by Kaye, Nikky
My mouth turned down at the corners, even as Dev’s hand caressed the small of my back with hypnotic, circular motions. The elevator doors opened and closed two more times to spit people out on their floors as I waited for him to give it up.
He didn’t.
“C’mon…”
“It’s not a bad thing to leave a little mystery in life, Audrey.” He spoke in a normal tone, which made me think we were the only people in the elevator now.
I rolled my eyes beneath the scarf. “Are you kidding? Life is nothing but mystery!”
He made a humming noise of disagreement.
“Okay, tell me one thing you are absolutely, positively, one hundred percent certain will happen tomorrow—other than the sun coming up or something stupid like that.”
His touch startled me, his thumb on my pouting lower lip both disorienting me and grounding me in place.
“I absolutely, positively know,” he said in a rough voice, “that I will want to kiss you tomorrow. And the day after that.”
When he dropped a ghostly kiss across my lips, it was so faint and brief that it could have been my imagination. His arousal was real, I discovered, as he closed in. My back hit the wall and his hips pressed into mine.
I really hoped that we were alone in the elevator.
My breathing was shallow, his words sucking up all the oxygen. Without being able to see him, meet his gaze, all I could do was revel in the heat snapping between us and marvel at his optimism.
“And I am ninety-nine percent certain that tomorrow morning, you will be the first thing I think of when I wake up and the thing that makes me smile all day.”
Awwww.
There was a ding, and the doors opened again. This time Dev tugged me forward by the hand, but I stopped in my tracks about ten steps after the elevator closed behind us.
“Wait.” My eyebrows drew together. “Only ninety-nine percent?”
He chuckled under his breath, his hands going to the knot at the back of my head. The blindfold fell away until he moved it around my neck with a swish. I blinked when I looked up at him. Note to self: mascara and blindfolds don’t go well together.
It felt like my heart was in my throat when I looked into his dark eyes. “So there’s a one percent chance you’ll change your mind in the morning?”
His smile was a flash of white in the dim… well, wherever the hell we were. His fists wound around the ends of the scarf, pulling me toward him.
“No, Audrey. There is a one percent chance that, tonight, you’ll be the death of me.” He pressed his forehead against mine. “But I’ll take my chances,” he said hoarsely.
Then he took my mouth with utter confidence, enough for both of us. I sighed with relief, not only from his words but also from the very nearness of him.
How had I come to miss him so much after so little time together—or apart? In a country with thousands of years of history, how was it possible that only one single day felt like forever?
His tongue teased mine with languid, silent promises of what was sure to be fast, intense, and toe curling. I met his every stroke with eagerness tempered by nerves. I wanted him, so badly that I felt heavy with the ache of not being with him.
But would I be enough for him? Would this Most Beautiful Man—according to Internet polls and my ovaries—take me as I am?
I hope so because the woman I am now is all that I have to offer him.
Breathing heavily, we broke apart.
“What do you think of your surprise?”
Um… “Dev, I hate to tell you, but your kissing skills are not a surprise, exactly. In fact, they’re predictably spectacular.”
Yawn. Up in flames, again. So, so repetitive.
He burst out laughing. “Oh, Audrey. You kill me.” With his hands on my shoulders, he spun me around.
We were on some kind of terrace near the top of the hotel that had been transformed into an exotic private garden. I couldn’t even identify all the plants and flowers in front of me. Shadows shrouded half of them, and the other half gleamed in the lights strung around like shooting stars you could almost reach out and catch in your hand.
My mouth fell open as Dev steered me under a bower shaped by kissing palms, to a gazebo housing a small table and two long, low couches that met at a right angle. Long curtains, like a tent, wrapped the hideaway with thick ribbons of brightly colored silk saris woven together with pinprick strings of LED lights.
The lights reflected off the copper-topped table like fireflies every time the night air moved the walls.
“Oh my god,” I breathed.
“Do you like it?”
“Wow.” The lights blurred as my eyes filled.
“Is that a good wow or a sarcastic wow? It’s hard to tell with you.” Behind me, his hands tightened on my shoulders.
I spun to face him, his face shimmering in front of me. “It’s a great wow.” My smile was wobbly.
“Uh oh. Tears?” He swiped them away from my cheeks the moment they tumbled down. “That’s not the reaction I was going for.”
Once my vision cleared, the concern etched into his handsome face made my heart squeeze again. “What reaction were you going for?” I asked out of curiosity.
His thumbs brushed along my cheekbones. “Screaming? Fainting? A thank you blowjob?”
I shrugged, my lips quirking. “Meh. Let’s not get crazy, here. It’s not like you have dinner or—”
He pointed to a small cart at the side of the couch. Domed plates battled for space with a bucket of champagne and two glasses.
“Oh.”
“So…” He smirked. “What do you want to do first? Scream, faint, or...?”
“Well,” I drawled, “I don’t want to be a drama llama.” I put my arms around his neck, my fingers twisting together behind his dark head.
“That only leaves one option,” he murmured against my lips.
“Hmmm.”
