He smiled against her lips and she knew he’d guessed her thoughts. He pushed himself into her, the thin cotton joggers doing nothing to keep the friction of him in his jeans from stroking her into a frenzy too fast. What was it about him?

“No one has to know.” His thumb stroked her lips, which were trembling with arousal as she rocked against him. The friction of him, hard and rough against her soft and yielding center. It washed through her like a drug. “We’re working together for a short time. We’re horny as hell for each other. We’re both not interested in anything long-term. How can you deny how good it is between us?”

She tried to come up with a way to deny it, but she couldn’t. “What if you fall in love with me?”

“I thought love was a lie.” He was rocking into her too. An erotic rhythm that dilated his eyes, made the dark centers huge. “I won’t. I won’t fall in love with you. I’ve never been in love. You’re right. It’s a lie.” He was breathless and she was too close to splintering.

This wasn’t happening again. Not this way. This wasn’t going to be one-sided again. She wasn’t going to be the only one screaming her pleasure this time.

“It’s a deal,” she breathed through a moan, getting off him and reaching for his zipper. “Any ideas for how we might seal the deal?”

Kicking off his jeans, he rolled over her. “I have some ideas, Knightlina,” he said, deliciously winded, “and I think you might like them.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Is something going on between Vansh and Naina?” Sid asked as he and Esha made their way down her favorite trail on the estate.

Sid met her on the trail almost every day now. Vansh had invited him to roam the estate at will and photograph all the resident birds.

Esha threw a glance up at the sky. Still no Garuda.

“Not anymore. Yash is with India now. And his engagement with Naina wasn’t real.” She must have sounded absent or preoccupied again, because he smiled and followed her gaze. Much as she craved his visits, lived for them, she’d never get used to how she felt around him. How she’d taken to feeling even when he wasn’t around. Her mind still, quiet, able to take in the world. It had happened slowly. Other people’s voices and feelings fading away. It was disorienting.

But also wonderful.

He was the most observant person Esha had ever met. People studying her reactions was something she was more than used to, but there was a singular attentiveness to Sid, an alertness.