Quiet places
She almost doesn't get it the first time it happens. Her palm slips on his sweat soaked torso and the precarious balance she has been maintaining, fails. He huffs out a muffled 'oof' when her elbow connects the side of his ribs but he completely stills when her palm lands on his throat and curls as she desperately searches for a purchase. He goes quiet, pupils blown wide - his whiskey colored eyes now just a ring around black pupils he and completely pliant under her, his body loosened from every tension that's made its way between his muscles over the years. She squeezes her palm around his neck watching in fascination when his eyes flutter close. A broken moan escapes his open mouth as if he is sending her a silent request to give him salvation. She doesn't understand what's going on but ends breaks the spell he is under as she picks herself up and giggles an apology.
His soft words of encouragement and gentle teasing has already dissolved the stilled look from his eyes and the pliancy of his shoulders gained back the taut tension that always buzzed below the surface. She catalogs his reaction under her minute ministrations for further analysis and lets out a moan that matches his, when his palms curl around her hips and pulls her down. That small action has a great impact on the rest of the night in the way he curls around her tighter than usual, as if loose limbs would set her free from the cage of his body. His possessiveness was always above normal but on that night his possessiveness was more of a vulnerability that she didn't know existed in him. She still has no idea what changed between them but she is lulled to sleep with the solid length of him pressing against her, his arms around her waist and their legs entwined.
The second time it happens, they are both angry. Early in their engagement they had collectively decided not to go to bed angry.
It was one of times Arnav had laughed freely, seeing her splutter like an otter after pushing her into water. Aftermath of that incident had him oddly chatty and her a mute listener. The role reversal had fluttered her stomach and it was one of her fondest memories of them being together. Clumps of sand clung near her neckline making him double over in laughter.
"We have our differences Khushi," he began softly, taking her hand in his, "and I know we will have our arguments every now and then but I don't want to us go to bed angry."
"What happens if we go to bed angry?" Her eyes are wide and mouth pink. She looks like an artist's muse.
"Then what transpires through the night is a natural disaster. You know how a lonely mountain seems like a place of comfort and get away from the buzz of daily life? When nature is angered, the lonely mountain becomes a volcano, destroying lives around it." He pauses to drink the look on her face. The open smile stretches her lips wide, errant drops of water glinting on her cheek bones. "I want us to nurture Khushi." He finishes with a squeeze of her hand. When she squeezes back, he knows she has accepted his request and no further discussions were necessary.
Arnav's issues with trust isn't new to her but being married to him for almost four months and knowing him for equally longer time gave her an indication that things between them had changed. The light from the lamp is convoluted, the tie haphazardly thrown on it making odd pattern of shadow on the wall. His shirt lays hidden beneath her sari, her blouse somewhere underneath the blue chiffon sari. Dinner was a spectacular failure when words were misinterpreted and actions mistaken. He crowds her against his table, anger sizzling on his skin as he lashes out one harsh word after another. She was never the one who simply took what people threw at her; if life threw lemons, she didn't make lemonades but sold back the lemons to the same people who threw it her and made a profit. The table's edge digs to her back creating a friction that she finds wildly inappropriate but the annoyance she feels at the situation at hand trumps everything else.
"Shut the fu*k up." Khushi growls at him. Their bodies are hardly touching and when she pushes back against his advances, Arnav's eyes widens slightly and words die in his mouth. Sudden silence echoes the rippling tension between them - in the space between their bodies and fire on their skins. He runs his tongue on his lower lip, wetting them as an invitation. Warm heat settles in her stomach when he takes a step back as she takes a step forward. She curls her hand around his neck and squeezes it tightly. Her nails make crescent moon indentation on his sensitive skin. It gets her a throaty groan that goads her. She moves till there is only an inch of space between them and brings her free hand to cup his jaw. She is surprised at the lack of reaction as this has never happened between them before. She has always been the one on the other side of conversation - the receiving one. He bows his head when she leans further into his space and bites his ear lobe.
Everything that happens next throws her off.
He looks at her reverently without a trace of anger in them. He bits his lower lip and takes slow shallow breaths clenching his fist on his thighs.
"May I touch you please?" He asks desperately.
Khushi is shocked at the request and doesn't understand what is going on. She swallows when she sees the hopeful look on her husband's face, puzzled beyond belief.
"Of course you can." She exclaims, takes a step back and observes his entire stance.
"Thank you." His voice is grateful as if she has given him the greatest gift in the world.
He is gentle with her. His movements are fluid and his words - dreamy. She sees stars behind her eyelids and is loose limbed by the end. He arranges himself around her like a human blanket and tells her a story of a heart broken star in an old universe.
She isn't surprised to find tear stains on her cheeks the next morning when she wakes up.
Edited by RockBarbie - 10 years ago
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