“It could be. The rules are whatever you want it to be, Doc. I set the pace but you have all the control.”
Aditi watched the veins in the back of his hand pop with each motion as he cleared the coffee grounds, thick biceps flexing under his skin-tight T-shirt as he tapped the filter against the knockbox. Barely ten hours ago, she was being crushed by those strong arms. Those large hands had touched her body and to her disappointment, had not left a mark. Rules? What rules? Left up to her, the rules wouldn’t exist and Aditi was most afraid of letting her emotions run rampant with this man, like her hormones already did.
“Pick a safe word.” His long fingers drummed the countertop, bringing her attention back to him.
Feeling like she needed to regain control of the situation, her crooked mind landed on the one word that might irritate him. “Bunny,” she announced, barely holding back an impulse to cackle at the way he stiffened. She waited for him to call her out on her choice, but to her consternation, he simply nodded.
“Okay. Bunny then. If you are uncomfortable at any point when we are together, say your safe word and I will stop. Then we’ll reassess.”
“Okay. And the same safe word applies to you.”
This surprised him. “It does?”
Aditi stood up, dropping her plate into the sink before swiping up her mug. She walked over to stand next to him in the farthest corner of the kitchen, both keeping an eye out in case Nanamma returned.
“Yes. You use the safe word too. It’ll help me understand when I’m being too much. I would like not to scare you away by being too. . .”me. She grimaced hating that Harish had managed to leave this bit of insecurity in her.
“Too?”
She found herself under keen observation, his light eyes glinting with interest.
“I want to be able to keep a person interested. In this case, you.”
“You don’t have to do anything more to generate interest. Trust me.”
Aditi let out a guffaw. “Sure. That’s why I’ve had thirteen unsuccessful matrimonial dates in three months. I’m not perfect, Bugs, so don’t try to make it sound like I am.”
The damndest thing was that she was pretty close to perfection in his eyes. Rian was hard pressed to think of one single thing he didn’t find charming about Aditi Krishnan. Even her penchant for overextending herself when being helpful only told him that she wasa kind human. Her ability to be honest with herself and the people around her was refreshing. How much more perfect could she get?
“Hello? Bugs? You okay?” She snapped her fingers in front of him, calling him back to their conversation.
“Yeah. Fine,” he mumbled, sipping his black coffee. “Where were we?”
“You were about to kiss me.”
His hand shook and he stopped short of dropping his cup. “What? No, I wasn’t.”
“You certainly were,” she insisted, grinning at him in that open, happy way that made his mind go blank. “You’re going to knock my socks off with an expert kiss. That’s what this whole discussion is leading towards. I’m just jumping a few steps ahead.”
She placed her mug down and stood with her arms on either side, as though ready for him to make good on her expectation of a fiery smooch. He would have done it had it not been for Nanamma being some twenty-odd feet away. She’d either catch them in the act and get a coronary, or she’d jump around for joy and thrust them both down the aisle in the next minute. Probably, the latter.
He couldn’t risk it.
“Doc, you said you’d listen to me and let me set the pace.”
As expected, her luscious lips turned down into a pout. Fuck, had her lips always been this irresistible shade of berries?
“Is the pace pacing towards kissing?” she asked, her mournful tone wanting him to throw caution to the wind.
“Not yet,” he gritted out.
“Then I don’t like it.”
“Bunny!”
“Ugh, fine,” she huffed, stepping away to place her mug in the sink. “I bet you just want me to shut the fuck up and double teedeelag.”
Nose scrunched, he peered at her. “What the hell is that? Some medical terminology?”