Married in Vengeance (Dynasty Rebels #4)

Chapter 22

Twenty-Two

AADHYA

She stared at the bathroom door as it swung shut behind the man’s bare butt. Sexy, toned, annoying as hell.

What the actual fuck was going on here?

Aadhya threw the sheet she was clutching to her away and pushed out of the bed. She slammed the bathroom door open and strode in, her angry gaze going immediately to a soaked Ram, tense muscles bunched as he braced himself against the wall, one hand fisted around the throbbing length between his legs.

“Something I can help with?” Aadhya asked, her voice coming out soaked in need.

Ram’s head shot up, his eyes blazing with a desire that sent a shiver through her. When he looked at her like that, she could believe that he saw nothing but her.

Ram closed his eyes almost like the sight of her was unbearable, turning away from her to face the wall, both hands now braced against the wall.

“Get out.”

And when he said stuff like that, she could believe he hated nothing and no one like he did her.

“No.”

Ram’s back muscles tensed but he didn’t look at her. She stepped closer, watching his muscles get impossibly tighter with each step she took.

“Aadhya-“

“No.” She stepped into the shower cubicle, pressing her front against the wet, naked back he kept showing her.

Ram’s head dropped, his surrender filling her with a strange wave of despair. She didn’t want him to give in to his desire for her. She wanted him to embrace it.

She kissed his shoulder, her teeth closing on the muscle there. A shudder rippled through his body. Before she could make another move, he whipped around, one arm going around her waist and anchoring her more solidly to him.

His mouth crashed down on hers, an inferno of need and emotion that drowned out all coherent thought. Aadhya tunneled her fingers through his hair, clenching and tugging hard enough to have him gasping against her mouth. He devoured her, an endless free fall into sensation that was a bottomless pit she’d never climb out of.

He wrenched his mouth from hers, spinning her around until her front was pressed against the cool tiles, water cascading down the two of them. One hand roughly nudged her legs apart even as another gripped her hip, holding her in place.

He entered her with one swift stroke, filling her until it felt like she would never again know where he ended and she began. A hand fisted in the wet, tangled mass of her hair, pulling her head back for a brief, bruising kiss. And then he began to move.

Pleasure built, mindless and chaotic, a frantic need that she was desperate to both feel forever and yet, also to have end. Ram thrust into her, silently, ferociously, his every move an intensely possessive brand on the very fabric of her being.

His head dropped to her shoulder as he pounded into her, one arm wrapped around her front to keep her from hurting herself against the wall. Aadhya’s world exploded, her core coming apart in a burst of sensation that left her drowning, gasping for a breath that she feared would never come.

Ram followed her over the precipice a heartbeat later, his hoarse, hot breath rattling against her cheek as he slumped against her pushing her into the cold, tiled wall. Her breasts pressed up against the chill of the tiles as the blazing heat of him sandwiched her on the other side.

His forehead pressed into her shoulder, eyes clenched tightly shut. Aadhya reached back to lace her fingers through the wet, rough silk of his hair.

He broke away from her with a muttered curse, his eyes coming up to meet hers, haunted and wounded.

“Ram,” she murmured. “What is going on? If you tell me what the problem is, maybe I could help.”

“You are the problem.”

Aadhya reared back like he’d slapped her across the face. She would have preferred it if he had. Her hands itched to cover her nakedness, but she forced herself not to. She already felt hurt and angry, but she would be damned if she would let Ram make her feel ashamed of herself too.

Without another word, she stepped away from him, her face averted.

“Well,” she said, her voice remarkably calm for all that was swirling inside her. “This was fun, but I doubt we’ll be doing it again.”

“Aadhya.” Ram’s voice broke on her name. “I-“

“I think you’ve said enough, Ram. I’m done talking to you. Goodnight.”

She shut the door behind her before he could respond, shivering as the chill of the air conditioner hit her wet, naked body. She rummaged through her cupboard and pulled out a robe, wrapping it around her. She coiled her wet hair into a thick rope over one shoulder and left the room.

Tonight was not a night for pride. Tonight was for retiring to a quiet corner to lick her wounds. She picked one of the guest rooms at random and shouldered her way in, falling into bed and pulling the comforter over herself.

Huddling under it in the dark of an unfamiliar room, she allowed the tears to come. Curling into a fetal position, she wept silently for her broken heart, her tattered dreams and her crumbling future.

Shivers racked her body as she lay there in the dark wondering where it had all gone wrong. A fortnight ago, she’d had the world at her feet. And now, all she had were ruins. She wiped at her tears, forcing herself to calm down and get a grip. She wouldn’t break. Aadhya Reddy didn’t break. Certainly not for a man.

The bedroom door opened allowing in a sliver of light. Ram’s shadow darkened the slight glow.

“Aadhya, come back to the room,” he said quietly.

She closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. Clearly not doing a very good job since he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. She heard him sigh, a deep, heavy sound.

“Please come back to the room.”

He reached down to place his hand on her shoulder and she instinctively scrunched herself into a tighter ball to avoid his touch. His hand stopped inches away from making contact.

“Please?” he said again.

She kept her back to him, eyes resolutely shut.

“Okay,” he said. “We’ll talk in the morning.” He paused a second, took a deep breath and added, “About everything. It’s time we both laid all our cards on the table.”

Aadhya still said nothing.

Finally, when he realised no response was forthcoming, he exhaled. “I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.”

She heard the door open and shut. She took a deep breath and allowed herself to relax. She’d deal with the morning in the morning. For tonight, she just wanted to close her eyes and shut the world out. For one night. Just one night.