

Damn him.

Still, she didn’t budge.

That’s it. She had tested his patience enough. He rose from the bed and then, in two purposeful strides, he closed the distance, bent down, and without warning, scooped her into his arms. She let out a surprised gasp and immediately started to protest, but he had already placed her on the bed, pulled the duvet over both of them, and pinned her there with his warmth.

“Kushal—!” she began, but his palm pressed gently over her mouth as he hovered over her, eyes half-lidded and exhausted, but still gleaming with hunger.

“Not tonight,” he whispered. “Please. Let’s argue, scream, dissect the meaning of this, but tomorrow. Not now. I haven’tslept properly since Dalhousie. I need rest… and I can’t get that unless I’m cuddled to you.”

She stilled beneath him because there was something about the way he said it. Not dramatic. Not demanding. Just honest and vulnerable.

Seeing her eased, Kushal rolled onto his side, curling behind her. One arm slid around her waist, drawing her in until her back was flush against his chest. She could feel every part of him…the rise and fall of his breathing, the warmth of his body, the calm slowly seeping into his bones.

“We can’t do this, Kushal,” she murmured after a pause. Her voice betrayed the fight she was already losing. “You can’t just show up at midnight and…”

Her words trailed off when she suddenly heard his soft, even breathing.A faint snore.

She blinked.

He was asleep?

Just like that?

She turned her head slightly, only to feel his arm tighten instinctively around her. His face nuzzled into her neck, lips brushing the slope of her nape in the lightest, laziest way.Like home.

She exhaled shakily. What did all this mean? That her presence was the only balm that could put him to sleep? That her body was still his comfort zone, even when they were supposedly broken? She didn’t know. And she wasn’t ready to unpack it tonight.

She tried to shift to her side of the bed to create some distance, but the moment she did, his arm tugged her back without even waking, and his face burrowed deeper into her neck.

Damn! Her eyes fluttered shut.