Page 88 of Lawfully Yours

She scowled.

“And relax,” he added, chewing with casual indifference, “it’s not like feeding you one piece of paratha is going to melt you or suddenly make you change your mind about our marriage, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “I know how good you are with words. But please, don’t try your lawyer-style manipulation on me. You forget, your wife is a lawyer too.”

He wiped his lips slowly with the napkin, leaned back, and looked at her with a glint in his eyes that sent unwelcome heat crawling up her neck.

“Now why are you smirking like that?”

“It’s just... nice to hear you admit you’re still my wife,” he replied. “Doesn’t happen often these days, does it?”

His gaze dropped just for a beat before meeting hers again, deeper this time.

“It reminds me…you’re stillmine,” he added.

That last word wasn’t loud, but it landed hard.

Arundhati swallowed. Her legs shifted under the table. One thigh rubbed against the other, nervous and irritated.

She looked away, picking up her coffee with controlled grace.

He didn’t say anything more. He didn’t need to.

Arundhati took a few seconds before she again turned to him, her fingers lightly circling the rim of her coffee cup. “I’m sorry for last night,” she said.

Kushal looked up, brow arched in mock confusion. “Which part of last night?” he asked. “Are you sorry for cuddling my jacket like a teddy bear on your bed? Or for wearing that scandalously short nightie when you opened the connecting door? For breaking the doorknob? Or... for not stopping yourself from spooning me all night like your life depended on it? Becausethat, Aru, made it very hard to sleep without having athousandnot-so-innocentthoughts about what else I’d like to do with you... beyond just hugging.”

Her entire body flushed.

The heat shot up her neck and bloomed across her cheeks as every scene he mentioned played out in her mind again. His jacket wrapped around her like a second skin, his breath warming her neck, his arms anchoring her as she sank into sleep. And God help her, she did remember all too well that she had clung to him.All night.

The server arrived, breaking the moment, she had no idea how to recover from. “Ma’am, sir, the live counters close in fifteen minutes. Would you like anything else?”

“No, thank you,” Arundhati answered, too quickly. The server smiled and walked away.

She took a breath and met Kushal’s eyes again. “I was apologising... for what happened last night during dinner. For what I said. About you playing the victim card. You were just… sharing something real. And I couldn’t handle it. I snapped. I was unfair, and I knew it the moment I said it—” she faltered, her eyes dropped to her plate, as if afraid to see how much it had affected him. “I was cruel. Please… forgive me.”

For a beat, he said nothing. The teasing was gone. So was the usual smirk. He reached for his glass, took a sip of water, and finally nodded.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll forgive you.”

She exhaled, but it didn’t last long.

“On one condition.”

She rolled her eyes. “I should’ve known.”

He leaned forward, pushing his elbows on the table. “First, tell me why my jacket was on your bed last night before I walked in?”

Her jaw dropped.

“Don’t say it was random,” he went on. “You were curled into it like it was me. Were you missing me, Aru?”

“Kushal…” she warned, but her eyes betrayed the flutter inside her chest.

But he wasn’t done. He moved in a little closer, not touching, but close enough for her skin to react.

“And I’ve one more complaint,” he murmured, eyes locked to hers. “Why the hell didn’t you wear nighties like that when we were actually living together? You know what that thing did to me last night?”