Page 59 of The Royal Contract

No matter which town she was in, she made sure to be back at the palace for her husband. Even after a long day at the events and talking to people in various villages, she still wanted her husband to set her body on fire before crashing for the night.

The time she spent alongside her father made her realize the need for more representation from the region. The more time she spent understanding the problems, she knew why her father chose the career he had and why it was important to serve the community even if it was not part of being in the Indian Administrative Service.

Being a pilot fascinated her, but taking on a role to serve the people of her region filled her with pride. Somewhere during that time, she had decided to give the IAS examination one more shot. What she had thought was an expectation from her family had turned into a duty as a citizen.

It was still very early in the morning when she stepped out of the shower to find Jai walking into the bathroom. Her heart leaped just at the mere sight of him and had made peace with the fact that it would never change. “Sorry, did I wake you?”

He responded with a sweet kiss on her lips. “I woke up to say goodbye to my wife I will miss seeing all day.”

“You are silly, Jai.” She walked to her closet lost in thought. She had been debating about her career choices amidst the events she was attending with her father. She was so lost in thought she didn’t realize she had spent a few minutes staring into her closet.

She winced slightly when she heard his footsteps and smiled when he held her from behind. He laid a trail of kisses on her neck and asked against her skin, “What’s bothering my beautiful wife?”

She smiled, throwing her head back onto his chest, opening up for his invasion. “I… I…” She pulled back to face him. “You know I can’t talk when you are kissing me like that.”

He chuckled, pulling her to him and planting a hard kiss on her lips. “What’s going on?”

She took in a deep breath. “I… I don’t know if I want to be a pilot anymore, and I think I want to give the IAS exam one more shot. If I don’t pass it, I don’t know if I can face my parents, especially Papa.”

Jai tightened his hold on her. “It doesn’t matter how you serve the people, the want to do good is what matters. What you have been doing the past few weeks, working with your father, helping with the management of his events, and providing input to his plans, that’s work that will still help people.”

Sanjana fought back tears as she kissed him on his cheek. “Thank you. And what I’m doing with Papa, I enjoy it very much. A lot of the work done between the events is all online, so I can do it from the palace too.”

“Indeed,” he said, smiling into her eyes. “You should talk to your father about it.”

She nodded. “I will one of these days. It’s going to be a tough conversation to have and—”

He didn’t let her finish as he swallowed her words in a kiss. “Don’t be nervous, baby,” he said, his hand trailing down to the apex of her thighs as she pushed away the robe’s material.

Her knees felt weak on initial contact, and she felt her body being pushed against the closet wall as he opened the knot on the belt that kept the robe in place. “Jai, I need to go.” It was a plea against his lips.

He groaned against her lips. “I need to calm you down before you go.” His voice was gruff, and it made her body sizzle with need. He had gotten her rattled so hard that she wanted him to take her there on the carpeted floor of the closet.

She hugged his head, never wanting him to stop what he was doing, but he escaped her hands as he pushed her further against the wall. She called out his name as a complaint and lost anything else she was going to say when she felt his warm breath on her thighs as he slowly kissed the inner walls.

Explosions set off in her when his mouth closed in on her yearning nub waiting for the ultimate release. She sunk her fingers into his thick hair, biting down on her lip to stop herself from crying out as pleasure gripped her. She let out a cry when he gave her core a hard suck before tantalizing every nerve ending with his tongue.

She was somewhere over the moon, feeling his mouth worship her, hands holding her steady, and most of all, he was satiating her in every way, and mostly the need to be conquered by him—mind, body, and soul—forever.

*****

Later that day, Sanjana returned to their private quarters after an event with her father that ended sooner than planned. She was able to tell her father she would like to take responsibility for managing the events and administration for the NGO and saw pride in his eyes.

She knew Jai wouldn’t be back for a couple more hours, and she could not wait to tell him what she shared with her father. She wanted to take a quick nap so they could spend time together well into the night if he was up for it. He had ample energy when it came to setting the sheets on fire, and just at the thought, her body jittered in anticipation.

Her footsteps slowed down when she heard voices coming from the living room of their private space. Annoyed that her team was yet again watching the news from their living room as they waited for her arrival, she could only shake her head. She had a sweet group of people who worked hard for her to make her look her best anywhere she went but didn’t dig the loud television noises.

She pushed open the door and let out a laugh. “Guys, I could hear the—” She froze, and her words were lost when she saw it was Jai and his brother, Bharath, in the room. The loud voices were theirs? She could not imagine Jai raising his voice, ever. “Oh, sorry, I thought…”

Her voice trailed off when she saw the angry look on Jai’s face and a matching one on his brother’s. “Jai, is everything okay?”

Jai didn’t look at her but nodded. “Give us a few minutes, please.”

She nodded and was about to step away when Bharath spoke up. “Sanjana, you need to listen to this. You are very much a part of this family.” She picked up something vicious in Jai’s brother’s tone.

“Bharath, not right now,” Jai warned, setting off alarms in her head. Why was her sweet husband talking in that manner?

Stunned by the nature of the exchange between them, she stood rooted to her spot. She wanted to walk over to where Jai stood to one side of the room, but something was off about him. He had a look in his eyes that she could not decipher.

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