Chapter 84: Mehndi – Part 2
He leaned against the wall by the blue panels of fabric knowing that this exercise was the height of futility. There was no way that he would be able to even get her attention, much less do anything close to 'pilfering' her. It had only been 2 weeks since they arrived in Delhi , but it felt like ages, especially because he has had to make do with getting her alone for a few minutes here and there. Part of him was tempted to book a ticket back to the US ASAP and steal off with her in the middle of the night. Another part of him wanted to elope with her tonight itself so that he could put a mangalsutr around her neck and run around the fire three times. And another part of him – a very tiny part – was getting a kick out of this build-up. There was a power to this anticipation that he couldn't even explain in words. No wonder these kids in India were always in a rush to get married. If they wanted their girlfriends half as much as he wanted Senna, he would have jumped the broom years earlier too. Well, he had wanted to 'jump the broom' years earlier, he reminded himself. If not for his father's resistance and Senna being insistent that she would not be the cause for a rift between him and his parents, she would have already given birth to a passel of children to get started on the big family that they had always wanted...
Lost as he was in his reminiscing, it caught him by surprise when the blue panel next to him suddenly moved aside. He tried to slink back against the wall, although he didn't know what good that was supposed to do. And then he wasn't trying to slink back at all… because there she was… the love of his life, the mother of his future children, the reason that he was not afraid to embrace corniness like it was going out of style…
He pulled her toward him without warning and turned her against the wall before he immediately set about kissing her everywhere he could reach…
Even though startled at first, she quickly responded with the same eagerness and it only served to hike up his fervor to fever pitch as he lifted up the pallu of her sari to run his hands over the bare skin that he found there. He thanked the Good Lord for allowing women to invent this wonder called the sari… especially given how it seemed to hide just as much as it revealed with equal dedication.
"Rathan…" she called him back when it became obvious that if she didn't, he would have no compunctions against taking her against the wall right then and there… while people awaited her inside from the quick restroom break that she had requested.
She envied him his abandon while she had to exercise some caution and pull herself out of the haze of passion that he brought on so quickly, just so that they wouldn't give the well-meaning and respectful folks inside a most shocking display of pre-marital pleasure.
He let go of her and stood back "God, it's been so long. I am going to go crazy!"
When he calmed himself, he looked at her again, taking in her well-kissed lips, hooded gaze, and her rumpled sari, and came back closer to her. "I don't know if I have told you this before, but you are so beautiful that it's like I am seeing you for the first time each time I look at you."
"I think you're biased, sweetheart." She said, although her lips were now beaming in a smile.
"I don't think I am. Honestly." He said in complete seriousness.
She laughed now at his expression. If he only knew how many times he had said that to her. And she believed him too… he really did think she was the most beautiful thing ever made. Just like Shiv thought Gauri was the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen… she could see it in his eyes. They were both women who were relatively pretty, to be sure; but she thought that what made them both seem so much more beautiful than they were was the fact they both had significant others who believed that there was none other more precious…
"I love you." She felt the need to tell him again in this moment even though he knew that truth better than any other in the world.
He kissed her slowly in response, lingering at the end.
"I love you too." He whispered before adding, "And that's why I won't sneak in to your room tonight to have my wicked way with you…"
He pulled away from her with a grin that was just as wicked.
The man could be a merciless tease when he wanted, because all she could think of now was having him sneak in to her room in the middle of the night to have his wicked way with her….
It was just a moment though… because she wanted all these moments to join together and explode in a shower of stars when they finally had their Suhaag raat.
"Senna…" she heard Gauri's voice just before the blue panels separated and Gauri stepped out.
She saw Rathan standing there and smiled as she walked over to Senna's side.
"Like brother, like brother." She said then, shooting another look at Rathan as she took in Senna's rumpled up sari. "Rathan! You do realize that both of us have our hands full! How is she going to go back in there looking like that?"
He smiled as he came over. Gauri turned around to give them some privacy while he fixed Senna's sari, because Lord knew, if he was anything like Shiv, the sari-fixing would involve a lot of accidental lingering and stroking...
"Ready?" she called out before she turned back around.
And sure enough, there was a blush climbing up Senna's face now... She smiled again as she walked over to Senna while looking at Rathan. "Now I have to take your hone-waale inside before they send a search party out for her."
He grinned as she opened the blue panel again to take Senna back inside.
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