by M. V. Kasi
“You are a liar,” he stated in a soft, casual tone.
She struggled violently under him, letting out angry noises. She tried to bite his palm again until he increased the pressure on her lips, making it impossible. Soon, she tired herself and fell still.
“Will you behave?” he asked.
She slowly nodded. She was exhausted, but more than that, she was curious.
His hands moved away from her swollen lips.
“How dare you follow me!” she hissed.
He stilled completely, watching her face. “Ah, so you know who I am.”
His voice was hypnotic. Although a major part of her feared him because he was a complete stranger, a strange part of her knew she was safe with him.
“Yes. Your name is Shiv. I spoke to you last week in a nightclub. You refused to have a drink with me or even dance.” Her eyes flared as she watched him in the dark. “It was obvious you were disgusted by me. Then why are you here?” she demanded.
He watched her face for a while before slowly pulling his mask up. He let out a slow smile. She could see a dimple flashing on his cheek in the moonlight. Her stomach quivered in a strange way even as she knew she should be outraged and angry and still put up a fight to escape her current position.
“Shouldn’t you be afraid of me?” he asked. “Instead of demanding answers?”
She let out a scoff. “Why should I fear you?” she challenged.
“Why indeed.” He continued to smile.
She sucked in a breath when she felt his thumb brushing softly against her cheek.
“I’ll scream!” she whispered. Her heart pounded but not in fear. A strange heat coursed through her body which she pushed aside.
“Then scream. I know I’ll enjoy hearing you scream.”
Her stomach quivered again. There was a decidedly wicked and sensuous undertone in his words.
She pressed her lips together and glared at him, trying for a threatening look. “I’m sure you already know who my father is. He’s the Home Minister. The entire law enforcement falls under him. If he finds you here, he will have you arrested… or worse.”
The man didn’t look scared or worried. In fact, he grinned with his teeth flashing white in the darkness. “Well… if your father comes and discovers me in your room, I’ll tell him I’m your boyfriend and that you invited me into your bedroom.”
She gasped with outrage. “I’ll tell him it’s a lie! I’ll say that you are a complete stranger, and that you broke into my room!”
He continued to grin seeing the outrage on her face. “How can you call me a stranger? I thought you liked me. You asked me to join you for a drink and a dance last week. You even asked if I were single.”
Her cheeks heated with embarrassment. “I was drunk! I asked you all that because of a bet I had with my friends. Not because I wanted to.” Her face heated even more at the lie.
“Oh no. I thought we had a real connection. You just broke my heart by saying it was all in my imagination.”
He hardly looked heartbroken. In fact, he sounded highly amused. She was annoyed and was about to snap at him when he suddenly stilled on top of her.
She slowly realized why.
She heard the knocking on the bedroom door along with her father’s voice calling out her name. “Naina, open the door!”
Her heart began to thud in panic. She didn’t know what to do.
Although her father didn’t care for her, he still considered her as his property to be used as a bargain to form a powerful alliance. If he found a man in her room, he would retaliate in the cruelest of ways. He could stop her studies or worse.
Oh my God!
“Shh. It’s okay,” the man above her said softly. She was sure he could feel her panicked heartbeats. “Go answer the door,” he said.
Was he mad? If her father found him in her room, there would be hell to pay!
“He’ll see you!” she hissed through her fear.
Instead of looking worried, he watched her with a calm alertness. “Just answer the door, Naina,” he ordered before rolling away from her and getting off the bed.
How does he know my name? There wasn’t time to ask him that. She took the hand he held out for her and let him pull her off the bed until she crashed against him. Worried and scared, she pulled her hand free from his grasp before stepping away from him.
She straightened her nightgown until her legs were decently covered and pulled the lace on top, so her chest was decently covered despite the slight tear. Meanwhile, her father continued to knock.
“Naina, open the door!”
When she was sufficiently decent, she took a deep breath before going towards the door hurriedly.
“What the hell took you so long?” her father snapped when she opened the door.
Her heart thudded, and she let out an internal sigh of relief when her father didn’t step into her room.
“I was sleeping, Papa. I didn’t hear you.” She blinked sleepily and let out a small, fake yawn trying to pretend she was still half asleep.
“I heard your scream. What happened?” her father demanded.
She put on a surprised look. “Nothing. It must have been in a dream.”
Her father scowled. “I just received some very bad news a while ago. Anirudh Shaurya got engaged to someone else.”
Naina felt a huge relief at the news. Some of it must have shown on her face.
“Don’t start celebrating yet. I won’t let my chance for power slip away. I’ll somehow see that you will be married to the devil, no matter what.”
Under normal circumstances, she would have challenged her father or argued. But right then, with a man hiding inside her room, she didn’t want to take chances. Her father would hurt the man, which she didn’t want him to.
When she remained quiet, her father stopped his rant. Clenching his teeth, he glared at her. “Go back to sleep. Tomorrow I’ll tell you what you need to do.”
With that, he walked away from her room.
Hurriedly, she shut the door and locked it once again. When she turned, she saw the tall figure stepping out of dark shadows.
