by P. G. Van
“Baby, please,” he murmured.
She pulled back to look at him and ran the pad of her thumb on his cheekbone. “Do you want to sit down?”
He nodded and sat on one of the wooden benches holding her hand in his. She slowly ran her free hand through his hair, and he pulled her close to him burying his face into her belly. She looked down at the dark head molded into her belly and gasped when she felt moisture through the thin material of her t-shirt.
She felt suffocated with how sad he was and was willing to do anything to see him smile. “Veer, I… I’m unable to breathe when you look so sad.”
He took a deep breath against the fabric on her belly before looking up at her. “Everything I’ve done so far feels useless… I couldn’t save the dog who saved my life.”
“Veer, you were injured… how could you have done anything?”
“That puppy… looks exactly like Enzo… I couldn’t save Enzo… twice.”
She hugged his head into her belly again running her fingers through his thick hair. “Veer, what you did has inspired so many people to care and protect the animals. You have taken care of so many pets in just the last few weeks… what you do is very important… don’t discount the love you have for what you do and what you do best.”
Veer took a deep breath before looking up into her eyes. “I love you, Ariya.”
She smiled, fighting back happy tears as he stood up to claim her mouth.
“I love you, too…” she mumbled against his lips and felt their bodies meld.
Chapter 19
Later that night, she heard a knock on her door.
“Who is it?” She laughed, knowing who it was.
“Really?” Veer sounded annoyed that he had to wait outside the door.
Ariya opened the door just an inch before he barged in and slammed his body against hers closing the door with his foot. He pushed her back into the wall kissing every inch of her face and neck.
She laughed, enjoying his urge to taste every inch of her. “Veer, what are you doing?”
“Showing you how much I missed you.”
She hugged him and placed her cheek on his chest. “I’m so glad we talked today… about Enzo.”
“Enzo Ferrari Thakur,” he said, his voice filled with pride.
“Do you not want another puppy, Thakur?”
“I can’t…” His words were lost in a muffle.
Ariya hushed him and ran her hands over his back. She never expected Veer to have this delicate side especially when he looked invincible and indestructible on the outside. She knew at that moment why he understood her fears, fears she didn’t know she had until she saw a snake around his neck.
Could she open up to him about the sadness she’s had pent up for years? Maybe it’s best not to discuss.
“How was dinner with Stefan?”
“It was good. We talked like we haven’t talked in months.” He smiled looking down at her.
“He knows about us now?” She guessed from the sheepish smile he gave her.
“Yes… you know I won’t lie to him.”
“I know, and I was going to tell Stefan after this morning.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, he was going after you, and I just told him to chill and came for you. I knew he would have guessed at that point but… I didn’t care… I don’t care if people find out I’m yours.”
Veer smiled, his eyes twinkling at her. “You are mine.”
“I’m not going to go out of my way to announce it to anyone. I want us to stay professional when we are at the location.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he teased, sucking her skin between his teeth. His hands wandered to her back pressing his hardness into her belly.
“Veer… I need to talk to Dominic and…”
“Why?” He nuzzled her neck.
She pulled away from him laughing. “Veer, I need to go… Andy and Dominic are waiting for me. I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”
“Fine, you have thirty minutes, and if you are not back here, I’m coming down to get you.”
“Okay. Will you take me out for coffee after since you drank my coffee this morning?” She giggled.
“You should have seen the look on Stefan’s face.” He laughed.
“That was cheesy of you to sneak a sip of my coffee.”
“Totally worth it, and the coffee… it tasted so heavenly… it tasted just like you when I kiss you.” His eyes deepened with desire, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to leave the bedroom if she didn’t step away from the moment.
“Veer, give me thirty minutes. I’ll be back. I’ll be yours to taste all night long,” she rasped making him hard between his legs.
She picked up her notebook and phone and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Stay here, thirty minutes.”
“I’m coming down there if you are not here in thirty-five minutes.” He kissed her cheek and closed the door behind her.
Andy, Dominic, and Ariya were reviewing the pictures of Veer and Melanie. Melanie’s pictures were not getting the same kind of response on their profiles as much as Veer was getting, and Andy wanted to check for any gaps. Ariya didn’t realize they were lost in comparing the pictures for over an hour until the door opened, and Veer stepped into the conference room.
“Hey, Veer. Wanna join us?” Andy chuckled.
“I see no beer on the table, I’m not interested.” He laughed, walking over to one side of the room.
They tried to get back to their conversation but kept hearing all kinds of noises from where Veer was moving things around.
“You looking for something?” Andy was totally distracted.
“Yeah,” Veer replied as he bent under the table where his equipment was set up.
Andy got up to walk over to where Veer was huddled under a table, and Dominic followed him. “Can we help, Veer?”
“No. You guys should continue with your meeting. I’ll be quiet.”