Our hips swayed together, like we were dancing to a song only we could hear. The noise of night traffic twenty stories below drifted up to us on the breeze like the discordant strings of a violin, and my heart was the entire percussion section.
Dev kissed me. And kissed me, and kissed me, until I’d lost my appetite for dinner and was ravenous only for him.
I pushed him to one of the couches.
“What are the chances that there are cameras up here?” I asked as I gathered up my long skirt and straddled his lap.
“Fuuuuck,” he moaned as I ground against him. “Uh, probably pretty good.”
I wasn’t sure I cared anymore. I took his hands off my hips and placed them right over my breasts, arching into his palms. “I need you to touch me, please.”
“Audrey, I didn’t bring you up here for...” Instead of finishing his sentence he gently pinched my nipples through my t-shirt, making me gasp.
“So?”
“There’s something else.” His hands dropped from my chest and his head tipped back. “Argh. I’m so sorry.”
I froze, suddenly feeling cold. Like I was about to be humiliated. “Sorry for what?”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this…” He looked me in the eye, deadly serious.
“What?”
“Audrey, please get off my dick.”
15
Dev
To her credit, Audrey was a good listener. She jumped off my lap so fast she lost her balance and rammed her hip into the copper table.
“Ouch!”
“Are you okay?” I reached out for her but she turned her back on me and stepped a few feet away.
“I’m fine,” she said, rubbing her hip. “Um, I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that.”
I snorted as I adjusted myself in my trousers. No shit. Neither was I. I hadn’t expected any of this. But there was a right way and a—
“What did I do wrong?” she asked in a small voice, still facing away from me. Her back was rigid as she wrapped her arms around herself. She had stepped just outside the pr
otective veil of the gazebo’s curtains, and a sudden breeze lifted the ends of her hair.
I cursed as I realized what she was thinking. “No, no, no. Audrey, it’s not that. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Please.” Her voice cracked, and she cleared it. “Please don’t give me the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech. Or the let’s—” She broke off.
How had I fucked this up so royally? I stood up and strode toward her. “I still want you.”
“Really?” Her shoulders rose and fell stiffly. “Huh. Well, I suppose your dick seemed to—at least until you told me to get off of it.”
My face burned with the reminder. Of all the stupid things I could have said… I wanted to punch myself in the head. But as much as I’d thought about this moment and what I wanted to say, it was like all my brain cells misfired when I was near her.
Maybe I was just a pretty face and a chiseled body.
When I touched her arm and spun her around to face me, she wouldn’t look me in the eye. “I do still want you. My dick still wants you—believe me.”
“But?”
I raked my hand through my hair. I didn’t know how to—what was the right way to—oh, fuck it.
“I have a ring,” I blurted out.
Her gaze flew up to meet mine, her lips parted in surprise. “What?” She looked down at my crotch, then up again. “Like for your…?” she whispered.
“Oh my god, no!”
My eyes squeezed shut. This was not the way the evening was supposed to go. I was supposed to be wooing Audrey, not making her think I needed some kind of priapic support.
She sighed. “You know, Dev, I’ve been rejected before. I’ve been dumped before—with worse timing than this.” Despite her voice wobbling at first, now she was gathering up her self-possession. I would have been proud of her, had I not been the object of her scorn. “But I expected more from you.”
I opened my eyes and focused on her, my jaw tight. “That’s what I want to give you—more.”
Her mouth opened, then closed.
I grabbed her hands in mine and held tight. “Please. Just listen?”
With a sad, suspicious look on her face, she let me return her to the couch. This time she sat down, looking like she was ready to bolt any second, while I stood in front of her. She tugged her hands away from mine and twisted her fingers together in her lap.
Audrey waited, her eyes glittering.
Before saying anything, I dug into my pocket and pulled out a tissue. Held it out to her in a crumpled ball in my hand.
Her chin jerked back. She glared at me. “I’m not going to cry, Dev.”
“For fuck’s sakes...” I dropped to the couch beside her and opened up the wad. I didn’t know how to do this. It wasn’t something I’d practiced. I plucked out the ring and held it up.
“Oh.”
Audrey stared at it—and me—in fascinated horror, like I was a proud little kid producing a pond frog.
The solitaire ring flashed like a strobe light in the little fairy lights around us. Huh. I’d thought it did that in the store because of the fancy lighting, but it really was dazzling.
She cleared her throat, but her voice was still faint when she managed to speak. “That—uh, that is not…”
“A cock ring? No.” I tilted my head. “And frankly, given the size of it, I’m a little insulted at the mere suggestion.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“It was a joke, Audrey.”
“Right. Sorry.”
She seemed almost mesmerized. Something tempted me to swing it back and forth to see if her head would follow. Maybe pretend to throw it like I was psyching out a dog with a treat.
“Well, Mr. Sharma reminded me you didn’t have a ring,” I said gruffly.
She let her breath out, her shoulders dropping. “Oh, of course. We need a decoy, I suppose.” Her whole body relaxed. “There are a lot of costume jewelry places here, I’ve noticed. Smart thinking.”
“Well, I’m not just a pretty face.” The irony didn’t escape me we were here because I was a pretty face. “Can I?” I pointed.
