Chapter 24
Mantra saw the distinct headlights of the Lamborghini approach her, and she got out of her sister’s car. She waved at Yash against the blinding lights before locking her sister’s car and dropping the keys into her mailbox that had the compartment on the inside of the garage.
She walked around to the passenger side and slid inside to put her arms around him. His lips brushed hers, and she tasted fresh coffee on him.
“Where’s my coffee?” She smiled against his lips.
“You can drink mine or I brought you coffee.”
She pulled back to look at him, slightly surprised. “You were going to the library to bring me coffee?”
“Is that weird?” He handed her a cup of coffee.
“No… extremely sweet and unexpected.”
“I was hoping my asshole reputation wouldn’t be shattered tonight.”
“Thank you for coming to get me.”
“At your service. Can I take you home?” He backed out of the driveway and started to get on the highway to go to his place.
“Yash, I need to go pick up my car at the Four Seasons before you take me anywhere.”
“Why is your car there?” he asked scrunching his nose.
“Ugh… long story short, my sister was pissed at her husband and landed there.”
“How did you land in her driveway?”
“Well, I conducted a session with them so they could resolve their conflict, and I got kicked out when they decided to… to go to bed.”
He shook his head but did not say anything. She gave him directions to the hotel, and he parked his car right next to hers. “Do you have to take your car?”
“Yes, I need to go to work and The Red Room tomorrow. One of my patients is on the dinner list.” She pouted.
“I will have someone bring your car to my place.” He winked.
“No, let’s take my car, and you can stay in my apartment tonight.” She opened the door to get out of his car and stopped when something caught her eye.
“Yash, what kind of a car does Gaurav drive?” She remembered the black and red custom Range Rover when they met at the coffee shop.
“He drives around in a daddy van… Evoque.” Yash laughed, and she felt her heart sink when she saw the car parked on one side of the parking lot.
“Meet me at my place.” She got out of the car.
“I’m following you and not letting you out of my sight,” he called out.
Mantra spent the ten-minute car ride to her apartment debating if she should tell Yash about his sister’s husband. What she saw made it seem like the man was cheating on his wife, but she had no concrete proof except for the picture she took of the Range Rover parked outside the hotel before she left the premises.
She could see Yash’s headlights in her rearview mirror as he followed her on the empty streets. She had to tell him, but she needed to be a thousand percent sure.
“Is Samar good with you bringing men to the apartment?” he asked following her up the stairs.
“No, but you are not just any random man.” She turned to smile at him.
He took her by her wrist and pulled her to him at the top of the stairs. “If I am not a random man, who am I?”
She gasped at the sudden shift in his manner. She brushed her lips against his. “Why don’t I tell you who you are… inside.”
She opened the door to an empty apartment. The light that Samar usually turned on when she came back home was off. Mantra pulled out her phone and texted her friend for her whereabouts. It was pretty late for anyone to be out on a Tuesday night. Samar responded almost immediately.
Samar: Hanging out with this dude I met at a friend’s party.
Samar: Don’t stay up. I’m good.
“Samar is out partying,” she announced and opened her bedroom door and gestured Yash to come in.
“You haven’t told me who I am if I’m not any random man.” His voice was flat.
“You are my… favorite asshole?”
“Really?” He settled into the chair to one side of her bedroom.
She flopped her body on her bed and looked at him, smiling.
“What?” He shrugged.
“Why? Am I smiling like a fool?”
“Yes.”
“I’m happy you came for me and that my sister has a solution for her problems.” She hugged herself.
“Problems?”
“Let’s just say she had problems in the bedroom, and that’s why I wanted her to go to The Red Room.”
He shook his head but didn’t say anything.
“What?”
“I… I don’t get it.”
“Get what?”
“I don’t get how a couple can have issues in the bedroom.” He sounded ignorant for the first time.
“What if the woman you care about has lost interest in sex?” Her voice was stern.
He laughed holding his stomach like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard, but when he caught the glare she shot his way, he suppressed his laugh. “How is that possible?”
“What is?” She shook her head.
“Why would I be with someone I can’t fuck?” His tone was surprisingly innocent.
“You sound very shallow right now, or are you shallow?” She glared at him.
“Hey… that’s not true. Why would I be with someone I can’t fuck?” he repeated like he couldn’t contain his curiosity.
“Have you ever been in love?”
“Where are we going with this?” He raised a cocky eyebrow.
“Fine, there are couples out there who are unable to have a healthy sex life, and they need help. A therapist like me can help them overcome their hurdles.”
“I don’t know why they can’t fuck, and if they can’t, why are they together?” There was nothing but innocence in his questions.
“Sometimes it’s a mental thing. A guy sees his wife give birth to his baby and is so traumatized by the events, he can’t allow himself to have sex with her or…”
“Okay, stop!” he interrupted holding his hand up.
“Yash, I’m asking you now… what do we have going on between us? Is this just another fling?”
“What do you think?” His eyes bore into hers.
“I don’t want it if this doesn’t mean anything.” Her voice was a whisper.
He looked at her for a long moment before getting up from the chair, his eyes riveted on her face.
