Akshara didn’t accept the real reason for him leaving the party that night.
She was jealous.
“I hated it,” she barked.
“The party?”
“No, you talking to that woman,” she blurted.
Her words made him smile. “Which woman?”
“Some endorsement lady who almost pulled her hair out while talking to you.” She let out a growl.
He nodded. “Why did you hate that?”
Her response was instantaneous. “I don’t know.”
“Why did you even go to the party?” Abhimanyu asked.
“Why did you go to the party?” She fired back the same question.
“It’s my party.”
She blinked in surprise. “I went to have fun.”
“Did you?”
“No.” She blinked away tears at the memory of the men following her in the dark.
He sighed when he saw moisture gather in her eyes. He kneeled in front of her and placed his palms on her cheeks, his thumbs wiping away the moisture.
“You need to go to bed.”
“No, I don’t. I slept all day.”
“Did you not sleep well last night?” His tone was soft.
She shook her head in response.
“Why?” He got closer, his face inches from hers, his eyes boring into hers.
“I didn’t know what to believe. I could not figure out why we kissed, if you are playing me, if you are doing something to get back at my father, and just straight-up get into my pants.” She let out a sob.
He looked at her for a long moment and pulled back to take her hand in his and place it on his chest.
“What do you feel, Akshara?”
She felt the shudder and the underlying thump in his chest.
“Your heartbeat.”
“Does it feel real?”
“Yes.” Her voice was a whisper as he moved closer to her.
He placed his lips over her jawline and running them slowly down to the beating pulse.
“Was my heart beating like yours is right now?”
“Yes,” she moaned.
He planted a kiss on her neck and said, “The moment we shared last night, it was so overpowering, I could not fake it… even if I wanted to.”
She let out a sob.
“Tell me, Akshara… do my eyes lie to you about how much I admire you?”
“No.” She wrapped an arm around his neck.
“When I touch you, do you want me to keep touching you because I won’t be able to stop myself.”
She moved her lips to mesh hers with his. “Yes, I want you.”
He kissed her hungrily. “I want you so bad, it scares me.”
“I want you, too.”
He broke the kiss to trail kisses all over her face and neck.
“I was so happy, so glad that you changed the plan back to Plan A. I was pissed you changed the plan at the last minute, but it only made me want you more.”
“I loved it when you dipped me at the end of the dance. I… I thought you were going to kiss me.”
“Trust me, it was hard not to kiss you on the stage,” he groaned.
She pulled back to look at him, her palm on his cheek. “Why didn’t you?”
He smiled, holding her lower lip between his thumb and index finger, pulling her face closer.
“Juicy stuff for the tabloids.”
She smiled. “I went nuts last night, and I had so many doubts about why you kissed me. And when you started talking about a sudden party, I thought…”
“You thought I was setting you up to get you to sleep with me.”
She nodded.
“And for the wrong reasons. What worried me most is you using me to get back at my father.”
“I swear, I would never, never ever.”
She smiled. “I like you and spending time with you.”
“Yeah? What else?” His eyes sparkled with mischief.
“I like it when you kiss me.”
“I want to kiss you.” His voice was shaky.
“Kiss me.” It was a plea.
He smiled, slowly cupping her face with his hands, his lips going to hers to gently brush them over hers.
“I would love to kiss you all night, but you are tired. You need some rest.”
She pulled him closer to her. “Don’t leave me alone. I am scared.”
“You’ll be fine.”
She bit her lip like she wasn’t sure about what she was going to ask him next.
“Stay here. You can take that side of the bed.”
He smiled. “I’ll stay. Did you eat anything?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m not hungry.”
“If I’m staying, then I need to order food, and you have to eat with me.” He winked.
“Okay, sure.”
He walked over to the screen next to the door to place the order and asked, “What would you like?”
“Anything is fine with me,” she said, getting up to go into the bathroom to change.
“Why don’t I go change before the food arrives, so we can eat together?”
She blushed. “I would like that… eat together.”
He walked to her and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Can I take you out for dinner tomorrow?”
“Like a date?” She was excited.
“Yes, like a date.” He smiled, making her heart flutter.
“Will you be back soon?” she asked when he walked to the door.
He stopped and looked at her. “I won’t be able to leave if you look at me like that.”
She blushed, enjoying the heat that crept up her cheeks. “I’ll be waiting.”
Akshara showered, and instead of wearing her pajamas, she chose to wear a long, cotton dress. She considered putting on her standard light makeup but decided against it for. She made a mental note to ask the makeup artist for tips and some product she could use for their dinner date tomorrow.
