Page 28 of Forged By Fate

“Are you comfortable?” he asked softly. “Do you have enough space for all your things?”

I nodded softly, and his gaze moved to my messy hair spread all over my pillow. Viren’s throat worked as he swallowed.

“You have beautiful hair,” he muttered, looking away abruptly.

“Thanks,” I whispered, my heart going at a million miles an hour. I was about to have a heart attack. All over a small compliment about my hair.

Just then, my phone pinged. I picked it up and was surprised to see a text from Dhruv, checking if I was okay. I typed out a quick reply and put the phone back on the bedside table.

“Why the hell is he texting you so late in the night?” demanded Viren, sitting up.

I swept my hair off my face and glared at him.

“It’s rude to look at someone’s phone,” I said coldly.

“Not when that someone happens to be my wife,” he countered.

“Fake wife,” I reminded him through gritted teeth. “You act like you have some sort of claim over me. But you don’t.”

“I don’t care, Sunaina. I can’t believe you brought him into our bed.”

I sat up in shock and gaped at him, wondering if he’d had a serious brain injury.

“Were you dropped on the head as a child, Viren?”

“I’m not sure. You’ll have to ask Daima,” he said with an eye roll.

I growled under my breath and went up on my knees so I was nose to nose with him.

“I did not bring anyone intoour bed! I can text anyone I like because this is my space as much as it is yours. And if you don’t need my permission to text your friends, I certainly don’t need yours to text mine. As for calling it our bed, it is just a space that we share. So quit making it out to be anything more.”

“So you’d be okay with me texting…say…Tahira…while I’m in bed with you?” he asked, and I wanted to slam my pillow into his stupid, gorgeous face.

How dare he text her at all? He read my answer in my eyes.

“I didn’t think so,” he said with a smirk. “So don’t even think about that smarmy bastard when you’re in our bed.”

“Why not?” I demanded angrily. “Give me one reason why I can’t think of or text or speak to Dhruv while I’m in your bed.”

Viren went still at my question. He knew what I was asking. He had no right to object to my friendship with Dhruv, yet he was acting as if I was cheating on him. I couldn’t possibly cheat on him when we didn’t have a relationship to speak of.

“You know why,” he whispered. “It’s the same reason I will never think of, text or speak to any other woman while you’re here.”

“I’m here only for a month,” I reminded him. “We need some ground rules to get through this month, Viren. Otherwise, we’ll be at each other’s throats all the time.”

He stared at me for a few moments before he nodded.

“Fine!”

“Rule number one: No fighting,” I said.

“Rule number two: We leave the rest of the world out of our bed. This isourspace, and only ours,” he countered.

That sounded dangerous. Viren and I needed a buffer zone between us to keep us from straying into dangerous territory.

“Why?” I asked again.

“I don’t know,” he said, but I pressed him further.

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