Here is the next chapter guys. Hope you enjoy it
Match Made in Heaven -Chapter 12
Shlok snapped his head up, doing his best to put a fully awake, cognizant expression on his face. He blinked, and realized he'd fallen asleep during the meeting. Not that he really thought it was any big deal, the meeting was boring him to death, and if he fell asleep in it, well whose fault was it, really?
He didn't expect Nathalia's dad would see the point in his deductive reasoning. So he just got up and left.
**
"Why is it, whenever I'm having fun, it's considered immature? (Sojal's mom Jaya had once again advised her that girls shouldn't laugh so much)? Astha snapped to herself out loud early that evening after another session of dirty gardening.
"You know, I was just thinking the exact same thing," came a lazy drawl from nearby.
Astha turned to face Shlok, again feeling a fleeting embarrassment at the state he was seeing her in.
"Why do you keep popping up when I'm looking my absolute worst?" Astha snapped again, still irritated from the comments Jaya had been throwing at her earlier. She'd been so angry, she'd stayed out gardening until the gardener had left, fearing her ability to control herself if she managed to get within a five foot radius of Jaya's throat.
"Oh, I don't think this is your absolute worst in fact, I remember this time when"
Astha shot the smirking boy a look and stopped in mid sentence, looking amused.
She ran her eyes over him, noting the absence of his business suit. He still wore his work shirt, though they were open. He had his hands jammed into his pockets, which of course pulled the nearly threadbare cloth tight across his well, drew her attention down to ..."
Flustered, Astha ripped her eyes away, only to hear him laugh softly.
"I have to go" she said after a moment, and then asked, "Aren't you working late tonight?"
The boy shrugged carelessly. "I canceled it, I figured I'd spend some time with you."
Astha's tongue-tied itself into some pretty impressive knots before she could speak.
Her heart had melted, and was lying in a squashy, panting lump somewhere in the pit of her stomach.
"Oh well, I was just going to finish some gardening but I don't think that is the sort of think that you would want to be doing."
Shlok sauntered forward, and she dropped her eyes as she often found herself doing.
"Oh, I don't know... you'd be surprised what I'd do to have an excuse to spend more time around you..."
Astha's heart was now lying somewhere in the vicinity of his feet. She took a deep breath as his hands left his pockets, and lifted to the now loose, messy braid hanging over her shoulder.
He worked the tie on its end out, and then pulled apart the tangled plaits.
Her head was bent, and she was feeling incredibly sleepy and relaxed by the time he'd finished combing her hair out with his fingers, arranging it across her shoulders and down her back to his satisfaction before pulling his hands away.
"You should always wear your hair down, Astha... it's beautiful." He whispered near her ear, making her skin tingle.
"A-all right," she managed to croak, ignoring the fact that she'd been threatening to cut off the annoying mass to Joti not two days before.
She closed her eyes as he lowered his head to hers, and waited expectantly for his kiss. Astha wanted nothing more in that moment than for him to pick her up and take her off somewhere private so they could-
"F*ck!"
Her eyes flew open, and she gasped, startled by the harshly voiced word. "What?" She'd been going to think, 'so they could 'be alone'..
Shlok took a step back from her, his lips twisted into a wry, albeit frustrated smile.
"Sorry, I just couldn't help noticing, we seem to have a bit of a field invasion on our hands."
Astha blinked, still feeling warm and fuzzy and turned her head to see Varad stalking towards them, a regretful, more than slightly annoyed looking Joti at his back.
Astha rolled her eyes, feeling the desperate need to growl. Well, there went the fuzziness. She narrowed her eyes, and reached out, taking Shlok's hand.
"Come on, let's go."
**
Astha plunged her gloved hands deep into the soft soil in the small garden. "
"Well, I think that's enough," she sighed, and stripped off her gloves.
Shlok snorted from beside her, and pulled off his own gloves.
Astha looked over at him, trying not to laugh. "You've got dirt on your nose."
He made a disgusted noise and lifted his hand to rub at it.
"No, you've missed it - hold still." She used the cuff of her shirt to wipe the smudge of dirt away, and then grinned at him.
"You know, I was expecting to hear you say something cutting about not being surprised to see a Kiloskar digging in the dirt," she finally said, and turned away to pick up the heavy bucket, and carry it up to the storage area.
"Well, I could have - but I didn't, did I?" Shlok's fingers brushed hers as he tugged the handle from her grip, and carried it through the door.
He reappeared a moment later, and she was still staring at him.
"What?"
"What did you do with Agnigotri?"
"Stop it, " he muttered, actually looking embarrassed.
"I'm only teasing you. It's okay to laugh, you know."
Shlok sighed. "Are we done here? It's getting dark."
