Flaming Sun Collection 2: Marriages Made in India (Box Set with 5 novellas)

by Sundari Venkatraman

  Shatru almost jumped when he felt her lips on his heel. “Avi…”

  She ignored his moan as she licked and stroked his foot, bending it at the ankle before biting the pad of his big toe. This time he jumped so hard that he almost toppled her off him. Well, almost…only she refused to budge, laughing softly.

  “Are you trying to kill me?” he growled, his eyes still closed.

  “Hmm…” Avantika didn’t bother to answer as she gave his left foot the same attention. “Shatru…” She held both his feet against her breasts, pressing his heels against the hardened nipples.

  “Will you let me up, NOW?” groaned Shatru, bucking under her. He was painfully aroused by her caresses and wanted to get inside her like, immediately.

  Avantika laughed softly, letting go of his feet reluctantly to get off him. She went on her knees as she saw him turn in a hurry, his manhood springing up in attention. She blew him a kiss, before pressing a hand on his stomach, saying, “I’m not done with you yet. You just lie back a while longer.”

  “What?! Can’t you see that I’m dying to get inside you?” His expression was pained.

  “Come on, Shatru. Be a sport. Aren’t you having fun?” she asked, a shapely eyebrow up in query, her sherry eyes challenging him.

  His gaze was red hot as he raked his charcoal eyes over her flushed body, the tips of her breasts tantalising him. He smiled suddenly, relaxing, his hands under his head. “Oh yeah, I am. What about you?”

  Avantika grinned, bending down to bite hard on a male nipple, making him growl deeply in his throat. She raised her eyes to meet his before saying, “This is too much fun.” She sat on his stomach, driving him crazy with her slow strokes. She paid extra attention to the fire-breathing dragon on his arm, before taking his hand in hers. She again applied pressure to all the points before kissing him on his palm, her tongue peeping to lick the centre. She paid the same excruciating attention to the other hand. She wiggled her hips, moving down further, her eyes going wide as she felt his shaft pressing against her bottom. “Gosh, you’ve got bigger than ever.”

  “Of course I have,” said Shatru, tumbling her on the bed and going above her to enter her in one stroke. Her eyes went wider still as she choked, her breath catching in her throat as he pumped into her, grunting his pleasure at her enthusiastic response.

  Avantika clung to him, her arms going over his shoulders, and her legs locked around his waist, matching him stroke for stroke as he rode her, his lips suckling at both her breasts, in turn.

  The world came to a standstill as they climaxed as one, falling back on the bed, fighting for their breaths.

  “I love you,” said Shatru, accepting it, finally.

  10

  Avantika smiled, her head on Shatru’s shoulder. “I love you too.”

  He was at peace now, after finally accepting that he loved this wonderful woman who obviously adored him, exactly for what he was. His mind went back to a couple of years ago when he used to have a girlfriend. He began to talk about his ex-girlfriend…

  “I met Esha at one of the parties with Bharat. We hung out together a lot over the next few months, in between my trips actually. She had a job and seemed to be okay with it…and one day…”

  It was about two years ago when Esha and Shatrughan met for dinner at Zoya, the restaurant renowned for both Rajasthani and Continental cuisines, at Fairmont Jaipur. They had finished with the starters and soup before beginning on the main course. Almost through dinner, while Shatru was bursting to share his experiences about his trip to Angkor Wat and the rest of Cambodia, he had patiently listened to her complaints, first about her parents, then about her job, her colleagues and immediate boss.

  “My parents are crazy, you know. While people their age are keen to get their children married off, mine don’t care about me at all. Can you believe that they haven’t raised the subject of my marriage even once? And I’m all of twenty-five. It looks like I’ll have to find myself a groom.” She looked at Shatru from the corner of her eyes to see if there was a reaction from him.

  He just nodded, only half-listening to her rants. Maybe the poor thing didn’t have anyone else to confide in. Yeah, the Maheshwari family preferred to think the best of people, unless they were forced to change their minds.

