Chapter 16
Mantra sat at the bar later that week waiting for her sister to join her. She drove to Monterey after work and skipped working at The Red Room to meet her sister and spend Tuesday night with her.
Wednesday was her usual day of thesis documentation, and she couldn’t wait to write sitting on the beach.
She had an interesting half week with a new twist to her not-so-fun life—Yash. He was away on business in the eastern part of the United States, and the three-hour time difference made it that much more fun.
She woke up to messages from him that weren’t messages she ever received from any man she had dated in the past. They were messages that made her gasp, pull her robe closer around her body, and feel the blood rush to her epicenter.
The messages were not dirty or porny, they were twisted and fun. He was a writer, and she hadn’t expected anything less but never such obscure messages that seemed to be about random things but instantly raised the temperature.
Mantra heard her sister’s happy squeals over the music and the chatter at the crowded bar.
“Thank you… thank you for driving all the way here.”
She hugged her older sister. “My pleasure.”
“It’s been so long since we went out. I’m getting you drunk tonight.” Her sister giggled.
“Really?”
“Yes, but first I need to use your phone to text my darling husband. My phone is dead, and I’m sure he called me a hundred times wondering where I was.”
“Sure, why don’t you do that while I make a trip to the ladies’ restroom?”
“Did you order drinks?” her sister asked looking up her husband’s number on Mantra’s phone.
“Do the honors, sis.” Mantra smiled and walked down the narrow hallway to the ladies’ restroom. She smiled thinking about how she ran into Yash for the first time outside a restroom. She was convinced he was an arrogant bastard even though she felt possessive about him talking to his date that night.
She went back to the bar feeling a lot of eyes on her, but she didn’t care for that kind of attention anymore. She wanted Yash to look at her the way he did every time she saw him. He looked at her like she was the only one in the room as he did the first time like she was the only one to satiate his hunger.
Mantra smiled to herself feeling the warmth and the throbbing between the legs. She couldn’t wait for him to be back.
“Did you order our drinks?”
“Who is this guy?” Mantra was shocked to see her sister looking at Yash’s very heated messages.
“Sloka, you were supposed to make a phone call, not spy on me.” She dragged her phone from her sister’s hand.
“Rajeev didn’t answer, and he doesn’t take voicemails, so I had to text him… who is this guy… Hot Rod?”
Mantra bit down her laugh in reaction to the way her sister said Yash’s contact name on her phone. “Nobody.”
“What are those messages? I thought I was going to faint reading them, and I am friggin thirty-two.”
“Stop, Sloka.” Mantra was trying hard not to blush at the memory of the few very explicit but discrete messages he had sent her.”
“What was that last one supposed to mean? You can never have too many, but you owe me one.”
Mantra couldn’t help but turn crimson.
“Oh my gosh… is he talking about…” Her sister’s voice trailed off when Mantra nodded indicating Yash had meant orgasms.
“Who is this guy? One of your classmates?”
Mantra shook her head unable to talk out of embarrassment.
“Is he French?”
Mantra shook her head and knew why her sister thought the man behind the text was French. One of Yash’s earlier messages was ‘I will whisper French in your ear to make the burn start deep inside, and I have the exact sweetness to put out the fire.’
“Is he some kind of pervert who is into sexting?” Her sister sounded worried.
“Sloka, he is a nice guy. I thought he was an asshole when I met him, but…”
“You like him… I should have guessed from the way you were blushing,” her sister stated confidently.
“I haven’t been on a single date with him so please don’t jump to conclusions.”
“Right… haven’t been on a date, but he is calling you the warrior princess and wants to be the icing on your cake.”
“Shut up, Sloka.”
Her sister laughed at Mantra’s annoyance. “Promise to tell me everything about this guy, and I won’t discuss the texts anymore.”
“Fine.”
Mantra ordered drinks, and they settled down in a corner of the busy bar away from the speakers.
“Let’s talk about you and Rajeev.” Mantra jumped right to the point and saw the surprise in her sister’s eyes.
“I don’t know what else to tell you about him. I’ve told you everything, and nothing changed since we last spoke.”
“Don’t hate me for asking this question, but do you think he is cheating on you?”
“He is not. I know that for a fact because I hired a private investigator to find out if that was the reason,” Sloka sounded guilty.
