Chapter 14
14
“ A lright, this is enough for today,” Armaan said, removing the boxing pads.
Navya had arrived right on time in the morning, as she had since the last two weeks. As each day passed, she looked less worried and smiled more. The two of them had settled into a comfortable routine every morning where they practised for an hour, then took a shower, separately of course, and then had breakfast together. Navya definitely looked more relaxed around him. She spoke to him easily and communicated openly with him. He was glad that she was coming to terms with their arrangement.
To make things easier, he had ensured that Mihir wasn’t around in the gym at the same time as them. He’d informed Mihir about this new situation with Navya that very first night over dinner, and although Mihir wasn’t happy about it, he had relented to it. Armaan hadn’t given him a choice in the matter. Which meant that the gym was blissfully empty for Navya and him to use in the foreseeable future. Navya removed her gloves and tossed them to the side.
“I’m going to do some stretches,” she intoned, eyes sparkling.
He took a steadying breath. This had become the new norm for her and a time of extreme torture for him. Look away, he told himself, look away. But his eyes, as usual, stopped listening to him when she started doing her stretches. They chose to remain glued on her.
Linking her hands, Navya raised them above her head, her gaze intent upon him. Dressed as she was in a hot pink halter tank top that exposed her midriff and those skin-tight black tracks, she was his very own wet dream come true. Her breasts jutted out in that pose, and his breath stuttered. Fuck, she was sexy and willy.
She knew that all her daily stretches were enticing him, that all the sexy tops and tight yoga pants she wore were seducing him into breaking his self-imposed rule of staying away from her. He’d decided to move forward physically with her only when he was certain that she genuinely liked him, that she truly felt more than physical desire for him.
Like he’d told her before, he didn’t want to be a notch on her bedpost—someone she’d fuck and forget about. No. He wanted her to accept loudly and clearly that she liked him, which she still refused to do. They joked about it often, and she brushed it off every single time.
At times, he wondered why he craved her acceptance. He hadn’t cared about this with any other woman before her. But with her, it just seemed important that she gave in to him wholeheartedly.
Catching him ogling her, she arched a brow. “Do you like what you see?”
“I think you know the answer to that,” he breathed out.
“Then why are you so set upon resisting me?”
“Tell me what you feel about me.”
Her eyes pinned on him. “What does this look like to you?”
“I see a woman who wants me to make her mine.”
“Badly, so badly…” she added. “Then why don’t you do it?”
“Because this woman also refuses to tell me what she feels about me. I don’t know whether she likes me or not.”
“Does it look like I don’t like you right now?” she tossed back, sounding frustrated.
“Stubborn as ever, da ? I’ll wait till you say you like me before I touch you beyond our training sessions.”
She stretched up further. Her tiny top rode up even more, giving him a better view of her flat belly and that tantalizing skin that he was aching to have under his hands.
“I’m giving you a clear hint here,” Navya said. “I’ve been hinting at what I want from you for so long now. This slow dance between our bodies is exhausting. Don’t you dream about how you would feel moving inside me?”
Bloody fucking hell. His imagination fired up. Images of doing just that exploded in his brain. Her hot gaze raked down his hardening body.
She smirked when she saw his erection straining against his shorts. “I know you want me. Make the first move, Oshnov. I dare you to.”
Fuck. When and how had the roles reversed? He’d always been the predator, seducing women at his whim. But now, he had become the prey. A helpless, hapless prey to this sexy, seductive woman who was determined to break his resistance. She licked her lips and then bit the lower one, tipping her face at him. God, she was so sexy. And he was an absolute idiot for resisting her for so long. They both ached for what she was offering.
Navya stretched her linked arms to her right, her eyes twinkling as she watched him watching her. His brain turned to mush. He took a step toward her, and at the same time, she took one toward him.
Navya stumbled, crying out in pain. He caught her as she fell in his arms, clutching her right leg.
Armaan helped her sit on the mat. He brought her a bottle of water and handed it to her. She took a sip. In the next second, she cried out in pain again, pressing her leg as it spasmed.
“Where does it hurt?” he asked, seating himself in front of her. He stretched her leg on top of his.
She pointed to the back of her right calf. “It’s cramping badly.”
He pressed his fingers into her calf muscle, massaging gently. She winced, her muscle twitching against his fingers.
“Oh, it hurts!” she cried.
“Relax,” he consoled her. “It will be over in a moment.”
Her face contorted as the spasm went on and on. A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Look at me,” he said gently.
Her eyes latched on to him. They shone with tears, and her lips quivered as she tried hard not to succumb to the pain. He felt another spasm rack through her.