  Esha changed the topic to her office colleagues now. “They’re all idiots, Shatru. No brains at all. I don’t know how they’ve been running the company for a whole decade. They say their shareholders are pretty happy with the profits too. A pack of morons, all of them.” She stopped to sip on her cocktail, her dark eyes angry and frustrated.

  Shatru watched the woman he had been dating since eight months. Well, he had probably met her a dozen times in that period. She was beautiful and had a slim figure. She dressed elegantly too. They had kissed a few times, Esha refusing to let him touch her intimately. He was okay with it, in no rush to take the relationship further. It was nice to have a girl to hang out with when he got back home. And yes, he was loyal to her that way, abstaining from having an affair while he was wandering the globe. Today, he noticed something he had never seen before. Esha’s lips constantly drooped, as if she was dissatisfied with her lot in life. He mentally took a step back from her as he continued to eat, letting her talk.

  Suddenly, Esha placed her glass on the table with a thud. “Tell me something, when do you plan to settle down?” she asked, pinning him with her eyes.

  “Huh?!” Shatru stared at her, his spoon stopping midway between the plate and his lips. “Whatever do you mean?”

  “Come on, Shatru. You surely understand what I am asking you. We both have been together since eight months. You keep going on your “trips”.” She drew quotation marks in the air, her tone sarcastic now. “So, when do you plan to settle down?”

  Shatru sat back in his chair, having lost his appetite. “And what, in your dictionary, does settling down mean?” he asked mildly, holding on to his rising temper.

  “As if you don’t know,” she pouted. “Getting a job, staying in one place, setting up a home, getting married. What else?” She glared at him.

  “Oh! Does being happy count, or no?” It was his turn to be sarcastic.

  “One should learn to be happy with what one has,” she philosophised, a triumphant smile on her face.

  “Oh yes, of course. Just the way you’re happy in your home and your place of work.” He wondered if she would look at herself impartially. She had been complaining about both of those for the better part of three hours.

  Esha’s smile got wider. “I always knew you were smart. That’s exactly what I mean. Look at me, I don’t approve of any of them. But I’ve still managed to lead a successful life. I could teach you a thing or two.”

  Shatru nodded. “And what does success mean to you?” His sarcasm was definitely lost on Esha who was too self-centred to see beyond her nose. Yeah, he could see that now.

  She grinned now, showing her pearly whites. “I get a great salary and am saving most of it. Since I live with my parents, even though I can’t stand them, I get to spend the least of my money. My bank balance has been growing steadily. Any guy who marries me is truly lucky.”

  She was obviously angling for a proposal. Shatru bit his lips to stop the smile that was waiting to break out. She just might misread it. Talk about a lucky escape!!! “I’m sure. So, how do you suggest I should settle down?” He was going to have fun, at her expense. Why not, after the prolonged torture she’d made him undergo, listening to her rants.

  “I’m glad you asked. Why don’t you do what Bharat does?” There was a glow in Esha’s eyes now, as she licked her lips. “He’s a supermodel, right? You’re his identical twin. It shouldn’t be difficult to become one.”

  “I’m sure,” Shatru shrugged, too angry now. Well, wanting to have fun at someone’s expense could simply backfire, it seemed. “But what if I don’t want to?”

  “I think you’re an idiot, Shatru. Hope you don’t mind my saying this to your face. Bharat is the
smart one. He’s made a name for himself in the modelling industry. With the same looks, you are wasting your life away, loafing.”

  That did it, the final nail in the coffin. Shatru got up, throwing five thousand-rupee notes on the table. “I’m leaving. You enjoy what’s left of the dinner and get yourself a dessert with the balance. And for your information, this money for the bill is not from my father, but that which I earned myself.” He left, refusing to look back.

  The Maheshwaris were close, especially the twins, Bharat and Shatrughan. When Shatru told Bharat about his break up, the latter told him something that shocked the wits out of him.

  “Okay, I don’t want to bug you more than you already are,” said Bharat, “but Esha chased me for a while. She can be relentless,” he grimaced. “I turned around and told her to eff off, before she got off my back.”

  “Why the hell didn’t you warn me?” said Shatru, glaring at his twin.

  Bharat raised his hands in a gesture of peace. “I forgot all about it, bro. And the next time I was in Jaipur, you both were an item. It was tough to digest, but I didn’t want to come between the two of you.”

