SS: The Love Loophole: Part 6 Updated Pg 52 (Complete) - Page 14

Originally posted by: poetic

The jhadoo scene made me cry alright, and also broke my nanha sa heart

I don't even know what this is ok...FYI I put in my cricket scene long before the show apparently did. I don't even know what happened with this but here it is. 😕

Part 2

--

Ragini paused to study the woman in the mirror. Sindoor, mangalsutra, a ghost of a smile playing at her lips. They were not mere symbols for her, but rather something she had lost the right to wear all those years ago. Only in her dreams did she don them again - and even those faded as time stretched on.

She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined his patient hands fixing the clasp around her neck, his warm breath blowing across her face in apology for the sindoor dotting her nose. She had accepted these gifts marking her as his, realizing that once again they would never be hers to keep.

And yet the way he had held her just now, marking her in an entirely different way, as a husband would...

And now she saw someone staring back at her she hadn't seen in a very long time. This Ragini looked...content.

--

Nachiket caught a glimpse of Ragini entering the kitchen just as Suhaani and Aagham took their seats at the table.

She avoided his eyes as she carried out more toast, spending extra time making sure everyone's glasses were refilled. "Mom," asked Suhaani. "Is there more sauce? This bottle is empty." She made a face at Ranbir who had dumped half the contents into his plate, where it sat untouched.

"Of course beta," Ragini smiled and retreated to the empty kitchen, away from Nachiket's inquisitive gaze.

He of course followed, blocking her path from the refrigerator.

"Let me help you with that," he said loudly as he grabbed the bottle from her hands and proceeded to twist it open.

She glared at him. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "This is your idea of not being suspicious?"

"What are you doing?" he retorted. "You're completely avoiding me. That's not acting natural."

"Oh, and you staring at me is?"

He paused. "Point taken." And then grinned. "But I've always liked watching you, so yes completely natural."

She rolled her eyes and bit down on the smile threatening to emerge. "No more funny business," she warned. "And fix your shirt."

He glanced down at the empty buttonhole, third from the top. "Too bad my hands are full," he sighed. At her look, he added, "Please."

Ragini pursed her lips and quickly undid the first two buttons. As she pulled off the loose dangling thread, she resisted the temptation to linger on the exposed skin and measure his broad shoulders with her fingers. Before she could pull away, Nachiket used his free hand to grab her wrists and hold them against his chest, dropping a kiss on her knuckles. "Thank you," he winked before making his way back to the table.

It was a simple gesture that she knew came easily to him and his flirtatious nature. But her skin still felt warm at his touch and for the second time in as many minutes, she couldn't help but smile.

--

The rest of the day seemed destined to pass uneventfully, until Aagham convinced his siblings, along with Karthik, to partake in a game of cricket in the small park near their apartment.

"It's not the same in America," he complained, and neither his brothers nor his sisters could find anything better to occupy their time with for the next few hours.

"Dad too," said Aarav.

"And Mom," Suhaani and Ranbir chimed in simultaneously.

Though Ragini protested, she could not find the strength to deny Aagham's pleading eyes even in the face of Ranbir's cold attitude. Pam remained steadfast in her refusal, stating that if she played they would all have to carry her home on a stretcher.

"Why home?" asked Nachiket. "We would just carry you to the hospital."

The kids snickered. "Shut up, Neil," she glared at him and he ducked at the subsequent pillow headed in his direction.

On their way to the park, Ragini and Neil watched their children run along ahead of them, teasing each other about their athletic prowess. "You just do the fielding," Ranbir told Suhaani, which prompted Nishi to defend her younger sister. Their voices carried all the way back to the parents and Nachiket tried to commit it all to memory - the dusty lane, the sun beating down, the heft of the bats on his shoulder. The echo of his children's laughter. And Ragini by his side, her small hand tucked in against his bicep.

"Listen," she squeezed his arm. "Don't go too overboard, ok? We're not as young as we used to be."

He feigned offense at her words. "Speak for yourself - I can still teach these kids a thing or two about cricket." She shook her head at his stubbornness. "Besides," he leaned over until his lips were hovering over her ear. "They say with age comes wisdom and experience."

The hint of a promise in his whisper caused her to duck her head, though she soon recovered enough to raise an eyebrow. "Gained a lot of experience these past few years, have you?"

His eyes widened at her suggestion. "Of course not. I've been much too busy to play cricket." She laughed freely, and it was yet another memory he wished he could bottle up.

--

How she found herself standing with a bat in her hand, she wasn't sure. But there was Ranbir in front of her, tossing the ball up in the air in anticipation of his next victim.

"No Ragini," said Nachiket. "Hold it like this."

She tried to mimic his stance. "Like this?"

"No fair," called Aarav.

"Enough Aarav," yelled Karthik. "It was your idea to play girls versus guys and you put me on the girls' team...as if that's fair!"

"No," Nachiket studied her again, deep in concentration. "Here - " suddenly his arms were around hers and his chest was warm against her back as he enveloped her.

"Nachiket," she ground out carefully, trying to keep a straight face. "The kids."

