Page 64 of Forbidden

He raises his hands in defeat. “I already am.”

Ignoring me again, he takes another swig. I hate him so much for doing this to me and his cool attitude pisses me even more. So, I do exactly the same with him. Piss him off, maybe. It’s my last chance after all. I won’t get this chance again as I am leaving forever for London.

“You know what? I think a drink can help me sleep well.”

Before he can respond, I pour whatever he is drinking into another glass and gulp it down. I had expected him to stop me, but he didn’t. It startled Aarav Raichand to see me take this step, but he doesn’t react.

“Eww,” I cough. “How do you drink this? It’s weird.”

He is still silent. With his eyes penetrating my soul, I challenge him again by drinking some more. Silence spreads between us. I hope I’ve pissed him off enough because ever since I started to drink, he stopped. When I feel drowsy, I decide to call it a night. This drinking therapy worked tonight instead of my sleeping pills. That doesn’t mean I am going to do that forever. With wobbly steps, I rise to my feet.

“Good bye, Aarav Raichand.”

He doesn’t say a word, but when I almost lose my balance, he’s off his feet, and next to me. Before he can touch me, I step back.

“I’m going to London tomorrow.”

He is still silent. I finally get to see him clearly now. Aarav Raichand is still in his business suit. Probably, he was working late at night until I intruded his space.

“So? Nothing left to say?” I laugh. It’s not that I have lost my senses and I don’t know what I am asking him. I really want to know why he is so silent over this matter?

He takes a step towards me, and I take one behind, hitting my back to the table.

“Will it matter to you if I say something? Will you change your decision if I ask you to?”

That voice!! He could scare a whole military with his commanding voice. I don’t respond, but it looks like now he wants me to. Aarav closes the gap between us, pinning me to the table behind with his arms on either side of my body. The look on his face is pure determination as if he wouldn’t let me go anywhere and even make sure I change my decision for him. I don’t know if it’s the drink or this curiosity to know how farther he can go to stop me, that I test him even more.

“What can you do to make me stay?” I challenge.

“Careful with what you ask for, Jaan. I might just consider compelling you to stay and you wouldn’t mind accepting my demand.”

Okay. Looks like he can do that if I don’t stop this madness. He seems intimidating and drunk while I am drunk and losing my mind. But before I walk away from Aarav Raichand, the one man who keeps claiming me to be his, the only man who’s kissed me forcibly and the only one who has kept me on my toes all the time with his attitude, ego and tricks, I wouldn’t want to give him an upper hand at least tonight when I am going to leave him forever tomorrow. This is that one moment I want to win over him. So, I challenge him one last time, hoping that should shut him up.

“I am not that weak anymore, Aarav Raichand. No matter what you do. So, try whatever you want, but this time I am choosing my freedom over everything you have to offer me.”

I feel heat radiate off him as he scorches my body from head to toe.

“What have you got? Bring it on.”

The moment I challenge him again, Aarav inches closer to my lips. Breath stalls in my throat as we both remember the moment when he kissed me forcibly. Will he repeat that again? With him so close to me, I still dare to stare into his eyes. There’s so much pain in them. He doesn’t want me to leave, that’s clear. My stomach coils at the fact that I am fascinated by this dark hunger in his eyes. To be honest, I have felt this fascination for him ever since I have met him. I had always heard about Aarav Raichand from Daadi and Mohit, bad mostly, and it usually happens that we are curious about bad versions more than good, just to know what made them bad. The same was the case with Aarav. When I met him first in this house, and the way he declared I was going to be his wife and not Mohit’s, was enough to give me a reason to dislike him but that dislike had nothing to do with what my body felt every time he was close. I have to admit, Aarav Raichand is one hot, messy man who knows what he is doing, and it is that trait which my inner romantic woman has always admired in him. Aarav was never my man and only because I was going to be Mohit’s wife in future bowing to my obligation towards Daadi for showing support after I was orphaned, I totally ignored that trait in Aarav no matter how much it kind of turned on the woman inside me. Another aspect of his life that kept me glued was Aarav’s love for his mother. I know this war between him and the other Raichands wouldn’t have been a war at all if his mother had got her rights. It’s hard to find men like him who avenge their families even if they are no longer part of this world. But amidst all these reasons, the most captivating one is his inclination towards soothing my pain. Like he did in Mussoorie and his tears of guilt when he thought I was ending my life because of the pain he gave me. He wasn’t like Mohit, who hid his motives and covered up his mistakes. Aarav Raichand owned his sins which again, earned him a plus point in my silly heart.