“When I was young, I knew that I’d have to leave the orphanage as soon as I turned eighteen,” he began. “I was so bloody frightened by that prospect. The only thing I was sure of was that no matter where we went, my siblings and I would be together. And yet, the question remained: how would we survive? We’d only be high school educated then, and that wouldn’t be enough to get us decent jobs. To become more in life, we wanted to study more. But how could we even do that when we’d be forced to take up whatever menial job we got in order to survive? The future looked so bloody bleak,” he sighed. “Mrs. Braganza, the head matron, knew our dilemma. She taught us the power of positive manifestation. She said, if you truly want something, the universe will bow down to you and give it to you.”
Navya bit her lip, trying to breathe through her pain.
He tipped his head to the water bottle. “Keep sipping.”
She did as he told her to.
He continued, “Although, I didn’t entirely believe her, I took her advice and manifested a better life for all of us daily. For a long time, I thought it wouldn’t make a difference, until Alexander came into our lives, and in the blink of an eye, everything changed. That’s when I started to believe in the absolute power of positive manifestation. And now you’re here, practically sitting in my lap, your legs on mine, exactly the way I’ve been dreaming of for four fucking years. Of course, I’d have preferred you to not be in pain.”
Her eyes widened. Navya wet her lips. His eyes latched on to them, even as he continued to knead her flesh. At least her pain looked to be bearable now.
“Why me?” she repeated the question he still had no reply for.
Armaan studied her. Skin clear of makeup and hair tied in a high ponytail, Navya was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. He loved seeing her smile. He hated seeing her in pain.
He was beginning to believe there could only be one possible answer to this poignant question she kept asking him, one which he was too scared to admit out loud. Navya Mehra had become an addiction—difficult to get rid of and impossible to live without. The more he met her, the more addicted he was becoming to her. He craved this daily fix of meeting her like this, and with each day, the craving only intensified. He wanted more from her, so much more. So much she probably wasn’t ready to give him yet. And so, he kept that answer to himself for now.
“I dreamt about you for four years, you know,” he said instead. “For some strange reason, I couldn’t get you out of my mind. Every party we hosted, I hoped you would show up so I could finally break the deal Mihir made with your brother. The universe took its time, but it happened. You’re here. Finally.”
She opened and closed her mouth, staring at him.
“You’re so different from what I expected…” she whispered. “You’re nothing like the guy I met back then…”
“When you met me then, I was wild, rebellious, irresponsible, and immature, to be honest.” He exhaled a heavy breath. “I handled the situation with you rather badly, I admit. As the years passed and I couldn’t forget you, I realized I could have been gentler and kinder. Perhaps, then things would have been different between us. I could have pursued you and wooed you in the usual way. Four years ago, you served as a wakeup call for me prompting me to grow up and become better. And that is the reason I am no longer the man I was then. You must know that I regret my actions from that night, and I sincerely apologize for that.”
She was silent for a long moment, still observing him.
“Armaan…” she finally said. “It doesn’t pain so much anymore.”
He stared at her. “Good.”
In a move too fast even for him, she leaned closer to him and pushed him on the mat.
She climbed astride him and put her hand on his chest, stopping him from getting up. “No more regrets and no more waiting for you to make the first move, Armaan.”
Saying that, she dropped her mouth to his. He couldn’t resist her even if he wanted to. Her lips moved over his, demanding, seeking entry. He opened his mouth, and in a second, her kiss turned savage, fierce, carnal. Her tongue clashed with his, stroking it against hers, faster, harder. She was insatiable, like she wanted to devour him fully.
He allowed her to do what she wanted to with him. He was like clay in her hands. She could mould him whichever way she wanted to, and for however long she desired. And he was happy to allow her to do so. He would allow her anything she desired. This woman was everything to him.
Her mouth skated across his lips and down the side of his neck, where she inhaled and then began to lick in circles. His hand clasped her hair, holding her in place as she continued to attack that corner of his neck with her mouth and teeth. Fuck. He was losing his mind. His breathing quickened, and his body hardened and throbbed painfully. When was the last time he’d felt so overpowered, so consumed that it was tough to form a single thought in his brain? Never. The answer was never. Only she, this girl he’d met by chance, could make him feel like he was falling into an abyss with no hope of returning as the same person. Navya lifted his t-shirt up, and he helped her take it off.
She pushed him back on the mat as she studied his bare torso. Her lust-filled eyes gleamed.
She kissed the center of his chest. “Do you know how hard I’ve been trying to seduce you this last week?”
God, he knew it. She’d made it obvious every fucking day.
“I read so many articles online to learn how to do it. I practised all my wiles on you, but you’ve been such a tough nut to crack. Until now.”
Wait, what? She’d researched how to seduce him? His heart melted at her admission.
Her mouth ran across his chest, stopping at a nipple, scrambling his thoughts yet again. Her teeth scraped down his pebbled tip, and he growled. Fuck, she had learned a lot. Her mouth went lower and lower, shifting to the side of his waist, where she lingered, sucking, laving, swirling her tongue over and over his skin. His body hardened further. More blood rushed south, making him swell and thicken.
