FF - The Promise - Thread I - Chapter 1 to 68 - Page 72

Chapter 56

Madhu crawled into the tent first and waited for Rishab to follow her. "God, sitting and resting feels so good," she muttered.


"Go on and get comfortable, Madhu."


"Alright." She placed their sleeping bags on the ground, one on top of the other and then she slowly made her way out of her outer gear. She lay down on her stomach and sighed. "I'd prefer to pull off more clothes, but it's freezing."


"I'll have you warm in no time," Rishab promised as he finally got his boots off. "Although this massage may break a speed record."


"Speed record?"


"Fastest massage in the history of the massage," he joked.


"I'm not gonna fall asleep," she denied.


"Maybe not, but I know it's cold and you'll probably be much happier in the sleeping bag than you are on top of it." "We'll see," she mumbled.


He shrugged out of his coat and added it to the pile of clothes on the other side of the small tent. "Want me to use those hand warmers again?"


"Are ya hands cold?" "Somebody's tired," he teased. "No, to use on your back like I did last time."


"Uh-huh, I know what you meant, but asked you if your hands are cold or not 'cause if yes, then use them, if not, your hands on my back will be good."


"Gotcha," he said as he moved to straddle her hips. He started by working the muscles through several layers of material, letting his hands warm up as she started to relax.


"Mmm-hmm." Madhu made some sounds of pleasure that had him sweating. "Feels good."


Rishab reached up to tug his collar away from his neck for a second, drawing in a deep breath before he slid his hands up under her clothes to settle on her back. His hands rubbed her flesh, adding pressure to work the tension out of her tired muscles.


Madhu shivered when his hand touched her skin and the cold wasn't the reason for it. She bit her bottom lip when his fingers travelled down her sides. Oh God, she thought, keep talking, Rishab, distract me.


Rishab was trying to keep his mind off of the fact that he had his hands on Madhu's hot little body, but his brain wasn't interested in cooperating. He cleared his throat. "So, um... what advice did you give Abby?"


Yes, Madhu thought as he started to talk. "Just assured her that Akash was into her and that she should go for it."


"Uh-huh, interesting," he said and smirked.


"Yeah Akash kinda fits her, you know? And I'd be perfectly happy to have that dumb ass ex-boyfriend permanently outta her life."

His hands had stopped massaging and now he was just caressing her skin without even realizing it.

"Yeah, I know... Akash and her really fit together."

She noticed that his touches had become more like a caress and decided that she liked it.


"You given anymore thought to our current situation? I know we are taking things slow, but do we have to take it this slow. I feel like a child who has planted seeds in the garden and waits for its germination."


Madhu's body tensed. "Uh, a little... yeah... Why?"


Rishab automatically added pressure to his touch when he felt her tense up. "Just wondering if you'd thought about it." He leaned back and placed his palms on his thighs, frustrated beyond words at the situation. He knew that she wanted to go slow but he too wanted to have his say in the speed of things. Maybe get a little levey on some things. He didn't want to push her into anything, but atleast they could talk about it right?. Alright, you know what... just put it out there and see what happens. "Madhu..." he swallowed hard, "would you look at me for a minute?"


"Um..." she could feel her heartbeat rising to an uncomfortable rate, "sure." He lifted himself up enough so she could turn over under him.


"There's this um... this thing I've been meaning to talk to you about, but I'm not exactly sure how you're gonna take it."


She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. "Just say it, Rishab."


He took her hands and pulled her to a sitting position, releasing them to reach up and frame her face as he looked into her surprised eyes. He leaned in slowly, giving her plenty of time to pull away, and when she didn't he covered her mouth with his, taking her lips in a slow, deep kiss.


Madhu closed her eyes slowly when his lips touched hers. Her hand automatically came up around his neck.


Rishab angled his head to take the kiss deeper, groaning happily when her tongue tangled with his and she took control. His left arm wrapped around her waist and his right hand pressed flat against the ground behind her as he slowly lowered her back down to the sleeping bag.


She grabbed his collar to hold him where he was while her lower body pressed up against him when the need to feel him everywhere became too much.


He broke the kiss to meet her darkened gaze. It was impossible to ignore the way she was moving against him but he had to get himself under control for a moment. "Madhu," he panted, "God, I love you so much and I don't wanna f**k up the chance to be with you, so if you're not ready for this or you're not sure, tell me now."