The three men squatted around the equipment looking for a small part of the equipment Veer claimed to have lost. She rolled her eyes at him when he peeked his head above the table and gestured her to go with him. She shook her head and ignored him for the most part, but she lost her cool when she realized he had Andy and Dominic completely distracted and was talking them into ending their meeting.
“Andy and Dominic… can we finish what we were working on?” Ariya called out from one end of the room.
“Maybe we can talk tomorrow. Veer needs our help,” Dominic called out from under the table.
She walked over to where the men were sitting on the floor joking about random things and looked straight at Veer. “Andy, Dominic, and I need to finish up some work. Can we help you find your precious piece of equipment tomorrow morning?”
Andy and Dominic looked at her in shock as Veer stood up to tower over her. She refused to give into the intimidation in his look even though she knew she stayed back way more than she expected to when she left him in her room.
“Sure. I wasn’t the one to interrupt your important meeting,” Veer growled.
She lifted her chin higher and narrowed her eyes. “You could have done what you did without being so noisy.”
She could see from the corner of her eye that Andy and Dominic were watching them in a shell-shocked state.
“I never asked for help,” Veer snarled.
“I’m going to ask you for help now… can you please leave and let us get back to what we were doing?”
“Fine… get back to your important meeting,” Veer huffed before turning on his heels and left without another glance toward the two men who stood frozen to their spot.
“Boys, let’s finish what we started,” she commanded, and the two grown men rushed and sat at the table like school kids in a principal’s office.
“We’ve been at it for an hour and nothing… I’m seriously having confidence issues now.” Dominic threw his hands up in the air in frustration.
“Dominic, we are here to help. I wish you wer
en’t so distracted when Veer showed up.”
“C’mon, Ariya. You know Veer would have helped us even if he were in a meeting,” Andy grumbled, and she knew he was right. Veer was admired and loved by not just his fans but by his team and the entire crew.
They spent another hour looking through the pictures on the computer. Ariya saw the pictures of Melanie, and they all looked good. Melanie looked the part of the caring animal doctor, but her eyes, her eyes were always averted from the camera. Averted from the camera like she couldn’t look directly at the camera.
“Dominic… do you hit on Melanie or flirt with her?” Ariya asked unable to contain her thoughts.
Andy let out a snort, and Dominic’s lips parted in surprise, but he did not respond.
“You don’t need to tell me what you say to her, but whatever you are doing or saying, cut it out. Cut. It. Out. Understood?”
Dominic nodded and did not respond.
“Why do you think that’s the reason?” Andy asked curiously.
“Andy, look at her. She is born for the camera, but it is no good if she doesn’t look into the lens. Her followers can’t get the intensity of the moment if she doesn’t look right at them.”
Dominic cursed under his breath closing his laptop in frustration. Ariya took a deep breath and looked at Dominic. “Melanie is very pretty, and it is your job to make her followers see the beautiful person she is on the inside as well.”
Dominic silently looked at her, and Andy broke the silence. “She is right, buddy. Now, I want you to keep the junk talk under control when you are working with Melanie.”
“Yes, boss,” Dominic grumbled.
Ariya worked with Andy and Dominic for another hour laying out the plan for the next few weeks.
“Okay, guys. Let me know if I can help going forward. I got to go now.” She was more than three hours late to her date with Veer, and she knew he would not be thrilled. She was upset with herself for making him wait and being snarky when he showed up for her.
“Sleep tight, Ariya,” Andy called out, and Dominic nodded looking dejected.
A few minutes later, she ran to her room and opened it in a hurry. Veer was at the desk working on his computer. He didn’t look up at her even when she closed the door loudly.
“Veer… baby, I’m so sorry.” She bit her lip.
He still didn’t look at her, and she stood by the door staring at him trying to gauge how angry or upset he was at that time. A few moments passed, and he turned to look at her, his eyes lazily moving over her face and then scanning her body and back to her face.
“You’re late, and you were mean.”
“I know… I’m sorry… you know how I am when I am working. Please don’t be mad.”
He looked at her, his expression was cold. “I’m glad I have a very helpful and passionate photographer. I’m irritated that I let my girlfriend slip away when I could have chained her to my bed.”
She smiled but bit her lip and looked down unable to handle the intensity of his glare. “I’ll make it up to you.”
Veer raised a curious eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“How?” He turned in his chair to look up at her.
“You tell me.” She looked straight back at him matching the heat in his glare.
“I’m not going to tell you how to please me.” His tone was sarcastic, but she could tell the searing looks they exchanged was heating him up on the inside.
“Oh… what are you in the mood for?”
“You.”
“I’m yours tonight and night after night.” Ariya bit her lip and fought back a smile. She wasn’t going in for the cute and sweet girlfriend. She needed to make it up to him by seducing him out of his cranky state.
Ariya dropped her camera bag on the floor by the wall. She pulled the tie that held her hair in a ponytail and ruffled her hair as she slowly made her way to him. That made him press his lips together and look at her pretending to be unaffected by the way she swayed her hips with every step.