“You are in huge trouble!” she whispered. “My father is awake!”
She saw a flash of white as he grinned and came closer. “Are you worried about me?”
“No!” she lied. “I’m worried about myself because if you are caught, then I would be in trouble too. Now leave!”
He didn’t leave. Nor did he make an attempt to move. He was watching her with an intent look. “I’ll go… but only after I get what I came here for.”
She frowned. “What?”
“A kiss.”
She stared at him in shock. “What! Are you mad!” She realized her heart thudded with a strange excitement.
He grinned, flashing his dimple and making her stomach quiver in a strange way once again.
“Maybe I am,” he said, stepping even closer.
She took a step back. He was nearly a foot taller than her. Even though she wasn’t scared of him, she was intimidated by his huge presence.
“Stop it! I’m not going to kiss you!” she whispered.
He turned his head sideways, watching her intently once again. “Why not? Are you saving your kisses only for someone special? Maybe the man your father spoke of just now?”
His words hit a nerve. She knew she would fight tooth and nail to escape any marriage that her father tried to arrange for her. But what if she couldn’t? Then someone who she wasn’t attracted to or even liked would end up being her first kiss and worse.
She wanted her first kiss to be with someone of her choice. Suddenly, her lips tingled. She recalled her dream last week when the man in front of her had kissed her. She had enjoyed it. Maybe she’d enjoy it in reality too.
Biting her lip, she stared at him. “Fine, I’ll kiss you,” she said, deliberately using an indifferent tone as though she simply wanted to get it over with, just so he would leave.
But despite her ind
ifferent tone, there was a hungry, satisfied look on his face, making the butterflies in her stomach flutter hard.
It was going to be her first kiss. So she was determined to savor it. Her heart almost beat out of her chest when his warm, rough hand held the back of her neck. He bent his head until his mouth was only a couple of inches away from hers.
But he didn’t kiss her right away. He stared at her, their warm breaths mingling, even as they came out faster and heavier.
Anticipation spiked inside her. “What are you waiting for? Kiss me,” she demanded softly.
His eyes flared at her order, and the next moment his lips captured hers.
She kept her lips closed, expecting the kiss to be a soft brushing of lips. But the kiss was nothing like the sweet kiss from her dreams or what she had expected. It was more than that. In reality, his kiss was rough, passionate and demanding.
When his tongue thrust between her closed lips and slid inside, an explosion of fire burst inside her, and the fire spread through her veins to her entire body. The feeling and intensity of the wet glide of his tongue inside her mouth was so powerful that she felt the wet glide all the way to between her legs.
She gasped, terrified of the new feeling. Her immediate instinct was to push him away.
Her palms fell on his chest, but shockingly instead of pushing him away, her fingers grabbed the material of his shirt and let out a moan.
A rough sound emitted from his throat while his other hand wrapped around her hips and pulled her closer. She felt him. She felt the heat of his body and the force of his arousal. It stole her remaining breath and mind.
She wanted him badly. She wanted him to pick her up and take her to the bed behind them and show her all there was to such passion.
But as soon as the thought entered her mind, she froze in shock.
Oh God. What am I doing?
She was kissing a stranger. And worse, she was close to begging a stranger to take her virginity right then.
Even though her body screamed with pent-up desire, she put her hand on his chest and tried to push him away. He stopped kissing her, but he didn’t step away from her.
“You said you only wanted a kiss!” she panted out against his mouth.
He let out a groan. “Yes,” he rasped.
He closed his eyes and took deep breaths as though bringing his body back in control before he opened his eyes again.
She didn’t move. She remained still when he took a step away from her.
She thought he would leave, but he stood still, simply watching her. Then once again, he stepped towards her and reached behind her head. She thought he would kiss her again, but he didn’t. She felt a tug on her hair until her hair was released from the ponytail. When he stepped back, his hand held her thick rubber band.
“Until next time,” he said softly before turning away and going towards the balcony. For a tall, muscular man, he moved with surprising smoothness.
She ran towards the balcony and watched him climb down the tree adjoining her balcony. Within a few seconds he disappeared from her sight. She waited with her heart pounding, hoping there wouldn’t be any alarms or whistles blown in warning due to a sighting of an intruder.
Much later, when she didn’t hear any commotion of him being caught by her father’s armed security guards, she let out a sigh of relief and returned inside to her room.
She lay on her bed but couldn’t fall asleep. Her heart continued to pound, recalling her first-ever kiss. She touched her lips that continued to tingle while the rush of feelings she had felt during the kiss lingered.
It’s just passion, nothing else.
She didn’t care for the stranger. He was no one to her. All she knew about him was his name and that he worked as a club manager. But a sudden irrational feeling made her wonder what it would be like, if she were to be with a man who made her feel that way.
CHAPTER 7
“No. Let’s ensure Sudeep Shetty remains the Police Commissioner,” Shiv suggested.
He was seated with Vijay and Anirudh at his penthouse while they went over the comprehensive list he had attained from the Home Minister’s house the day before.
