“I fucking dare you to try and leave me,” he snarled, a manic look in his eyes. “You won’t get far before I drag you back.”
Relief surged in her with the confirmation that he still wanted her. But then, why had he been so aloof?
“Why should I stay?”
“Because you’re my wife!” he exclaimed, pointing at her before jabbing his finger into his own chest for emphasis. “Mine!”
“What the hell kind of a wife am I who only meets her husband at night and doesn’t see him in the daylight?”
“I was giving you space.”
“For what?”
“To recover from Nanaji’s passing. To not let your grief drive you to hate me even more.”
That stopped her short. Head tilted to the side, she could do nothing but stare at his anguished face, completely at a loss to explain why he looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown.
“Do you think it has been easy for me to stay away from you?” Vihaan continued, his apprehension about what Vera would do once her grief ebbed finally bubbling to the surface. “I’ve been going crazy, working myself to the bone to stop from running to you like a pathetic dog and begging you to not leave me. I wake up each morning wondering if that’s the day you’ll look at me and call it quits. All I want is to be next to you, but I can’t. You married me for Nanu’s sake. Without him, I’m of no use to you and I don’t know what to do to change that.”
In the throes of his own pain, Vihaan missed the flabbergasted look on her face.
“You thought you’d have no one after he passed away. I heard you. And I foolishly hoped that surrounding you with everyone would make it better. I stayed away to give you time to see that you aren’t alone. Even if you didn’t need me, you had other people who’d come to care for you.” His tortured gaze met hers, and she couldn’t breathe. How could he have hidden so much of his anguish from her?
“If I could take Nanaji’s place and bring him back for you, I would do it, Vera.”
“Stop.” Her words were barely a whisper—his undisguised pain had deprived her of her voice.
“I know I’m not who you want, but I won’t let you leave me. If you’re going to destroy me by walking out of our marriage, then youmay as well run a knife through my heart because I won’t survive the wreckage of your departure anyway.”
His declaration hung heavy between them, enough to separate them for a moment but not enough to keep them apart. Vera observed the stubborn pout of his lips, contrasting with the utter despair in his eyes, and she felt an overwhelming need to protect this man who was so precious to her. Who held back so much of his wounds so that she only saw his smiles. Who had given her strength all while falling apart himself.
“Are you done now?” she asked softly, taking a step towards him.
“Ver—”
She crossed the two feet between them before he could finish saying her name, grabbing him by his collar and jerking him down towards her. Her lips pressed firmly against his, kissing him with the authority of a woman who knew how deeply loved she was by the man in her embrace. And how ardently she loved him in return.
When he tried to pull away in surprise, her fingers speared his hair, cupping his head and holding him captive. Again and again, she went back, nipping his lower lip in punishment before drawing it into her mouth. Instantly, his hands gripped her waist, moulding her body into his, his tongue darting out to tangle with hers in a dance that was theirs and theirs alone. When she paused to take a breath, his lips were pink and glistening from her ardour, swollen with how hard she’d kissed him.
Eyes locked, she tightened her fingers about the lapels of his suit, shaking him lightly. “Nanu lived a full life. I miss him and I always will. But no, I don’t want to lose you to get him back. You arenotreplaceable.”
“I’m. . . I’m not?”
Being kicked in the gut would have hurt less than the soft, stuttered question, his vulnerabilities laid bare for her to see. Shame and regret plucked at her, knowing that this unsurety of his importance in her life was because of her silence.
“No, sweetheart,” she said, her emotions rushing up to clog her throat, the pressure between her eyes causing them to fill embarrassingly quickly. “Who you are is the man I need to hold me close every day and love me through every storm. Who you are is the only man who gets to call me Princess without incurring a black eye.”
His face held tenderly between her palms, she raised herself on her tiptoes to brush the softest kiss across his mouth, finally treating him as preciously as he deserved.
His fingers dug into her waist, pulling her closer than she already was, the tightness in him draining with every word.
“You are frustrating, charming, and obnoxiously inappropriate at the most random times. You make me laugh and feel so thoroughly loved that I cannot live without it anymore. I’m sorry I haven’t done that for you yet. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to say what I should have long ago. But that changes, starting now. You are mine.Forever. I choose you—my husband, my friend, the love of my life, my happily-ever-after.”
Optimism lit his face, the disbelief in his eyes slowly replaced by something she hadn’t seen in him in a long time: joy—pure, unadulterated by fear and grief.
“I am deeply, and completely, in love with you. I miss you,” she sniffed, her vision fully blurry now. “Please stop staying away from me because I need you. Not our friends, not your parents. Only you.”
Rough fingers came up to flick away her tears, eager lips kissing them off her skin, drawing lower until his face was buried in her neck and his arms wrapped around her body like she was his last tether to life. His breath released against her in a drawn-out shudder, rocking her gently. His large body melted into her even as he mumbled, “You better not be joking because I’ll make you pay.”