“Does it have anything to do with you not being home?”
“He is not home either,” her sister whined like a little girl.
“Sloka, my point is… are you guys home or spend time together every day?”
“When he is not traveling, and I am not on call.”
“You don’t need a professional to see the issue—you guys are not together. Here you are drinking with me while he is probably working or at home sleeping.”
“Well, then why does he have people crash our dates since we had talked about staying up all night and…”
Mantra didn’t let her sister finish. “Sloka, one condition if I am going to discuss your… err… love life. I want you to spare me the details. I don’t want any of it.”
“Okay, I’ll say bake instead of you know…”
Mantra rolled her eyes. “Fine and going back to that one instance, it could have been for many reasons.”
“His friend and his wife being in town was no reason to do that to me. He could have met them later.”
“Sloka, Rajeev is a good man. You know he is the sweetest guy ever, and if he chose to meet his friend that night, it should not have been a big deal.”
“That’s not my only problem, and it never would be if we were actively… baking.”
“This is so weird, and I can’t believe I am asking you this. When was the last time you… baked?”
“Oh… it was three months ago, and he was drunk.”
“So, get him drunk every night.”
“Doesn’t work every time.”
“Are you considering leaving him or working on your marriage.” It was a question all patients in the clinic were asked in various forms, but Mantra had to be direct with her sister.
“No… I love him, Mantra. It just gets frustrating if I have to get myself off every other day in the shower.”
“Oh… easy. What did I tell you about details and sparing them?”
“Sorry, I do so much self-baking, and it is not fun.”
“Sloka… and you have been doing this for years?”
“Yes, you see what my problem is?”
“What do you do every day?” Mantra did not want her sister to go on with her rant.
“Huh?”
“I mean what is your daily schedule when you are both at home?”
“I wake up at four in the morning for my run, I’m back home by six and leave for work around seven thirty.”
“Is Rajeev up when you leave?”
“Yeah, he makes breakfast for us, and we eat together.”
“And?”
“Well, he jumps on his conference call with his team in China, and I go to work.”
“Okay, let’s back up… the morning routine you described makes you sound like a sixty-year-old.”
“What? Why?”
“He is not up when you wake up for your run, but is he up when you get back?”
“Yeah, he is usually having his coffee at six.”
“Do you kiss him before you go for your run?”
“What? Why?”
Mantra took a deep breath. “Your alarm surely wakes him up. Why wouldn’t you kiss him before you get out of bed or before you leave?”
“Umm… I don’t sleep in the master the days I run because I don’t want to wake him up.”
“And how many days out of the week do you run?” Mantra asked knowing the answer.
“Seven, unless I partied too much the previous night.”
“You don’t spend the night in bed with your husband, and you complain about not having enough action?” Mantra scowled and hoped her sister wouldn’t take it the wrong way.
“Mantra… he stays up late and I…”
“Stop it… no more excuses. The first step to you starting your baking is to sleep in the same bed with him. Throw that friggin king bed out and get a twin or queen, so you don’t sleep a mile apart.”
“Okay.” Her sister’s voice was soft like she was thinking.
“If you need to run during your lunch break at work, do that, but you need to move into the master bedroom and start going to bed naked.”
He sister gasped but recovered quickly. “Okay.”
“You are thirty-two, I shouldn’t have to tell you how to seduce your husband.”
“Why should I be the one to do it? Why can’t he do it, too?”
“Sloka, what have you done so far to get him to start? You need to go the extra mile before you can expect him to do something. The next time we talk, you better tell me how you are going to spend time at home with Rajeev.”
“Okay, I… I will sleep with him.” Her sister sounded dejected like she couldn’t believe she didn’t think of what her younger sister who was nine years younger than her saw as a gap.
“Sloka, I am not a professional yet but trained enough to tell you that the overly practical couples have the most boring lives, and the unconventional couples who bend the rules have the most fun.”
“I see it.”
Mantra’s phone beeped at the same time, and her sister got excited. “Maybe it’s Rajeev.”
Mantra pulled out her phone and blushed.
“It’s that guy and one of those messages.” Her sister laughed.
Mantra nodded biting down on her lip and trying hard not to fan herself.
Hot Rod: Can’t wait to trace patterns on the silk and wake up with a memory of every single inch mapped in my mind.