[Steel]

The stunning inappropriateness of the question took her breath away. This was a business meeting for God's sake! Rakesh was wildly out of line, and Kusha would be well within her rights to simply have him escorted off the premises and tear his contract to pieces.

But she couldn't let this insult go unanswered. An insult against her husband, Rakesh's former friend. And an insult against her, more importantly, questioning her taste in men.

"My husband," she said angrily, drawing herself up in a stiff posture of rage, "Is a wonderful man. Ten times the man you will ever be. He doesn't need all of your stupid "Alpha Male" bullshit to be secure and confident. He knows how much better he is than men like you without having to swagger around and beat his chest like a gorilla."

"Is that why you married him?" asked Rakesh in a calm, amused voice, completely unintimidated and unimpressed by Kusha's angry outburst. "Because he is soooo 'secure"? Or is it because he's easy to push around, and that feels safe to you?"

Ok, that was enough. The cocky little shit had officially gone too far. "Get out!" yelled Kusha, red-faced with anger, pointing to the door. "Get the fuck out of my office!"

Luckily for his own bodily safety, Rakesh didn't argue. He just scooped up his folder with a smug look on his face, gave an obnoxious wave, then strolled out the door, leaving Kusha shaking with volcanic anger behind him.

That little PRICK! How dare he? To march into her office and disrespect her like that! To disrespect her husband, her marriage, and herself on a deeply personal level. How did he have the balls?

He was wrong, obviously. Kusha had married Sharath because he was a wonderful man. Her other half. Not because he was somehow the easy choice. Sharath could be manly and confident... at times. And besides, what was wrong with being attracted to submissive men?

And Sharath wasn't fucking submissive!

She felt scrambled and off balance once again, despite her excellent design and meeting Rakesh on her territory. The creep just had an uncanny knack for getting under her skin. She picked up the phone to ring Payal and tell her to cancel Rakesh's account. Then she tossed her phone to her desk and leaned back in her chair, breathing heavily.

She would cancel Rakesh's account tomorrow. But tonight, she wanted to prove him wrong.

Tonight, she was going to explore the manly, confident side of her husband.