21. Leela #3
She hoisted herself back onto the edge, urging him to follow. She lay back against the cool stone and let the sun twinkle as he roamed over her. All she needed was him to keep going and never let this moment end.
Leela leaned forward, cupped his cheek, and pulled him down. A rush of warmth flooded into her, coursing through her veins. Her skin burned at his touch.
Their next kiss was a rush of desire and temptation all in one. He tasted like blissful betrayal, but he was right. Who was to say this was wrong if it felt so right?
Especially since this could be the last time they held one another.
Rajesh drew her into his arms, ensuring she was comfortable as he lay on top. Leela let him, moving with him, feeling his body, feeling everything.
Once Rajesh nestled her gently underneath him, he moved his lips down her body, leaving ember in his wake. Leela shivered, her body writhing in anticipation. He traced the curves of her abdomen, and she moaned against him.
Rajesh smiled, breaking their kiss. “I thought you only squirmed in the sun, damiji.”
“Shut up,” Leela said, wrapping her arms around his neck. She grabbed a tuft of his curls and tugged him back to her mouth.
His hand cupped her breast and squeezed. Over and over again. Molding it underneath his palm.
He moved down, kissing her underarm to her collarbone. Softly and sweetly at first, then intensifying that Leela was caught off guard.
Leela grabbed him by the hips and suddenly switched positions, moving him underneath her. Rajesh glanced up at her, dazed.
“I forget how quickly you can move,” he said, breathless.
“Only when I want to,” Leela said. She leaned down, arching her back toward him. Her fingers toyed with skin, inching down to his manhood.
Rajesh’s breath hitched, but he encouraged Leela to take control.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“It’s a little late to ask, is it not?” she said.
Rajesh smirked, rolled her onto her back, and plunged her into a world of pure bliss.
Leela gasped as he entered, their faces inches from one another as they created a steady rhythm. A rhythm she suddenly realized she craved. Ways that meant safety. Security. Kindness. Warmth. It was a feeling that grew within her, spreading warmth to every fingertip and curling each toe.
They held each other, grasping at everything hanging between them. Touching everything in their path as they approached the peak.
He rocked, and she bucked. He took the lead, and she followed.
“Fuck, Leela.”
Desire lurched within Leela, and she moaned, head tilted back, her spine arching. She reached for something to hold, but there was nothing. Rajesh leaned down, lips around her nipple, and that was it.
She came undone. Her insides pooled, and her ache eased just as he, too, found his release in her.
Then, they went slack, a silent scream wrenching into the sky.
Huffing, Rajesh moved to her side and rested his head on her chest.
Lost in the afterglow, Leela let the moonslight bathe her for a few seconds as she settled against him.
Her body sizzled under the heat, and for a moment, she forgot about everything.
She forgot about the monster and their differences.
About the Viperess and the Scorpion. About them meaning to kill each other…
His erratic heart thumped-thumped-thumped, a tangible force vibrating through every part of her. His breath kissed her skin, his sweat clinging to hers despite the cooling nip of the desert wind.
“Well, picku, you keep surprising me,” Leela said.
Rajesh chuckled. “As do you, little damiji.”
Leela lay there, a smile playing over her lips as they tingled from his touch.
“That was…” She was not sure what word she wanted to use. Unexpected? Surprising? Irresponsible?
“Great,” Rajesh said.
Leela rolled her eyes. She unwrapped his arm draped over her and put her clothes back on. Rajesh followed her lead.
“Leela…?” He stood before her, cupping her cheek underneath his thumb once again.
“Yes?” Leela glanced back.
“I don’t regret it,” Rajesh said.
She didn’t regret it either, but weren’t they being careless at a time like this?
Wasn’t it selfish of her to suddenly want to spend forever with a man she couldn’t?
He had always been someone special. Someone she could trek and get lost in the world with.
Someone who accepted all her jagged edges and scars and still wanted to stay.
“Neither do I,” Leela whispered against his lips. “But it was probably ridiculous.”
Rajesh smirked. “Ridiculously amazing.”
Leela playfully slapped his shoulder, and he laughed. “Don’t think it will happen again.”
“Well, we might not have forever together, and maybe we’ll find this tree and end this rivalry.” He leaned in closer. “Then maybe the Viperess gets her wish, and you’ll never see me again, and we only have this moment to remember.”
Leela’s chest tightened. “Maybe.”
Rajesh stepped back, his eyes lacking their familiar sparkle. “Maybe…”
She glanced over the muscles. His shirt was still on the ground. Her fingers sizzled from touching every crevice, sliding along his shoulders into his curls, which hung like limp vines around his face.
She imagined never seeing Rajesh again. Never talking to him and laughing with him. Never teasing the flames out of him until he caved.
Biting her lip, she tried to feel something other than the underlying hatred for the situation. No. She couldn’t picture never seeing Rajesh again. He had become too important, and she knew she could never let him go. She had to find a way to deal with this Viperess issue or she would lose him.
A small part of her understood why Rajesh had done what he had. He let her go to stop creating more lustishas. He was trying to save the world.
Her chest tightened. She felt selfish.
She really shouldn’t have done that.
“Come on,” Rajesh said, walking toward the exit. “All that work means I need some food.”
Leela rolled her eyes but followed.
While her thirst had been quenched, there was a nagging thought at the back of her mind.
What if she did kill him? And she never got to touch him again…?
What if she had just opened the gates to unlocking another lustisha…?