Private Terms

CONTROL IS HIS.
SECRECY IS THEIRS.
BUT THE TERMS ARE HERS TO CHOOSE.

Malvika Sharma has spent years becoming the woman every office depends on and almost nobody truly sees.

At twenty-eight, she is efficient, careful and painfully accustomed to apologising for things that were never her fault. She knows how to anticipate everyone else's needs, keep her own wants quiet and make herself smaller whenever a room becomes uncomfortable.

Then Viren Sethi notices her.

Older, controlled and unnervingly observant, Viren has a way of seeing the things Malvika works hardest to hide: the hesitation before she speaks, the instinct to retreat, and the unexpected way she responds when his voice leaves no room for uncertainty.

What begins as attraction develops into a private relationship governed by trust, boundaries and carefully chosen rules. With Viren, Malvika discovers that giving up control in one part of her life can make her stronger everywhere else.

She stops apologising so easily. She begins asking for what she wants. She learns that vulnerability and weakness are not the same thing.

But Viren understands rules far better than feelings.

As their carefully contained arrangement becomes something neither of them planned, Malvika discovers that the real risk is not desire. It is falling in love with a man who knows exactly how to take control but may not know how to surrender any part of himself in return.

Private Terms is a darkly sensual contemporary romance set in Delhi, exploring age-gap attraction, emotional intimacy, trust, control and a woman's journey towards claiming both her desire and her voice.

Some terms govern what happens behind closed doors. Love rewrites everything else.