Virika SS: Paradise in Your Eyes - Page 5

"Paradise in your eyes
Paradise, oh girl, you've got those loving eyes
Paradise (All in your eyes) in your eyes
Girl, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you"

"Virenji, look at this baby beanie, it's so cute!" she pointed at a small pink cap, edged with tulle roses.

"Shall we get it?" he asked, drawn to it, himself. He could just imagine placing it on their baby daughter...a tiny girl with her mother's grey eyes...

"But, how do we know if it will be a boy or a girl?" Jeevika sighed, gazing at it wistfully.

Viren had an idea. Noticing the other beanie- light green with a teddy bear stitched on the side- he bought both and handed them to his wife, "There you go, that way if it's a boy, he can wear this one and if it's a girl, she can wear the other."

Jeevika smiled widely, tucking them into her purse.

As they walked past a store of women's clothing, Viren eyed a midnight-blue evening gown with a sweetheart neckline. He nudged Jeevika, "I'm assuming you don't want me to get you one of those again?"

Recalling that experience, she laughed, shaking her head at him, "Virenji, the day you are comfortable walking around naked, will be the day I am comfortable wearing a western-styled dress."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "And that day will be the day I am comfortable seeing you in a western-styled dress."

She pulled away frowning, "You wouldn't like me in it?"

"I would love you in anything you wore. However, I think you're the most beautiful in your traditional saris and churidars. Would you be my Jeevika' without them?"

She smiled and he caught her hand with his, pulling her towards a shop with beautifully cut saris. "Here, let's try on some of these and I'll buy you one as a honeymoon present."

She held up her bags and motioned to his own, "And these weren't honeymoon presents?"

"They were my way of telling you how much I love you," he evaded her query with a sheepish grin.

She shook her head at him, but agreed to follow him into the shop. There were so many different patterns, colours, materials and cuts, they made her head spin. Viren deftly selected ten and asked her to choose, but she could only stare. They had to be quite expensive, they were all more formal than practical and she supposed she'd only wear one at a party or formal event.

Viren laughed at her indecision, "Pick your top three and I'll buy them."

"Nahi, Virenji,' she shook herself out of her daze, "Only one."

"Theek hai, then choose three to try on and we'll buy whichever one you like the best."

Selecting three that appealed to her the most, she disappeared into the change room. Viren stood outside waiting until she appeared.

"Virenji?" she stepped out a few minutes later, in a peacock blue silk, that faded to a shimmering green, sweeping the floor. She carried herself like a queen, he thought to himself, letting his gaze travel over her slowly, from her feet, along her body to her face.

She was blushing at his heated gaze; it felt as though he was undressing her with his eyes. "Do you like it?" she asked, reminding him of the reason they were actually here.

"Very much," he agreed fervently.

"Virenji, I still have two others to try on."

"If they all look as good as this one, I'd say let's take them all," he teased.

She headed back to the change room, still blushing; this time trying on a pale gold, diaphanous organza; this one had a short bodice done in metallic thread and sequins, and a pallu that was fixed at the shoulder, completely transparent over her midriff. If Viren had been staring at her with such intensity when she was wearing the silk, she had no idea how he might look at her now. She pulled back the curtain and he turned.

Viren was temporarily robbed of speech for the moment. It wasn't that the sari made her look more beautiful than she already was- he didn't think anything she wore could possibly enhance or diminish her appearance- but the cut of it, the design, was so alluring on her body, that after his first impression of it being utterly exquisite, quickly became replaced with the thought that he did not want any male over the age of thirteen seeing her in such provocative attire.

When he found his voice again, he said, "Go try on the other one."

"You don't like it," she frowned, turning to reveal the back of it that was, well...there was no back to it at all, curving over her hips sensuously.

"I-" his voice came out in a slightly strangled-sounding rasp and he had to clear his throat, "It's lovely, but we still haven't seen the other one yet." He needed to her to get as quickly out of the sight of the other male tourists in the shop as possible.

Giving him a strange look, she moved back into the change room and he leaned against the wall. The taxi driver had been right, when he had implied they behaved like a newly married couple. Never would he ever get enough of her. It had been as important that no other man saw her in that sari as him in that moment because he was still attempting to restrain himself from making love to her until they got back to their hotel suite.

"Virenji?" she called to him from the room.

"Haan, kya hua?" he asked.

"Can you come in for a moment?"

He entered the little room to see her in a deep purple chiffon, that hugged her curves from the top, to drape effortlessly around her feet, fading in pale lavender layers. This one was also sheer, but the bodice was thankfully cut lower over her midriff, iridescent with tiny Swarovski crystals that caught the light. But what drew his attention the most was how it accented her grey eyes. Eyes that reminded him of the calm before a storm, but in this dress, they were the storm, sparkling and tempestuous.

"Virenji, can you help with the back?" she asked, turning, unaware of his current thoughts as she struggled to fix her dori. And then he realized how troublesome this sari would be for him. Because the back of it, was entangled in a myriad of purple strings and knots and if his assumed correctly, this sari would be a hell of a lot more trouble taking off than putting on. Deciding to start from the top, he pulled on the dori, knotting it, as he worked his way down. But, when he got to the middle, he pulled a little more sharply than he intended, causing Jeevika to lean back into him.