She bit her bottom lip when she saw the way he was looking at her, his lips slightly swollen, his eyes dark and intense. "I'm just..." she swallowed, "I'm just a little scared about this," she admitted.


Okay, scared he could deal with, he thought. She wasn't rejecting him or the idea of them together. "Alright," he whispered, shifting so that he was lying on his side next to her. His left hand was curled around her neck, his thumb stroking her jaw line in a repetitive, calming motion. "Talk to me, tell me what you're scared of." He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "I want to be the guy who you can share every secret and embarrassing thing that's ever happened... the guy who can share those same things with you." He smiled slowly. "Chances are good that whatever you're scared of, I've had the same fears about you."


She snuggled closer to him. "It's just... I'm wondering what will happen if this doesn't work out, Rishab. We come from different worlds. And most of all that worries me is that the past might become a hindrance in our future."


"Okay, leave it to you to pick out the worst case scenario first," he teased. "No, this thing doesn't come with any guarantee that it'll work out... and I don't know what'll happen if it doesn't. Would we still be friends, would we hate each other? I don't know the answers to those questions. All I know is there is nothing in either of our pasts or in our present that can make me love you less. Right now the only thing I can promise you is that I love you and there is nothing on this Earth I want more than the chance to love you and make you happy."


She nodded and smiled a little. "Well, now that we have kissed like we did... it's too late anyway." She let her hand wander over his jaw. "I know this, you know, a few minutes ago, wasn't going slow, but... let's take it slow, okay? Please?"


"Ok Madhu. How about if we strip down and get in this sleeping bag and actually sleep warm tonight?" He grinned and shook his head when she raised one eyebrow. "No funny stuff, promise. We'll take things as slow as you want."


She nodded. "Sounds good to me."


He started to finish getting undressed, but paused to look at her. "Madhu... is it okay if I kiss you?"


She nodded slightly and squeezed his hand.


He chuckled. "Okay. Caz not making love to you is bad enough, not touching or kissing you would surely get me membership at the hermit convention." He hurried to pull his clothes off until he was down to his boxers and he got into the sleeping bag. His gaze followed Madhu as she started taking her clothes off and he smiled when she looked at him. "Is it okay for me to watch? Or would you be more comfortable if I look the other way?"


She shook her head, "I trust you, Rishab. You don't need to turn away."


She got out of her clothes and then crawled into his sleeping bag, snuggling close to him. "Madhu, you are a good kisser. And I want full rights to those lips and put up a 'Trespassers will be Shot' board on the outside."


"Adam's a great friend and you know I love him, but that was not the kiss I wanted."


"Uh-huh, you better not kiss him or anyone else besides me again."


"No? Did it make you jealous?"


"Uh-huh, well, I'm pretty dedicated to the whole one guy/one girl thing, so I'd appreciate it if you'd avoid kissing anyone else from now on too."


"Not even Abby?" she teased.


"Hmm... no, not even."

Rishab couldn't believe the fact that he was in the most beautiful place on the planet with the most beautiful girl in his arms. This is how he would like to be found as he breathe his last.

"Madhu..?" Rishab called out to her softly. "Hmm..." Madhu turned her head slightly towards him.

"Can you tell me something about you. I want to know everything that makes you...you."

"Hmm.. Let me see. Besides painting, well I love the 3 R's ' Reading, Riting and ..."

"And...?" Rishab asked wide eyed in anticipation. Madhu elbowed him in the ribs. "Relaxing with a hot cup of coffee with my friends."

"Hey!! A guy can hope."

"By the way what were you hoping for?" Madhu asked for curiousty sake.

Rishab smirked. "Romancing with Rishab, Reproducing with Rishab and Repeating the cycle all over again with Rishab."

Madhu rolled her eyes and decided that ignoring him was in her best interest. So she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

Oh so she is going to pretend to sleep huh? Two can play at that game. "Madhu I was wondering..." he said slowly moving his fingers to her waist. "Are you ticklish?" And started tickling her. Soon he found her most ticklish spot which found Madhu laughing and crying her eyes out.

"Rishab... stop...puh..lese" Madhu cried out through her bouts of laughter.

"Do you give?" Rishab asked laughing. "I give, I give." Madhu yelled.

"So," Rishab said as he stopped tickling her. "So" Madhu said while she wiped away her tears.

"If you ever pretend to sleep on me or ignore me again, I might have to unleash the Tickle Monster. And now that I know your sweet spot.." Rishab ended whispering the last few words near her ear seductively.