Coerced

Chapter 18

 flashback (a day before)

I mint millions in a day with a snap of my fingers. Many influential people lined up in the queue for ten minutes of my appointment yet this little guy standing in front, who is not even three cubits in height and half of my age has the power to wreck my nerves with just a look. I hate myself for being in this situation but then, I am suddenly reminded of a saying, time always moves forwards and not backwards. This Lilliput will one day grow old and fall in love. At that time he would understand, what adoration ought to get out of you and to what extent?

The headache which I suffered from getting drunk was earlier repressed and now goes flaring up all of a sudden. I searched the drawers in the house for any sort of pain killers but found none. Darn! I don't think there is anyone in the house who has learnt about a hangover or for that matter at least smelt alcohol to understand my problem. 

Alcohol is a far lost option. I should know I am only going to sniff incense candles here in future on birthdays and anniversaries. Shannon Clandevis, be ready to be the saint you haven't been all this while, no cigarettes and no alcohol. Mara will flip if she knows the real 'you'.

Sometime later the muffled voices that I could earlier hear stopped coming. Vance walks back to the hall and suddenly turns back to me observing. "Take care of my sister, she is very innocent unlike me.”

Oh very well young man I already know about it! You don't show but you can intimidate a guy who is double your size by your looks. 

I told him in a promise towering him with a weird sense of satisfaction. I was senior to him in many ways. "I will, you don't need to worry from now on about her." After Vance leaves the house, I walk to Mara's room assessing her sleeping form. Thank God! She covered those marks with a concealer otherwise I would have had a tough time dealing with this little guy’s questions.

When did I turn up to be a sucking adulterer? Had he known I was a criminal who wanted to kill his sister and is now covering his face, hell would have broken up here. The profane thought gets the hair on my hands to stand. I am a bloody fiend whom he couldn't see. Thanks to his age.

My girl looked sinfully gorgeous like a sleeping beauty in her resting state. My hands itch to touch her. Last night I made love to her but unfortunately I don't remember anything. The next time I take her I will cherish it for the rest of my life. Who knows how long I would have her as my better half.

Walking back to the sofa I pull out my phone and check for any mails. I see fifty messages from mom and seventy two from Mara. Some even included voice mails where she was crying, pleading with me to tell her about my whereabouts. And as expected, there were also some messages which included work from Rita.

What an insane brute that I was to act so impulsively?  Mara might have been worried that I got into some kind of an accident like her parents. 

I had never been so weak getting played by emotions but the present corollary had made one thing clear to me. I cannot be stable without having Mara in my life and I need to have her beside me 24/7 by any means. If I tell her the truth she would by no means agree for this marriage and for that I have to espouse a strategy. Firstly I have to make her mine. Then slowly adapt her to the tragic truth. For this I have to seek the approval of her dad too. I should be prepared to do anything, beg, borrow or steal to grant me forgiveness for the flagrant adversity I brought in his and his children’s lives.

"Good Morning!" My Angel's voice brings me out of my thoughts. I turn back to smile at her. My left hand lightly reached out to her and ran my fingertips from her shoulder blades to her spine, finally coming to a stop right above her hips. She breathed in quickly and I bent down to kiss her cheek. 

"Good morning sweetheart." My voice goes gruff submerged in desire gazing at her in wantonness.  She puckered her lips out. What an arresting grip of cuteness! “Your beard bites me.”  She points out to my growing shadows with her eyes rubbing her cheeks with her palms. I bring her closer, circling my hands around her waist.  “I wish nothing to be there in this world to hurt you my cupcakes. Give me a few minutes of time and I will be as soft as a teddy bear for you to cuddle.”  I tell her with a wink and go to the bathroom.

******

"When did you learn cooking?" She asks me, looking at the pizzas and tomato ketchup placed on the table. I started sending emails on my phone that were left unattended. "If you hadn't seen me as a successful businessman, you would have seen me as a well heeled chef. Cooking has been my passion since I was ten." 

She turns to me flabbergasted. "What?" I nod to her while still typing the mails. "You heard it right."

"Yummy, you are an excellent cook." She spoke heartily, licking her fingers to clean the tomato sauce that complimented the pizzas. I gulp indistinctly seeing her do stuff that gets me stiff in moments. Cleaning the corner of her lips with my thumb I licked the ketchup and spoke. "I can do many more exemplary things if you wish to explore, my baby." My eyes go dark and desirous staring down at her. 

Her cheeks go red in a matter of seconds with my statement. I nibble on her nose with my forefinger.  “It is not only your cheeks, even your nose that goes red in a blush.  She clears her throat and quickly diverts the topic pulling a face. "I made chicken fried rice for you yesterday and you did not even taste it." 

I raise one of my brows feeling more than amused by her cute antics.  She is simply impeccable in every way. Stroking her cheeks that felt softer than a marshmallow I replied to her. "Make it tomorrow and I will enjoy feasting all of it." My eyes move over her demure face and peep at her lips in hunger and slowly reach down to her full size globes. The look she presented was incomparable. She is funny, cute and extremely kissable in situations like this.  

I surreptitiously snicker for the effect I had on her. If I could make her go tingling just with my speech, what would be her situation when I make a practical demonstration of it? Because I knew I was successful in shocking her boundlessly.

Later during the day, we watch movies on Netflix.  She was leaning to me with her head on my chest as I played absentmindedly with the curls of her hair. 

"Why are your fingers always doing my hair?" She asks me half grinning and watching the TV. "That's because it's my property and I can do anything with it." I told her in arrogance and self pride. Her expression was priceless. That gets me encouraged in being a little more informative to her.

"Do you know the foremost thing I noticed about you on the first day we met?" I wait, giving her time to think about it. Her eyes meet mine peerlessly, compelling me to a slow and soft smile. It was obvious she had no idea about it. "It was your long interwoven braid that passed your shoulders reaching the side of your waist. These days we see a lot of girls with short hair smoking and running to the bars but rarely a traditional woman with long hair who goes to church on every Sunday. The more you are covered the greater is the curiosity in a man to explore you which you can also call as attraction. A guy may bed many girls but will ultimately fall for only a demure.” 

She looks at me speechless and I kiss her softly on the lips before nodding to her. “Our first meeting was also the dawn of my realization - my love for you at first sight. I never felt like that for any other woman in my life." 

Holding her body to me that weighed like a feather I pulled her legs around my waist. With the reaction in her eyes and stillness of her body, I knew she could feel my erection. Screw it! I knew she was going to be the test to my celibacy the moment she stared into my eyes. 

My hands clasped around her back like a vice. Our tongues explored each other's mouth like we were the air each other needed to breathe. I had read about kissing breathless but never thought I was going to experience it one day. I kissed her in a demand that felt was more important than oxygen to breathe. My little Muffin is too innocent to have learnt anything about exploring sensuality but I am glad to be her first and her only man. 

Argh! What am I going to do if she deserts me after knowing the shattering truth between us?