“The guy might not have dirty hands himself, but he won’t interfere much,” Shiv continued.
“Shiv is right,” Vijay added. “He’s looking to enter politics soon after his retirement. So he won’t rock any major boats at this point. Everything he does will be in our favor even if his team is investigating us.”
Anirudh agreed even though he had initially suggested a more corrupt cop as the commissioner who was on their payroll.
They continued to discuss and finalize the rest of the list. It was late afternoon by the time they mailed the updated list to the bureaucrats responsible for sending it to the Home Minister for confirmation.
Anirudh stood up to leave. “All right. I’ll get going. We need to catch up on some sleep before our next meeting tonight.”
The three of them had barely slept for the last forty-eight hours. Whoever thought that the life of crime bosses was glamorous, only needed to look at their schedule to know that sleep was a rare and precious commodity.
“Are you sure you are hurrying back home to rest?” Shiv asked with a smirk. “Maybe you are just rushing to get started on your wedding preparations.”
Anirudh didn’t show any obvious outward reaction to the teasing, but Shiv knew him long enough to know his friend was smitten.
“You should be careful, Anirudh,” Vijay reluctantly suggested. “Somraj is going to try very hard to stop the wedding somehow.”
Shiv didn’t completely agree. “I think we can manage Somraj. The man knows we have him by his balls. It’s his beautiful daughter who I think could prove dangerous to our friend here.”
Anirudh raised an indifferent eyebrow even though it was obvious to Shiv he wasn’t as indifferent. “Thanks for your concern. But I think I can manage both Somraj and his daughter.”
“Can you?” Shiv questioned pointedly. “It’s obvious that there is more to this marriage than just business. It’s more than just revenge on Somraj too. I think that the pretty Miss Somraj is not just a pawn to you.”
Anirudh was quiet. Vijay was quiet too, even though Vijay agreed with what Shiv said. Between the three of them, the hard lesson of falling obsessively in love with a woman and facing the consequences was already experienced by Vijay. Both Shiv and Anirudh knew that Vijay still hadn’t gotten over the loss of his first and only love.
“Just be careful, my friend,” Shiv continued to say. “Remember, we can’t afford to fall in love or become obsessed with a beautiful woman.” The path they set for themselves, they didn’t know for sure how it would end for each of them. Falling in love would make it all the more harder to obtain their goals.
There was brief silence, but it was broken by an old man’s voice.
“Lunch is ready.”
Shiv grinned at his friends. “You guys better eat or Sitaram will never forgive you.”
Anirudh and Vijay laughed, agreeing with him.
As soon as Anirudh and Vijay left after lunch, Shiv finally went into his bedroom to catch up on some sleep. He pressed the button on the electronic panel to darken the room.
With a soft whirring, the thick curtains closed over the massive floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the sunny city. Normally, when he was tired enough, all he had to do was crash somewhere on a flat surface. Sometimes, not even that. He simply had to close his eyes and command his tired mind to sleep, and he would fall asleep. But right then, his mind was too active and occupied to fall asleep.
It was occupied with the thoughts of a deceptively innocent-looking nineteen-year-old with a bombshell body and pouty lips that tasted like heaven.
It was a mistake to have kissed her.
Hell, it was a huge mistake to have even broken into her bedroom the previous night. But right from the moment he had met her in the club a week ago, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his m
ind. So, he had wanted to know whether the unnatural pull he felt towards her was only in his imagination. He had been so sure that another meeting would make him stop thinking of her. And so when the opportunity arose the previous night, he had taken it.
Breaking into the Home Minister’s office room had been easy. He already obtained the blueprints, and two of the security guards who were working under his payroll had unarmed the alarm and turned off the power temporarily to let him in. He was able to find the required file and the documents within the first fifteen minutes. After taking pictures of those, all he had to do was find his way back the way he went in. But he hadn’t.
Instead, he climbed up a tree and broke into the Home Minister’s daughter’s bedroom.
It was a stupid and dangerously risky thing to do. Had he been caught, he would have had a devil of a time explaining his presence there to the Home Minister.
But he hadn’t been caught since Sunaina Bhasin didn’t alert her father’s security guards. Instead, the little vixen told him she wasn’t scared of him and even kissed him back in challenge.
He let out a long exhale while recalling their kiss.
It was only a kiss. Compared to the things he was used to from various women over the years, some of which were totally depraved, a kiss barely qualified as memorable. And yet, the previous night’s kiss shook his world and was burned into his brain permanently.
Capturing the soft, pouty lips and tasting her sweet mouth while feeling her abundant curves had been highly addicting. That little taste now created a monster of a hunger to possess her completely.
Dammit!
He realized he was quite a hypocrite. He had just warned Anirudh not to get obsessed by a woman because of their common goal, but he couldn’t stop himself from obsessing about a woman.
He let out a frustrated sigh. He couldn’t afford to be distracted at this point. Too much was at stake. He needed to come up with a plan to keep Sunaina Bhasin far away from his thoughts.
Even though there might be a time when he’d have to include her in his plans for the sake of his goal, until that time came, he needed her out of his mind.