I feel it everywhere.
The heat settles low, heavy and undeniable. My breathing changes, shallow, unsteady, and suddenly the room feels smaller—not claustrophobic, just… irrelevant. Like the walls have agreed to step back and let us have this moment alone.
“Sitara,” I say, and my voice betrays me. Breaks softly, like saying her name is already too much.
She doesn’t answer.
She tilts her face up instead, eyes dark, lips parted just slightly, and that does something irreversible to me.
I kiss her.
Not hurried. I don’t know how to be with her. And not restrained either—because that ship sailed the second she looked at me like that. My mouth claims hers with intention, with a certainty that shocks even me. Like this was always meant to happen this way. Like I’ve been waiting my whole life to kiss her properly.
When I finally pull back, it’s only because I need air. Because if I don’t stop now, I won’t. My forehead rests against hers, our breaths tangled, uneven, intimate in a way that makes my chest ache.
My thumb brushes her jaw, soft, reverent. Like touching her any other way would be wrong.
“We should stop,” I murmur, and it’s the truth. Or at least, the responsible version of it. My voice comes out rough, frayed around the edges, like I don’t believe myself either.
She smiles.
Breathless. Beautiful. Dangerous.
She leans in just enough to steal another kiss—slower this time. Deeper. Deliberate. Like she knows exactly what she’s doing to me and has decided not to spare me.
“Or,” she whispers against my lips, warm and devastating, “we could continue.”
My heart stutters.
There it is—that moment where choice disappears and all that’s left is instinct.
I smile, slow and unmistakably unguarded, because there is nothing safe about her anymore, and I don’t want safety anyway.
I want her.
And then I kiss her again—this time without pretending I’m still trying to stop.
Every inch of you
SITARA
“God, princess, you are so frustratingly beautiful, do you know that?” Dhruv pants as he bites my lower lip, resting his forehead against mine. A shiver runs down my spine.
“Show me then,” I whisper against his lips, a rough grunt escapes his lips.
“Don’t provoke me, princess,” he groans.
A newfound boldness takes over me as I lean in, kissing his collarbone as he rasps. “This isn’t provoking, this is asking for something I want.” I kiss his earlobe. “And I want you, Dhruv. Now.”
He exhales, his eyes shutting. His hand wraps around nape and his lips crash on mine again. His hand slides down my shoulder and my arm, slowly caressing the skin of my inner elbow. While our tongue fights for dominance, he shifts, his fingers now tracing the curve of my waist. A shudder runs down my spine. He takes off the unbuttoned shirt I had on because I like feeling close to him, surrounded by his scent.
“May I?” He asks, his pupils dilated, breathing heavy as his hands hover over the pallu.
“Yes, please,” I croak, almost desperate. The thought of sex scared me to the core, but right now it feels like if I don’t feel him, inside me, above me…just everywhere, I will combust. His fingers tremble a bit making this act so intimate.
When he manages to take off the saree almost comically, I am left in my bra and panties, and the way I had always imagined that I might shy away, I might want to hide, it all goes out of the window because I feel so uncharacteristically bold. I want him, I want all of him. I have never been so sure ever in my life. He sucks in a breath, his jaw clenching.
“Princess,” he rasps, “I have never seen anything, anyone so alluring. Damn.” He breathes harshly as he kisses my breast through the fabric, making my back arch.