  Shatru’s black eyes spat fire. “You would have been comfortable if I’d married Esha and brought her home as your sister-in-law?”

  Bharat shuddered before he got up to hug his twin. “I’m sorry. My mistake!”

  Shatru hugged him back, his anger disappearing. “I suppose we live and learn. I’m glad to be rid of that bitch. I’m sorry, bitch is too strong a word, but definitely an idiot.”

  Esha called him, many times. After making a few enquiries, she had found out that Shatru had his own bungalow in the same compound as Nakshatra, he had purchased a 25-acre plot of farmland outside the city and his bank balance—while she couldn’t get the exact figure—was huge. She was sure she could dissuade him from running away every couple of weeks, to explore the world. She wasn’t going to lose him for sure. She landed up at his parents’ home one evening, just before dinner.

  Lakshman’s wife Ruma went to the open door to see who was knocking at that strange hour. “Hello,” she greeted the stranger politely.

  “Hi, my name is Esha. I’m Shatru’s close friend. I…”

  “Please come in,” invited Ruma, making the guest comfortable on the living room sofa. She called out to a servant to get some water, before sitting across Esha. “Shatru isn’t at home. Is he expecting you?” Her brother-in-law hadn’t mentioned that a friend was coming for dinner. In fact, both Bharat and Shatrughan were dining out that evening.

  Meera walked out of the kitchen along with the servant carrying water. “Mamma, this is Esha, Shatru’s friend,” introduced Ruma. “And this is Shatru’s mother,” she told Esha.

  “Namaste aunty,” said Esha, getting up to touch Meera’s feet.

  “Nah beta,” Meera hugged the girl, before sitting down next to her. “You must stay for dinner. We will call Shatrughan and ask him to come home.” She saw Ram and Sapna coming into the house and said, “Ram, call Shatrughan and ask him to come home. Tell him that Esha is waiting for him here for dinner.” She turned to Esha and said, “It’s not like Shatrughan to forget if he’s invited someone. I wonder what happened.”

  “Actually, aunty, he doesn’t know that I was coming. I wanted to give him a surprise.”

  Ruma, who’d walked towards the kitchen to ensure that dinner could be stretched to accommodate the guest as well as the twins if they returned, turned around on hearing the words. She smiled at Sapna who joined her. Esha was obviously more than a friend.

  Ram speed-dialled his brother’s phone. Shatru took the call immediately. “What’s up, Ram?”

  “Your friend has come and mamma wants you back home for dinner,” said Ram, baldly, a mischievous look on his face.

  “My friend? Who could that be? All my friends are right here with me. We’re going to watch a film, actually.” said Shatru, his forehead pleated in a frown, as he wondered about the guest.

  “A lady friend,” said Ram, stressing the word lady.

  “Is her name Esha?” Shatru snarled. How dare she?!

  Ram’s smile vanished. “Is something wrong Shatru?”

  “She’s a snake and no friend of mine. Ram, get her out of our home, ASAP. She’s trouble with a capital T.”

  “You enjoy your movie, Shatru. Let me handle this,” promised Ram, a determined look in his eyes. He sent a quick WhatsApp message to the family group, warning them about Esha. He knew that Sapna, Lakshman and Ruma would see it, if not his parents.

  He went and sat next to his mother, looking up when Lakshman joined them, the latter giving a small nod, indicating he had seen the message.

  Ram spoke. “Well, I’m sorry Esha. Shatrughan is watching a film and didn’t take my call. I think…”

  “But you must stay for dinner, my dear,” said Meera. She was sure that her youngest son was in love and she wanted to make the young lady welcome in their home.

  “Mamma,” said Ram, wondering how to make her understand that Esha was unwanted and was glad to see Mohan coming into the house. “Pappa’s come.” He hoped his mother would get up to greet his father while he got a chance to tell Esha to get lost.

  Mohan came and sat on the sofa next to Lakshman, picking up a glass of water and drinking it. “I suppose you are Esha?” he said, much to his wife’s surprise.

  Esha nodded eagerly, getting up to touch the older man’s feet.

