Luv (Un)Arranged (Luv Shuv #3)

Chapter 14

14

Song: Tere Bin

- Rabbi Shergill

Aakar

T he following week, I went to Laxminagar. This time not to meet Kriti specifically but to help Meera and Luke move to Ahmedabad. And it wasn’t just me. I’d brought along Abhi and his best friend, Karan.

And it didn’t hurt that Kriti was also at Meera’s place. However, the mood at Meera’s place was a little more somber than I expected. I thought everyone would rush to get everything in the mini-truck Luke and Meera had hired and reach Ahmedabad as early as possible.

But the moment I stepped foot in Meera’s house, I found her and Kriti talking, tears streaming down their faces. A fierce rush to go to Kriti and take her in my arms came over me, and I almost rushed to her when Luke stepped in front of me. He rolled his eyes and dragged me outside the house. “They’ve been at it for half an hour. One stops and the other one starts the waterworks. It really had me worried for a second there, but I think they’re just trying to delay the move.”

I scoffed. “I give it five more minutes. Otherwise, I’m going in and putting them to work. If only to distract them.”

Luke chuckled. “Deal.”

With that, I put Abhi and Karan to work. Hari, Meera’s young brother, trotted behind them, hauling smaller stuff that he could carry. It was adorable.

I gave them ten minutes. And when they still didn’t come outside, I went in, crossing Luke on the way, who muttered, “All yours.”

I stepped into the house, and seeing them talking, eyes shining with too many tears shed, I cleared my throat. Loudly. Both of them turned to me, now quiet, eyes swollen, and dried tear tracks on their cheeks. I only had eyes on Kriti, and she looked all soft and bitable. All I wanted to do was pull her into my arms and keep her there.

I didn’t let any of it show on my face. I stared down both of them. “We could really use your help out there if we want to leave here on time and reach Ahmedabad before sunset. We’ll also need to unpack everything at your new place, Meera.”

Kriti turned to Meera and, with a shaking voice, asked, “Should I also come to the city with you?”

“That won’t be necessary.” I didn’t even realize when I’d spoken the words. The moving would take us an entire day to reach Ahmedabad, and I could not, for the life of me, bear the thought of Kriti traveling back to Laxminagar all alone at night.

Both of them turned to me in shock.

I ran my hand in my hair. “I mean, Kriti, I’ll safely get them settled in their new place. You don’t want Meera and Luke worried about getting you home in the midst of all of this. And you’re already coming to Ahmedabad for shopping next week. Meera can join you guys then.”

That brought an instant smile to their faces. Kriti quickly turned to Meera and had her in her arms. “Of course, and then I’ll be getting married, and then we’ll work together, and we’ll be together again.”

I very nearly scoffed out loud, thinking—praying—Kriti felt even a hint of desperation to be together with me that she had for Meera.

Just great. Now I was jealous of Kriti’s best friend.

Once Kriti and Meera got their emotions under control , we got to work, and in the next three hours, we had everything hauled into the mini-truck. Luke gave Meera, her mom, and her brother some time to say goodbye to their house.

I looked around but didn’t find Kriti anywhere. I walked around the house and found her washing her hands and feet at the tap in the backyard. And my feet came to a halt.

She was very methodical, her movements quick and meticulous. There should be nothing arousing about her washing off the dust and grime of old stuff, but I couldn’t stop staring at her.

Couldn’t stop wondering. I was looking at my fiancée.

The moment she bent over, trying to get her feet all cleaned up, I nearly bit my tongue at her glorious curves. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop any embarrassing sound from coming out of my mouth.

“I know you’re there.”

Her words had me coughing. “Uh…uhm…Oh. Of course. I wasn’t being silent and sneaky.”

“Weren’t you?” Her twinkling eyes and the smirk on her lips were clear indications that she very well knew what I was looking at.

I decided to let myself be honest. “I find you really, really hot.”

Her eyes widened, and she flicked her wet hands at me. “Shut up.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the way she got shy, all angry and deflecting. I walked closer to her and stopped when I was mere inches away from her. My shoes got wet from the water still running from the tap.

Her gaze never left mine, and I didn’t hide how I felt about her. I raised my hand and slowly rubbed at the dust patch she’d missed near her forehead. “Remember how you felt when I wore my T-shirt and sweatpants?”

Her cheeks turned redder, and she looked away. “Wow, you really know how to push my buttons.”

I smiled and didn’t let her deter me. “Well, I feel the same for you every minute of the day. You don’t even need to be in front of me. You’re all I think about. At home. At the office. In the morning, the moment I wake up. At night, before I go to sleep. Your laugh,” I murmured, keeping my voice soft to keep her looking at me the way she was. “Your eyes, the way you glare at me, the way you stare at me, and especially, when I turn you on. Your fucking curves, the way they make me lose my mind. You have absolutely no idea what you do to me.”

