Tani’s blood started a slow simmer. “And something makes you think you still have the right to ask me these questions?” she shot back. “What the actual fuck, Kabs?”
CHAPTER 11
KABIR
Fury ignitedin his blood as he stared into her mutinous face. “I don’t have the right to ask you anything?” he asked, working to keep the hurt from his voice.
“No, you don’t,” she said. “Not when you give me nothing, Kabir!”
He reared back, rocking back on his heels, the hurt now painted into every inch of his soul. They watched each other in silence, endless memories from the past streaming through their minds.
And then a cruel smile tipped his lips up. “Nothing, Tani?”
He’d given her everything.Everything. His battered heart, his blackened soul, his tattered conscience…Everything he had, everything he was, everything he hoped to be, he’d given her.
But she was right…it was nothing. Nothing compared to what she deserved.
“Yes, nothing!” she flared up now. “I begged you, Kabir. I came to you and I – “ her breath hitched as she struggled to control her emotions.
“Don’t, Tani,” he said roughly.
“No dammit.” She slammed her hands into his chest but he didn’t move. “You don’t get to tell me to stop. You cracked this door open.”
“And you’re going to drive a fucking bus through it?” He shook his head, struggling to keep a lid on his emotions. “You’re marrying another man. I think we’ve said everything-“
“You kissed me.”
The words were the pin pulled out of a grenade. And the past exploded out of it.
“Don’t do this, Tani.”
“You kissed me,” she hissed, rising to her knees and grabbing his face so he couldn’t look away, “and then you left me.”
“Do you think I’m proud of that?” he roared back. “Do you think I don’t realise that touching you, kissing you, holding you, was the worst mistake I could ever make?”
“The worst mistake?” She laughed bitterly. “Is that what I am? Stupid of me,” she said, “But I thought you were the best thing to ever happen to me.”
Her words were a lance to his heart. “I never happened to you,” he said quietly. “We can’t be, Tani.”
“But we already are,” she whispered. “Whether you want to accept it or not.”
“Bug,” he whispered hoarsely. “Please.”
His phone rang, loud and clear, breaking the tense silence that had fallen between them. He didn’t glance at it. It rang for a while and fell silent. A brief pause and it began again.
“You should take that,” she said. “It might be important.”
“Nothing is more important than you are, Tani.” He silenced the phone and tossed it aside. “Please tell me why you’re doing this. This is all you’ve ever wanted. This job on Wall Street…you’ve been talking about it forever.”
He still remembered the day she’d got her offer of employment, the day she’d come charging onto the stage mid soundcheck, her beautiful face lit up with a joy and excitement that made her glow. She’d thrown herself into his arms and they’d spun around like lunatics, laughing and babbling, their words tumbling over each other’s.
“It’s your dream, Tani. You’ve worked so damn hard to get here. Why are you giving it up over a guy?”
And what kind of guy would ask that of her, he thought, but he kept that part to himself. This wasn’t about Jay. This was about Tani. For Kabir, it was always about Tani.
Tears sprang to Tani’s eyes but she blinked, refusing to let them spill over. He watched her, waiting, his heart breaking in his chest.
Before she could say anything, his phone lit up again.
