“Vedika?” Daksh said, confusion threading through his voice. “Is everything okay? Why are you here?”
Say something normal.
Say something sane.
“You said I had your consent,” she blurted out.
The sentence shot out of her like a bullet, all the careful rehearsing of the past few hours collapsing as if they’d never existed.
“To do whatever I wanted with you.”
A muffled snort of laughter from his friend shattered the moment.
Reality crashed through her. Mortification hit her like a physical force. Vedika slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes widening in absolute horror as the full weight of what she had just announced, in a hotel corridor with an audience, settled over her.
What the hell had she just done?
“Harsh,” Daksh said calmly, his eyes never leaving Vedika’s face. “Get out.”
“Figured you’d say that,” the other man said, amused but not unkind. “See you, buddy. Nice meeting you, Vedika.”
And then, thankfully, he was gone.
His easy footsteps faded down the corridor, leaving behind a silence that suddenly felt far too intimate.
Just Daksh.
Just Vedika.
And about a thousand unsaid things hanging in the air between them.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I just –“
Daksh cut her off with a simple motion. He stepped back, holding the door open for her to enter the room.
Vedika met his gaze, the intensity in his eyes pulling the air from her lungs. Her chest tightened, her breath turning shallow as something unspoken passed between them.
She could still walk away. Turn around. Retreat into the safety of the life she understood, one that was predictable, controlled and bland. A life where she never risked too much, never wanted too much.
Or she could step forward.
Into the unknown. Into the life shewantedbut didn’t know how to survive in. Into feelings she had no map for, no training for, no guarantees in.
She stepped in.
CHAPTER 36
DAKSH
His towel slipped slightlyand Daksh instinctively grabbed the edge, tightening it around his hips. “I’m just going to get into some clothes,” he said, his voice lower now, rough with emotion he couldn’t articulate.
“Why?”
The single word stopped him mid-stride. His hand remained on the bathroom door handle as he turned back slowly.
“Why?” he repeated.
“Why do you need to get dressed?” she asked, her voice unsteady but determined. “I mean… we’re going to…” She gestured vaguely between them, clearly having lost all sense of filter over what she was saying.
