He pressed his lips against her ear. “I—I don’t think I like you. I know I do.”
A little sizzle of panic went through her, stiffening her previously relaxed muscles. “No, you don’t.”
“I do.”
“It could just be the sex?”
He considered that. “The sex is good, but I liked you before that. I think when you brought me that salad.”
“Huh?”
“The salad. After I almost totaled the car. We didn’t have much money, and you spent it all on that salad instead of anything for yourself.”
“Buddy, you can’t sell your affections for a salad. It wasn’t even a good salad!”
“It was a sign that you listened. And you cared.”
She started to turn over, but his arms tightened around her, holding her in place. “Relax, Sejal. Don’t get scared on me now.”
“You shouldn’t like me. I’m not—”I don’t know if I’m worth liking.Because no matter what he said, she still wasn’t convinced she wasn’t like her terrible parents.
Only, if she said those words, it would sound pitiful, and she wasn’t trying to get anyone’s sympathy.
“Don’t worry about it tonight. We’ll deal with it tomorrow. After we close this chapter with Alexei.”
And then what? They’d... still see each other? No, that wasn’t a possibility.
Dear God, why had she had sex with him? They’d complicated all of this far too much.
He said he liked you before the sex.
“Shhh.” He ran his hands over her flank, and she hated that the muscles between her shoulder blades actually relaxed. “Go to sleep. I’ll stay awake in case Alexei and Viktor show up.”
It wasn’t that easy. And she was going to turn around and tell him that, except he kept up that sweet, gentle motion, and the world stilled, and she slipped into a dreamless sleep.
Until a shrill ring woke her up. She sat up straight and grabbed the phone on her nightstand. “Hello?”
One of Sunil’s guards, the scariest, biggest one, was on the other end. “Ma’am, this is Cary. The men you told us to be on the lookout for, they’re here. They’ve reserved a room at the end of your hallway. They’re making their way to the elevator.”
She tossed the comforter off her. “Only the two men?”
“Yes, ma’am. Would you like us to hold them?”
She looked over her shoulder. Krish was wide awake, as he’d said he’d be, fully dressed. “Let’s see what they do,” he whispered.
That was her instinct as well. “Follow them, but at a distance.”
“Got it. They’ve entered the elevator.”
She buried her other emotions, reaching for cold hard resolve. Later, they’d deal with their feelings. Right now, they had to deal with Alexei.
Chapter Twenty-One
“This does not feel like a great plan.” And if Krish was saying that, then it was probably an understatement.
Sejal belted the robe around her middle. She was dressed underneath, but she’d pushed the legs of her sweatpants—well, his sweatpants—up so she appeared naked under the robe. To make her look more vulnerable, he guessed.
“Viktor and Alexei have been sitting in that room for an hour, and we need to get this show on the road. I don’t think they’ll be dumb enough to break into our room. They must be wary that it’s a trap. Our best bet is to bait them.” She picked up the empty ice bucket. “Besides, they’ve already played this game once before.”
