Irritation blew away the last of his patience and he pinned her to the wall nearby, his gentility melting away as desperation took over.
“We have fucked on every surface of this apartment,” he said, undeterred by the spark of anger in her at his impudence for bringing it up. If she thought he’d let her hide behind whatever lies she’d told herself so she could walk away from him, he’d break that illusion today. “I have held you while you fell apart on my fingers, on my cock, screaming my name, crying for more. You’ve let me do things to you that no man ever did, and if I have my way, no other man ever will. It may have started out as ‘just sex’ but it hasn’t felt like that for a long time. Iknowyou. I know your body. I know your brain. I know what makes you tick. I want another go at us.”
“Because the first try went so remarkably well?” she sneered,her eyes red.
“We’re different people now. We’re not teenagers anymore. I’m willing to take a chance on you again.”
“How magnanimous of you,” she snapped. “Is this the part where I get on my knees?”
“Be serious,” Vihaan scolded, unable to understand why she was fighting him instead of thanking him.
“I am. I have no clue why you think you need to forgive me when I’m the one who was hurt.”
“You sold us out!” he argued, his voice rising along with hers.
“Are you insane?!” Vera cried, her hands flying in frustration. “I gave you parts of me I never knew I had. I let you in where I allowed no one, and you? You ripped my heart out and walked all over it like I was nothing more than a cheap lay.”
“I could say the same about you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
He couldn’t hold back the pain in his voice when he finally laid out the reason for his anger. “You took money from my father.”
“So?”
“You made me feel worthless.” Heat caused his ears to burn while he tried not to let old grievances take over.
Vera narrowed her eyes, watching him like he was talking in a made-up language for which there was no codex.
“Was it your ego that was hurt or your pride?” she finally asked.
“Both!”
“Because I didn’t take money from you?”
“Because you took any money at all, goddamnit! How do you not see how messed up what you did was?”
Vera’s expression hardened; her words barely pushed out through clenched teeth. “I’m not even going to pretend I understand what you just said, because that situation had absolutely fuck-all to do with you.”
Vihaan slapped a hand against the back of his couch, exasperated at the unnecessary turns their conversation was taking. With a deepbreath to rein in his irritation, he tried again to steer the topic to what was important.
“We may never see eye-to-eye on the past but I’m willing to let it go. I want to move on, Vera. I can give you everything you want. Money trouble? I have you covered. You want to work on your show? Fuck, I’ll find a way to sign the entire damn channel to your name. Whatever you want, it’s yours. In return, you are mine. All of you—mind, body, heart.”
With the way Vera glared at him, Vihaan got the distinct feeling he’d somehow decimated any goodwill he’d earned with her over the last few months. When she spoke next, her words were clipped.
“Almost a decade and a half later, you still think you can buy me. I wasn’t a whore at eighteen, Vihaan, and I’m not one now.”
The look of icy disdain she shot him had him driving a hand into his hair, ready to rip it out because this woman was a complex ball of contradiction from where he stood. “Offering you everything you want is treating you like a whore? Where am I going wrong?”
“I’m not going to sit here and explain the multitude of ways in which what you said was insulting. You know, for just one moment, I’d entertained the idea that you’d changed. That maybe we could build something today without the prejudices of our past affecting us. I should’ve known better. You humiliated me years ago and it’s my fault for giving you the chance to do it again.”
Vera whipped around, heading for the exit, ignoring his utter shock at her announcement.
“I want you,” Vihaan burst out. “However you are, I want you! I’m not asking for more than that.”
“It’s more than I can give. The answer is no. And whatever this is between us, it’s done.” She twisted the doorknob, gasping when he slammed his hands against the wood on either side of her head, trapping her between them. From his vantage point, he could see her chest heaving in anger, but she refused to turn and face him.
“I’m letting you go right now because it is clear you need some space to calm down,” he rumbled, his words hot against the side of her temple. “Wewilltalk again. Soon.”