The Evil Twin? (17 page)

Reyan ran his fingers through his hair and looked down at me lying next to him with my head at his waist level.

“That was mind blowing baby!! What got into you?” he asked his voice wobbly.

I smiled at him and wrapped my fingers around his throbbing masculinity and said, “It’s just my way of showing how much you mean to me.”

“I just can’t get you to say ‘I love you’?” he mocked.

“I don’t know what that means when you say I have to say it to a man, Reyan. I know how to love my parents, Meg, and my aunt, and I thought I loved Justin too…but I was wrong,” I said softly.

He sat up pulling his shorts on and took me by my shoulders wrapping his arms around me. I crashed on his chest and was greeted by the thudding in his chest that was haphazard.

“You don’t have to say those exact words baby, just tell me you’ll be mine.”

“I am yours, Reyan. I have been for a while now.”

“I am okay to hear just that for now,” he nuzzled my hair and planted a kiss.

“Where are we moving to? My place or your place?” I asked looking up at him.

“Neither!!”

“What?” I got off his chest and sat up.

“I know how you feel about being at my place all the time so here’s what we are going to do. We are going to move into a neutral ground,” he chuckled.

“I don’t understand,” I said shaking off the sensations of nausea, and it was at that point I remembered that we were on a big ass boat.

He handed me the bottle of sparkling water as if he sensed what was going on with me and said, “My cousin, Nick, and his wife have an apartment near the ballpark. They haven’t used their apartment in a while, and I know they won’t be using it anytime soon. I asked him if I could have the place for ourselves for a few months so you and I can figure out our stuff.”

“Seriously? What do you guys do for a living? Ferrari’s, multiple homes across the Bay Area, and these big ass boats,” I teased.

Reyan laughed shaking his head but did not respond.

“Does that mean you are part of a mafia?” I mocked.

He pulled me back into his arms and said, “It doesn’t matter what I have, you are mine now!! That’s all that matters.”

“Where are we headed anyways?” I asked as his lips took over mine.

He chuckled against my lips, “So that’s the second one I was going to talk to you about.”

I pulled back to look at him.

“We are headed to Monterey Bay,” he declared.

“Reyan...You know how I feel about that...it’s too much for today,” I said pain creeping up my body.

“Sweetheart, I know it’s the last place you visited with your mom and dad on your tenth birthday, but you need to go back so you can remember them. I already agreed not to plan a party for your birthday, but you need to do this for them,” he said firmly.

“You know why I don’t celebrate my birthday, and I don’t want that memory to be replaced by any of the new ones,” I quivered.

“When you go back and have happy memories, the new ones enhance and extend the old memories, trust me.”

“I trust you, Reyan!!”             

Chapter 17

“Reyan, this is too hot. My tongue is on fire,” I complained gulping down ice-cold water.

He laughed reaching for the milk container and poured me a cup of cold milk.

“I told you drinking water makes it worse, try some milk.”

“Thanks baby!!” I sipped the plain cold milk and felt the burning subside.

“I am not cut out to eat Indian food,” I mumbled.

“That’s BS, I can’t believe you didn’t build a taste for Indian food living in San Francisco your entire life,” he scoffed.

I took a deep breath fighting back the deep throbbing in my stomach and said, “I lost my identity as an Indian when I lost my parents, Reyan. I stopped eating Indian food because every bite of Indian food I ate reminded me of my mom and dad, and I just could not handle it.”

“I know baby, but you can’t go on like this forever. You’ve got to move on,” he urged.

I nodded remembering the day I told my aunt and Meg I was moving in with Reyan, a little over two months ago.

Their initial reaction was excitement and then it hit them meaning they wouldn’t see me as often. It wasn’t easy to move my things out of my closet after being in that house for all those years, but I was able to do it. The only reason I had done the things I could have never attempted was because of Reyan. He not only made me reckless, he gave me the courage and the confidence to take on things that weren’t in my control.

Since I moved into our shared apartment, I quit my job at Starbucks and took the job as a day manager at the bar I worked late nights at. I put a limit on the hours I worked each week so I could spend time writing my books.

I stayed with my aunt and Meg when Reyan was travelling for business, as I could not get myself to stay alone in the apartment when he wasn’t around.

I had become so used to being with him that it scared me to think of what I would do if something were to go wrong. We have had our decent share of arguments but mostly silly guy/gal stuff, and I couldn’t imagine and didn’t want to think of anything big that would cause a rift between us. In a span of five months, he had turned me into a softy.

I wasn’t really a softy with anyone else. Is this love?