Her breath hitched when he sat next to her on the bed, his arm going around her waist pulling her to him.
“You are not like anyone I’ve been with before, and I honestly don’t know what this is. I know how much I want you, and I want to know if you feel the same way.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “I do, too.”
“Why don’t we stop questioning what this is and take it for what it is?” He pulled her closer to him and planted a kiss on her head.
“I want to be with you, too. I don’t care what it means,” she confessed softly.
“Can you stay with me at my place? Isn’t that more convenient?” He nuzzled her ear.
She pulled back to look at him. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”
“Whatever you want to call it… bring your things. I want you with me every day.”
“I need to think about it a little,” she managed to say.
“I’ll come get you tomorrow after work.”
*****
Mantra was wrapped in never-ending warmth, and her body felt like a petal as she came out of her suspended state.
“Good morning.” The warm breath on her neck tickled her delicate skin.
She smiled turning around to bury her face in his chest. “I’m so glad you stayed. Waking up like this makes everything so good.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Now you know why I want you at my place.”
“Will you come get me later tonight?”
“Yes, and I want you to stop working at The Red Room and work with me on my book.” He pulled her to him.
“I’m still not done with my thesis.”
“You can do your research. I want you to stop working in the kitchen.” His tone was stern.
“Fine.” She nuzzled his chest making his breath hitch.
“If you want to go to work, you will stop doing what you are doing,” he warned digging his fingers into the flesh on her back.
She moaned into his chest feeling him against her belly. “I want you, Yash.”
“Your wish is my command, babe.”
Almost an hour later, they both sat at the small kitchen table sipping their coffees. Yash looked sexy with his unruly hair as he looked through his email on his phone.
“I got to go,” he announced, suddenly getting up from the table.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, the usual drill. I’ll come get you at seven.” He picked up his keys and wallet and walked toward the door just as Samar opened the door from the outside.
“Oh… hi,” Samar stumbled over her words.
“Yash, this is Samar… Samar, Yash.”
“Nice to meet you, Samar.” Yash shook her hand and nodded at Mantra before stepping outside.
Samar stood in her spot staring at Mantra, and she didn’t look pleased.
“Are you high?” Samar growled sitting across from her at the dining table.
“What?” She shrugged.
“You let him into the apartment. You’ve never brought any of your dates home before. It’s not like you have to be with him for your research at his restaurant,” her friend sneered, unhappy with her decision.
“I know, but he is not so bad.”
“He is messing with you. He seems like a total playboy. Why him?” Samar wasn’t convinced.
“I know there is something between us, and I like him.”
“I don’t like him because he seems to be the kind who would hurt you when all of this is done,” her friend said with disgust coating every word.
Mantra smiled but did not respond. It didn’t matter how Yash was before they met, but she felt what they had was meaningful.
Samar shook her head. “He is hot enough to break your heart.”
“Oh, gosh no… I mean he is hot, but I am not…” she stuttered.
“I don’t get it. I am not convinced this is the right thing, but you know best.”
“I love you, too, Samar, and I will be spending a bit more time with him at his place. He wants me to work with him on his next publication.” She smiled.
“You are moving out?” her friend whined.
“No, just spending more time with him.”
“Is he into kinky sex?” Samar blurted out making Mantra spew her coffee.
“Sorry, bad timing.” Her friend smiled sheepishly as Mantra nodded reaching for the paper towel.
“I don’t know if it’s the standard kink, but he has his ways to bring on the heat.” She smiled hoping her friend wouldn’t dig for more details.
“That’s not fair. I need more details.” Mantra was dead wrong about her friend.
“So, last week we were fooling around, and he put a drop of some chili oil in my mouth, and I lost it,” she rasped.
“What the heck?”
“Samar, it was awesome. I’m not complaining, but his ways are very different. It’s his style of kinky sex.”
“Huh?” Her friend looked confused.
“So, chilies can stimulate nerve endings so your heart races, your body heats up with all the million endorphins roaming freely, and you get a fucking natural high. Imagine that with an awesome orgasm.” She winked.
“Holy shit, I’m turning hot just listening to you.” Samar fanned her face with her hand.
“I had no idea a friggin green chili could spice up sex and… I rest my case,” she teased.
“Un-friggin believable!”
“I know, and I get to write about how a place like The Red Room could be part of the sex therapy.”
“I’m excited for you, but if he shows up with nipple clamps and clit hooks, call 911!” Her friend laughed, and she laughed wondering how her sister was doing with her husband’s newfound fetish.
“I will, but Yash is doing something without thinking much about it. He is a friggin prodigy. If I pay close attention to what he does, I can have a rock-solid gold-medal-winning thesis.” She laughed getting up from the table to pack.
“I’m gonna go to work and come home early to pack. Yash said he would come get me around seven.”
“Will you come back here ever?”
“I will. I still need to go to meet my professor… don’t worry I am not leaving you.” She put her arms around her roommate.
“How did a prodigy with medical degrees end up in the food business?” Samar asked the question that had been running through Mantra’s mind since the day she found out who he was. Mantra wanted to know because she knew there must have been something that triggered him to throw away everything he worked for and shift gears.