Chapter 67: What's Love Got to do With
It? – Part 8
By the time they
reached home, she was drowsy from the heat of Gauri's poison plant and the
blanket that she had so thoughtfully wrapped around herself to protect Shashank
from her libidinal impulses. To say this
plan backfired would be the understatement of the year. Because as drowsy as she was, she could not
move a single limb, much less muster up the energy to open the car door or move
to get out of the vehicle. And thus, it
was with a peculiar sense of deja vu that she was lifted into his arms and
carried inside her house once the car stopped.
Rather than take her
upstairs, he carried her into the kitchen to place her on the dining table
before going to the refrigerator. She
thought her skin was going to burn off and finally managed to move the blanket
off of her, which promptly fell off the table, likely trying to get as far away
as possible from all the sexual angst and heat that was scorching its previous
occupant. She had worn a long dress with
an exceptionally low cleavage in preparation for her seduction earlier that
night, but even that was proving to be more cloth on her skin that her body
could handle. And so, sitting on that
dining table and having lost all sense of her surroundings with the exception
of the unbearable heat of her body, she lifted up the hem of her dress until it
hung off the edge of her knees. She
leaned over to rest her left cheek against her bent knees as she pulled her
hair to one side and let the low back of her dress let in some much needed air.
She looked towards the refrigerator and saw
Shashank grab something out of the freezer before turning around. His gait slowed momentarily when he saw her
posture, but he resumed it without delay and was by her side with what she now
saw was ice.
"Oh thank you God!" She remarked in relief as she straightened
and grabbed the ice tray to dump it over herself.
"Thalia!" he said in
agitation as he tried to pick out the ice cubes that were now haphazardly
rolling down her body.
"No!" She reached for the ice cubes that he had managed
to take back by grabbing his hand and bringing it back to her body.
He resisted, which
made her only forceful in jerking his hand back towards her. Even though the ice was melting rapidly, he
would not let it go and so she finally dragged his hand down from her neck and
down her decollete, closing her eyes in ecstasy as she felt both the relief the
ice offered and the pleasure of having him touch her, however inadvertently it
may be.
When she finally
opened her eyes, she found him watching her with an intensity that she had not
seen before. She looked away, not being
able to hold his gaze, and quickly got off the table and ran from the kitchen
and up her stairs to her room, locking the door behind her.
She stood against the
door with her hand over her heart as she tried to take deep breaths. When she felt calm enough, she immediately
rushed over to open all the windows the room.
The AC would have been better, but she couldn't abide the feeling of
being in the closed-in room without any air coming in from the outside.
The second order of
business was to find something a bit more airy to wear and for that she rushed
over to her closet, going through the outfits hanging there one by one. Everything small was too tight and stretchy
and she couldn't even think of anything too tight right now without feeling
like she would keel over. She finally
found a cotton sari hanging in the corner and reached for it, she didn't even
know why, other than the fact that the blouse left very little to the
imagination, having a tie in both the front and the back. But as an outfit to ward off heat, it was the
height of impracticality, but she still wanted to wear it for some reason.
Once she had wrapped
it around herself, she walked to the bathroom to wet a small towel with cold water
and pressed it to her neck and forehead as she walked over to sit by the window
ledge where she usually sat. But sitting
didn't help at all, because then she became so restless with everything that
her body felt that she thought that she was going to jump out of her skin.
Within a half hour,
even pacing the room with the wet towel pressed to her neck, face, and belly
didn't help. She was seriously
considering filling the tub with cold water and immersing herself in it, but
the thought held little appeal now. What
she really wanted to do was open her bedroom door and go down to the kitchen to
see…
No, there was nothing
to see there. She just wanted more ice.
How could he leave her like this?
What could he do anyways?
Couldn't he just…?
No!
He couldn't.
Why not?
Shut up!
Okay, she was going
nuts. She really was. She fell back on her bed and clutched her
pillow as a sudden wave of arousal hit her.
