& Then They Wed (Ampersand Love #2)

24. Chota Bheem

24

Chota Bheem

Aditi

A diti had always known that going to the gym had benefits, both on a person’s physical and mental health. It was one of the reasons she’d often dragged herself to exercise at either the local women’s club or, if she was being lazy, the rooftop gym in Rian’s building.

The facility was well equipped, but lacked on-site trainers. However, when the benefits included being able to ogle a sweaty Rian Shetty deep in the midst of his own workout routine, she wasn’t sure she could find a single reason to berate the quality of this gym centre anymore.

This had to qualify as some kind of live porn, she decided.

Rian could sell pictures of just his biceps curving or his quads tightening, and he’d easily be able to fund another three restaurants in this city. He could market GIFs of that sweat trickling down his neck, slowly dripping past his clavicle and teasing its way down his uncovered chest, and it would cause the internet to crash .

On second thought, he probably shouldn’t.

Women's ovaries might spontaneously combust at the image of his glistening abs and those sexy hip bones dipping into his workout shorts. Said shorts slid just a little lower when he performed another pull up, revealing the top curve of his rounded ass as he made it to the highest bar.

Call her Felicity because holy Smoaks, the man was on a salmon ladder!

Aditi let out an audible whimper.

“What the. . .what are you doing here?” he questioned, surprised by her presence. He jumped down from a height, his muscles flexing with each movement, the power in them no longer hidden by the barrier of clothes.

Her entire body tightened, feeling very much like a peeping tom for enjoying this so much. “Gym. Working out.” Was she drooling? She patted around the edges of her mouth, just to be certain.

“I didn’t realise anyone else was using the facility this early.”

“Just you and me. I couldn’t sleep. I’m not used to being home alone.”

"Alone?" Rian asked, surprised.

"Nanamma stayed back in Velas yesterday for some community event. She'll be back in the afternoon, in time for the Diwali party tonight."

Rian nodded in understanding. He’d himself only come back a few hours ago, so to learn that he had alone time with Aditi before his grandmother returned was the best news he could hope for.

“You’re back,” he heard her say.

He smiled. “Yeah. I’m back.”

She blinked. “You’re naked.”

“Yeah, I’m. . .what?” He glanced down at his uncovered chest and rolled his eyes. Snagging the towel he’d hung on a seat nearby, he wiped his face.

Aditi could swear she felt her uterus clench.

The tattoo, the veins, the damp hair, the light eyes, the barely-there smattering of chest hair on tan skin that only made him look more masculine—he was a walking blueprint of things that turned her on, encompassed in one breathtaking form. It was no wonder he triggered something in her brain that was borderline primitive & deeply sexual. She was afraid she’d go feral on him one day and he’d be scarred for life.

“How do you look like this?” Aditi asked, somehow sounding like she was in shock.

Rian tilted his head, staring at her in confusion.

“Chefs are supposed to be fat and jolly,” she continued, looking like she couldn’t wrap her head around something very important.

“I think you’re mistaking chefs for Santa Claus,” he said, slinging the towel around his neck.

If Santa looked like him, no wonder he got all the ho ho hos, the impish voice in her head cackled . The terrible pun didn’t even phase her, too occupied with drinking in every detail of him. Like she’d been parched from walking in the desert and he was her oasis.

He turned and the sight of his back muscles contracting as he set the weight bar back on the lowest rung had her feeling lightheaded.

“You work with food all day long but look like you came from Asgard.”

“Whose ass?” he asked, sure he hadn’t heard her right.

“Thor!” she exclaimed. “You’re an Indian Thor. Or Superman. Take your pick.”

He snorted. “Please, no. I don’t think I can carry the underwear-over-my-pants look.”

All that did was give Aditi images of Rian in his underwear. Did he wear tighty whities or boxers? She gulped, unable to stop picturing him in both.

Definitely boxers .

“That would be better for his chota bheem ,” she muttered under her breath. She recalled the feel of his arousal pressed against her the times they’d kissed.

Okay, maybe not chota , she corrected herself right then. There was nothing small about him from what she could tell. Her attention shifted, only to find that he had a gobsmacked look on his face. His lips quivered for a moment before he bit down on it.

“Ch-chota Bheem?” he finally asked, his voice oddly choked.

She blinked, trying to control her internal panic. How had he heard that? She racked her brain for a response that wouldn’t involve her having to admit that she’d inadvertently nicknamed his dick after a cartoon with superhuman strength.

“Umm, you didn't like Superman's dressing sense so I figured Chota Bheem is a better option.”

Goddamnit, her voice was too shrill. Did he believe her?

“Ah, a dhoti?” He pursed his lips like he was giving it real thought.

She let out a relieved breath.

“Wouldn’t it be too airy?” he wondered out loud.

“You can pull it off.”

A mischievous glint shined in his eyes. “Are you asking me to strip for you? At least buy me dinner first.”

Aditi’s jaw dropped open, recognizing those words as hers!

“Rian Bugs Shetty!” she gasped, sounding like a scandalised matron. “Put a lid on that confidence for a minute. Just because you look like you were carved by Michaelangelo is no reason to forget humility.”

He leaned a shoulder against the metal edge of the workout machine next to him, crossing his hands across his wide chest in an unreasonably sexy pose. “Are you trying to say that I have a good body?”

Body, face, hair, eyes, mind. The man was a twelve-course meal and she was starving .

