KATHA

15 KATHA - VULNERABILITIES

I was dancing with both of them in turns. The live band had taken the stage again and slow music poured across the club that was sensual when I was in the arms of the man who commanded Bombay like an army. His powerful body nestled against me was both a reality and a dream. The night I was drunk off my rocker was vague. I was too far off to do anything other than hear my stalker's words and revel in the comfort and safety of his arms.

But, I couldn't ignore the sense of familiarity.

It was true I never paid attention and desire to all the males I've ever been close to. And it might be because I imagined my stalker in him that I was nostalgic in his arms. Maybe it was the alcohol surging in my bloodstream. Maybe it was me being desparate and delusional. A stupid harlot.

You're such a sweet little whore, Malayi. Just like your mother. So warm and so sweet.

I stiffened and suppressed that grating voice to the back of my mind. It had no business creeping up like that when I wasn't in the school girl uniform bathing in blood.

"Katha."

As the music pulsed through the air, Kalki's hand was warm against my waist, his touch sending a shiver of awareness crashing down my spine. I tried to push aside the suspicion that his touch felt eerily similar to the lingering caress of the enigmatic presence that haunted every waking moment of my life. It was the same with him as it was with Rajas. The way my body responded to him. The craving and yearning for more. The molten temptations rushing along my bloodstream. It was the same as it was with Rajas. However the desires were not as dark, they didn't run as hot as they did with my stalker. It wasn't like we existed in a world of our own making, away and sheltered from the chaos around us, where the lofty boundaries between reality and imagination blurred into a haze of temptation, blazing lust and untamed wanting. With Kalki, It was as if the rest of the world around us faded into insignificance and just the two of us mattered. I sighed. The looming shadow of Rajas' specter cast was taking over each thought my mind managed to process.

I grinded my molars hard enough to shatter them,

Frustrated, I forced my consciousness back to reality.

He held me close. So close. I could feel his heart thump, I could feel him breathe in my ear as he whispered, "As maddeningly gorgeous as you look right now, I must admit, Miss Rathore, I prefer you in your sarees and gajras." I blushed like an unhinged girl talking to her crush for the first time. The damn dam I've been holding for so long finally broke and surged through me like molten lava. All that destruction rushing and settling between my legs.

"I see you're shifting from cheesy lines to pleasing compliments. A remarkable progress."

"I'm glad my compliment pleased you, Blush."

"Is it the suit ?"

"Oh I can be pleasing in any type of clothing. Better with no clothing at all if I say so myself."

"Arrogance and shamelessness. You never fail to surprise me, Mister Samrat." A sharp twirl and I slammed against the safety of my best friend's arms. And I was gaining attentions. Two beautiful men, with one being Kalki Samrat and the other Rishikesh Sharma the renowned lawyer, shuffling me in and out of their arms like a play-doll.

"Good Goddess, Angel, don't murder me but you guys looked hot."

"Oh I will murder you if you don't stop teasing me. We need to do something, Rish. We can't loose Pulkit today, you know that right ? He's leaving for United Kingdom tomorrow."

"Alright. I'll do something. After the dance, excuse yourself to the bathroom. Go straight to Pulkit's lounge and leave as soon as you can. I'll divert his attention."

"Perfect."

"I don't think it'll be that easy. He doesn't seem to be able to keep his eyes off you. I say an epic love story is in the making. Bombay's King and A Serial Killer. It's a hit that'll write history."

Before I could tell him that his broken nose was in the making, he twirled me and I landed swiftly in Kalki's eager and awaiting arms. I sucked in a sharp breath, taking his scent in deep. It slid across my depths and it carried so many familiar notes. Not his actual cologne but the scent of his skin. His natural scent. I remembered Rajas' scent so vividly, I could taste it on my tongue. Kalki smelled like Rajas. Was I going crazy ? Did all males smell like that ? No. I hugged Rishi all the time. Cuddled. His scent was different. It were the soaps maybe. Yes soaps. Maybe Kalki and Rajas used same soaps ?

Ugh.

I sighed and shrugged it away. I had to focus on and the task. We couldn't miss killing Pulkit. A week after would mark the death of Sudheer Pant. Then finally in Surat, I'd put down the final monster. I had the perfect plan. The reason I opened Tea Story. Rishi became the lawyer partly for that reason as well. To protect me from the Law and to become the cunning, secret advisor to the woman whose son I'd slay.

"Blush ?"

"Hmm ?"

"Where did you go ?"

A wicked smirk curled my lips, "Wringing your neck in my head, remember ?"

Kalki's lips curled into a smile, his gaze lingering on me with an intensity that sent a ripple of awareness through my veins. "You have a way of charming a man,"

I feigning nonchalance, "It's all part of my charm. Keeps the customers coming back for more, you know."

His chuckle was a sensuous melody that danced across the edge of my senses. "Charm, indeed. You wield it like a weapon, and I must admit, I find myself defenseless."

I let out a soft laugh, my eyes meeting his in a silent connection. "Well, Mister. Samrat, if charm is a weapon, then I suppose you just disclosed your vulnerability. A chink in your armour, perhaps ?"

His gaze held a spark of amusement as he leaned in, his lips brushing against my ear. "Perhaps. Maybe I've been saving it for the right moment."

My pulse quickened, "And what makes you think this is the right moment ?"

Kalki's fingers brushed lightly against the small of my back, effortlessly melting my steeled spine, "Call it a hunch," The manner he said those words. Four words so sensuously whispered... they ravaged and shot straight between my legs. I was too close to coming undone.

I leaned in closer, a playful challenge in my gaze. It was me brushing his ear with my lips now, "I have a feeling this dancefloor isn't big enough for both our vulnerabilities."

He froze for a second, his hold tightening against me. But then again, he was Kalki Samrat. I guess, it wasn't so easy to sway him for he recovered in a second.

"With you in my arms, so close, so vulnerable, touching and teasing me, it's all the more tempting to put that mouth to better use."

"Who says I'm vulnerable ?"

He placed a kiss on the side of my neck from behind. A touch so gentle yet it shot through me like a lightening bolt and I shuddered. My cheek burned, reddening like he seemed to love so much, "But aren't you, Blush ?"

Again. That sense of familiarity.

"No I'm not." With all the strength I could muster, I pulled away from him and slipped through the crowd towards the bar before I let him put my mouth to better use and exploit all my vulnerabilities right there on that dancefloor.

I could feel both men following right behind me.