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“Thanks to you, it seems I’ll have to get married,” I bit out.
I didn’t know if Isha really thought she was helping me when she announced our wedding to Chandel Sahab, or if she was using my desperation to fulfil her dream, but there was no backing out now. Not if I wanted to avoid political suicide.
I knew I should be grateful to her for her help, and a temporary marriage was the perfect solution to both our problems, but it felt so transactional. I had no plans to marry in the immediate future, but I had always thought that when I did get married, it would be for love. I had rejected all the arranged marriage proposals put forth by my mother because I couldn’t dream of being tied to someone without love.
Besides, this was Isha! The woman who had driven me crazy for years. I had stayed far away from her because I knew she deserved much better than the mix of hatred and insatiable desire which was all I had to offer. Now that I had no reason to hate her, it was getting very difficult to keep my desire leashed and under control.
One spark was all it would take to trigger an explosion, and she had no idea she was playing with fire.
I had a feeling one taste of her wouldn’t be enough for me. Hell, a lifetime of making love to Isha wouldn’t be enough for me. And all she was offering was a year.
She plonked herself down on the bench and began to hyperventilate.
“So, we’re doing this, right? I know you’re not happy about it, but we have to go through with it. For the sake of our dreams,” she said, between bouts of rapid, shallow breathing.
I knelt before her and took her hands in mine.
“Hey, take slow, deep breaths,” I ordered. “It will look very bad for me if my new fiancée passes out and hits her head on a bench.”
Isha looked into my eyes as she took deeper breaths. I wondered if she could see deep into the depths of my soul and what she found there. For my part, I could feel my anger slipping away when I stared into her big, brown eyes. I grabbed hold of it before it slipped away completely and left me weak and vulnerable again.
“It depends on you, Isha. Can you walk away from me after a year?” I whispered in her ear.
I nibbled on the soft shell of her ear and Isha shuddered in response. I kissed my way gently from her ear to the side of her mouth, dropping soft, butterfly kisses on her skin.
Isha opened her mouth to speak, but I swallowed her protest when I covered her lips with mine and kissed her deeply for the first time in years. With a soft moan, she kissed me back, and it felt like I was home at last. I thrust my tongue in her mouth and hers duelled with it for a few seconds, before she sucked on it, sending sparks of fire straight to my groin.
With a groan, I broke the kiss and leaned back to observe her beautiful face. Her lips were parted and glistening, and her face was flushed with desire. I waited until Isha opened her eyes and it gave me immense pleasure to note that she looked dazed.
“Are you capable of walking away from this? From… us?”
Isha’s eyes turned glacial and she pushed me away.
“There is no us, Veer. This is a business proposition. A marriage of convenience. There won’t be any of… this,” she said, waving a hand between our bodies.
I cracked a harsh laugh as I shook my head in disbelief.
“There’s nothing convenient about my desire for you, Isha. So why should our marriage be anything different? If you think you and I can live together for a year and have a marriage in name only, you’re out of your mind,” I argued.
Isha shot me a wintry smile.
“Not at all, Veer. All I need to do is remember how you didn’t find me attractive when I was ten kilos heavier. You might have forgotten that, but I haven’t,” she said bitterly.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked sharply.
I had spent the past nine years agonising about my insatiable desire for the one woman who was forbidden to me. And she had the cheek to say I didn’t find her attractive!
She stood up and began to walk away.
“It doesn’t matter. If you’re willing to go ahead with this, we need to inform our families,” she said off-handedly.
“Of course it fucking matters,” I exploded, grabbing her hand and pulling her back to me. “You can’t walk away from me after saying something so outlandish.”
“What’s outlandish about it?” she asked coldly. “I’m merely stating facts. You used to find me physically repulsive.”
“Isha Shekhawat, I’ve known you for almost your entire life, and I’ve felt a lot of things for you over all these years. Affection, a lot of anger, some fear, and above all, insatiable lust. But it is safe to say that I’ve never been repelled by you,” I said starkly.
“You don’t have to spare my feelings, Veer. I don’t care if you were put off by my appearance. That’s a reflection on you, not me.”
