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I shook my head to clear it. As usual, I was overthinking it. DV was a kind man. He had always had a soft corner for the underdog. Even in IPL cricket, he always supported RCB because they always lost and he felt sorry for them. Well, I was no underdog. I didn’t need him to fight my battles.
“I don’t need your pity,” I said angrily.
He recoiled slightly as if my anger had taken him by surprise.
“That’s good because I’m not offering you any,” he retorted.
“Then what the hell are you doing? You’re a blue-blooded royal. Why are you talking like a mob boss with a network that starts in Arthur Road prison and goes all the way up to Tihar jail? My mother is not your problem, and neither am I.”
He let out a mirthless laugh.
“You have and will always be my problem, Tasha,” he said bleakly.
I shook my head in denial.
“Those are just empty words, DV. And they are far too few and far too late. Where was this protectiveness when I needed it? I spent my childhood waiting for my betrothed, my prince to rescue me from my evil mother. And then, I wised up and accepted that my life was not a fucking fairy tale. Any rescuing that was needed, I would have to do on my own.”
“Tasha, I cannot tell you how much I will always regret not being there for you when you needed me. And I don’t expect you to forgive me for that. I can’t do anything to change the past, but please let me make the present as safe for you as I can.”
He sounded so contrite that I felt ashamed of being such a bitch to him. DV wasn’t to blame for my mother’s cruelty. I recognised that he had no obligation to me. We had been betrothed in name only. And if I had been a child at that point, he had only been eight years older than me. I couldn’t expect a teenager to protect me from something he wasn’t even aware of.
It wasn’t his fault that I had fallen in love with him, and it wasn’t fair of me to lash out at him because he didn’t return those feelings. For wasn’t that at the root of all my hostility towards him? If I wanted to move ahead, I had to let go of the anger and accept that he had the right to love or not love whomsoever he wanted.
But, damn if he didn’t make it so very difficult by looking utterly delicious, with the moonlight bouncing off his broad shoulders and the hard lines of his chiselled face. And those soulful eyes with lashes thicker than mine. Why weren’t such thick lashes outlawed on men?
“Look, let’s just draw a line under the past. You have nothing to feel guilty about. None of whatever happened to me was your fault, and I’m sorry I put that burden of guilt on you. I spoke without thinking, as usual,” I said softly, willing to do anything to drive the self-loathing out of his eyes.
He unclenched his jaw and his eyes twinkled as his lips curved slightly in a lopsided smile.
“Am I hallucinating? Did Her Highness Natasha Raje finally admit to something she has denied all her life?”
I rolled my eyes so hard, I was sure I’d start seeing out of the back of my skull any minute.
“There you go acting like a dick again. Just when I thought you weren’t a total jerk,” I complained.
Was it my imagination or were DV’s lips closer than they were a minute ago? I couldn’t get my eyes off them for some reason. Quite unconsciously, I tilted my head back and raised my eyes to meet his burning gaze. He backed me up gently against the wall of the pool.
“Enough fighting. Want to kiss and make up?” he murmured, as he bent his head slowly.
I wanted to nod in acquiescence, but his lips were on mine and all conscious thought flew out of my brain. All I was aware of was the warm lips kissing me into oblivion.
I opened my mouth to the insistent demand of his tongue and wound my arms around his neck as DV ran one hand up and down my back. His other one gripped my butt and squeezed gently, drawing a low moan out of me.
He pulled me even closer and I raised one leg to wind it around his hip. Only, in my enthusiasm to get closer to that inhumanly sexy body, I had forgotten a very important thing. We were making out like horny teenagers inside a bloody swimming pool. To my horror, the leg that I was standing on slid out from under me and I fell. Out of reflex, I remembered to breathe as my head went underwater.
I almost took DV down with me, but he managed to stay afloat until my flailing hands tried to grab something to stand up. Unfortunately that something was his head, and poor DV got a good dunking. He pushed my hands away and stood up, spluttering and coughing as he helped me up.
He dragged me out of the pool and held my hair back as I coughed up all the water in my lungs while I prayed for one of the dolphins from the Arabian Sea to turn up immediately and spirit me away to a land where I’d never have to face such embarrassment again.
When I could breathe again, I sat up slowly, not meeting DV’s eyes. What the hell was he playing at, kissing me like that? A girl could get ideas from such a soul-searing kiss, and it was very humiliating that he could set me on fire, body and soul, with just a pity kiss.
I jumped to my feet, still not looking at him.
“I have to go,” I said, grabbing my towel and wrapping it around me protectively as I hunted for my flip-flops.
Behind me, DV sighed.
“Tasha, wait…”
