Rebel Hard
Page 6
“Construction,” he answered shortly but didn’t move away.
Nayna swallowed and tried to channel every rom-com and Bollywood romance she’d ever watched. What would one of the heroines do now? Probably not stumble around her tongue, saying, “You build things?” Smart, real smart, Nayna. You build things?! ARGH!
“Yeah.” A shift in his body, the fresh scent of him washing over her.
As if he’d showered before the party.
He’d probably been all sweaty and dusty from being on a work site. And she really should’ve worn panties.
A taut silence filled with the heat coming off his body.
Raj parted his lips to speak. Loud laughter burst into the void a second later.
Glancing back, he frowned darkly, then turned to her. “You want to walk out in the garden?” Rough words, nothing too smooth or polished or smarmy about him. “Little quieter.”
He was asking her to go out with him into the dark, away from the safety of the crowd. Nayna didn’t do things like that. Nayna also didn’t pick up men at parties. Or go out in public wearing not a single piece of underwear.
Throwing back the champagne, she said, “Yes” just as she heard a distinctive ping.
Reaching into the small purse she wore on one shoulder, she pulled out her phone. “It’s my friend Ísa.” When she checked it, she saw that Ísa had sent her a message saying she was going off with a blue-eyed man whose picture she’d snapped.
Startled at how quickly Ísa had moved on from the hot gardener—Nayna could’ve sworn her best friend’d had a serious reaction to said gardener—Nayna nonetheless wished her luck, then added that she was with the hunk and about to let him do whatever he wanted to her. “Done,” she said afterward, slipping her phone away.
Instead of being annoyed, he raised an eyebrow. “Buddy system?”
“You’re a stranger.”
He didn’t laugh at her dorkily prim statement, his face back to full-on serious. Nayna kept thinking about what all that control must contain… and what would happen if he released the reins.
Raj locked his eyes with hers, his pupils jet black and his irises deep brown with a faint glow of gold bursting out near the pupil. “Are you going to go out into the night with this stranger?”
Bones liquid from the heat in his eyes and nipples hard points rubbed by the deep timbre of his voice, Nayna just nodded.
Raj got rid of their drink glasses, then took her hand into his bigger, rougher one and weaved through the crowd. It was like the waters parted for his big, sexy body. Nayna stayed close to the hard heat of him, her blood roaring so loudly through her ears that she couldn’t hear much of the party anymore. Raj didn’t take them toward the front or the back door but to a small side hallway and out through a door no one else seemed to be using.
“I helped build this place,” he told her as he stepped outside. “Put in this door myself.” A pat at the polished wood.
Nayna felt a sense of wonder. “You must feel such pride when you see something you constructed with your own hands.”
Tugging her outside, he closed the door. “Yes,” he said with a quiet self-possession that sang to everything in her. “I can point out every house I’ve ever worked on from back when I first became my dad’s apprentice.”
They stepped off the path… and her heel sank in. “Oh.” She stumbled against Raj.
Who caught her with his hands around her waist. “You okay?”
“Yes, just my heels.” Pressing a hand against his chest without thought, she lifted a foot up. “I’ll take them off so I can walk on the grass.” Heat burned her, his muscles flexing as he helped her keep her balance.
She was thinking about panties again by the time she got her heels off, hanging them both on one hand. “Thanks.”
Clasping her free hand in his, he led her across the grass. “If you stand here,” he said, “you can see a view over the trees and across the water.”
When Nayna stopped and looked out along the line of his arm, she saw the moon rippling on the ocean, the sight so unbearably romantic that her heart clenched. She’d read romances since she was a teenager, but never had she dared believe she’d get a kiss in the moonlight from a tall, dark, and fascinatingly intense man.
Raj turned to her even as the thought passed through her mind and, releasing her hand, cupped the side of her face. Her breath caught, her heart thumped. And her lips parted. Zeroing in on that betraying act, he dipped his head and touched his lips firmly to hers. No hesitation for Raj, nothing tentative.
The man knew what he wanted—and it was her.
Nayna dropped her heels to the grass. Pressing her hands against his chest, she rose up on tiptoe. He deepened the kiss, one hand stroking down the curve of her waist to stop on her hip where he found a sliver of skin through her dress. When she shivered, he licked his tongue across the seam of her lips.
She parted them and the kiss turned wet and deep.
His stubble created rough friction against her skin and she thought, “He’s marking me.”
She didn’t care, it felt so good.
