Chapter 18 #2
Her breath caught as darkness enveloped her, heightening every other sense.
He didn’t move away right away. Instead, he leaned in close, his mouth grazing the shell of her ear as he whispered, “Do you trust me?”
She didn’t hesitate. “No.”
“Good.”
And then, silence followed for a few minutes with the slow, deliberate echo of his footsteps moving away. She sat on the bed alone in his absence... and yet completely wrapped in it.
“Kushal…” she called out, unable to let the silence stretch.
“I’m here…” he said from some feet away, but that assurance was enough… He was enough…
And just like that, the tension coiled tighter inside her.
She sat in still darkness, blindfolded, her hands knotted tightly in her lap.
Every sound in the room had become amplified…
each shuffle of feet, each soft thud, every slow intake of breath.
Then came a faint rustle, followed by the metallic clink of something being set down.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice slightly breathy.
From across the room, he replied, “Preparing to feed you.”
That one sentence sent a flush of heat spiralling through her body.
Her legs instinctively pressed together, trying to quiet the ache pooling in her belly.
Damn him. He had been right. Stripped of her sight, the rest of her senses were on high alert.
Not knowing what he was doing, not knowing how he was looking at her…
how she looked to him right now, sitting there, helpless and unaware, was a new kind of vulnerability.
A new kind of torment. One she hadn’t expected to crave.
She licked her bottom lip, only to feel the warmth spread further when she realised what that action might’ve looked like to him. Not that she could see him. Not that she even dared to ask.
Just then, she heard the slow sound of his footsteps nearing. She could feel the shift in the air, the rise in temperature around her, the scent of ripe fruit, and something distinctly him. He was close now.
Something was set down beside her, probably on the bedside table.
“I’m going to feed you now,” he said, the tone wicked. “Let’s see how good you are at taking it.”
Her lips parted at his words, involuntarily. What kind of line was that? The words and the way he said them… They weren’t innocent. Not even close.
He was still standing, towering over her as she sat. The angle alone sent a flush to her cheeks. He wasn’t even trying to mask the undertone anymore. And for reasons she couldn’t fully explain, she didn’t want him to.
“What are you waiting for?” he asked. “Open your lips.”
He didn’t wait for her to comply. His fingers found her chin, tilting it upward gently. Then, with maddening slowness, he brushed the pad of his thumb across her lower lip…softly.
She held her breath. She was the one who had dared him. And now she was in too deep to retreat.
She remained still, lips parted, waiting.
And he… he took his time.
He didn’t feed her, not yet.
His thumb continued to trace over her mouth, back and forth. The pad of his thumb memorising their shape. Not teasing her. Just touching. Light, patient strokes that made her want to scream or melt.
She wanted to see him. To rip the blindfold away and meet his eyes, to know how he was looking at her like this. But she couldn’t. She had started this. And she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of watching her break first.
Then, finally, she felt it.
Something cool…likely fruit…grazed her lips. But he didn’t feed it to her. Just let it rest there, offering only the barest taste.
She leaned in, instinctively reaching for it with her mouth, but he pulled it back at the last second.
“Easy,” he murmured. “You’ll get it.”
And there it was again. That voice. That damn voice. Teasing her, tormenting her, flooding her with want.
That was the confirmation she needed.
He wasn’t playing fair. He was playing her.
She clenched her hands tightly in her lap, biting back the words building inside her.
And for the first time in her life, she couldn’t even deny him the thrill of saying things like that.
Because in truth, her body wasn’t protesting.
It was begging for more.
Then his voice came again…all velvety, commanding, with a heat that slid right beneath her skin. “Be a good girl… and you’ll get it all.”
This time, Arundhati couldn’t stay silent. Her chin lifted slightly, her face angling toward where she imagined he stood. “I know what you’re doing.”
He didn’t deny it. Instead, the pad of his thumb, which had been teasing the curve of her lips, drifted lower. It trailed down the column of her neck. There, it moved in slow, deliberate strokes, as if he was reading the rhythm of her pulse.
“Hmm?” he murmured, dipping his head slightly, his voice husky. “And what exactly am I doing, Arundhati?”
He wanted her to say it. She knew that tone. He was coaxing it out of her. So she did.
“You’re seducing me, Kushal.”
A grin pulled at his lips. She couldn’t see it, but she felt it in the pause that followed, in the way his breath slowed and deepened.
“Obviously,” he replied, and then came the whisper of movement as he brought the fruit back to her lips. “Take it in.”
She parted her lips, obeying because her will was already halfway gone. What was she supposed to focus on? The fruit? The heat of his words? Or the edge in his voice that made every syllable sound like something else entirely?
The fruit…cool and juicy, slid onto her tongue. She bit down slowly, and the sweet taste filled her mouth.
For a moment, she forgot the point of the game altogether. Forgot that she was supposed to guess. She forgot she was blindfolded, and they were pretending this was still about proving a point.
Kushal chuckled under his breath, the sound curling around her skin. “Should I remind you what we’re actually doing here?”
Reality snapped back, just slightly. She blinked behind the blindfold, suddenly remembering, and licked a bit of juice from the corner of her mouth.