I didn’t know who moved first, but her hands clutched my shirt like it was the only thing holding her up. And my hands…My hands were around her, one hand clutching her waist and the other clutching her neck, my thumb grazing her soft cheek.

Not an inch of space separated us.

Her chest rose and fell against mine, causing all the blood to rush south.

A small smirk came across her face. Softly, she murmured, “I think I have some idea about what I do to you.”

She moved her hips to brush over what was a very painful erection, causing me to groan out loud. “Do you now?”

I moved forward, causing her to take a step back, so her back leaned against the wall.

“Do you know what I really want to do to you right now?”

Her eyes were pure molten seduction. “Do you know what I really want you to do to me right now?”

I pressed myself fully against her. I couldn’t even stop the shudder that raced along my spine. “What do you want, baby?”

She shivered against me, her hands clutched my shirt tighter, and she pulled me even closer. With our lips mere inches apart, she whispered, “Kiss. I want you to kiss me on the lips.”

My heart pounded so hard that I was sure she could feel it beating against hers. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

And slowly, I brushed my lips against hers. Just the touch of her soft lips had my toes curling and my heart racing.

Knowing it was Kriti’s first kiss, I placed soft kisses along her lips, the corner of her mouth, and the soft pouty part of her bottom lip. With every touch, Kriti tugged me closer, as if she couldn’t get enough of me.

A lock of her hair tickled my cheek, and I brushed it behind her ear and held her cheek tighter. Just so I could kiss her deeper. Harder.

She moaned and kissed me back. Her wet lips parted, and her tongue brushed against my lips, tasting me. My cock pulsed, and my balls throbbed, every pore of my body aching to climb inside her and have her wrapped around me.

I had to quickly back off for a second, afraid I would lose control of my body. But her lips chased mine, and her soft moan had me instantly diving back for more.

I held her face with both of my hands and ran my tongue along her lips. Kriti panted like she couldn’t get enough air. But the moment I would back up a bit, she kept pulling me closer by my shirt and sealing our lips. The next time her lips parted, I pushed my tongue into her mouth, gently running it along her tongue.

She went wild. She sucked and nipped and bit. I never wanted to move away from her. Kriti’s arms wrapped around me, her lips on mine, and her breath against my face. Her warmth, her passion, her fire, consumed me, and I was in heaven.

I was going to be this woman’s husband. She would be the only woman who would bring me this pleasure. This toe-curling, spine-tingling pleasure that was pure, blissful agony.

My body wanted more and more and more. I pulled her closer, and I couldn’t help but move my head lower to kiss her neck. I took a deep breath, and the scent of her had my head spinning. My mouth watered, and I sucked. Kriti’s body arched into mine at that, and her long moan had us pulling to a stop.

Her cheeks were on fire. Her hair was mussed, her eyes were clouded with lust, and her lips—dear god, her lips—were puffy and red and looked thoroughly ravaged. Her eyes took me in, and I was sure I looked the same.

Our breaths were harsh pants, my one hand still clutched her waist while I laid the other on the wall at her back, trying to keep standing on shaky legs. I gave her a tentative smile and softly wiped the corner of her wet lip with my thumb. When she still didn’t respond, I licked that thumb and gave her a wink.

Her eyes widened in shock, and she burst out laughing. Her hand still clutched my shirt as she laid her head against my chest and laughed, all the while muttering, “Oh my god. What did we do? God…Wow.”

I quickly kissed her head and pulled her into my arms. Her arms circled my waist, and I swayed her gently. “Did you like it?” I murmured in her hair.

She hummed in response.

“Do you regret it?”

Her head turned at that in a beat, and she looked at me shocked.

“Do you? ” she asked in return.

“Not even for a second.”

I’d never seen her smile so wide before as her eyes twinkled in delight. “Me neither. We wouldn’t be waiting for us to get married before we do it again, would we?”

That had me roaring in laughter. “Not if I can help it.”

She played with the button of my shirt, a crazy, satisfied smile on her face that had my heart toppling over. “Good. I quite liked it.”

I scoffed at that. “ Liked it? You were pulling me closer and moaning and…”

Her hand came over my mouth, and her eyes were trying to shoot daggers at me, but failed miserably, what with the fierce blush dotting her cheeks. “You shut up. You…You were doing all that too.”

“Of course, I was. I was kissing you. ”

She was about to respond when a loud throat clearing had us jumping apart.

I looked behind Kriti to find Luke standing at the door that led from the backyard to the kitchen. He had that ridiculously annoying smirk on his face that made me glare at him. With an annoying smile, he said, “Well, we’re all ready when you are.”

“We’ll be right there,” I said through clenched teeth. All the while, Kriti wouldn’t even face Luke in embarrassment.

“Take your time,” he added, the sly bastard.