A moan sounded and she didn’t realize it had been her until he rumbled his approval, his chest vibrating against her fingers. Ready for more, for everything, she pressed in closer. Raj nudged her back, and she had a sudden stab of worry that she’d bungled it—she wasn’t exactly an expert on kissing.
But he bit lightly at her lower lip as he continued to walk her back until her butt gently hit a wall. Cornering her again. And oh, it felt good. His body was so hot and hard against her own, and he was so overwhelmingly big and strong. As for his mouth—serious, intense Raj knew exactly how to use his mouth to make her embarrassingly wet.
When he ran his hand up her body to close over her breast, she didn’t protest.
But he stopped, his hand in her hair, and said, “You with me, Nayna?”
Endorphins flooded her system at the sound of her name on his lips. Licking her lips, she nodded. “Yes. Please don’t stop.”
Dark eyes flashing, he pressed his mouth to hers once more, the bristles on his jaw scraping at her skin all over again and sending prickles of sensation all through her. More strokes of her body, his hands assured and holding a raw heat. His palms snagged at times on the fabric of her dress, his calluses hard from physical labor. All Nayna could think of each time it happened was what those hardworking and gifted hands would feel like on her naked skin.
She ran her own palms down his chest and up over his arms. Smooth skin and firm muscle, there was nothing about Raj’s body she didn’t like. And his scent… Nayna wanted to nuzzle and just breathe in, kiss his throat, lick him into her own bloodstream.
Hot breaths, hearts beating faster, bodies pressed closer.
Raj tugged down the wonderfully stretchy fabric of her dress. Her breasts popped out. She would’ve been mortified that he was seeing the pitiful mounds except that Raj had one hand over her left breast while he’d dropped his mouth to her right one. She whimpered at the first touch, biting back a cry of disappointment when he drew back.
“You’re short without the heels,” he muttered and scooped her up like she weighed nothing.
Nayna’s inner core clenched while her hands gripped at his shoulders. Never in her life had she dreamed she’d be with a man this strong.
Wrapping her legs around his waist was instinctive, his body heavy and solid between her quivering thighs as he pinned her to the wall in a dark corner of a moon-kissed garden. The position pushed up her dress indecently farther, until she was a mere inch or two away from total exposure.
Nayna swallowed and tried to channel every rom-com and Bollywood romance she’d ever watched. What would one of the heroines do now? Probably not stumble around her tongue, saying, “You build things?” Smart, real smart, Nayna. You build things?! ARGH!
“Yeah.” A shift in his body, the fresh scent of him washing over her.
As if he’d showered before the party.
He’d probably been all sweaty and dusty from being on a work site. And she really should’ve worn panties.
A taut silence filled with the heat coming off his body.
Raj parted his lips to speak. Loud laughter burst into the void a second later.
Glancing back, he frowned darkly, then turned to her. “You want to walk out in the garden?” Rough words, nothing too smooth or polished or smarmy about him. “Little quieter.”
He was asking her to go out with him into the dark, away from the safety of the crowd. Nayna didn’t do things like that. Nayna also didn’t pick up men at parties. Or go out in public wearing not a single piece of underwear.
Throwing back the champagne, she said, “Yes” just as she heard a distinctive ping.
Reaching into the small purse she wore on one shoulder, she pulled out her phone. “It’s my friend Ísa.” When she checked it, she saw that Ísa had sent her a message saying she was going off with a blue-eyed man whose picture she’d snapped.
Startled at how quickly Ísa had moved on from the hot gardener—Nayna could’ve sworn her best friend’d had a serious reaction to said gardener—Nayna nonetheless wished her luck, then added that she was with the hunk and about to let him do whatever he wanted to her. “Done,” she said afterward, slipping her phone away.
Instead of being annoyed, he raised an eyebrow. “Buddy system?”
“You’re a stranger.”
He didn’t laugh at her dorkily prim statement, his face back to full-on serious. Nayna kept thinking about what all that control must contain… and what would happen if he released the reins.
Raj locked his eyes with hers, his pupils jet black and his irises deep brown with a faint glow of gold bursting out near the pupil. “Are you going to go out into the night with this stranger?”
Bones liquid from the heat in his eyes and nipples hard points rubbed by the deep timbre of his voice, Nayna just nodded.
