Kissmet

Pent up feelings

Malini

There are some moments in life like skydiving.

You would jump from the sky on an impulse without a thought, high on adrenaline, and later on, halfway through, your mind catches up with you on what you have signed up for, and fear ratches up.

But even if you are afraid of the fall, scared of whether there will be a parachute to catch you are not, you have to see it to the end.

As I stand there, my lips press against Nithees, I realize this is one of those moments.

I quickly withdrew, still standing close, breathing hard, feeling his chest rise and fall along with mine.

His smile was a mixture of mirth and realization. "Are you trying to distract me, Malini?"

When I am silent, he trails his nose along my jaw and with his lips along the shell of my ear, "It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on there, but I appreciate your efforts."

Damn it.

He steps away and an involuntary whimper escapes me.

He smiles triumphantly. "On second thought," he takes a step forward "let me teach you. Let me teach you how to distract."

"Distract who?" I challenge him.

His eyes flash with something dangerously possessive. "Me. Only me."

And excites me way too much.

"Instead of mauling me in the hallway, you should have pushed me to the wall." he leans against the wall facing me.

A laugh slips, "I didn't maul you!"

He laughs with me, "I'm pretty sure you mauled me" he says rubbing his lip.

And the humor fades replaced with heat. He waits for me to go closer to him, to take the leap. For a moment I hesitate. All the things that could go wrong flickering before my eyes.

But I am so tired, thinking of all the reasons I shouldn't. The conflicted feelings, the unknown beyond friendship and what would happen if we dwell on our instincts, and the fact that we would be working together soon.

For once, I wanted to forget all of that and just take the moment. Seize the presence.

His warm eyes encourage me, noting the resolve in mine and I step toward him, placing my palms on his chest and leaning in, silencing the blaring warning bells in my head.

"Now, what?"

He smiles, "Now, you should kiss me." he says innocently.

"Stop being cute." I chuckle.

I stand on my tiptoes, my lips a breath away from him and I pause as he closes his eyes. If he thinks it's easy then he is mistaken, it's my turn to tease. "What would you do?"

His eyes open gleaming mischievously. "I would hold you up, pulling you closer." he slips his hand along my waist, grabs my hips, and pulls me against him, chest to chest.

"We couldn't have you falling, can we?" he smiles.

I bit my lip concealing a smile and shake my head.

"But you should know, that I would catch you when you fall." A thousand emotions danced in his eyes and I know he doesn't mean falling down, falling into something far deep.

"When? Not if?" I whisper.

His lips tipped up. "Sooner or later, you are definitely going to fall for me."

And I can't determine if it's arrogance or confidence either way I don't tell him, I am already halfway there.

"What next?" I ask him, not acknowledging his words.

He traces my cheek with his lips. "I would ask you if you kissed me to distract or was it because you wanted?"

Thinking back, I could have done anything else, but in truth as much as I like to think otherwise, I wanted to do that the moment I saw him.

His grip tightened on my hips. "And do you know what you would say? Hmm?"

We both know never in a million years I would admit that.

My heart beats a mile a minute. "You would lie and then to punish, I would have to properly bruise those pretty lying lips with a kiss."

He brushes his lips along mine, "And when I am done all you would feel, will be the tingles left by a descending burning star." He promises.

I am not sure how to breathe when he speaks like this. I look into his eyes and decide to throw all caution to the wind.

Just when I am about to make sure his words are true, "Okay kids, playtime over. I hope you are all keeping it PG." Nila speaks, sauntering in.

Nithees groans at the interruption, though it is painful for me to do I step away from him.

"Nice timing, Nila," I tell her with a tight-lipped smile. I am too annoyed to care about how she would react to me being with her brother.

She grins completely unapologetic. Nithees shifts his narrowed eyes towards Nila and they do this silent telepathic communication thing only siblings are capable of.

Nithees turns to me with a somber expression. Before he leaves, I caught his hand and offered him one truth, for the question he asked me in the morning.

"I missed you too" I whispered.

His face split into a brilliant smile and with a happy sigh, he left.

A moment later I hear his voice from the dining area whining to his mom, "Ma, how come you bought gifts for everyone except me!?"

I snort. He is adorable, so different from how he was earlier. Only he could shift from being a lion to a Labrador in a second.

I faced Nila, who volleys her head, left and right, pointing at Nithees and me, like watching a tennis game.

"You" she points a finger at me "Details, now"

"Details?" I raise my brows.

"Ew, no." she fakes barfs. "I am talking about the thing in your chest and how it seems to follow my brother."

"About that... are you not mad?" I ask her, wincing.

"What! Why would I be mad?"

I shrug.

"Malini! Are you kidding me? Of course not. I am happy for you." I let out a relieved breath but she continues to speak and spoil that.

"And moreover, if everything goes well, you would be my sister-in-law." She says gleefully.

My heart skips a beat. "Okay, don't get ahead of yourself. It's nothing."

"And you need to speak now," I told her pointing to the dining area.

"Yeah right, we need to speak, a lot." She concludes.

"Come on, let's go" she pulls me.

"Where?" I relent.

"I have the perfect plan to go around and gossip." She reasons.

"Does it involve food?"

"Plenty." She confirms and I happily agree to whatever crazy plan she concocted.

Good food and girl talk always make the best combination.