  “God bless you, my child. But it looks like my son doesn’t want you for a friend. I’d rather you leave now, before any of us says something rude,” said Mohan mildly, a hard expression on his face.

  Meera jumped up from the sofa, gaping at her husband. She had never, but never, heard him say something rude to anyone in all these years. What had come over him?

  Esha took one look into the blazing dark eyes of the head of the house and fled.

  “What happened to you?” asked Meera, looking at her husband with shocked eyes. “The child had come over to meet Shatru. Can’t you see that she likes him? She could have stayed for dinner and we would have had the chance to get to know her more. How could you just tell her to leave?”

  Mohan put an arm around his diminutive wife. “You are an innocent, my dear. See Ram’s WhatsApp message and also what Shatrughan has said in reply. That girl is no good.”

  It took a while for Meera to calm down with Ram and Lakshman joining their father in explaining the true state of affairs to her.

  Shatru pulled himself out of the past, his expression strange as he looked at Avantika who had been listening to him quietly as he spoke about his experience with Esha. “I don’t know if she was right maybe. I seem to have got on a roller coaster and don’t know how to get off. On the one hand, I want to see more and more of the world. On the other, I want a life with you. I’m torn, Avantika. I don’t know how to settle down in life.”

  He buried his face against her breasts, wondering how to deal with the situation. Esha’s words had cut into him deeply, he realised. For all his defiance, it looked like she had been correct in pointing a finger at him. Was he being irresponsible in wanting to live his life on his terms? Why hadn’t his parents stopped him when he continued to go on trips? Why hadn’t his father told him to get a job or a career that would keep him in one place? What would happen if—when—he wanted to take a wife and have children? All this long, he had pushed all that into a vague future. But now, with the advent of Avantika in his life, things were coming to a head. What if she ditched him because he refused to “settle” down? Shatru was extremely disturbed.

  Avantika raised a hand to run it through his tousled curls, her strokes soothing. “You should do what your heart tells you,” she whispered softly in his ear.

  He raised tortured eyes to hers. “It’s my heart that’s being torn into two.”

  “But why?”

  “Avi, my first love is exploring new places. Now, after being with you, my love for you equals that. I…”

  Avant
ika raised her head to kiss him on his lips. “Thank you.”

  Unable to resist, Shatru kissed her back, hard, before looking at her again. “But I want to make you happy, Avi.”

  Avantika laughed softly. “I’m happy as I am, Shatru. I don’t need someone else to make me happy.”

  Shatru stared at her in awe, his tension and confusion disappearing in that second. He understood exactly what she meant. She was a happy person, wherever she was, whatever she was doing. And she was totally independent. She didn’t need him to change his way of life for the sake of her happiness. She was nothing like Esha.

  “I wouldn’t have thought it’s possible. But I’m more in love with you than when you were in Melbourne.” Shatru bent down to kiss her, peace stealing over him. He made leisurely love to her, adoring every inch of her body. His only aim just now was to give her at least a small portion of the joy she gave him.

  Avantika felt treasured in her lover’s arms.

  11

  Shatrughan stayed back a week in Mumbai, accompanying Avantika whenever she went for practise with her troupe of dancers. He danced along as part of the background group, learning the steps on the way, bringing a smile to Avantika’s face.

  “Looks like you have learnt all my tricks,” she teased him when they took a break for lunch, going to a small restaurant in the neighbourhood.

  Shatru winked at her. “I sure have. Dancing is truly liberating, Avi. You’ve got an awesome career going for you.”

  She nodded enthusiastically, regaling him with tales of her stint at her fusion dance school in Bengaluru. “I sometimes drove my instructors mad, I think,” she grinned reminiscently. “Not that I meant to do it. But I kept asking a lot of questions that they never seemed to have answers to.”

  Shatru laughed. “So do you have the answers to the same questions now? It’s best if you’re prepared when you start your own school.”

  “You bet. I have a whole list of FAQs and I’ll ensure they are up on my website when I have one ready. And I’ll make everyone working on my team learn all the answers. Actually, patience will be the first qualification for anyone who wants to work with me.”