“Guess what we are doing tomorrow?” his voice cut through my thoughts.

“What? For dinner?” I asked surprised.

“I made reservations for Friday night at your favorite restaurant,” he said winking at me.

“My favorite Vietnamese restaurant?”

“Yeah, baby!!”

“I can’t wait. How did you manage to get a reservation at such short notice? We were there just a few weeks ago,” I asked in disbelief, as the restaurant was one of San Francisco’s top places to eat.

Reyan smiled and shrugged without responding.

“Thank you, I can’t wait,” I hugged him and added, “I am going upstairs to finish my chapter. I’ll see you in thirty minutes.”

I headed up the stairs to the second level of the two-bedroom condo Reyan and I had moved into about two months ago. The condo was on the top level of a high-rise right next to the San Francisco Bay and offered a beautiful view of the magnificent Bay Bridge from the open living area and the master bedroom. The best part about the condo was that it was fully furnished and Reyan’s cousin was nice enough to let us use their stuff.

I spent thirty minutes editing the chapter that was about the emotions of an eight-year-old girl who is lost in a remote village in India when her parents were taken as murder suspects. I was staring at the words, reading and re-reading my sentences when I heard Reyan behind me.

“Hey, when did you say Nandini Singhal was going to be on tour in San Francisco?” I asked cheerfully.

He stood frozen to his spot, and I saw his lips part as if to respond and then he did not.

“Reyan, the author. My mom’s favorite author and remember you promised that I could meet her when she is touring?” I reminded him.

“I know babe. She should be here in a few months,” he said softly.

“Don’t forget to set up that meeting. You know I will be very disappointed if I don’t get to meet her,” I warned.

“I got it sweetheart!!”

“Are you ready to go to bed?” I chirped turning off the computer.

“Yes, I am.” Reyan wrapped his arms around me staring into my eyes.

“Everything okay?” I cupped my palms on his cheeks.

“Just tired.” His voice was soft, but there was something that I couldn’t decipher.

“You can tell me if there is something else bothering you, I might be able to help,” I offered.             

“I will, one of these days.” He planted a gentle kiss on my forehead and led me into the master bedroom.

“Will it be the you were right, I belong to the mafia confession?” I chuckled.

He laughed and said, “I wish it were that simple but don’t worry, I have a few more months before I need to worry about stuff.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about but you know I don’t like to probe. You should tell me when you think I can help,” I shrugged.

“I will, baby.” He kissed the tip of my nose and added, “How can I help for the surprise party on Saturday?”

“I want to do everything myself for Annie’s birthday party.” I was adamant about doing everything by myself for Annie.

“You are weird about a few things,” he mocked.

“Yes, Annie is my best friend for life, and I can do anything for her, and I know she will for me.”

“I am very glad you and Annie are friends. It makes life so much easier for me,” he said smiling.

“I guess I have to thank you for giving me Annie.”

“So what are we buying her for her birthday?” he asked curiously.

“I have shortlisted two furry friends, and I am going to pick them up from the rescue center tomorrow,” I grinned.

“You are getting her a pet?” he asked surprised.

“Yes, I am getting her two kittens.”

“Wait! What? You are getting her kittens. You don’t even like cats, how would you know which cats to pick,” he teased.

“People are allowed to change their opinion about certain things. I thought I didn’t like cats, but I know how much Annie likes them so I spent time at the rescue center, and I am a believer now.”

“You girls are just amazing. You influence each other so much, it’s surreal.”

“What do you mean?” I laughed.

“Well just the other day she cracked through one of the toughest contract negotiators for one of the vendors and got the papers signed,” he said in amazement.

I smiled with as a sense of pride swept over me.

“She talked to you about that contract?” he asked suspiciously.

“That’s between Annie and me. Do I need to tell you everything?” I mocked.

“I knew it!! You were on that call when she talked to the guy,” Reyan declared with confidence.             

“I can’t talk about it, Reyan,” I said shaking my head.

“Fine, don’t tell me!!” He took a step away and started walking away from me.

I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind and flattened my chest and my cheek against his back, “Don’t be mad. You know I’ll do anything for Annie.”

“I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or a good thing.”

“How can it be a bad thing, Reyan?” I teased leading him to the bedroom.

*****

“Fuck it!! I am going to start all over again,” I told myself on Thursday evening looking at the disaster in front of me. I had spent the last hour trying to bake a cake for Annie’s birthday party. I had that night to practice before I made the cake for Annie on Saturday morning. I looked at the burnt piece of what was to be the red velvet cake and shook my head in frustration. I was sure I had forgotten some step or I added a pinch more of one of the ingredients that messed up the whole thing.

