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She wasn’t a young girl on the threshold of womanhood. She was a gorgeous, sexy woman. She knew what she wanted from him, and she took it boldly.
He gave her a few more seconds to explore his mouth the way she wanted, letting her taste him again and again. Allowing her to do as she wished against his mouth and lips. Inside him, however, the fire raged and spread, the flames licking higher, burning brighter until he couldn’t take it anymore. She licked the corner of his lips, and his grip on her nape tightened. He swooped down and attacked her lips, claiming what had been his since the first time he’d realized what he felt for her all those years ago.
She gasped, and this time, he plunged his own tongue inside her mouth. She tasted of warm woman, tangy wine, and fresh mint. Fuck! He couldn’t get enough of her. He’d never be able to get enough of her.
This woman could ask him for anything and he’d give it to her. He was hers; he’d always been hers, and nothing had changed that—not their history, not his past misdeeds, and nor would the future change what he felt for her.
8
She was drowning in him. He was everywhere. His exotic scent was filling her lungs, and his hands were roaming under her jacket—up, down, round, slanting—moving in a completely haphazard manner. It was as if he didn’t know what part of her to touch, and he wanted to touch all of her. And his mouth. God! His mouth was staking a claim on hers, searching, probing, as if learning the taste of her once again. His tongue tangled with hers and electricity hummed through her blood.
The fire that had burned through her blood the minute her lips touched his was scorching now. It was threatening to take her under. She pushed closer to him. It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough. There ought to be no space between them. None at all. His erection pressed against her belly, and she wanted to tear both their clothes off and give in to this craving that was demanding fulfillment.
He licked inside her mouth, and she moaned. She couldn’t get enough of him. She wanted more. She wanted him. She’d dreamt of this man for far too long. She’d kissed him in her dreams several times. But the reality of him was larger, far brighter, and infinitely better.
His hand snaked up and up under her jacket and caressed down her right shoulder, across the jagged skin of her scars, and Avantika gasped as if waking up from a dream. Her eyes flew open, and the horror of what she’d done slammed into her.
She pushed against his chest, and he released her at once. She stumbled a step back from him, rubbing a hand on her mouth, trying to erase his taste. She was disgusted with herself for succumbing to him the way she had, for forgetting in those moments that he was the enemy, her sinner and that she held a huge secret between them, one which, if it ever came to light, would surely destroy her world.
A tear fell down her cheek, and she brushed it away angrily. She spun around, unable to even look at him. But Dev wouldn’t let her be. He caught her elbow and swung her around to face him.
He wiped a tear running down her cheek.
His eyes softened. “You’re crying…”
She shrugged out of his grip. “That kiss never happened. It will never happen again, and we will never talk about it.”
He tilted his head to study her. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
When she refused to reply, he continued, “You know that kiss was bound to happen. You know there’s something between us that time has refused to take away. The bond that we forged all those years ago—it still exists between us. It has only become stronger, and you’d accept it too, if only you looked at it rationally and without the past coloring your views.”
“The past?” she stormed. “Do you know how I see the past?”
He shook his head. “Tell me.”
It started to rain, but Avantika did not care.
She pushed his shoulder hard. “I see a boy, one I loved more than anything in the world, betraying me. That boy…you…you watched as my parents were murdered by your men. You held a gun to my head when my brothers tried to fight your goons. You did nothing to help us…to stop your father and his men.”
Shrugging off her jacket, she flung it at him and spread her right arm wide. Dev’s expression wavered as he took in her arm.
“You watched when that awful man shredded my skin to bits,” she yelled. “My scars…they never healed. Most of my arm was ruined, thanks to your silence. I lost everything that night. Do you think I’m proud of what just happened between us? No! I hate myself for it. I hate that I lost focus on reality. You are a monster, and you always will be one. Nothing you say or do can change that fact ever.”
Her chest was heaving by the time she finished. But Dev didn’t say a word; he stood stoically watching her, his face giving away nothing.
“Yes, I’m a monster… A monster you still want, despite everything.”
She gasped, spinning away from him, but he caught her arm again, forcing her to listen to him.
“You’re not a liar, Avantika, so don’t pretend what I am saying isn’t true. You want me, even though you claim tohateme. And I’m too selfish to not use that. I’ve waited for years to have you in front of me, and I will use everything in my arsenal to get you to talk to me, to listen to me and one day, you might. On that day, when everything is out in the open, you will learn that everythingIdid was foryou…to keepyousafe. To keep Vihaan and Aaryan safe. That night, you weren’t the only one who lost everything.”
Her stomach pitched at his words, at the ice in his tone when he said them. Words—that her head and heart processed differently—thus, leaving her in the lurch as to what she felt about that admission. She gulped, unable to even come to terms with the questions rushing through her head at his shocking words.
Dev lifted her jacket from the ground and handed it to her. “Wear it. It’s raining, and knowing you, you’ll fall sick.”
He whirled, walking away from her. She stared at his departing back for a whole minute before she started following him. He didn’t turn to see if she was behind even once. He just kept walking until they left behind all the streets teeming with people, several clamoring to find shelter from the sudden downpour. Even the metro was filled to the brim. Hence, they walked on, the rain pouring down on them. It was only thirty minutes later that Dev managed to hail a cab.
By the time the cab took off, Avantika was drenched, angry, and irritable. She rubbed her arms. God! It was freezing. Her clothes were sodden, and her hair was dripping wet. Fuck! She ought to remember that the rain in London mostly came unannounced, and she needed to carry an umbrella everywhere. She cast a sideways glance at Dev, who was sitting still, looking straight ahead.