“Fuck off,” I mouthed, and he howled with laughter as he went inside.

“Oh god,” Kriti muttered.

“Hey, don’t worry. Luke won’t say anything to anyone.”

She smiled at that. “You’re right. Okay, yeah. I was just talking and kissing my fiancé. Nothing to be shy about.”

“Exactly.”

Knowing that I had to leave Kriti behind had my mood sinking. Every time she left me, or I left her, it felt like I left behind a piece of my heart. It was agony not to have her around me all the time. “So…” I began, moving closer to her. So close that our foreheads touched. “I’ll see you next weekend.”

She squeezed my hand tightly with both of hers and nodded. “And call me as soon as you get home.”

Fuck, I loved how she cared. “I will.”

Her eyes shone, and she looked away. “Don’t you forget it,” she rasped.

I brought her hands to my lips and kissed them in promise. “I won’t.”

With that, I left her, starting the vicious cycle of waiting to meet her again, holding her again, and now kissing her again.

Kriti

I could still feel Aakar’s taste on my tongue long after he was gone. I had watched the back of his car till it disappeared and had stood outside Meera’s empty house long after that. My heart had pounded incessantly with this desperate need to be closer, always closer, to Aakar.

Instead of being wary about leaving my house, my family, my entire world behind, I was looking forward to it. All because of one earth-shattering, mind-altering kiss. Or maybe it was the man who gave me the kiss.

My mind replayed the moment Aakar held my cheek and kissed me. My cheeks still tingled with the way his beard had scraped and rubbed at my skin. I was never going to let him shave. His soft lips, the way his breath had quickened, and the way he had grinded on me.

I had to sit down on my vehicle before my legs gave out. All the while I drove back home, I couldn’t help but lick my lips, trying to find his taste. Gosh, that was why parents didn’t allow their kids to date.

One kiss, and I was all but ready to get married to the man and say goodbye to my world.

I parked my vehicle in our parking spot in a daze, wondering what it would be like if he’d kissed me on my neck more. If he’d gone farther down. If he’d clutched my waist and pulled me closer. If he’d grabbed my…

“What is wrong with this girl?” Maa’s shrill voice pulled me back from my highly imaginative, romantic daydream and completely threw me off.

“Uh…what?” I looked around and found myself lying down on the sofa with a ridiculous smile on my face.

Quickly, I wiped that smile off, got my serious teacher face on, and turned to Maa.

“What were you saying?” I asked.

She raised her eyebrows and gave my father that Are you seeing this? look and turned to me. “I’ve been calling your name for the past five minutes, and you just kept sighing loudly.”

“Umm. I was just thinking about Meera and how happy she was to start her new life.”

If I couldn’t use my best friend’s name to lie, what was even the point of having a best friend?

Maa looked at me with doubt. I could almost see her mind throwing questions at her to corner me. But thankfully, she let it go, and I almost wished she hadn’t because of what she said next. “Anyway, I was just waiting for you to get home. I need to start teaching you how to cook some good dishes.”

With a gigantic eye roll, I rolled back on the sofa and showed her my back. “Please. God, no. I don’t want to learn more dishes. I know the basics.”

Maa harrumphed. “Basic dishes won’t impress your in-laws.”

“I don’t care to impress them. They’ve already chosen me.”

Maa sat at the seat near my feet and squeezed my ankle. “And we don’t want them to regret their choice.”

Okay, first of all, ouch .

Before I could say something, Pappa interjected, “Now, Reshma, no one is going to be regretting my daughter.”

“ Our daughter,” Maa corrected.

“Glad you remember that,” I murmured.

“What did you say?” Maa asked.

“Nothing.” I rolled my eyes with my face pushed into the sofa seat, released my breath, and got up to face my mother.

“Maa, I know how to make basic, regular food. I don’t have the time or inclination to learn all that right now, and I won’t have the time to cook all the fancy, impressive dishes once I’m married.”

Maa rolled her eyes, her exasperation very evident with the way she looked between Pappa and me. “When you first go to your new house, imagine how happy your new family would be if you cooked them some delicious sweets like gulab jamun or carrot halwa. Don’t you want to feed your husband the sweets you cook yourself?”

“Would Aakar learn anything new to please me? Or is it just my responsibility to keep impressing my new family? What is he going to do to impress my family?”

Maa was about to answer me when Pappa cleared his throat. And when my father talked, I listened. “He will impress us by taking good care of you. By being a good and respectful husband to you. By knowing your worth and going above and beyond to fulfill all your heart’s desires.”

My nose tingled with the incoming tears. I blinked them away even though a few slipped by. I was going to miss him so much. No one would ever come close to loving me the way Pappa loved me.

I looked down at my hands. “Can’t I impress my new family by being a good wife, being respectful, caring, loving, and supportive? Do I need to feed everyone a variety of foods?”