Astha tried to push away the disappointment she felt, and started to walk away. "Yes, I guess we'd better get back up to the mansion--"
He caught her arm, tugging her back. "You're kidding, right? There's no way I'm letting you go that easily."
She stopped, and frowned up at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
He smiled at her, but not in a nice way.
"C'mon, Astha - you don't really want to go back up there right now, do you?"
She swallowed at the soft, cajoling purr in his voice, and found herself shaking her head.
He took her hand, twining their fingers together, and took a few steps, giving her a gentle tug.
"Come walk down by lake that is near by with me, and then I'll let you go."
Astha walked after him.
"Promise?"
She'd meant it as a joke, but she got a nasty chill when he turned to look back at her, his eyes reflecting the fiery colors of the twilight sky.
"Sorry, Astha - I don't make promises."
She wasn't very surprised when they reached the trees near the edge of the lake, to have him suddenly stop and pull her into his arms.
She wanted to tell him to stop, to point out the fact that she positively filthy, and he couldn't possibly have any interest in her, but all she could do was lean into him and hold onto his shirtfront for dear life.
Shlok discovered he'd never wanted anything so badly in his entire life as he wanted Astha Kiloskar just then.
It wasn't her looks, or even her willingness, really, that was appealing to him so. It was what she always revealed about herself as he kissed her. He'd had plenty of women, so most of the time it was old hat with him - but everything seemed new when it came to Astha.
He deepened the kiss, suppressing a satisfied smile when she went limp against him, her breath sighing against his cheek.
This was what he loved about her - there was no deceit, no teasing, or pretty show of reluctance... her emotions were real, everything about her was real...
Loved.
Warning bells clashed insanely inside his head, and he tore his mouth from hers to stare down at her beautiful, flushed face, and closed eyes in dismay.
Fate wouldn't be so cruel...
He looked at her again, clenching his jaw against the sudden, unfamiliar roil of emotions in his chest.
She opened her eyes slowly, after a moment, her velvety brown eyes slightly unfocused, and holding an unspoken question.
He tried to reason with himself, tried to remain cold and calm against the fierce surge of longing coursing through him.
"Shlok,"
He stared into Astha's eyes as she flattened her small, warm hands against his chest, and stroked her palms slowly, innocently down his sides to clasp her arms around his slim waist.
Shlok swallowed a groan as she pressed her hips against him, innocently. He wanted desperately to take what she was offering but...
He extracted himself from her slowly, taking a clumsy step back.
She frowned at him, her hands moving to clasp her upper arms.
"Shlok? What is it? What's wrong?"
"Go away, Astha."
She blinked at him, her lips parting slightly. "What?"
"Are you deaf? I told you to go away," he snapped, his words harsher then he intended.
She bit her lip, and shook her head. "No."
"Damn it, Astha - you have no idea what I'm contemplating right now... you should be running, screaming."
"I'm not going anywhere, Shlok."
He stepped back up to her and gave her a hard, deep kiss, venting his frustration on her lips.
"Afraid yet?"
She shook her head. "I think you're the one who's afraid, Shlok."
"I'm afraid for you, right now, to be quite honest!" He snarled, his voice raising.
"I'm not scared of you."
"Then you should be." Shlok raked a hand through his hair and cut his eyes at her threateningly when she didn't immediately move.
"Go back to the house, Astha."
"No!"
"My God, you're a pain in the ass!" He found himself roaring in pure aggravation.
"Stop shouting at me!" She yelled back, her expression fierce, her face flushed.
Shlok took a deep breath.
"Don't you ever get tired of fighting to stay alone?"
He frowned at her through his hair. "What are you going on about?"
She walked forward and grabbed his hand, shaking her head at him.
"You think you're the only one who's been thrown off by this? What do you think I did when I finally admitted to myself that I loved you? I didn't run about jumping for joy, you know!"
"What -- oh, no, I'm not in love with you... you can get that thought right out of your head, commoner ---"
"Reverting to your old ways, I see! It was fine when it was just a game to you, wasn't it? But now, when you start realizing you have feelings for me--"
"Astha-"
"No, you hate the fact that you just realized that you're just as human as the rest of us, don't you?"
"The only thing I'm feeling for you right would be better described with you preferably on your back, so if you know what's good for you, you'll bloody well lay off!"
Shlok fisted his hands, watching some alarm at last cross her pretty features, her hand coming up to touch her throat.
He cursed and stalked past her before he gave into temptation, furious that everything had backfired on him so badly.
"If you walk away from this right now, Shlok, I'll hate you forever," she said from behind him.
He paused only long enough to look back at her over his shoulder.
"I think I'll get over it," he replied with a smirk that he knew would infuriate her, and walked away.
To be cont...
Shiv Shakti
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