“Strawberry,” she said at last, her voice soft, breathy. “I… I knew it. I was just… distracted by the taste.”
She lifted her hand, aiming to shove at his chest in playful retaliation, but before she could make contact, he caught her wrist. And instead of pushing her hand away, he guided her palm to rest flat against his torso.
Over his abs.
Arundhati froze, lips parting slightly. His body beneath her palm was warm, solid, tense. And though he said nothing, the message was clear. He wanted her to feel him. Wanted her to know.
Her fingers lingered, uncertain… until instinct took over and she let them stay.
She didn’t even realise her own forehead had broken into a light sweat until he leaned in again.
“It’s getting hot in here.”
She barely had time to process it before he reached for the hem of his T-shirt and tugged it upward in one swift, fluid motion, stripping it off.
Her hand was still there. Now on his bare skin.
Now shirtless, Kushal stood before her, breathing deep, as her fingers trembled faintly against his chest. She couldn’t see him. But she felt everything. And she had no idea what was coming next. Only that whatever this was…it was no longer just a game.
Kushal’s thumb traced along her jawline again.
“Do you even realise what you look like right now?” he murmured. “Blindfolded. Lips parted. Waiting for me...? If it hadn’t been just a game…”
That was it.
Something inside her snapped.
Whether it was the lingering haze of alcohol or simply the way his words twisted around her like silk and fire, Arundhati couldn’t take it anymore. Her restraint crumbled.
In one swift motion, she rose to her feet, hands reaching behind her head to yank off the blindfold. Light flooded back into her vision in a soft blur, her eyes struggling to adjust after the pitch-black stillness.
And then she saw him.
Kushal…bare-chested, flushed, breath heavy, eyes locked on her with something far more primal.
Before he could say a word, she closed the distance and threw her arms around his neck. Her mouth met his in a kiss that was hot, hard and hungry. She kissed him like he was the only thing tethering her to this moment. Like she was done pretending not to want him.
And it broke the last thread of his patience, too.
With a guttural sound low in his throat, he kissed her back just as fiercely, one arm banding around her waist, the other slipping into her hair as he pulled her closer, deeper.
They stumbled together onto the bed, lips locked, breath ragged, hearts racing.
When they hit the mattress, he hovered over her, their bodies flush, their past and pride forgotten in that desperate, consuming moment.
Kushal’s fingers slipped beneath the delicate straps of her maxi dress, guiding them hurriedly down her shoulders. Arundhati let out a soft moan as his teeth grazed her lower lip, then his lips trailed down, giving open-mouthed kisses along the slope of her neck.
The straps of her dress didn’t just slide…they gave way under the pressure, torn aside in the urgency of the moment. All she could feel was the press of his mouth against her skin, the burn of it, the way it drowned out every coherent thought. And for now, that was enough.
His fingers found the zipper at her back, and with one fluid pull, it was undone. Whether it was his hands or hers…or both…it didn’t matter. The rest of the dress slid from her body in seconds, pooling at her feet before he kicked it off the bed, never breaking contact.
Then his mouth was on her again, tracing over every curve of her breasts he’d spent far too long keeping his distance from.
One moment, she was gasping, her head tipping back into the pillows; the next, her hands gripped the sheets tight, bracing herself against the ache curling deeper with every second.
She was only wearing the soft two-piece beneath, and despite years of marriage, this was the first time she had ever been this bare in front of him. But shame had no place here. If anything, a voice in her head whispered something bolder, daring him to strip her down completely.
And Kushal heard it.
Without hesitation, his hands moved to her back, his fingers finding the clasp of her bralette. With a tug, it came undone, sliding from her skin slowly. He paused for only a heartbeat, eyes dark with hunger as they drank in the rise and fall of her chest.
“F*ck,” he groaned before his mouth latched on her left breast, taking it fully in his mouth, while his palm kneaded the other, with the same intensity his mouth showed.
A soft cry left her lips with all the new sensations he was showing her body…
All those months of waiting and overthinking if she did the right thing by wanting a divorce from him, now screamed at her how wrong she was.
If this was what being his wife meant, then she didn’t want space. She wanted him. All of him.
Somehow, Kushal seemed to sense every thought unravelling inside her. Like he could read the silent pleas she was too afraid to voice.
The next instant, his fingers slid lower, tracing the curve of her waist before gliding down her stomach, stopping just at the edge of where her control began to splinter.
He looked into her eyes, as if seeking permission, and all she did was guide his wrist, pushing it lower.
That was all the approval he needed before his fingers dipped into her silk panties.
She lost the ability to think straight as his fingers worked her up.
There was nothing she could feel except him.
He kept stroking her sensitive skin, muttering something intangible in her ears…
kissing her… licking her jawline, all the while keeping his fingers glued in and out of her core.
Arundhati was in another world. Within seconds, she saw it…
the darkness behind her eyes, the white spots like stars in that darkness.
Her body coiled, unable to take in the overflowing sensations, and in no time, she was writhing beneath him…
chasing something she didn’t know could be this intense.
When she finally came undone, he pulled out his fingers and pressed another hard kiss to her, saying sweet nothings into her ear, until he realized she just dozed off, leaving him hard and wanting.