Page 84 of Lawfully Yours

“You should go back to sleep,” she whispered, her teeth still slightly chattering. “I’ll be fine.”

“You’re not fine,” he said, not even glancing at her. “Stop pretending.”

“I said I’ll be—”

He cut her off by pulling the duvet higher over her shoulder. “You’re shivering. You can’t even walk straight. Just shut up for once, Aru.”

She glared at him, but there was no real fight behind it.

He rubbed her arms harder while all she did was look at him. When it didn’t work even after a few more minutes, he finally stood and moved silently around to the other side of the bed. She followed him with her eyes, confusion knitting her brow as he reached for the bedside lamp, dimming it until the room was bathed in almost darkness again.

She immediately knew what was coming.

Her fingers tightened around the edge of the blanket, her body tensed as her eyes met his with a silent protest. It was like a warning, a half plea, and when that didn’t work, she gave him a glare that voiced a single word painted across her expression:Don’t.

Kushal saw it.

He read it clearly.

And still, he did not stop.

He pulled back the blanket and slipped into the bed beside her. The mattress dipped under his weight, and the warmth of his body immediately began to radiate toward her beneath the many layers of fabric.

Her heart raced like a warning bell.

“I’ll leave once you stop shivering,” he said. “Until then, just give up your damn ego for one night, stop fighting everything, and come to me.”

It wasn’t a request. It wasn’t even an offer. It was a line drawn not in pride, but in desperate honesty. The kind of honesty that asked nothing but gave everything.

She didn’t give him permission. She didn’t say yes.

But she didn’t say no either.

Maybe because it was the way her body, still trembling, had begun to respond to his presence without her permission.

When he scooted toward her, in that one breath of hesitation, she did the same.

That was all he needed.

He moved closer, sliding his arm gently around her waist, drawing her toward him to meet the solid warmth of his chest. She felt his other arm wrap around her, protectively anchoring her to him. Then came the pressure of his leg, curling over hers, not in a possessive gesture, but in one of necessary comfort…of a man doing everything in his power to share his warmth with someone he still couldn’t stop loving.

The moment their bodies touched fully, the change was immediate. His body heat soaked into her like a balm, dissolving the tremors that had held her captive all night.

His hand began to move under the covers, palm flat and slow against her back, rubbing in small, firm circles through the thin cotton of her nightdress. It was not meant to seduce her, but to save her from shivering. And yet, despite that pure intention, the tension between them thickened with each passing moment. Hisleg moved slightly, just enough to create friction, to get her blood flowing again.

It was intimate.

And it was working.

For a long while, Arundhati had kept her body stiff, her back curved slightly inward to resist the overwhelming proximity of him. Both her arms were bent at the elbows and pressed between her own chest and his, forming a tight, self-imposed barricade…like one last shred of distance she could hold onto. She wasn’t ready to surrender fully.

Yet, she could feel his breath, hot against her forehead. His chest rose and fell against her palms between their bodies, his own breathing slower now, as if syncing with hers.

It wasn’t easy for him either. She felt the way his fingers lingered just a beat too long in places. There was a restraint etched across his every movement, as if he were reminding himself again and again that this was about comfort, not desire. He wasn’t taking advantage of her vulnerability.

Eventually, she ignored the nightie clinging scandalously to her thighs, ignored that he was shirtless, that their legs were tangled under three layers of blankets. She ignored everything that had kept them apart over the past nine months. She only remembered his warmth and the way his chest moved gently against her palms.

Minutes passed by, and finally her shivering eased.