She was going to kill Gauri!
She just wanted some
ice. That's all she wanted, she told
herself as she picked up the phone to dial.
"Hello…" He answered on the second ring.
"If you are still
here, would you please get me some ice?'
He didn't say yes
immediately, but waited a beat to ask, "Is that all you want?"
Another wave of
arousal shot through her as she remembered her dream suddenly.
"Yes, just ice. Please hurry."
She waited by the
door for some time and when she still didn't hear him knock, she turned back to
the room to call him again to ask what was taking so long.
And that's when she
saw him. He was sitting on the window
ledge that he had climbed through, the ice tray in his hands.
"What the hell?" she
felt angry suddenly. "Why can't you just
use the door?"
"It's locked." He said,
making no attempt to come any closer to her.
"Oh…" she felt
stupid now. Of course. She had locked it.
She walked over to
him slowly, feeling as if any sudden movements may send her tumbling into his
arms.
When she reached
him, she put her hands out for the tray and he gave it over, making no attempts
to touch her.
She wanted to push
him off the ledge for being so dispassionate and emotionless when she was a
veritable mass of arousal and confusion.
She took the tray of
ice and walked back into the room, setting it down on the small table by her
bed. Then she took a cube and slowly ran
it down the side of her neck…. Her back
was turned to him, so she couldn't see if there was any change in his
expression. Bus she could hear nothing
at all either, nothing like fidgeting or subtle movements or even any change in
his breathing.
She grabbed her mass
of curls and tied it up in an unruly bun, letting a few tendrils curl at her
nape in just the way that made men want to move them aside and press their lips
there.
But of course, no
change from the rock of a man behind her, whose breathing remained as steady
and even as ever!
She pulled off the
pallu of her sari so that it fell onto the bed in front of her and grabbed a
few more cubes to run it down her neck and over her shoulder as she pulled the
sleeve of her blouse down.
This time she did hear
movement behind her, but when she turned around, it was to see him sliding off
the edge of the ledge and out of the room.
She wanted to cry
suddenly. He was such a jerk! bas***d!
An unmoving, unfeeling robot!
She rushed over to
the window to look over the ledge and watch him disappear, but rather than
climb down, he was standing still on the rung of the ladder several steps
down. As soon as he saw her lean over
the ledge, he came back up the ladder and onto the ledge, climbing over the window
and into the room.
"If you want me to
touch you, tell me. Don't play games!" He said tightly as he grabbed her around the
waist and pressed her against the side wall by the window.
She could see that
he was angry with her, although she couldn't figure out why.
Her heart-rate
accelerated out of control as she felt his body against hers and she squeezed
her eyes shut and pushed against him.
"I don't!"
"No?" he asked now, loosening his hold.
"No…" but this time
her voice had no force and came out as a whimper.
"You feel nothing when
I hold you like this?"
She shook her head.
"Or kiss you like
this?" He kissed her lightly on her
shoulder that was bare.
Her body jerked in
his arms as she felt his lips and she stayed still as she waited for the
sensations to settle enough to allow her to breathe.
"Fine then. You don't need me. You have your ice. That will do nicely." This time he let go of her completely and she
thought she would die.
"Please Shaan…" she grabbed onto his hand just as he pulled
away.
He looked back at
her. "Please what?"
Her eyes opened then
as she looked into his eyes to see how cruel they were to make her beg.
But what she saw was
a vulnerability and it made her say, "Please don't make me beg."
"Don't cry. I can't
stand it when you cry." He took her in
his arms again as he said and that was when she realized that her eyes were
brimming with tears.
She turned to face
the wall then to hide her face from him; she hadn't cried in front of him in a
long time and she didn't want to start again.
He pressed his body against
hers fully as he held her around the waist and leaned in close to her ear. "It's just me.
No one else…"
Her heart contracted
painfully as she heard him. It's just me. No one else… It was the same way the man in her dreams
had said, It's always been me and no one
else…
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