Silently she lifted her left hand. Nodded. Just as I was about to slide the ring on, she squeezed her hand into a tight fist and spread out her fingers again in a nervous stretch.
Now her hand was steady and cool when I held it. Well, mostly. Her fingertips quivered a little, tickling my palm as I put the ring on her. It shocked me that it fit so well. I’d totally eyeballed it in the store, twisting it around on my pinky finger and hoping for the best.
“It looks good,” I said.
It did. It looked really good. I’d never given a woman a ring before, not even my mother. Something swelled and tightened in my chest at the sight of it on Audrey’s hand. A strange, tingling feeling spread up my neck, filling my cheeks with heat while the rest of me went cold.
“Are you okay, Dev? You’re sweating a little.”
I swallowed hard but the rock in my chest didn’t move. I’m having a heart attack, I thought.
Suddenly, Audrey’s palm flattened against my back and swept up to my neck. Her cool fingers pressed firmly as she shoved my head down to my knees. I barely missed the corner of the table on the way down.
“Whufa?” I said into my trousers.
“You looked like you were about to throw up.” Her hand swept up and down my spine in a soothing motion.
“‘M’fine.” But I kept my head down and my eyes on the floor until I’d taken a few deep breaths.
In and out, in and out. In through the nose… out through the mouth.
“That’s better,” she said when I straightened up again. “You were kind of turning a weird color.”
The ring caught the light again, flashing in the corner of my eye.
She turned it over. “Do you think it matters that it doesn’t look like the one you, uh, proposed with?”
I shook my head. “I doubt anybody got a good look at it, anyhow. Unless you wanted one that looked like Shannon’s—”
“No!” Her fingers curled into her palm, as if the ring might slide off. “No, this is… perfect. It’s beautiful. It’s so different from—” She broke off and looked away.
Ah. “From what your ex gave you?” I pressed my knee against hers in silent support, but it wasn’t enough. I had to press my arms around heras well. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to remind you of that asshole.”
“Remind me of who? I’ve already forgotten,” she teased, flashing the ring at me like Green Lantern. Her smile softened. “To tell you the truth, you could probably give me a candy Ring Pop and I’d be happy with it.”
Now she tells me.
“But this ring is much nicer. Not that I’m comparing or anything.”
“Sure you are. But as long as I come out on top, I don’t mind being compared to that moron. It’s not much of a contest. Oh, and speaking of being on top…”
She laughed. “Is this the part where I get back on your dick?”
Yes, please. “If you can tear yourself away from the disco ball on your hand, that is.”
“What about the security cameras?”
I waved my hand. “Fuck ‘em. As far as they know, we just got engaged. We’re entitled to some PDA.”
“Really? You don’t mind baring your ass for some bored weirdo in front of a wall of monitors?”
“Baby, I bare everything else for strangers on Instagram. You think I’m shy about my ass?”
Eye roll. “What a professional,” she drawled.
“Hell, yeah. Why do you think we’re here right now? My ass is worth five million dollars.”
Before she could retort, I covered her mouth with mine. Eventually I had to let her breathe—or whimper. Either way, she needed oxygen. My head spun just from the taste of her lips and the scent of the hotel soap on her skin.
“So this is it?” she asked, suddenly coming over shy. “We’re flinging now?”
Didn’t she realize that I’d already been flung like a god
damn catapult?
I was head over heels for this woman, and truthfully I had been for years.
It was part of what made my distance from Brett feel more acute and the past few years so long and tiring—no Audrey. There was a lot of truth in the adage that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. It was like I was frozen in place, going through life like it was a game of charades.
Now that Audrey was in my life again, everything around me was speeding up and I was racing to catch up.
Racing to catch her.
What would she say if I said I wanted to try having a real relationship? I know—it shocked me, too, especially since she was the one who proposed a casual affair. She was the one who’d been hurtand was understandably afraid to put her heart on the line. Who was I to ask for more?
She’d already taken risks for me.
She’d agreed to pose as my fiancée—very publicly—and come across the world with me.
She was wearing my ring.
When her hand went to my face, it was that ring whose sparkle grabbed my attention. I blinked as Audrey’s eyes searched mine.
“What’s going on in there?” she murmured. “Thinking so hard…”
“I’m not just a pretty face, you know.”
“I know, Dev. You’ve never been just a pretty face.”
And there goes my heart again.
I grabbed her hands and brought them to my lips, trying not to gouge out my eye with the rock on her finger. She was right.
The Security office didn’t deserve to see my ass.
My gaze drank her in. If looks could be physical, I’d be giving her a full body massage. Her chest and arms were turning golden from the sun but still appeared as pale as buttermilk next to her black t-shirt. The hills and valley of her thighs under the long skirt shifted like a fault had opened.
She leaned toward me and pressed her mouth to my neck. A riptide of desire threatened to pull me under. Then her tongue… her tongue on my pulse…
“Are you really hungry?” I asked her, glancing at the dinner cart. My voice was rough, my body tightening dangerously.
She shook her head and licked her lips. “Not exactly. Unless it’s… amazing.”