Page 53 of The Promise of a Traitor

His mouth moved against hers with growing hunger, their lips finding a rhythm that was instinctive and achingly familiar. His teeth caught her lower lip, tugging just enough to make her breath hitch, and his hand slid into her hair, his fingers threading through it before he gently pulled her head back.

She gasped. He kissed her again before she could catch her breath.

Advik backed her toward the table until the edge pressed against her hips. The hard length of him against her made something inside her twist with need, so sharp and sudden it brought tears dangerously close again.

She arched into him, closing whatever space remained between them. Closer. She needed closer. Needed to feel him, all of him, as though somehow the distance between them could be erased if she held him tightly enough.

The kiss went from tender to feral in a heartbeat.

Advik's hands moved over her, sure and possessive, finding every place that made her shiver. He knew her body with the kind of intimate familiarity that made her ache, the smallest touch enough to set off a chain reaction beneath her skin. It was as though he were playing every nerve in her body like a concert pianist, knowing exactly which keys to strike.

And she was helplessly, gloriously lost in the music. Her fingers curled in the fabric of his shirt, tugging, pulling, trying to yank it out of where it was tucked into his trousers. He broke the kiss just long enough to breathe. Their foreheads touched, neither of them spoke. She could feel his breath against her lips, ragged and warm, and when she opened her eyes, she found him looking at her with an intensity that made her heart stumble.

She lifted a hand to his face, tracing the line of his jaw with trembling fingers.

“Advik…” Her voice cracked. His eyes closed briefly at the sound of his name. Then he turned his face and pressed a kiss into her palm. She caught his face and pulled him back to her. His arms came around her, drawing her against him, and she melted into him.

For one suspended moment, everything outside that room ceased to exist. There was no pain of the past. No fear for the future…nothing but this moment. His heartbeat beneath her palm. His fingers tangled in her hair. The warmth of his mouth against hers.

She wanted to live in this moment and one day, she wanted to die like this too.

When he finally drew away, his lips lingered against her forehead.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered.

“I know.”

“No,” he said roughly. “You don’t. I feel like I hadn’t taken a full breath since the day I woke up and found you gone. Not until I walked into your café and saw you there in your hideous orange dress. There was this hole in my chest, where my functioning heart was supposed to be, a hole that never seemed to fill, to heal, to scar over. And I realise why now…Because it was never meant to be filled by anyone or anything but you. I’ve been half a person, wandering around, trying to find meaning in my life, trying to stop the increased disassociation from life, from the people around me, people who loved me, people I loved but no one, no one, that I was in love with. It felt like-“

“Like living in a world devoid of colour and sound,” she finished for him. “Like someone had taken all the life out of living and left only a husk behind, going through the motions. I know, Adi,” she said, smiling tremulously, “I know because I’ve missed you too.”

“I love you Aastha Agarwal. Promise you’ll never leave me?”

The words he’d whispered to her ages ago echoed in the quiet of the room. Aastha’s breath fractured in her chest as he waited for her to reply, for her to finally say the words she hadn’t in the past.

Aastha nodded. “I promise,” she whispered. “I’ll never leave you.”

It felt like the words stitched her tattered heart together, bringing with it a peace that she’d lost all hope of finding. He swallowed hard, clutching her hand to his chest. A future with Advik, one she’d never dared to hope for suddenly loomed over the horizon.

“Well,” he said, humour tinging his husky voice, “I guess we’re getting engaged on the 20th after all.”

Aastha jolted, looking up at him. “Are you sure?”

He kissed her gently. “Haven’t you been paying attention? Our stars have finally aligned.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Advik

“Free now boss?” Manish Lakhani, Advik’s CTO poked his head around the door, making a point of looking around the cabin exaggeratedly to make sure they were alone.

“Don’t be a dick,” Advik muttered to his friend and colleague. “I know the office grapevine has been working overtime.”

“I heard she’s beautiful.”

Advik’s face softened, a small smile on his lips. “She is.”

“I heard she’s way out of your league. Tech bros say you’re punching.”