Page 45 of Trapped By the Maharaja
She was shocked. And then, she realized with a shudder that she both feared and craved the thought of him losing control.
He tugged her hair until she was forced to look at just him. “We will fuck, Sanjana. There’s no doubt about it. And when we do, you will crave it as much as I do.”
Sanjana’s heart slammed against her ribs. Heat burned her inside and out as his words washed over her. But panic and then anger followed.
“I will never crave you,” she said, pushing her palms hard against him.
He didn’t loosen his grip, his eyes burning into hers. She saw darkness, fury and hunger. A moment later, his hands dropped from her.
She stumbled back, desperate for distance and for air. Her chest rose and fell with her pulse still out of control.
Ram didn’t follow. Not physically. But his dark, burning gaze held her as tightly as his hands had.
Her lips still tingled. Her body still hummed. And she hated it.
“I will never want you,” she whispered, breathless.
Ram’s mouth twisted, but there was no humor in it. “You already do, and you always did.”
Her stomach flipped violently at his reminder. “You’re wrong,” she said. “I might have wanted you in the past. But now, I hate you. You forced me into this contract marriage. I will never willingly want you or come to you.”
Ram watched her with unreadable eyes.
Her legs felt unsteady beneath her as she retreated to the far side of the room. She sat on the velvet couch and picked up a hospital file to blindly stare at it.
She sensed his heavy gaze, but she refused to look at him.
Even as she stared at the file, her lips still tingled from the force of his kiss, swollen and alive with sensation. Goosebumps rippled across her skin, while her heart continued to race. She forced herself to focus on her work, but it was hard.
Much later, when she heard the deep, even breathing, she looked up. She saw Ram’s powerful, muscled form lying on the bed with his eyes closed.
Letting out a shuddering breath of relief, she dragged her gaze back to the file.
I cannot want him. I hate him.
CHAPTER 21
It was morning. As soon as Sanjana opened her eyes, her eyes met with masculine hair on a broad, muscular chest.
Her head was resting on Ram’s bare chest. Again.
Her pulse spiked in panic. She vaguely remembered drifting off last night on the velvet couch, files scattered around her. She must have gotten up in her sleep again and stumbled to the bed.
This can’t keep happening.
She froze, praying he was asleep. But dread curled tight in her chest as she tilted her head upward.
Ram was awake. His dark eyes were already on her, steady and unreadable, though something dangerous smoldered beneath the surface.
Heat flooded her cheeks. Every nerve in her body seemed to spark with awareness. She scrambled upright so fast the sheets tangled around her legs.
“I—I have to get ready for the hospital,” she stammered, avoiding his gaze as her cheeks burned hotter.
Without waiting for his reply, she rushed across the room, her pulse hammering, and shut the bathroom door firmly behind her. She pressed her palms against the cool marble counter, closing her eyes.
Sanjana told herself she hated him… yet the memory of lying against him again left her breathless.
???