She bit his waist. “I went to the mall to shop for sexy workout clothes, all to catch your bloody attention, and yet, you resisted for too damn long. God, the things I’ve been dreaming to do to you. The things I will to do to you. And you are not going to stop me. Am I clear?”
Her words made his head spin. They seduced him more than anything else she’d tried. That this woman had gone to such lengths to get his attention was stimulating him like never before. And then, everything in him stilled as she removed his gym shorts and tossed them aside. She stared at his massive erection and licked her lips. Before he could even comprehend what she was about to do, she lowered her mouth on his thickness.
“Oh fuck!” he roared, his eyes shutting.
He felt her lips curve over him. Her hands joined her mouth, circling his base, pumping him, while she took him deeper and deeper into her mouth. Stars began to dance behind his closed eyelids. His hands caught her head as he helped her control the pace, showing her how he liked it. God, he liked what she was doing way too much.
His spine tightened; pressure began to build in his stomach. It had hardly been a few moments, and he was this close to exploding inside her mouth.
“Navya, I’m going to…”
She squeezed him tighter.
Fuck, he couldn’t speak.
“Navya, you need to stop, or else I’ll…”
She increased her ministrations, sucking him harder, rolling her tongue on his tip, while her hands continued to pump him in a frenzy. His hands tightened on her head. His hips began to move, his mind a blithering mess as he thrust ferociously into her mouth, snatching control from her. The only thing that mattered was the velvety heat of her mouth, the softness of her lips, and the pulse of her hand on his length.
Tingles ran down his body; white light erupted behind his eyes as a wave of pleasure rolled over him. He held still as he spilled and spilled inside her mouth.
When he opened his eyes, Navya was staring at him, her chin on his thigh, a huge smile on her lips.
She arched a brow. “What do you think? Not bad for the first time, right?”
His heart skittered. Good God, this woman would be his undoing. How was he the first man to have caught her attention as such?
He lifted her atop him and held her tight. “Where have you been all my life?”
“Uh, waiting for you…” she said and then her eyes widened in shock when she realized she’d probably said too much.
She hid her face against his neck. He understood her hesitation. She was scared of what she was beginning to feel for him. Well, he was scared too. The dynamics between them had changed rapidly, and things were moving at a pace faster than either of them had wanted or even anticipated. But there was no going back; there was only the excitement of what the way forward would bring.
He stayed still with her for a while, arms locked around her, her body entwined with his and her heart beating in tandem with his own.
Navya raised herself to look at him. Her innocence shone on her face. He palmed her cheek. She shifted to kiss his palm. His heart rumbled. This woman was his. She belonged to him, and he had to claim her. He was going to claim her right here and right now. He flipped her, laying her down on the mat. His growing erection settled in the vee between her legs. Her throat worked as he pushed into her. He was going to make her his, and no one was going to stop him. His hands skated to her back to unclasp her sports top, and right then, her phone rang.
She looked to the side and then back at him. “I have to go.”
“No. Not yet.”
She rose up to kiss his cheek. “I really have to go. I have an important meeting in an hour.” She checked her watch and pushed him off of her. “Shit, I don’t even have enough time to get dressed.”
He helped her get up and donned his shorts back on. Navya rushed to the shower. She was out in less than ten minutes, her dark hair damp, curling in soft waves down her back. She was dressed in black torn denims and a white shirt with a red heart on the left chest pocket. His breath got stuck in his lungs at the sight. She looked soft and pretty. She gave him a warm smile as she grabbed her bag.
“What about breakfast?” he checked.
“I’ll grab a breakfast bar in the office. No time now.” She stopped in front of him, her eyes not meeting his.
He raised her chin. “Thank you for today.”
Her smile widened. “Meet me tonight?”
This was the first time she was asking him to meet her outside of their training, and he felt sad that he’d have to refuse her. Mihir warned him daily that he wasn’t supposed to go out at night. That they still didn’t know what Ivan was up to. That it was dangerous. His brother was too cautious, but he was also right. And Armaan didn’t want Navya to ever be caught up in their problems.
A better man would have stayed away from her. Unfortunately, he wasn’t that man. He was too damn selfish when it came to her. But he was also concerned about her safety, and that’s why he met her only within the confines of his house where it was safe for both of them. Besides, the two of them meeting here also meant that no one knew he was seeing her. That was a safety net in itself for her.
He held her cheek. “I can’t.”
Her smile dimmed.
“Hey, I’ve promised Mihir to be at home tonight. We have to talk about some things.”
She smiled again. “Alright, then I will see you tomorrow.”
“Same time,” he said.
With a quick wave, she left the gym. By now, she knew her way around his house, and the staff and security knew her too.
He stared at the door for a long time. What he wouldn’t give to have the freedom to meet her publicly, whenever they wanted to. The events of the last hour returned to his mind, making him dizzy. Something had changed between them today.
A lot had changed between them.
How the hell was he supposed to stay away from her now?