The food arrived, and so did Abhimanyu moments later. She stood smiling at him as he walked in and said, “Smells amazing in here.”
“It’s the food you ordered.” She smiled.
His eyes darkened as he moved closer and nuzzled the curve of her neck.
“I meant you.”
Her arms went around him automatically, and he held her to him, his face buried in her neck. Moments passed, and she did not want to move from him. She felt his stubble graze over her delicate skin, and the way his warm breath tickled her skin, she was in a state of bliss.
Her body came alive in his arms as he planted feather-light kisses before pulling back to look at her. “Let’s eat?”
“Yes, I’m hungry.”
They spent the next couple of hours talking, sharing stories about each other. She sat on the bed with her back against the headboard, and he sat on the chair at the foot of the bed, his legs stretched out to rest on one corner of the bed.
She was embarrassed to talk about how she was crushing on him as a teenager. She kept talking because of the gorgeous smile that played on his face.
“I have an idea,” he said halfway through their conversation about how she watched him sing on television.
“What?”
“Let’s pretend I am the eighteen-year-old who is singing on TV, and you are the girl who had a crush on me. What would you do?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “No, you are not.”
“Yes, I am. Come on, I am really curious what you would have said to me.”
She bit her lip and said, “I never intended to talk to you.”
He frowned. “Really?”
“Yeah, I told you, I wanted to kiss you.”
He smiled, his glorious eyes sparkling at her. “Even better.”
She shook her head. “I am not going to kiss you.”
“Why not? I am your crush, the guy who invaded your dreams.”
She laughed. “Invaded my dreams. Hardly.”
“C’mon, young Akshara, kiss me like you wanted to.”
She hesitated for a moment. “I will if you sing one of the songs you sang at the competition.”
His smile fell slightly, and he looked away, running his fingers through his hair, and her stomach twisted in a knot.
“You don’t need to sing one of the classical songs, just anything.”
He looked at her and smiled. He stood up, walking toward her to stand next to the bed.
“I am your crush, the eighteen-year-old who still knew how to sing a classical song, so he is going to.”
She smiled, standing up to loosely wrap her arms around him.
“For real?”
He responded by leaning closer to her and humming. Moments into the hum, she knew the song he was going to sing, and when he started singing, his voice was soft, but she heard him like he was singing into a microphone.
He held her to him as he sang in her ear, and all she could do was melt into his arms as happy tears rolled down her cheeks. She placed her ear to his chest and felt his heart thudding, the song drowning in the sound. His magical voice was what her mind heard, but her heart rejoiced the matching beat in his chest, and her body wrapped him in its warmth to do whatever it is that would please him.
The kiss.
She pulled to look into his eyes as he continued to sing softly. She went up on her toes to run her lips on the column of his neck, her tongue tasting him as she swirled the tip on his beating pulse. His voice wavered as she moved her palms over his chest before her fingers snaked into his thick hair to tug on it to pull him to her.
When their eyes met, he smiled the words of the song, slowing into a hum. She wrapped her other arm around his neck, her body sliding up against his to mash their lips together. She kissed him, and he responded to the caress of her lips by pulling her closer to him. She felt the shudders that passed though him as she nibbled his lower lip as her nails dug into his skin.
She ran her lips over his barely touching them and said between bated breaths, “I dreamed for years that I would kiss you, and you would suck my lips swollen.”
Her sweet seduction made him lose the ounce of control he had left in him.
“I want you.”
“I am right here,” she said, kissing him on his cheek, slowly running her mouth over his skin.
He hugged her, burying his face into her neck. “You are tired, you need to sleep.”
“Hold me while I sleep.” Her voice was shaky.
“I would love to,” he said, kissing the top of her head.
She climbed onto the bed and patted her side, smiling at him. “This side okay?”
“I want to be on your side.”
She was confused for a second but blushed when she realized he was messing with her with a play on words. “I want you on my side, too.”
He smiled, putting his phone and wallet on the side table before climbing onto the bed. “Don’t stay so far away from me, you wanted me to hold you.”
She moved closer to him on the mattress, a coy smile on her face.
“I’ve never done this before.”
“Me, neither.”He laughed at her somewhat shocked expression and added, “Never put a woman to sleep, not like this.”
She rolled her eyes, annoyed at the thought of other women he had known in the past. She shook her thoughts away and refused to let jealousy ruin her moments with him. She moved close to him and turned away, so her back was to his chest and brought his arm around her waist.
She took his hand to her lips and kissed it.
“Good night.”
“Sleep tight.”
More romance ahead
Love
Janus