He ignored her, covering her hands with his as he turned the bat to face the right direction. "Okay. Now lean forward."

"What?" She tipped her head forward, grateful for her long hair shielding her face from the onlookers.

He applied gentle pressure against her denim clad leg with his thigh, widening her stance. "Lean. Forward." His voice was firm.

Ragini did as he asked, trying her best to ignore the pleasant friction of his body against hers.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed, jumping back to examine his handiwork. And then had the nerve to wink at her.

She rolled her eyes at him as she brushed back her hair, determined to exact revenge one way or another.

--

Pam apparently had the same agenda as she answered the door on their return, taking in the tired and sweaty group.

"Kids," she chided. "How could you do this to your father?"

Nachiket slowly made his way inside, leaning on his bat.

"Don't you know he's quite old now?" she clucked in sympathy. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Not old, Pam," defended Ragini. "Wise and experienced."

Their laughter followed him all the way down the hall. He couldn't remember the last time they had agreed on something, let alone laughed about it. Worth it, he thought to himself.

--

Nachiket stepped out of the washroom gingerly, the hot shower having done little to ease his aching muscles. He donned a pair of pajamas and began digging through his pile in search of a less constrictive shirt.

"Nachiket," Ragini called softly as she entered the room. He turned to find her sitting on the bed with a glass bottle and towel in hand. "Come here." She spread the towel over the bedsheet in front of her and motioned for him to join her.

He paused, acutely aware of his current state of undress, not wanting to make her uncomfortable when she was only trying to help.

"It's ok," she said. "It's easier this way."

He made his way to the bed and lay with his chest on the towel. She sat cross-legged next to him, spreading the warm oil on her hands before starting at the base of his neck.

Nachiket turned his head to the side, a sigh escaping him at the sensation of her steady hands and the heat burrowing deep into his muscles. The subtle scent of sandalwood filled the air and he felt the stress of the day melting away. His eyes drifted closed.

"Nice to see the kids enjoying themselves today," she said as she moved lower to a stubborn knot.

"Hmm."

"Sometimes I forget they haven't all grown up together all these years."

"They've adjusted well," he agreed. "Remember how worried we were."

"Hmm," she responded, and he wondered if she was thinking of the last time they had been so close to rekindling their relationship, before Aarav's situation had blown up in their faces.

He hissed as she hit a particularly sensitive spot. "What was the need for you to go so crazy today?" Nachiket found himself unable to answer when he felt her breath caress the bruised skin on his lower back, exhaling forcefully at the contrast between pain and pleasure. "You didn't have to dive to catch my ball."

He chuckled. "I didn't think you'd hit it that far, otherwise I wouldn't have had to dive." He tried to take his mind off her fingers sliding against his skin, again and again, as she continued her way down. "Ranbir gave you an easy ball."

Ragini paused, trying not to read too much into his statement, though her heart had recognized the gesture from her first-born for what it was. "Maybe. Maybe it was your coaching," she teased. She stopped before reaching the low dip of his spine above his pajamas and fought the urge to follow the contours of his muscled back. "Any better?"

He slowly rolled to his side until his head was cradled in her lap, careful to keep the towel between his back and their sheets. "Still hurts in a few places."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Where?"

"I would tell you, but..."

"But what? Tell me." Even as he eyed her upside down, there were few things more alluring to him than Ragini on a mission.

"It will only feel better if you kiss it," he replied with the widest, most innocent gaze he could muster.

A smile tugged at her lips. "Is that so?" She traced the shell of his ear with her finger.

"Trust me, I'm a doctor."

"Ok, Doctor." Her voice lowered until he could feel the hum travel through him. "Show me where it hurts."

He obliged, his breath catching as she leaned forward, her mouth traveling from the edge of his jaw to his pulse point underneath. "Better?" she whispered.

Next she moved to the hollow of his neck, alternately soothing and igniting his heated skin with light feathery brushes of her lips and tiny nips of her teeth. "Now?" she hummed.

He was beyond words, his head swimming in the sensation of her all around him. Finally he could do nothing more than offer himself to her, and as she claimed his lips her curtain of dark hair fell over them. They took their time adjusting to the novelty of the position but he soon needed more, propping himself up on his elbows before twisting around to pin her between his arms.

Backed up to the headboard, she watched his eyes take her in as he stalked closer, making her rethink the wisdom of her plan. As he closed the distance, she kissed him slowly and thoroughly once more just because she could.

He opened his eyes in a daze, the predator having become the prey.

"Nachiket..." she whispered. "Now that you're feeling better...I'm going to go set your dinner plate."

He blinked.

She pushed him back with a nudge of her hand. "Come out when you're dressed...and ready."

He blinked again.

"Don't keep me waiting, coach!" She threw him a shirt and had the nerve to wink at him as she sailed out the door.

To be continued...

AN: Sorry about that...if you like you can end it where Ragini says "show me where it hurts" and use your imagination 😉

Originally posted by: metoyou

I was being attacked when I had left Ragini like that...

And look at poor Nachiket here...

Originally posted by: poetic

Shut up Narges 😆