Page 116 of Reckless Hate

Samantha relaxed. But there was a deep chuckle.

“Don’t worry, Sam,” Ved said. “If my grandfather orders to throw you out of the estate, I’ll keep you hidden through the reunion. You can hide under my bed and I’ll smuggle you food.”

She raised her head from his chest and glared, which only made him chuckle even more.

Samantha laughed. “You are an asshole, Ved Simha,” she scolded.

He grinned, flashing his dimples. “Yes, I am. I’m also a lucky asshole. Did I tell you I like you fired up? And that you are sizzling hot?”

She hit him on his chest with a laugh. “Yes, you did. A hundred times.”

He cupped her face and looked at her in a way that always had her heart racing.

“Did I tell you that you are the only one I want, and that I love you?”

“Yes,” she said softly. “A million times.” And she would never get tired of listening to it a million more times.

He gripped the back of her neck and kissed her, conveying his love in another way. The kiss was sweet at first, and then it rapidly caught fire as always.

It didn’t take long for desire to take over. He carried her to the nearest bed and soon their bodies became one before they both exploded in passion.

By the time she regained her senses, she was lying on top of Ved with her head resting on his chest.

It took a while to regain her breath, and when she did, she sighed in content. She wasn’t really a romantic person, but being in her enemy-turned-lover’s arms was the best feeling in the whole wide world.

Cold metal pressed against her cheek and she moved her head aside to smile at the pendant on Ved’s chest.

It was a silver half-heart pendant attached to a thick thread made of the non-flammable and durable material that she and Rishi had created and were going to get a patent on soon.

She had gifted the pendant to Ved when they finally re-arranged the dinner with his cousins and their girlfriends at the beach house a week ago. She wore the other half of the silver heart with the same thread.

Ved had vowed to never take it off. He said it represented their love and friendship that had broken in the past before mending back again. And each of them carried one half of the same heart.

She smiled. No one in campus would believe that the Simha bad boy could say something so beautiful.

“What are you smiling about?” he asked, having felt her lips expand against his hard, muscled chest.

“I was thinking that you are not always an asshole,” she teased.

“Oh yeah?” he asked, amused. “Tell me what else I am?’

She raised her head slightly. Resting her chin on his chest, she looked at him with a smile.

“You are sweet and considerate.” She recalled all the times he was there for her, supporting her and never leaving her side.

“What else?” he asked, his dimples flashing.

“Hot and unpredictable.” She loved that side of him. It made her life exciting and fun.

“What else?”

Her heart thumped as she watched his handsome, chiseled face. “You are… mine.” He was the boy she fell in love with even before she knew about the word love.

His eyes turned dark and intense at her words and he no longer asked what else she liked about him.

Kissing him softly on his chest where his heart thumped hard, she smiled at her bad-boy lover. “You are mine, Ved Simha. And I have always loved you. I will love you forever.”

Even when they hated each other, she had loved him.