Every inch of Naina wilted. Actually wilted in his arms like flowers left in a vase too long, and she could feel his body register it. Every bit of it. She pushed off him, but he didn’t let her go, his hands lingering on her as though he didn’t know how to.

“Mummy.” She swallowed, hoping that the panic inside her didn’t show.

The way his eyes darkened meant it did. He saw. She did a desperate wiggle and he released her. “Mummy! What are you doing here?”

“What question is that? Why Mummy can’t come over?” Her mother sounded indignant. Indignation had replaced fluttering as her favorite mode these days.

Vansh seemed to be trying to figure out how someone like Chandni Kohli had created someone like Naina, and it made a horrible coldness spread inside Naina where pleasure had just warmed her.

“I’m . . .” He watched her struggle to tell her mother she was busy. She couldn’t.

The nod he gave her said he understood her despair. How could he possibly understand with how close he was to his family? If Naina let herself think about how different their families were, she wouldn’t be able to figure out what to do next. As it was, trying to process in her mother’s presence what had just happened between them was going to be impossible.

It wasn’t like he’d never seen her sadness before. Or her rage. Or every ugly feeling inside her. Nonetheless, she hated how clearly he saw it all now.

“It’s okay, I’ll go inside,” he whispered, and she had that sense again, as though she wanted to touch his cheek, cling to his arm, hold on to him.

“Mummy doesn’t have all day, Naina, only few minutes. Hurry, hurry. This is important. What for you’re being such slowpoke?”

“Sorry, Mummy. I’m buzzing you in.” She pressed the buzzer and they ran to the bedroom, which in her tiny apartment was ten steps away. It was a San Francisco apartment. There were no hiding places.

“Where will you hide?”

“In the bathroom?”

“She might be here because she needs to use the bathroom.”

“Good point. The closet?” There was a knock on the door. “Don’t worry. Just go. I won’t let her find me. I promise.” He kept promising her impossible things.

She turned to go, panic rising inside her. She kept believing his promises. Idiot. Idiot.

“Knightlina.” The name he tended to use to cheer her up, spoken in a voice that said cheering her up was important to him.

She turned.

“Sneaking around turns me on.”

A smile broke across her face. “Is there anything that doesn’t turn you on?” Saying those words made her lady parts contract again. Or maybe it was the smile he gave her. All dimples and white teeth and simmering honey eyes.