I’m so lost in thinking about him even when he is so close to me that I don’t realize when his thumb strokes my lower lip, urging me to come out of my stupor and focus on him.Need!!Need is all I feel in my body for him.. for this man whose eyes have fixed on mine and despite all the confusions I have felt for him, this time I am sure of one thing. He wants me and tonight it feels like he wants me for what I am and not for any other reason. The need in his eyes tells me I am no more a pawn, but his queen. I inch a little closer this time and forgetting every other thought in my head, I fuse our lips together. It has to be the drink effect because the Jhanvi Sikand I am, can never do this on her own. I don’t even love Aarav and I can never kiss a man I don’t love but still here I am, kissing Aarav Raichand hard and fast like my life depends on it. He’s too repulsive at the beginning, but soon he gives in. I don’t realize when Aarav picks me up and puts me on the table behind. Digging my nails into the skin of his shoulder, I hold on as he kisses me almost raw, hungry and savage. Everything feels blissful one instant and worrying the next. I can’t believe I am kissing the forbidden grandson of the Raichand and if this continues, I might end up not flying back tomorrow. No. This has to stop, but I have no control over it anymore. Aarav has taken away all my rational senses through this one kiss, which is sharp and all-consuming that I have no power to stop it,neither I want to. That’s not me who admitted it. That’s my subconscious mind who’s on fire. I don’t think I have ever dreamt of being devoured this badly by a man whom I hate. The kiss stirs crazy butterflies in my stomach and just when I focus on the stomach part, I realize something else is happening there too. Aarav’s finger has dipped under my tank top and he’s playing with my belly button, sliding his finger in and out. Damn hell!! He isn’t just simply doing it. None of his actions is without a reason. Aarav fingering my belly button indicates what else he wants to do with my body. He wants more, he wants us to unite intimately, and that scares the hell out of me. I push him away with a strong force, breaking the kiss, the moment and everything else he was doing to me, or rather I allowed him to do it with me.

I should better leave. I push him and hurry to the door, but a second later, he runs to me and hauls me to the door again.

“Who said I am done?”

And then Aarav kisses me again. I shouldn’t have tested him. He’s everything that I need right now, but also the one I want to run away from. With his hands on my hip, his grip tight and pleasant, Aarav draws me for yet another searing hot kiss. It’s hard to even attempt describing this powerful magnetism between us, with his hardness nudging my stomach. I let out a squeal of surprise when he nibbles my lower lip, which tempts me to explore his mouth I wouldn’t dare to do otherwise. His finger is still drawing circles on my naval, which has stopped sensing anything and everything except his finger. Soon his fingers notch up to the underline of my bosom and I gasp when he drags his palm around there, rubbing the skin.Need fills me.Aarav draws his mouth back giving us a few seconds to breathe, then rolls a thumb over my lips and kisses me again. If it wasn’t for the large frame of his body keeping me up, I would have dropped down long ago. He sucks the life out of me, an ultimate pleasurable sin I cannot explain. And then he stops. He just stops making me curse the fact that I had just started needing more. I could do anything to finish what we started. All he had to do was demand. I don’t care how thoughtless my behavior might seem, but that’s what Aarav Raichand does to me. He’s a hot mess I don’t think I can ever figure out.

His hooded eyes turn darker, nostrils flare as reality hits us both. Then his lips trail the curve of my ear and I give in again.

“If we don’t stop now, you might end up with a swollen belly in the coming weeks, Jaan.” He completes that declaration with a flick of his tongue over my earlobe.

Swollen belly? Why would he say that? Oh wait!! Does he mean a baby? Aarav Raichand and my baby? Heck No!!

He pulls back from me and cups my face.

“You asked me what I can offer you to convince you to stay back, right? This is what I offer you, Jaan. A real marriage, a lifetime commitment, and this maddening chemistry between us. If you stay, I promise to give you a life you always desired. I know you wanted to be chosen for and by love, and I promise to give you all that and in abundance. I chooseyou,Jaan, over every pain, happiness and motives I have had so far. Don’t leave me.”

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