Reminding himself firmly that they would be back in their suite soon, he continued down to her waist, but at that point she had leaned so far back that she could feel his uneven breathing along her neck, his fingers unsteadily caressing along the base of her spine, as he struggled with the last knot. When he finished, he couldn't resist slowly trailing his fingers back up, making her shiver.

She turned around, not meeting his eyes and asked, "Do you like this one?"

He wasn't done touching her, his fingers lightly tracing her exposed collarbone, along her neck; her eyes closing, unconsciously leaning towards him. How he would like to follow that path with his lips, but this was neither the time, nor the place. When he removed his hand and she opened her eyes again, he was stunned by the look in her eyes; dark, demanding and desirous and he wasn't sure if it was because of the way the colour enhanced them or because of her own turbulent emotions that he'd evoked.

"Take it," he murmured.

"What?" she seemed to have forgotten herself.

"The sari, I like this one the best."

"Oh, right..." she self-consciously took a step back, "I'll change out of it now?"

And then he realized he still had to actually untie the damn thing.

It was night and they were walking along the shore of the beach, hand-in-hand, barefooted.

"Virenji, would you mind if I asked to go home a day earlier?" Jeevika asked him quietly.

He looked surprised, "Why? Are you not enjoying Goa?"

"Oh, no," she assured him, "It's been amazing here. I love the peace and the beauty and the privacy, but I don't feel entirely comfortable with Vidhi at home. I want to be able to make sure she's completely okay; I want to be able to take care of her and our baby, myself. I mean, even if I can't conceive...I can at least do that," her voice trailed off at the end with a hint of sadness.

He tugged her close to him, saying fiercely, "Do you think that being unable to conceive, makes you any less? That it will detriment your ability to be a good mother?" he cupped her face in his hands, "Have I not proven to you that my love for you has in no way diminished?"

She nodded.

"Then how can you say that, as though you are somehow powerless. You are the mother here, Jeevika, don't ever forget that. The baby is yours and mine; nothing can take that away from you."

She hugged him tightly and he stroked her hair back, "I love you."

"I love you too, Virenji."

It had been so long since they had actually voiced their love for each other aloud, after all it didn't need to be said, but saying it now, made them both feel as young and innocent as they were the first time they'd said it to each other. And with that, Viren tugged Jeevika a little closer, so that her feet were resting on his and pulled her arms around his neck.

"Virenji, what are you doing?" she enquired.

He took a few steps forward, holding her tightly so she would not fall, "I am showing you that I am still as young in love as I was on our first honeymoon."

"I can see that," she laughed, "Unfortunately not in age."

He made a face, "Are you implying that I am old, Mrs. Vadhera?"

"It was an implication that you made," she teased.

"Really, now? And what does that say about you?"

"You implied it, not me. You tell me."

"I think," he took a larger step, making her shriek and lose balance, which he took as his opportunity to pull her closer to him, "my implication was that being young in love, you still want to kiss me as much as you did at the time of our wedding."

Her eyes widened, "Not much, then."

"Not much?" he growled, in teasing anger.

"You were the one who wanted to kiss me."

He raised an eyebrow, challengingly "Hmmn?"

He let his lips do what they had not been allowed to do at the shop; he kissed the base of her neck and slowly moved higher. Torturing her slowly. Whispering wicked things against her skin that made her hands tighten around his neck. And then he pulled back, only slightly, so that he was a breath away from kissing her.

"I've always been the one who wanted to kiss you," his lips brushed hers with the statement and she pressed forward, but he hung back just out of reach, "And you never said it, but we both know you've always wanted to kiss me too."

He kissed her gently and she responded with sweet enthusiasm; he lifted her up slightly against him, spinning her about, smiling against her lips.

"We can go home early if you want," he pulled back finally, setting her down on her feet.

"Are you sure?" she fingered the collar of his shirt.

"Yes, I'm sure." He understood her need to be close to her baby.

"Thank you, Virenji," she lifted her head up to kiss him again.

"If this will be your way of thanking me in the future, I'll happily do anything you ask."

She blushed, letting her head rest against his chest.

"Ek minute," he let go of her for a moment to bend down to the sand, scrawling, Viren loves Jeevika, as though he was no more than a schoolboy.

She laughed at him, "Is this your way of telling me you're still young at heart?"

"It's my way of telling the world how much I love you."

"You do know the ocean will wash it away."

"Of course it will. It's jealous that I get to love you forever." He looked back at her where she was standing, illuminated in the moonlight, like a Grecian goddess of the moon, her eyes the tempest he'd seen earlier. She truly was the storm, he realized.

Sparks and light. Rain and sea. Clouds and wind. She'd blown him down completely. And he was lost in the storm of her eyes. But, he'd gladly drown in her, all of her.

He loved her and he knew that she loved him too.

Because it was all in her eyes.

And he knew that even if he got caught in the tempest, he'd eventually wash up on the shore.