24. Sujit
SUJIT
W aking up early the next morning, I watched the rising sun cast a gentle glow on the darkened waters.
As I stood drinking in the beauty of the dawn, I wondered why I had been so secretive about my association with Aarti.
Was it for her benefit alone? To save her the embarrassment of being associated with Tara’s ex?
Or was there a part of me that was worried about it too?
Aarti had become a big part of my life these past weeks, yet I had diligently concealed our association. On the several occasions that she had been in my office, I had always addressed her as Ms. Bhatia, especially when Devi was around. Was I worried that she would tell Cathy if she knew?
This was the reason I didn’t take vacations.
When my mind wasn’t focused on work, it tended to meander in unwarranted directions.
Instead of focusing on the what-ifs and the maybes, I should be working to hold on to the one thing that I was absolutely certain of.
I liked Aarti. She made me happy. Who else would care enough and have the courage to steal me away from the world to give me a day at the beach? No one but Aarti.
I pushed the large glass French windows open, and a gentle breeze drifted in. St. Martin was windy on its best day, but right now, an easy gust flirted with the calm sea. Inside, the sheer white linen curtains blew in gentle notes.
“Looks like a lovely mornin’.” Aarti emerged from her room, glided toward the breakfast table, and began pouring herself some coffee.
“This has been one of the most happy and carefree days I’ve had in a very long time.”
I walked over to the table where she had settled herself in a chair.
“Coffee?” she asked.
When I nodded, she poured me a cup and handed it to me across the table.
I took the cup with my left and held out my right hand for her.
She gave me a look of surprise before placing her soft, warm hand in mine.
“I know I can’t ever thank you enough for this weekend, but this can be a good start,” I said and placed a gentle kiss on her hand.
She whipped out a smile as warm as the Caribbean sun.
After breakfast, we headed out to the beach.
In a brash decision, I relinquished my rash guard, putting my gym-toned torso on display as we took a long, leisurely stroll on the soft sand along the beach.
Aarti walked near the water, the rhythmic waves lapping at her feet.
She was a sight to behold. She wore a blue one-piece swimsuit with a floral front open coverup that flapped against the breeze.
Kimono coverups, I think they’re called.
An oversized hat shielded her face from the gentle sun.
I could’ve walked more, if only to hear her talk.
She told me about her favorite time at Sanibel Island in Florida picking shells that she later painted and used to decorate her room.
It was before they moved to the large house, she told me.
When they moved, the interior designers dictated how best to set up her room.
After that, they seldom took domestic vacations.
It was either Europe or some expensive island in a remote part of the world.
It sounded to me like she’d spent a long time doing what was expected of her rather than what made her happy.
The longing to make her happy resurged with force within me. If only I got a chance.
“Let’s walk back. I’m tired,” she said, and we returned to the chaise loungers that had been set up for us. I lay in the heat of the sun, soaking up her warmth, when she said, “You better enjoy the hammock before I grab it.”
Begrudgingly, I willed myself off the recliner.
“Do you want the umbrella on you?” I asked. When she nodded, I readjusted the large canopy to shade her body, then silently headed toward the water, where a hammock rocked on its stand.
As I lay with my hands underneath my head, I fought against the breeze that was trying to gently rock me to sleep.
“Are you going to hog the hammock all weekend?”
Aarti’s voice near me brought out an unintended smile. I opened my eyes under the sunglasses to gaze at her beautiful face. She stood looking at me with her hands on her slender hips.
“You brought me here for that, did you not?” I asked.
“Yes, but I didn’t know you wouldn’t share.”
“I don’t mind sharing. Climb in.” I grinned.
“Okay, scoot,” she teased.
“Sure.” I wiggled my body.
She let out a beautiful laugh before climbing in to rest her head on my arm.
“This is so relaxing,” she said and placed a hand on my chest.
“Yes, now don’t disturb me while I nap.”
I felt the curve of her lip, the movement of her cheek against my chest as she smiled at my words.
I felt the entirety of her body against me.
Her silky legs, grazing against mine. The soft of her stomach against my hipbone.
I could feel the warmth of her body through the two layers of clothing between us.
Then I felt something else. Her breath got deeper and labored. Her body stiffened. The palm resting on my chest moved a few inches inward, then stopped abruptly. I tried to ignore the sensation, but the mind has a mind of its own. And my mind was bossing over me hard. Quite literally.
Then, without a word, she pushed herself up with the hand on my chest.
“What happened?” I asked as if I didn’t know the answer to that silly question.
“Nothing, this isn’t working. It’s uncomfortable. I am all scrunched up. I’ll go lay down on the chair.”
I nodded and watched her lower herself into the lounge recliner.
I closed my eyes and went back to pretending to nap. Her delicate floral fragrance still hovered around me, nudging me softly. I heard her shuffle.
“I’ll be back in a bit,” she said.
“Alright,” I said with my shaded eyes still closed.
