Chapter 27

"Nice PJ's." Nandani froze at the sound of his voice just behind her. It was definitely not from the table. Was he checking her out? It suddenly occurred to her that her outfit left too little to the imagination. She had not planned on having an audience this morning. Especially a Manik Malhotra audience.

"Thanks," she said turning around. Manik was standing just a foot away, holding his empty plate. He was gazing down at her with those big, brown eyes. She tried hiding the flare of awareness in her eyes but was not fast enough.

His hair was getting too long. She wanted to push it out of his face. Instead, she grabbed the plate from his hand, turned, and added it to the pile in the sink.

"Tell you what. Just five minutes," Manik stated from behind her back. He did not sound like he was in a hurry. "I will teach you physics. Consider it repaying the favor; I can teach you something for an exchange." His voice was friendly. "Deal?" he asked Nandani.

"Knock yourself out," she replied.

"You can keep doing the dishes. I will talk," he said.

"Whatever you say," Nandani replied, as she wanted to get out of there and start working. She could smell him, his shampoo, and something all his own. Just his proximity was starting to melt away her resolve.

"The first thing you should understand in physics is friction," he said

Placing another bowl on the mat beside her to dry, she glanced down and saw his hands appear on the counter on either side of her hips. The lion was definitely too close, she thought.

"It works better with a little demonstration, Nandani. I have to admit, you are the one who turned me on to this whole experimental method thing. I should thank you, sweetheart."

Nandani froze for a moment before forcing herself to continue washing the dishes. She did not want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he got to her. She forced herself to wash faster.

"So here is the thing. Frictional resistance happens when two objects are pressed together and moving in opposite directions," he said.

Manik then leaned into her, slowly, as if waiting for her to resist. She refused to move as his hard chest fit against her shoulders, but her traitorous heart rate spiked up. He knew it, she could tell by the way his body tightened against her. Slowly his hips pressed into her lower back, and she could feel him growing hard against her spine. Holy shit, she said to herself.

This was the trouble with Manik. The friendly Manik would lull you into a false sense of contentment, then crazy-hot Manik would club you over the head and drag you off before you even noticed anything had changed.

"Nandani," he said, his mouth was close to her ear. "Are you with me so far?" he said.

She cleared her throat. "Yes." She gave no witty comebacks that day. It would not have escaped him. But there was nothing to be done; her brain was a blank canvas.

"Friction is proportionate to the force pushing the surfaces together, and also to the roughness of the surfaces." His lips tickled her ear and she shivered. He must have felt it as his hands settled on her hips, harder than was comfortable. She thought he would just hold her there, but then he slowly turned her around to face him.

Her wet hands gripped the sides of his shirt for balance. Because somehow standing on two feet was too hard.

Manik did not seem to notice the fact that his shirt was soaked through. Hungry brown eyes devoured her as she looked up at him, helpless to do anything else. He was sexy as hell in a blue button-down shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

For once Nandani could easily read his intentions. He was entirely focused on her, and that knowledge alone drove everything else from her mind. His hands ran slowly up her sides, just under her tank top. She sucked in a breath at the fabric dragging along her flesh, the feel of his fingers grazing the sides of her breasts.

"So friction increases the more tightly the surfaces are pushed together," Manik pressed his hips into her, and gave his demonstration of physics. He then kept on caressing the underside of her breast. Her eyes started to flutter closed as she drowned in sensation. She wondered if he was going to kiss her, but he seemed to be content to watch her reaction to his touch. Her mind was spinning off to dark and desperate places.

"Come on, you promised me five minutes," he reminded her as if she was thinking of running. She opened her eyes. A boyish smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Don't back out now," he said.

It was not about physics. It was not even about the lesson. He was betting he would crack her reserves and she was betting she would not.

The last week of seeing her in the car, of texting her sweet and hot things, had not worked. He had wanted to get her alone.

All of that made her want to resist, but even more so, it made her want him. Fiercely.

She shut her eyes to escape the intensity of his gaze. The past two weeks had been agonizing. She had no idea when she had walked that first night to his place, upset and pissed off, and that single night would turn into this. This was some other brand of madness. All she could think about was this complicated guy with dark eyes and secrets. He then kissed her breast softly, her eyes flew open.

"Hey, smart girl," he said.

Nandani could feel the fire building inside her. She wondered how long she could keep it at bay. She then realized it was way too late.

They both knew at the same moment, that she had lost the challenge. Manik's head angled and dropped towards her, a sound of satisfaction low in his throat.

His kiss contained all the hunger as if it was the first time and possessiveness that was new. She knew with sudden certainty that he had been thinking about this too. She arched toward him, reveling in the feel of his mouth hard and demanding on hers. His mouth was lighting fires everywhere, down her jaw, her throat, back to her mouth.

"Not here," she said breathlessly and pulled him upstairs with her, to her bedroom.

"Do you have any idea," he murmured between kissing her lips, her neck, her collarbone, "how fucking useless I have been? The guys think I have the flu. I spend every free second in my room or the shower because I cannot think straight. All I think about is you, Nandani."

Something made her want to reciprocate and she told him how her law professor had caught her daydreaming about them on the desk.

"Mmm," he said. Every stroke of his was driving her exponentially higher. And still, she needed more.

The sex they had was hot as the first time but somehow different. The first time they had been caught off guard by the need, while this time they knew. This time they had been waiting on it, thinking on it for days. So the moment they touched he was on a mission to take more from her. Take everything. And his taking still gave so much back because his pleasure fuelled hers, and vice versa. Manik completely overwhelmed her with his words and his body.

"You are killing me, Nandani," he said when he finally regained enough composure. He then grinned and kissed her cheek. "Not that I am complaining," he added.