Page 37 of The Secret Fiancée
Raya is blushing fiercely as she wrings her hands, her posture stiff. She looks even more awkward than I probably do, and I’m the one that’s half naked. “Thanks, Mom,” she murmurs.
“We can leave the tea, but we can’t leave our daughter here,” her dad says, distraught. “Forget the rules. Who’s gonna know if we split them up?”
My mother-in-law rolls her eyes and pushes her husband out. “Honey,” she says, her tone firm. “Let’s go to bed. The kids are perfectly capable of drinking tea by themselves.”
“Meera,” he complains, but my mother-in-law, wonderful woman that she is, pushes him out the door and closes it behind her.
I fall back on the bed the second the door shuts and throw my arm over my face, my heart racing. “I thought I was going to die,” I tell Raya, and she bursts out laughing. I throw her a fake glare and narrow my eyes. “You don’t understand, darling. I saw my life flash before my eyes.”
She slaps her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter, but it rings through her room, nonetheless. The sound does funny things to me — it makes my heart race, sparks joy deep inside my chest.
Raya climbs onto her bed and lies down next to me, on her side, to face me. “You’re ridiculous,” she whispers. I turn onto my side too and gently push her hair out of her face, taking a moment to just look at her. She truly is beautiful, but it isn’t just her looks that captivate me so. Why is it that I keep finding myself smiling in her presence? Why do I enjoy being around her so much?
Raya scoots a little closer, her eyes twinkling. “You know?” she whispers as she reaches for me, her fingers tracing a path down the bridge of my nose and onto my lips. “They definitely won’t come back in now.”
“Don’t even think about it,” I whisper back at her before letting her fingers slip into my mouth, biting down softly. She pulls her hand away in mock outrage, and I grin at my beautifulwife. “Today is not the day I get murdered by your father, Raya Indira Windsor.”
She pouts, and I almost give in there and then. I probably would have, if not for the footsteps I can hear in the hallway, her parents milling about the house as they get ready for bed themselves.
“What a way to go, though,” she whispers, pure mischief written all over her face.
I bite back a startled laugh and shake my head. “Be good for me for now, and I’ll bury my face between your pretty thighs later,” I promise, unable to help myself.
She giggles and cups my face, and my heart skips a beat. What is it about her that I just can’t resist? Every single thing she does is in contrast with my expectations, and I should hate her unpredictability, but instead I thrive on it.
It isn’t until I have her head on my chest, her steady breathing easing my anxiety, that I realize she’s single-handedly taken away the fears that normally accompany me in unfamiliar places. But in doing so,she’sbecoming something I’m growing to fear.
Thirty-One
Raya
“I forgot to ask you, but how are you enjoying being back home?” Adam asks as we walk into Lex’s class together, my nerves sky high. “I’m considering moving back in too instead of finding my own place after graduation. I’d be able to help my mom out more, but I’m not sure about it.”
I bite down on my lip for a moment, guilt coursing through me. “I love it,” I tell him, feeling uneasy about the way I’m twisting the truth. “You know I never loved living on campus as much as I loved being at home.”
When I moved back home prior to the wedding, I told him it was because I was worried about my parents since the company wasn’t doing well, and I wanted to be there for them. He fully supported my decision and applauded me for putting my parents first, and that just made me feel even worse.
Adam nods and wraps his arm around me. “I miss you, though. It was fun being able to grab coffee at midnight in an attempt to stay awake and study a little longer.”
I smile and lean into him briefly before pulling away to take a seat. “I know. I miss that too, but we could still do that if you wanted. Just text me the next time you want to study late.”
For a moment, I think about how Lex might react if I sneaked out of our bed at midnight to go have coffee with Adam, and I can’t help but laugh to myself, earning myself a confused look from Adam.
The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind as Lex and I tried to balance our lives and our marriage. We’ve been living in a little bubble of our own creation while getting to know each other, our days filled with our respective responsibilities while our evenings are spent playing rounds of truth or dare that inevitably lead to us falling into bed together. It’s been fun, but it feels a little precarious. Keeping secrets is harder than I thought it would be.
My heart skips a beat when Lex walks into the room, his eyes instantly finding mine. I smile involuntarily, heat rushing to my cheeks, and Adam wraps his arm around my shoulders, leaning in and stealing my attention. “Did you notice?” he asks, his tone terse. “He’s keeps flaunting his wedding ring. He must be quite happy with his wife.”
Adam’s gaze roams over my face, and I stare at him wide-eyed. “Good for him,” I murmur, unsure of what else to say.
He leans back, seemingly pleased with my response. My husband, on the other hand, doesn’t look pleased at all. He locks his jaws and stares at Adam for a moment, before turning toward the class.
“I read and graded your progress reports on your drone designs,” he says, his tone sharp. Moments later, Windsor Motors drones begin to deliver our graded reports back to us, and Lex rocks back on his heels, his expression stern. “Some of you lack common sense and don’t know how to keep your eyes off what isn’t yours.”
I stare at him in shock and subtly shake my head, urging him not to be petty. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Lex since we got married, it’s that he’s far more possessive than I could’ve imagined.
He sighs and runs a hand through his thick, dark hair. “I don’t need you to report on what others are doing, nor is your progress report an opportunity to make a case for switching designs. Especially not for those of you who are team leaders because your designs were chosen.”
Adam scoffs, and I glance at him. “You didn’t,” I mutter.