She popped open a few buttons on her shirt lazily running her hand over her chest while showing off her cleavage that peeked when she pushed the fabric aside. He gently rocked his hips but stayed seated, his eyes locked on her movements. She slowly ran her fingers on the single lamp that was on the desk and lowered the light.
Ariya moved painfully slow as she reached for her phone to turn on the soft music she usually listened to and swayed around to the low beat, standing less than a foot from Veer. She was close enough to hear the hissing in his breath, and there was enough light to see the bulge under the zipper of his shorts.
She smiled, a devious twist to her mouth as she landed her bottom on the edge of the desk. She kicked off one sandal and put her foot on the chair right in between his things. He looked down at how close her foot was to the beast that threatened to rip through his shorts but did not move. She could feel his blood rush to a certain part of his body when she continued to pop open the buttons on a cute denim shirt, only to reveal a fiery red lace bra that made her mounds of flesh on her chest look delicious.
Veer leaned back further into the chair refusing to give in and wanting more even if he had to endure the painful erection he was sporting under the zipper. She ran her fingers through her hair, her elbows raising higher, arms pressing her chest on either side and his annoyance crumbling at the sight of the beautiful cleft that formed on her chest. His fingers tightened on the armrest of the chair, almost to stop himself from pulling her into his arms.
“Keep breathing,” she rasped as she took her foot off the chair to rest her knee on there, between his thighs, without touching him. She leaned into him, her cleavage on display inches from his face and her hair curtaining their intimate moment.
She knew he was holding his breath as she slowly moved her hips mimicking the moment of him being inside her. She put her lips close to his but did not let them touch him, her eyes never leaving his. She took a deep breath filling her lungs with his musky cologne and pulled back slowly.
Ariya was pulling away from him when she felt his hands on her chest, his fingers grabbing the fabric on her chest. She saw him clench his teeth, and she gasped when he pulled on the fabric with sheer force ripping it off her. He pushed aside the bra cup that covered her pebbled nipple and sucked in a mouthful of flesh.
She threw her head back enjoying the roughness in their engagement. He let one nipple go and sucked on the other one making her moan. He pushed his body off the chair and hers onto the desk.
His hungry mouth found hers as his hands covered her breasts squeezing them possessively.
“You’re in so much trouble,” he growled against her mouth, making her pool in her folds. Her nerves were raw as he pulled open the button on her jeans and roughly pulled down her panties and jeans at the same time. She kicked away fabric from her ankles and wrapped her legs around his waist.
He finally let go of her mouth and looked at her as they caught their breath. “You look so hot right now… I’m going to take you right here.” He pushed open the button on his shorts and pulled her to him by her hips.
Her bottom almost slid off the edge of the table, and she stopped when he rammed into her sending thrills throughout her body. She moaned into his neck, digging her heels into his back. He pounded into her, and she dug her teeth into his neck unable to contain the surge of pleasure that threatened to shred her to pieces.
She dug her nails into his shoulders and cried out his name and came undone in his arms. She took in every tremor that rippled through her as he made her insides warm with his desire.
Chapter 20
Ariya rolled to one side of the bed, and her body crashed into the rock-hard wall of muscle. Veer lay on his stomach with his face turned away from her. She couldn’t remember the last time she woke without their bodies melded together. They were back in his apartment after being away for a month.
Stefan decided to give the crew a break before starting the shooting in a diffe
rent location. It was the day after Veer and Ariya argued in front of Andy and Dominic that got Stefan worried. He saw that a lot of the crew members were exhausted.
Little did the others know that the exhaustion on Ariya’s face was because of spending all night in bed lying under or over Veer. What started as a tease after showing up three hours late that night turned into an explosive ordeal she would never forget.
She smiled at the memory from two nights ago and gently traced the scratches she left on his back. He was fast asleep, and she was getting a lot of pleasure in just watching him sleep. His hair was a sexy mess, the sheet was draped over his lower back, and his face was half hidden. She moved slowly to the other side to look at him pulling her nightshirt over her head.
Ariya lowered her body and lay her face next to his, inches away. His soft breathing calmed her inner self, and she smiled as she toyed with a strand of hair that fell on his forehead.
Something inside her stirred when he took a deep breath and mumbled her name in his sleep. He was all she needed, and she couldn’t imagine another man in her life. Veer still managed to tick her off on the sets or when they were reviewing the images to be posted on the profiles, but he respected her for who she was and what she wanted to do. He paired that with his sweet lovemaking with a bit of tough roughness that she craved for in bed.
She gently ran the back of her hand over the edge of his mouth and then over his cheek. “I love you, Veer.” It was barely a whisper.
His breathing hitched as he heard her, and he moved, his hand reaching for her on the other side. He opened his eyes and found her looking at him. “You’re on the wrong side, baby.”
Ariya laughed when he put his arm under her to scoop her into him and then over his body. “You belong, right here.”
“I missed this space more than I missed my bed.” She rested her chin on his chest looking at him.