I took the entire piece of my practice cake and dumped it in the trashcan. I was working on my practice round number two when Reyan got back from work.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” he asked with concern in his voice when he saw the mess I had created on the kitchen island and my messy appearance.

“I am frustrated but I am breathing,” I snorted.

“What’s all the fuss about baby?” he asked walking up to me and putting his arms around me.

“Reyan don’t...you’re going to get all the mess on my clothes onto yours,” I said holding my hands away from him. He was wearing a navy blue linen blazer paired with light wash denims and a textured white shirt.

He ignored my warning and brought his lips to mine.

“You look so hot and messy baby, I want to be part of your hot mess,” he mumbled against my lips.

I moaned against his lips refusing to run my fingers through his hair.

“Reyan, I am going to get flour into your hair, let me go,” I pleaded against his lips.

“I dare you to,” he groaned.

“Reyan…” my voice drifted when his hand came up to cup my breast hungrily to take his thumb to my rising nipple through the thin material of my tank top. His lips wandered down towards the nubs that were teased enough by his thumb and were yearning to be touched, pinched, and nipped. He stretched out the round neck of my long tank top and pulled out my breast to feed it to his mouth. I threw my head back clenching my teeth when I felt this teeth rimming my nipple.

A moan escaped my parted lips, and I ran my floury fingers through the thick dark hair gripping it like I didn’t want him to move.

“This is so dirty and hot baby,” he muttered letting my nipple out of his mouth to lick the flour that was sprinkled on my cleavage.

“You are turning me into a dirty girl.”

“Just the way I like it.” He reached behind me and before I could ask him what he was doing, he showed me the small dollop of the cream cheese filling I had set aside to layer the cake.

“I want to ‘bake a cake’ with you baby,” he said running his sweetness-tipped index finger along my jawbone and down to my cleavage.

“I don’t have time for this now, Reyan. I need to practice today because I won’t have time tomorrow,” I said through clenched teeth. He placed the index finger which still had a coating of the filling and hushed me.

“Suck it,” he commanded slipping his index finger into my mouth. I took in the sweet taste of his finger and my lips closed on his finger while my tongue twirled around it. A humming started deep inside me as I sucked on his index finger taking in the dominance in his stance as he held me pinned to him.

He slipped his legs between mine pushing my back into the kitchen units and thrust his bulge against my crotch.

“Why are you so hungry?” I gasped feeling his lips along the length of my neck digging gently into the tendons with his teeth.

“You are so hot, I can’t help but be hungry all the time,” he growled sliding his hands to the back of my thighs to lift my feet off the kitchen floor to set my bottom on the top of the island. I heard the clinking of the mixing bowls when he pushed them aside on the island with one hand.

“Oh no!! Don’t start Reyan. I can’t do this now,” I pleaded when I saw him drop to his knees next to the counter. I attempted to push him away with zero strength after losing the battle with the body to stop him, as he pulled my legs apart firmly.

I was glad he ignored my futile efforts to stop him and found my throbbing clit with his palm. He flattened his palm over my mound and applied a thrust over my panties and felt the moisture being sucked by the cotton material.

“You are a dirty liar, baby. You so badly want this but you want to stop me,” he chuckled.

I moaned unable to form a sentence that would tell him that I had a long list of things I had to do that night to prep for the party.

“Noooo…” my voice broke off when he pushed the wet garment aside and started rubbing my stiffening clit with his thumb.

“Tell me you don’t want this, and I will stop,” he challenged, slipping two fingers past my folds into my pleasure cave.

“I don’t…” my words were lost in a gasp when I felt his tongue on my clit while his fingers moved expertly in and out with a purpose.

“Don’t do this to yourself baby, I know you want it. I can smell your arousal,” he said, plunging his tongue into me to replace his fingers. My breath caught in my throat, and I kicked my reluctance to give in to his pure seduction.

He continued to thrust his tongue into my heated cavity, and he went at my wetness like he was parched and could not get enough to quench his thirst. I threw my head back, opening up, and pushing myself towards him as he held me to his mouth with his fingers laced on my bottom.

“I know you are ready baby, don’t stop yourself,” he encouraged just as I felt my inner muscles clench with the vibrations initiated deep inside. I let myself out calling his name wildly as he lapped and sucked me into his mouth.

“You taste so good baby,” he said standing up as his trembling fingers pulled open his belt buckle.

“Seriously? Here?” I said, my breathing ragged from the explosion of sensations looking at his arousal that sprang out of his jeans.