“I plead the fifth.”

The look of amusement on his face grew.

“That only works in the US, Doc. We live in India.”

“The sentiment is the same,” she sniffed, refusing to give him any quarter. It really was his own fault for being so inhumanly gorgeous that her brains melted into her knees every time she looked at him.

He leaned in, taunting her in a quiet voice. “Coward.”

“I love myself with all my flaws,” she piously stated, glancing past him. “You just did a salmon ladder.”

The speed with which she changed subjects gave him whiplash.

“Umm, yes. I did. How do you know that?”

“I’m an Oliver Queen fangirl.” She threw her palms open with a look that told him he should have guessed at the reason.

“The Green Arrow? Really?”

“He’s hot. I can’t even do a pull up. I need to hit the gym more often.”

Subtle lines of worry marked his forehead.

“You know, apart from the gym, diet is important. Like eating enough greens. And protein. And good fats,” he listed, trying to sound as unbothered as possible. “The number on the scale is just that. A number.”

Shrewd eyes narrowed at him.

“Have you been talking to my sister?”

“What?” he spluttered. “No.”

“You sound exactly like her when she’s fishing for information.”

He ruffled his hair with one hand and scratched his scalp, groaning when he saw no other way to ask his question. “What is your motivation to go to the gym? Is it your health or. . .?”

“I want to get fit,” she explained.

“No crash diets? No extreme weight-loss solutions?”

She shook her head.

“You won’t do what you did to yourself before, will you?”

“I won’t,” she promised, unable to hold back her silly heart from skipping a beat at his sweet concern.

“Good. Because you’re not. . .you shouldn’t lose anything. I mean. . .you’re very. . .” He gestured to her, tracing her shape in the air, awkward, out of words.

Aditi bit back a smile. If this had been anyone else, she would have been offended.

“Are you trying to say that I have a good boooody?” she teasingly sing-songed, leaning back in a way that laid her out for his perusal.

Rian blatantly let his gaze roam about her body, lingering on the way her thigh dimpled in her sport shorts when she crossed one foot over the other, how her workout top hugged her breasts as she put her weight back on her elbows, her back arching just slightly.

Hell yes, she had a fantastic body. All soft and womanly with curves that went on and on. He could spend days tracing her lines. With his hands, with his mouth, with his dick.

“I plead the fifth,” he mumbled, grinning sheepishly when she outright laughed. Her full lips spread into a stunning smile, revealing a straight set of teeth. Her chestnut eyes crinkled at the edges and when she met his gaze, she glowed.

Rian’s heart thumped like a deranged rabbit on steroids, unable to withstand the force of nature that was Aditi Krishnan’s smile. Beyond enamoured, he couldn’t stop himself from placing a hand over his heart when he sighed, “Fuck, you’re so pretty.”

Her eyes grew round, but Rian did not take his words back or hide them under sarcasm and teasing. Being around her made him want to speak his mind with the same forthrightness and innocence as her.

Not that he was the least bit innocent.

Nothing about what he wanted to do to that smiling mouth or lush body was innocent. Nothing about what he had done to her before he'd run off to Singapore was innocent.

Maybe his thoughts showed on his face because her giggles ebbed, and she straightened, staring longingly at him instead.

The next instant, their bodies crashed together, their mouths eagerly seeking each other. It was messy and urgent, but neither cared. Aditi’s hands looped around his neck, her chest pressing into his like she couldn’t get close enough. With a groan of excitement, his fingers gripped her ponytail, holding her at the perfect angle as his mouth shaped the curve of her lips. His tongue swiped into her warmth, tangling with hers in a familiar yet tantalising dance.

His hands roved over her body possessively, shaping each part with a deliberateness that had her clutching his hair. He cupped and squeezed her lush ass, making her moan and greedily suck his lower lip in response.

He bent, drifting lower, nibbling her chin and the soft skin of her neck, appreciating the buttery smoothness under his mouth. He couldn't get enough. His hands slipped under her shirt, his thumb rubbing the naked skin on her waist, a string of warm metal breaking his touch.

Her stomach grumbled just as he squeezed her hips, causing him to lift his head. “Maybe we should get you fed first,” he proposed, cocking a brow.

Aditi shook her head vehemently. “Nope. Forget you heard that.” She curved her hand about his nape and pulled him down for another kiss, whining frustratedly when he ended it.

Rian grinned at her eagerness. “We’re in a public place,” he reminded her. She must have lost her mind along with her shame because the look she gave him told him she didn’t care. “Shower first. Then, I’ll make you breakfast.” He kissed her cheek. “Then,” he promised, a wicked glint in his eyes, “I’ll introduce you to my chota bheem.”

Her brows practically flew off her forehead, eyes comically wide. Cheeks aflame, she hid her face in his chest, mumbling something that sounded a lot like ‘China plan back on. ’

His body began to shake uncontrollably. His laughter rang in her ears, drawing a defeated giggle from her as well. When she raised her head, she saw what she had missed seeing all week.

A happy man.

The sight of a joyful Rian was like eating warm, pillowy idlis on a cold morning and drinking filter coffee out of her paati’s steel tumbler. Comforting, like home, filling her with an unexplainable sense of belonging.

His dimples deepened when their eyes met.

Yes, she accepted, their laughter mingling together to form the sweetest melody. Coming to the gym was a good thing indeed.