Raj got rid of their drink glasses, then took her hand into his bigger, rougher one and weaved through the crowd. It was like the waters parted for his big, sexy body. Nayna stayed close to the hard heat of him, her blood roaring so loudly through her ears that she couldn’t hear much of the party anymore. Raj didn’t take them toward the front or the back door but to a small side hallway and out through a door no one else seemed to be using.
“I helped build this place,” he told her as he stepped outside. “Put in this door myself.” A pat at the polished wood.
Nayna felt a sense of wonder. “You must feel such pride when you see something you constructed with your own hands.”
Tugging her outside, he closed the door. “Yes,” he said with a quiet self-possession that sang to everything in her. “I can point out every house I’ve ever worked on from back when I first became my dad’s apprentice.”
They stepped off the path… and her heel sank in. “Oh.” She stumbled against Raj.
Who caught her with his hands around her waist. “You okay?”
“Yes, just my heels.” Pressing a hand against his chest without thought, she lifted a foot up. “I’ll take them off so I can walk on the grass.” Heat burned her, his muscles flexing as he helped her keep her balance.
She was thinking about panties again by the time she got her heels off, hanging them both on one hand. “Thanks.”
Clasping her free hand in his, he led her across the grass. “If you stand here,” he said, “you can see a view over the trees and across the water.”
When Nayna stopped and looked out along the line of his arm, she saw the moon rippling on the ocean, the sight so unbearably romantic that her heart clenched. She’d read romances since she was a teenager, but never had she dared believe she’d get a kiss in the moonlight from a tall, dark, and fascinatingly intense man.
Raj turned to her even as the thought passed through her mind and, releasing her hand, cupped the side of her face. Her breath caught, her heart thumped. And her lips parted. Zeroing in on that betraying act, he dipped his head and touched his lips firmly to hers. No hesitation for Raj, nothing tentative.
The man knew what he wanted—and it was her.
Nayna dropped her heels to the grass. Pressing her hands against his chest, she rose up on tiptoe. He deepened the kiss, one hand stroking down the curve of her waist to stop on her hip where he found a sliver of skin through her dress. When she shivered, he licked his tongue across the seam of her lips.
She parted them and the kiss turned wet and deep.
His stubble created rough friction against her skin and she thought, “He’s marking me.”
She didn’t care, it felt so good.
A moan sounded and she didn’t realize it had been her until he rumbled his approval, his chest vibrating against her fingers. Ready for more, for everything, she pressed in closer. Raj nudged her back, and she had a sudden stab of worry that she’d bungled it—she wasn’t exactly an expert on kissing.
But he bit lightly at her lower lip as he continued to walk her back until her butt gently hit a wall. Cornering her again. And oh, it felt good. His body was so hot and hard against her own, and he was so overwhelmingly big and strong. As for his mouth—serious, intense Raj knew exactly how to use his mouth to make her embarrassingly wet.
When he ran his hand up her body to close over her breast, she didn’t protest.
But he stopped, his hand in her hair, and said, “You with me, Nayna?”
Endorphins flooded her system at the sound of her name on his lips. Licking her lips, she nodded. “Yes. Please don’t stop.”
Dark eyes flashing, he pressed his mouth to hers once more, the bristles on his jaw scraping at her skin all over again and sending prickles of sensation all through her. More strokes of her body, his hands assured and holding a raw heat. His palms snagged at times on the fabric of her dress, his calluses hard from physical labor. All Nayna could think of each time it happened was what those hardworking and gifted hands would feel like on her naked skin.
She ran her own palms down his chest and up over his arms. Smooth skin and firm muscle, there was nothing about Raj’s body she didn’t like. And his scent… Nayna wanted to nuzzle and just breathe in, kiss his throat, lick him into her own bloodstream.
Hot breaths, hearts beating faster, bodies pressed closer.
Raj tugged down the wonderfully stretchy fabric of her dress. Her breasts popped out. She would’ve been mortified that he was seeing the pitiful mounds except that Raj had one hand over her left breast while he’d dropped his mouth to her right one. She whimpered at the first touch, biting back a cry of disappointment when he drew back.
“You’re short without the heels,” he muttered and scooped her up like she weighed nothing.
Nayna’s inner core clenched while her hands gripped at his shoulders. Never in her life had she dreamed she’d be with a man this strong.
Wrapping her legs around his waist was instinctive, his body heavy and solid between her quivering thighs as he pinned her to the wall in a dark corner of a moon-kissed garden. The position pushed up her dress indecently farther, until she was a mere inch or two away from total exposure.