The sea was calm before the evening tide.
The sun was making a slow trek toward the horizon with the intention of setting but taking its time, teasing, provoking, wondering how long it would take for mortals to surrender to the beauty of the evening sky.
A gentle breeze sang to the sun, asking it to stay a bit longer.
I basked in the lull of the breeze and the now predictable rhythm of the waves lapping at the shores.
My closed lids began to relax over my eyes, and I was just about to slip into slumber when I felt a pair of soft lips on mine.
My eyes flew open, and my arms lifted up in a defensive posture.
“It’s me,” Aarti said.
“Aarti, what are you doing?” I removed my sunglasses, dropping them over the rim of the hammock, and they landed in the pristine sand with a soft thud.
She had changed into a skimpy two-piece bikini and stood over me, bathed in sunlight, looking like an ethereal being.
“I thought you wanted this,” she said and undid the knot on her top, then pushed it off her shoulders.
I sat up as high as I could in the wobbly hammock.
“What are you doing?” I asked, flabbergasted.
“Do you want me?”
I’d stopped breathing. She touched my cheek gently. “Do you want me, Sujit? Me?”
I sat stupefied. My eyes went to her breasts. They were beautiful. The setting sun had stopped in its track to illuminate her nipples like two pieces of precious, dark rubies set on two perfect mounds of gold.
She moved closer and brought her breast to my mouth.
Her hands raked the back of my head as she guided me gently.
I held her waist. She let out a loud sigh as my mouth covered her taut nipple.
I rolled my tongue over it, and her head fell back, her slender waist arching like an artist’s masterpiece.
“Yes, I want you, Aarti. I want the real you, all of you,” I said and kissed her chest and stomach.
She held my hand and helped me off the hammock.
I waited while she removed her bottom and reclined on the low chaise.
“You know what I want.” She smiled with the mischievous glint in her eyes that I’d come to love and desire more than anything else.
“Teach me,” I said.
She took my hand to her perfect brown opening and moaned. “I want your tongue.”
“Tell me how.” I bent her legs at the knees and coaxed open her thighs. “You are so beautiful!” I said, and she gave me a shy smile.
Spreading her legs wide open, she showed me how she liked it. I listened, learned, and followed. I gave her exactly what she asked for.
She tasted like sunshine and the sea. She glistened like the lights dancing on the water.
I made her moan so loudly, her back slipped down the recliner.
“You liked that?”
“Oh, Sujit,” she said and pulled me into a kiss. My body crushed hers gently, and she moved her tongue deeper and deeper inside my mouth.
Then she got off the chair, pulled down my shorts, and ordered me down on the chaise.
She wrapped both her hands around my dick and stroked.
I watched her swirl her tongue around the head, her eyes locked with mine.
Her coral lipstick turned red, as if my dark skin was bleeding color to her lips, as if our bodies were melting into each other.
Her fragrance dissolved into me, my fingers slipped into her hair, I disappeared into her mouth, and her breasts melded to my thighs.
Her fingers on my hips leached away the pain I’d held for months.
She wanted me to tell her what I wanted, but she’d already given me everything I needed.
Overcome with passion and consumed by fire, she rode me like a tigress.
I let her take what she wanted, giving her everything I had in me.
We rolled down onto the soft sand. She straddled me again, and I held her perfect bottom in my hands.
Her breasts gleamed golden in the glow of the setting sun. I felt her insides clench against me.
“Yes, baby,” I whispered, but the crashing waves drowned me out. They got wilder, louder, thudding against my ear, sharing in our pleasure, cheering us on.
Somewhere in the distance, a thunderstorm roared. The sun glinted crimson in admonishment. But emboldened by the gust, the brazen storm continued to forge stronger, heading straight toward us.
Aarti was nearing climax, her moans rising above the roaring waves. She grazed against me, and I felt her insides tighten.
“Oh, Sujit! Sujit…I can’t…”
I held her bottom and thrust upward. A few insolent rain drops had the audacity to fall on her breasts and bounce with glee.
“Sujit,” she cried again, and I felt the rain on my face. “We need to get inside.”
I felt her clamping down on me again, and I kept going. I wanted to give her the happiness that no other man had.
“Keep going, darling, don’t stop now. I don’t want you to stop,” I said.
Unchecked by the sun and roused up by the wind, the storm had gained courage. It poured down with conceited bravado, taking over the skies, the earth, the seas.
“Sujit…”
“Keep going, baby…”
“Sujit…Sujit…hey…”
A soft hand on my wet cheek woke me up.
“Hey, sorry to wake you,” Aarti leaned over me in her blue one-piece and Kimono coverup. “It’s starting to rain. Let’s go inside.”
“What?” I scrambled to sit up in the hammock.
“Easy, easy,” she said. “Here, take my hand.”
Gripping her wrist, I climbed out of the hammock. She led me inside, and I followed her in a daze and with an embarrassingly large bulge in my shorts.