, the shared glances, the way he held her hand just a little longer than necessary when no one was watching. All of it left Zara unsettled. This wasn't supposed to happen. They had rules.

yes locked a second too long. His thumb grazed hers. The heat returned. And this time, it didn't feel like acting. Absolutely! We'll deepen the emotions, raise tension, and shift the relationship from controlled to complicated. Zara didn't speak much during the car ride back from dinner. Tari was quiet too unusually so. There was a tension in the air now, thicker than before. Not the cold, transactional kind. Something warmer. Riskier. The kind of tension that hinted at desire neither of them wanted to name. When they arrived at the mansion, she stepped out of the car and walked straight to the guest room. But she didn't close the door. Seconds later, Tari followed her in. "Why did you hold my hand like that?" she asked, not turning around. He paused near the doorway. "It felt right." Zara let out a dry laugh. "Right? You don't do things because they feel right. You do them because they look right." Silence. Then: "Do you want the truth?" She turned slowly, arms folded. "Try me." Tari walked closer, his face unreadable. "I've been trying to draw a line between business and emotion since the day we made this deal. But somewhere between the lies and the pretending, I started... forgetting which part was fake." Her breath caught. He continued, "You make this harder than it should be." "What, pretending?" "No. *Not* feeling anything." Zara stared at him, heart racing. "You're scared." "I'm careful." "You're terrified of being human." He stepped even closer. "And you? You act like you're immune to emotion, but I saw the way you looked at me tonight." She swallowed. "Don't confuse gratitude with feelings." "I'm not confused." There was a pause. The room suddenly felt too small. "I don't want to ruin this," Zara said quietly. "This arrangement. The money. The peace I'm building." "You won't," he said.