Maa clutched my hand, and I turned to look at her. This time, she seemed a little apologetic and a lot more loving. “ Beta , I know you’re afraid you’ll have to take over all the responsibilities of the house, and you’ll lose yourself in trying to impress your new family. I’m not telling you to do that. But if your husband or any member of your family is in a stressful situation on a weekend, wouldn’t you like to cook them some warm, sweet halwa to make them smile? Is that too much to do for your husband or your new family?”

That didn’t sound all bad. “I mean, it doesn’t hurt to know how to cook a few things, even if I don’t have to make it often.”

Maa smiled and squeezed my hand. “Don’t be afraid, beta . Changing your lifestyle a little bit, accommodating your new family, making a few compromises, is not a bad thing. And it doesn’t mean you are betraying yourself.”

“It sure feels like it sometimes.” Just the thought of having to learn something new or change a part of myself for my new family sent a jolt of panic within me. Not just panic, but this…this indignant emotion at being the only one who had to change so much after marriage. Did all women feel that way, or was I just too stubborn for my own good?

I shook that thought away from my mind and imagined Aakar. The thought of today’s kiss, the way he looked at me—with desperate, insatiable need—and felt a rush of calm pass through me. I could learn to cook a few sweet things for Aakar. To see him smile, to see his surprise or awe.

With the thought of seeing Aakar’s smile, I turned to Maa. “Let me ask Aakar what he likes. And I’ll learn to cook some of that.”

Maa laughed. “Why don’t you surprise him with something?”

I scoffed. “What if he doesn’t even like the dish that I cooked? I’m not going to waste my time learning something he doesn’t even like.”

Maa rolled her eyes at me and went toward the kitchen. “Let me know what he likes, and we’ll cook those dishes in the evenings.”

I got comfortable on the sofa and picked up my phone.

Me: So are you a sweet or a savory person?

It was at night that I finally received a reply.

Aakar: Sorry, finally got home, had a quick dinner. A long shower *wink* Only because my mind kept thinking about the best kiss of my life. You’re the only one to blame. And I like both. Sweet and savory. Why?

I was in my bed, under my covers, as I read his message. My cheeks were on fire, and the sharp tingling feeling between my legs had my toes curling.

Me: You’re awful!!! Also, what are your favorite sweet and savory items?

Aakar: Why do you ask? You going to make them for me?

Me: Well, yeah. So what do you like?

Aakar: What are you best at making?

I scoffed in indignance. The nerve of him.

Me: Nothing at all.

Aakar: Oh. That’s fine.

Me: Thanks for your approval *sarcasm*

Aakar: I didn’t mean it that way

Me: Yeah, yeah. Now, are you going to answer me or what?

Aakar: You’re going to learn for me?

Me: Well, yeah.

Aakar: You don’t have to.

Me: Aakaarrrr. I know. I want to. Now, will you tell me what you love?

I saw the typing… on the phone. It stopped. And there was a pause before he started typing again.

Me: Looks like a long list of items.

Aakar: Only cause you’re asking. I could eat kachori all day, and if I didn’t care about my health and my body, I could eat about fifty gulab jamuns.

I smiled. That didn’t sound bad. And he only gave me two items. Was he trying to make it easy for me?

Me: Just two items?

Aakar: You want more?

Me: Well, if you love a few more items, I wouldn’t mind learning them.

A moment passed before I got his reply.

Aakar: If it is any motivation for you, you’re really making me blush right now.

I had to suppress my giggle so as not to wake up my sister, who was tossing and turning on the other bed.

Me: Photo, or it didn’t happen!

In the next minute, I had his reply.

Aakar: photo attached

Aakar: Well, you put me on the spot. And I’m not used to clicking selfies. But since you’re learning to cook my favorite items for me.

I almost dropped my phone seeing the photo. He had about two pillows under him, his one hand was under his head as he clicked the picture with another. He looked tired from all the moving, but his cheeks were all red and his eyes were so soft for me that my heart ached to be closer. But it was his smile. His wide, shy smile that he couldn’t seem to contain. If just the thought of me cooking for him did that to his smile, how would he smile if he loved what I cooked for him?

Me: That was very motivating.

For a few minutes, I didn’t get anything from him. I was almost going to lock the phone after staring at Aakar’s beautiful smile and go to sleep when I got his message.

Aakar: Would it scare you if I told you that I’ve never felt this lonely in my own bed before?

I didn’t know why, or whether it made me happy or sad, but tears slipped out of my eyes.

Me: It doesn’t scare me. At all.

Why would it? When I knew there was someone who felt lonely without me. Who blushed when I decided to learn to cook his favorite food. Who kissed me like he wouldn’t be able to take his next breath without me.

It wouldn’t scare me at all.

It was all I ever needed not to be scared to marry that person.